Past economic development projects have brought jobs, revenue and investment to our area and have helped us make Manhattan and the surrounding area a great place to live, work and play. But circumstances such as the loss of a brigade at Fort Riley and decreased student enrollment at K-State along with COVID-19 have led to lasting and far-reaching market shifts. Our community has been able to overcome these challenges through investments in NBAF, downtown and the North Campus Corridor as well as an increase in tourism. But our current trajectory is unsustainable and filled with difficult budget decisions. Updating our approach will help us prevent economic stagnation and decline.

Our area relies heavily on a few large, public, tax-exempt employers to support economic growth, and we need to foster desirable growth that supports economic, workforce and fiscal sustainability. The goal is to diversify our economy by increasing private-sector jobs and growing our tax base, thus enabling the area to govern with stability and flexibility. Increasing incomes through jobs with above-average wages and improving housing options and affordability will help us attract and retain residents.

The plan was funded by Advantage Manhattan leaders, a group of 100+ community members who invest funds in economic development activities through the Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce. A consultant helped assess our situation and deliver findings and recommendations for how to proceed.

The Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce contracts with the City of Manhattan to provide economic development, tourism, and military relations services. This is a fairly common arrangement; about one-third of Chambers and Cities have similar partnerships. (Topeka, Lawrence, Olathe, Hutchinson, Emporia, Salina and Overland Park are examples.) The Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce is proud to provide these services and to help convene community leaders to foster the growth our area needs to prosper.

The plan centers around investments, policies, processes and initiatives to foster new development and growth, and it recommends specific actions in each of those areas.

Manhattan is full of people who are eager to work with others to make progress. No one entity or organization can work alone to implement the Manhattan Growth Plan. We are confident that City, County and area officials and organizations can come together to make needed changes and help our area reach its potential.

Our area should pursue opportunities in target sectors in which we have a competitive advantage. These areas include:

• Agricultural equipment and technology

• Animal health products and science

• Biomanufacturing, biosecurity and food safety

• Equipment, machine and metal fabrication

• Health care

• Construction trades

Health care and construction sectors are key to supporting a growing population and economy, and robust health care and construction sectors make it easier to attract businesses from the other sectors.

The Manhattan Growth Plan prioritizes expediting investments in a more competitive real estate inventory. Working with a location consultant to conduct a Regional Inventory Audit and mock site visit to prepare for promotion of land, building and lab space, identifying and optimizing a shovel-ready site with proximity to I-70 for a project of regional economic significance, and creating a Community Asset Transition fund to help redevelop areas and provide more housing are actions we can take.

Aligning the Manhattan Development Code with Crossroads MHK Housing Market Analysis recommendations, updating and simplifying Manhattan Economic Development Incentive Funding Criteria, and formalizing a workforce training incentive in partnership with Manhattan Area Technical College are examples of policies that can help.

Augmenting development review processes can help improve predictability, efficiency and accountability, thus easing economic development. The plan recommends hiring a development coordinator to assist in applications and reviews and fostering the right culture, forming a Development Review Committee at the City to expedite review and feedback, and establishing clear goals and performance metrics for development review at the City and County levels.

The plan recommends exploring partnerships and initiatives that promote desirable growth and target sectors.

• Opening a Regional Economic & Business Research Center can help optimize business retention and expansion, corporate attraction, fiscal impact analysis, performance reporting and more

• Implementing a proactive lead generation strategy can support startup and corporate recruitment in target sectors

• Developing a Request for Investment, or RFI, initiative can help solicit desired investment in target sectors and boost exposure

• Evaluating opportunities to expand and/or formalize regional economic and workforce development partnerships can help encourage growth

The plan includes key performance indicators that we can monitor and measure. We'll know the plan is working when we see:

• Job growth and growth in the percentage of jobs in high-wage industries including our target sectors

• A changing distribution of property vs. sales taxes

• Income and wage growth

• Increased housing supply and affordability

• Positive net migration

Fostering an environment that encourages growth requires all of us to think in new ways. We need to consider different ways of doing things and think about how we can say YES to making progress instead of finding reasons to say NO. We hope our area can adopt a "YES, IF ..." mindset as we embark on our journey toward growth.

We welcome the involvement of anyone and everyone in the Manhattan area who seeks to help our area grow and succeed. You can help by inviting someone from the Chamber to speak to organizations or groups you're involved in and by helping others learn about the plan. You can attend the Regional Growth Summit in January 2025 and stay tuned for more events and opportunities to learn more in the future. Most of all, you can add a positive voice to conversations about how to solve local and regional problems related to taxes, spending and growth.