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Alachua County begins rewrite of economic element to emphasize research, food systems and tourism marketing
Summary
County staff and the newly formed economic development office discussed reorganizing the comprehensive plan's economic element at a Sept. 2 workshop to highlight research and health-care industries, expand local food systems and coordinate tourism and business marketing through the county's EDO/Visit Gainesville team.
Alachua County on Sept. 2 reviewed the economic element of its comprehensive plan and heard presentations from county economic-development staff, Visit Gainesville representatives and community stakeholders about refocusing the element to reflect the county's current economy and future ambitions.
"We are an education community and more so even more than that, we're a health care community," said Sean Flynn, a member of the county's economic-development staff, summarizing staff analysis that the largest local employment and wage drivers are health care and university-linked research. Commissioners and staff said the economic element rewrite should emphasize those research- and health-care clusters while also building paths to the middle class through vocational training and workforce partnerships.
Staff and advisory-board members proposed three organizing pillars for the rewrite: highlight the county's research and health-care strengths, cultivate local and regional supply-chain "economic gardening" and strengthen local food systems and tourism. Jessica (Visit Gainesville) described a coordinated marketing role for the combined economic-development office and Visit Gainesville: "I see us as the marketing agency for the county when it comes to visitation," she said, adding that the same marketing effort can be aligned to recruit and support businesses.
Food systems and a proposed food hub drew detailed attention. Staff described an ongoing, multi-month exploratory process on a local food hub and said they plan a farmer- and vendor-focused outreach and surveys through November to assess vendor revenue, consumer behavior and linkages to restaurants and institutions. Commissioners and stakeholders said a concrete pilot or implementation plan should follow the study to ensure the hub increases local purchasing by restaurants and institutions.
Tourism staff said data show the county's principal visitation drivers are University of Florida-related events, shopping and outdoor recreation, followed by medical visitation and arts/heritage events; staff recommended using those data to focus marketing toward higher-value visitors and to diversify visitation to places and activities beyond the most heavily used springs and sites. Visit Gainesville staff also recommended coordinating messaging to reduce Ecotourism pressure on sensitive natural areas and suggested promoting alternate recreational and cultural options to manage carrying capacity.
Community stakeholders urged stronger ties with university research and the county's technical colleges to translate research into local business opportunities and workforce pathways. A development manager from the Greater Gainesville Chamber of Commerce told the board the Chamber supports the county's approach and offered to help connect existing businesses to food-system and workforce initiatives.
Staff will prepare a reorganized draft of the economic element, incorporating the board's feedback, and return language for review. The county's economic-development team also said it will represent the county in state-level site-selection outreach through Florida Commerce and Select Florida, and will coordinate with municipal, university and Chamber partners on target industries and marketing.
No final element language was adopted at the Sept. 2 workshop; staff will return draft text and implementation recommendations for subsequent board review.
