Orem planning commission reviews 2022 economic development strategic plan; focuses on land-use element

Orem 'On Oct. 1, the Orem City Planning Commission spent a work-session portion of its meeting reviewing the city's Economic Development Strategic Plan, adopted in 2022, and discussing how a shorter economic development element in the General Plan should reflect land-use policy rather than the full strategic plan.

Gary (staff member), who led the presentation, told commissioners the strategic plan is a detailed, 80'plus-page document produced with a private consultant and extensive outreach. "The plan was adopted in 2022," Gary said, and he framed the two documents this way: the economic development element is "high-altitude" (land-use focused) while the strategic plan is a "low-altitude" action-oriented document.

The briefing stressed several findings from the 2022 plan. Gary summarized the plan's SWOT: a relatively highly educated regional workforce and a strong retail base are strengths, while rapid housing-price growth and a large share of low-paying retail and service jobs were identified as weaknesses. He told the commission that roughly 78% of people who work in Orem commute from elsewhere and a similar share of Orem residents work outside the city. He also cited the plan's budget-related findings: in fiscal 2015 the city received about $19,000,000 in sales tax (roughly 33% of the budget), by 2021 sales tax receipts rose to about $28,000,000 (about 40% of the budget) and the plan estimated sales-tax reliance could reach 45% in 2022.

Why it matters: commissioners and staff framed the economic element as a land-use decision tool that must reflect where jobs, housing and retail are located so planning tools can influence whether the city retains higher-paying employers or remains a retail-driven sales-tax hub. One commissioner said, "it tells me we're attracting the wrong kind of businesses as a city," arguing that attracting more high-wage tech employers could keep higher-paid workers local and ease commute-related traffic pressures.

Presenters and commissioners discussed specific data points from the plan: the city's largest occupation counts and their median wages (for example, about 2,400 retail salespeople with median earnings near $25,000, software developers numbering roughly 850 with median earnings near $100,000, and postsecondary teachers around 2,300 with median earnings near $85,000). Gary also reviewed recommendations in the strategic plan, including strengthening the Orem Business Alliance (OBA), leveraging university assets such as UVU's Business Resource Center (BRC), performing a targeted industry analysis and coordinating with county and state economic-development partners.

Public and commission questions touched on sales-tax concentration (staff said the city tracks top sales-tax producers but some information is confidential), balancing retail sales-tax revenue versus high-wage job attraction, land availability (staff noted about 8% of Orem's land is open for development and roughly 3% of that is currently selling for residential development), and redevelopment versus greenfield growth. Chuck Payson (resident) asked whether staff had identified which businesses provide the highest-ticket sales-tax revenue; staff cited big-box retailers and auto dealerships as examples but said each business type has different location criteria.

Commissioners emphasized implementation timing: the plan's implementation horizon listed many items as 3'to'5-year actions, and staff and commissioners agreed economic-development guidance should be reassessed regularly because market conditions change rapidly.

The discussion ended with staff asking commissioners to review the plan documents online and prepare to discuss concrete zoning or land-use changes that could support the plan's longer-term goals. No formal action or vote on the plan was taken at the meeting.

The plan referenced in the briefing is available online; commissioners were asked to read the charts and the leakage analysis in preparation for follow-up discussion.