Tacoma committee discusses ‘Get to yes’ permitting, business outreach and winding down Opportunity Zone work

Tacoma’s Economic Development Committee on May 13 reviewed Objective 7 of the city’s economic development strategic plan, a set of actions staff described as “how we do business,” and debated next steps on permitting, business engagement and use of federal Opportunity Zone designations.

Debbie Bingham, business and economic development manager for the Community and Economic Development Department, told the committee Objective 7 aims to “formalize economic development as a city's intermediary,” to “enhance the value proposition of Tacoma” and to “get to yes on development permitting.” She described routine work the department already performs, including weekly project review panels, business retention and expansion visits, and maintaining the MakeItTacoma web resources and related newsletters.

The committee focused most of its discussion on three priorities Bingham raised: deepening engagement with the business community, clarifying the city’s role in permitting to reduce delays and costs, and whether the plan should continue to treat Opportunity Zones as a distinct program. Bingham said the city conducted outreach to property owners in the federally designated Opportunity Zone census tracts and marketed key sites to investors; she recommended removing a separate Opportunity Zone strategy from the next plan update because the city's outreach work on that designation is largely complete.

Counc…