Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Economic Development topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Economic development update highlights chip-zone work and visitor-economy impact
Summary
LEDP and Visit Longmont reported on industry attraction, semiconductor 'chip zone' designation and tourism economic impacts (about $25 million direct spending in 2023); LEDP described prospect activity and workforce initiatives while Visit Longmont previewed a potential Tourism Improvement District.
City-contracted economic partners updated Council on June 11 about ongoing business-attraction efforts, workforce initiatives and the local visitor economy.
Aaron Fosic of the Longmont Economic Development Partnership (LEDP) told Council the agency focuses on industry and talent and emphasized partnerships with the Downtown Development Authority, chamber and regional partners. Fosic highlighted participation in a statewide life-sciences marketing campaign and said LEDP has been advancing semiconductor outreach since Council passed a resolution earlier in the year; he described the Longmont chip zone designation as complementary to the city's enterprise zone and cited tax credits and state marketing grant applications to attract firms.
Fosic reported 22 prospects this year with about eight active responses and roughly 18 prospects in the pipeline (some long-term). He said the organization's employer survey list includes about 300 primary employers and that industrial vacancy and costs were being monitored as potential opportunities.
Sarah Leonard, CEO of Visit Longmont, presented a mid-year report on visitor engagement, noting Visit Longmont's work on visitor information stations, a visitor-profile and economic-impact study for calendar year 2023, and outreach to hotel partners about a potential Tourism Improvement District (TID) to fund sustainable tourism promotion. Leonard cited study figures showing nearly 600,000 visitors in 2023, about $25 million in direct visitor spending and a total economic impact estimate of $277 million (direct, indirect, induced), supporting more than 3,000 jobs. She said Visit Longmont planned to invest $100,000 in digital and social media marketing during the year and would continue surveys and targeted outreach to top markets including Denver and Colorado Springs.
Council members asked questions about apprenticeship and internship connections between business and K-12/technical education programs and discussed how LEDP and the city could work with school-district partners to scale training and placement pipelines. No formal council actions were taken during the presentations.
