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Council adopts Oak Island economic development strategic plan to guide recruitment and retention
Summary
After months of stakeholder work, council adopted a five-year economic development strategic plan that identifies retail and service gaps, recommends targeted recruitment tactics and asks staff and a continuation committee to lead implementation and follow-up.
The Town Council voted to adopt a new economic development strategic plan after a multi-month process involving stakeholder interviews, market and retail-gap analyses, and a committed work group. Consultant Samantha Darlington presented findings and described recommended actions for recruitment, site-readiness and branding.
Council discussion focused on making recruitment actionable: members pushed for prioritized target lists of service and healthcare providers that the town should seek and for implementation support beyond the plan's diagnostic phase. Darlington said the market and drive-time analyses in the plan can be used to target outreach and that the consultant team can support implementation steps and grant identification as directed.
Council motioned to adopt the plan and to continue the existing work group/committee to oversee implementation; the motion passed unanimously. Members said they planned to return periodically for implementation check-ins and to consider budget requests for any implementation tools or outside services recommended by staff and the work group.
Speakers quoted (first reference with role): Samantha Darlington, consultant.
