The City of Cold Lake has a better idea of where to go from here after the creation of an economic development strategy.
Cold Lake's Economic Development Advisory Committee felt the need to update the city's strategic plan, and used their application for the 2017 intake of the Community and Regional Economic Support (CARES) program.
After the funding was approved, McSweeney and Associates was hired to build a strategy.
Using document and statistical review, stakeholder meetings, online surveys, one-on-one interviews, focus groups, and a working session, Shawna and Art Lawson of McSweeney drafted a plan they outlined to the City of Cold Lake during their corporate priorities meeting on Tuesday, March 19.
“We consulted over 550 stakeholders, those are your businesses, economic development partners including the province, the chamber… the partners that can help you make this happen, and residents,” noted Shawna, adding they also had a study for high school students who were getting ready to graduate.
Once all was said and done, they created the city's new economic development strategy.
“We then developed the economic strategy and implementation plan, which is basically a work plan. The success of this document is going to be how much it’s off the shelf, because if it stays there and just gathers dust, then you’ve wasted your money."
Part of the process is determining the demographics and population of Cold Lake.
In 2018, 16,052 residents resided in the city, 49 per cent were female, 51 per cent were male. The area has experienced growth since 2011 when there were only 11,520 people living in Cold Lake.
In terms of age profile, about 23 per cent of the overall population is made-up of youth aged zero to 14-years-old, while 71 per cent are 15 to 64-years-old. Senior residents, those over the age of 65, make-up six per cent.
“Of the residents who are here, I think you have a really healthy portion of your population profile that are within those prime working years, beginning at 16 years of age, all the way up to 64,” stated Art. “Your profile is much different than many communities, and I think it’s in a good way."
Art described it as "unusually high."
Mayor Craig Copeland wondered if it had anything to do with their age demographic in the city.
While Art thought that did play a part in the stat, he felt the drive and needs of the community are also contributing factors.
Sales and service is the top occupation in Cold Lake, with trades, transport, and equipment operaters in second, education, law and social, community and government services coming in third, business, finance, and administration landing in fourth, and management in fifth.
“In terms of the numbers of jobs, the defence sector is actually the biggest. It’s kind of the bedrock… it doesn’t change much with economic cycling, where oil and gas does,” Art expressed.
With almost 1,770 jobs in the defence services industry, it beats the oil and gas sector's 577.
Shawna explained why this could be the case.
“The thing to keep in mind, is these are your residents. This doesn’t account for the oil and gas workers who come from elsewhere to work. These are Cold Lake citizens and where they work."
One of the aspects of creating an economic development strategy is the SCOAR®, which stands for strengths, challenges, opportunities, aspirations, and results.
In terms of strengths, the company identified the area's small town vibe as a highlight.
“You have a sticky place. It’s one where people come and want to stay,” stated Art. “There’s still that small town feel. A lot of residents who responded… a lot of them mentioned that small town feel, that you have the amenities of a bigger place, but it still feels like home."
Others included the "stable and young workforce, the lake, the oil and gas sector... accumulated wealth, and CFB Cold Lake."
Although, some of the city's strengths are also their weaknesses.
Art said the community's heavy reliance on the oil and gas sector has been a challenge for the economy.
He noted signage could be better, and the Cold Lake Museum is in need of some upgrades.
“The museum, we were amazed by the collection of things, but it’s not exactly an appealing place to go."
Lack of health care options was something many of the businesses they spoke to pointed out as an issue in the area.
Keeping medical staff is important, Art noted, because it's one area that when it's lacking, residents take note.
“We were amazed by the number of things that we uncovered that you’re already working on,” he added.
That includes better signage throughout the city, doctor retention and recruitment, increasing year-round tourism opportunities, and air service.
“You’re already doing a lot of great stuff,” emphasized Art.
When it came to opportunities they see within the city, Shawna and Art recommended lakefront development, year-round recreation, a big-box store, lower the unemployment rate, and continue to work on airport-related services.
During their consultation with residents, some mentioned developing the area between the north and the south in order to create a more one-community feel, while others wanted to see crime be addressed.
“What you want to see in the end, is a great first impression of the city, like attractive parks and green space,” Art said about the results category.
Overall, there are four strategic actions Art and Shawna feel the city should consider, including investment readiness.
Art said, it's "so you’re prepared and have places to grow, places to attract people to, and industrial development."
Community, industry, and tourism development were the remaining three categories.
In order to improve economic development, there are 10 areas that need to be addressed.
Assembling "Team Cold Lake," was the top recommendation.
According to Shawna, this method has proved successful in other communities.
“It’s a strategic team brought together that has all of the elements under economic development. It’s not just staff. There’s usually a councillor… it can be the mayor as well. There’s usually an economic development officer or manager from staff and planning department, and then you bring in the community,” she explained. “We really recommend this. It’s really strong in the communities that do it well."
Transportation is considered one because of Cold Lake's location.
“You’re far enough from Edmonton that you have to be able to address the needs of people,” detailed Art.
A short-term plan is to "conduct a thorough assessment of investment infrastructure, so water, wastewater, electricity, gas, and broadband. Do you have the utilities in order to support the development you want to see? If you don’t, and it turns out there are areas where you need to improve, you need to start budgeting now, because these are big-ticket items,” said Shawna.
Assess development and land, develop a way-finding program, design and deliver a business retention and expansion program, increase tourism, and take a "Centre of Excellence" approach to developing the aerospace sector.
“You have an extraordinary unique sector here in your aerospace industry. Take a cradle to grave approach to that, where your education, workforce, and everything attract not just for the base, but the other industry that could be developed around that,” Shawna explained.
Because there is so much leg work involved in the city's three-year Economic Development Strategy, Art and Shawna felt the task was too big for Cold Lake's Economic Development Advisory Committee to take on.
Art suggested attaching some of these projects to other initiatives as they come up, and slowly work away at the overall bigger picture.
Shawna suggested, “Working with your businesses is the least cost and most effective way to improve your economy, keeping in touch with these businesses in a systematic way so you get a baseline this year of what your businesses think about you, what are their challenges, what are their opportunities, and are there red flags?”
Council will discuss the plan at a future meeting.
