The Economic Development Advisory Panel (EDAP) updated and prioritized a draft 2025 work plan and flagged near-term obstacles to commercial development along Meridian, including drainage, utilities and parcel sizes.

The panel reviewed a staff-compiled scoring spreadsheet that averaged seven criteria for each proposed work-plan item. Morgan, staff member, told the panel she assembled the cumulative results and that the packet includes both the summary scores and individual responses. Chair Wiesenfeld urged members to “look at the forest rather than the trees” and focus discussion on the top-scoring items rather than every column.

Panel members said the top weighted priorities included “council priorities as assigned” (item 9 in the packet), followed by several other items identified in the spreadsheet; Morgan cited weighted scores in the packet with item 9 at about 49.7 and item 10 at about 48.5. Several members suggested the board concentrate on the top three to five items and allow staff to translate the spreadsheet into a final work-plan draft for council.

Members also discussed on-the-ground constraints that limit development potential in the Meridian corridor. A resident and panel members raised drainage and stormwater detention costs as a major barrier to development in Edgewood’s closed depressional basins, noting site-level detention requirements and geologic conditions that limit infiltration. One panel member with public-works experience said Meridian itself “has a pretty low bar” for utility availability but cautioned that some nearby parcels require significant detention infrastructure or pipe extensions.

Panel members and staff reviewed past outreach and consultant work. Morgan said the city previously contracted with Retail Strategies to build a landowner and tenant prospect database; the contract’s second phase was canceled and the follow-through marketing step did not occur. Panel members suggested reviving targeted landowner outreach or a light-weight marketing package if funding and council direction allow.

The panel agreed on a next step: Kelsey (board member) will produce a revised draft of the work plan — including a short preamble that pulls recurring themes such as DEI into a concise statement — and will send it to staff by Friday for distribution and further comment before the panel’s next meeting. The panel anticipates making a formal recommendation to the city council at the joint meeting in the second cycle of February.

Votes at a glance: The consent agenda was approved by motion of Steven Wise, seconded by Sean Olsen; the meeting later adjourned by motion and unanimous voice vote.