West Plains PDA outlines 2026 business‑development push and site‑readiness effort

The West Plains Public Development Authority (PDA) briefed Spokane city and county leaders on its 2026 strategy, emphasizing a small staff executing targeted outreach to land business prospects, updated marketing assets and a near‑term push to prepare sites for development.

"We've updated all of our brand assets from the website to our marketing material," Chris Pingra told the joint session, saying the PDA is using website traffic benchmarks and AI tools to refine outreach to site selectors and industry targets. Pingra described target industries as aerospace, advanced manufacturing, life sciences, and warehouse and logistics.

Pingra said the PDA is a coordinating and convening body that helps projects requiring alignment among the airport, city and county. He noted the PDA is a small team (two current staff), with plans to add one business‑development staffer and to use data about existing site conditions so the region can show prospective firms where to locate.

Members of the joint meeting encouraged broader regional economic development coordination, suggesting future joint sessions that include neighboring PDAs and a deeper conversation about shared hurdles and next steps.

Pingra said the West Plains has large, mostly greenfield sites already zoned for industrial development and that the PDA will continue targeting projects where local jurisdictions can efficiently coordinate permitting, infrastructure and revenue sharing agreements.

The joint body agreed to bring Pingra back for a longer, follow‑up presentation.