HomeMy WebLinkAboutMemo - Mail Packet - 3/28/2023 - Memorandum From Jacob Castillo, Josh Birks, Seonah Kendall, Jillian Fresa, Shannon Hein, And Molly Saylor Re: Work Session Summary – March 14, 2023 – Economic Health Strategic Plan And Circular Econom
Economic Health Office
222 LaPorte Avenue
PO Box 580
Fort Collins, CO 80522
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MEMORANDUM
DATE: March 23, 2023
TO: Mayor and City Council
THROUGH: Kelly DiMartino, City Manager
Tyler Marr, Deputy City Manager
FROM: Jacob Castillo, Chief Sustainability Officer
Josh Birks, Deputy Director, Sustainability Services
SeonAh Kendall, Economic Health Director
Jillian Fresa, Economic Health Manager
Shannon Hein, Economic Health Manager
Molly Saylor, Waste Reduction and Recycling Lead Specialist
RE: March 14, 2023 Work Session Summary: Economic Health Strategic Plan and
Circular Economy
This memorandum provides a summary of the discussion related to the March 14, 2023 Work Session
Item – Economic Health Strategic Plan and Circular Economy.
Councilmembers Present: Mayor Arndt, Mayor Pro Tem Francis, Gutowsky, Peel, Ohlson
Presenting Staff: SeonAh Kendall, Jillian Fresa, Shannon Hein, and Molly Saylor
Direction Sought:
1. What feedback does Council have on the proposed elements to include in the updated
Economic Health Strategic Plan?
2. Do Councilmembers have feedback about the circular economy portion of this planning effort?
Discussion Summary:
Council’s discussion covered the following points:
Positive feedback on themes and direction of the Economic Health Strategic Plan
Opportunity for further integration of the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats
(SWOT) Analysis into the plan, including specific items such as the development review process
and its economic impacts to business
Acknowledgment of a limited sample of stakeholders and the need for the expansion of
engagement to better represent the community, including small businesses
Support of the direction of the Circular Economy
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Follow-up:
Council had several questions regarding specific statements within the SWOT Analysis. Please note that
stakeholder input is generally an individual’s perceptions and perspective, which is valuable to
understand and include while developing the analysis. The Economic Health Office intends to expand
the stakeholder engagement amongst other community and business leaders, including small businesses
to build out the SWOT analysis.
Attachments:
1. Brookings Metro Monitor 2023: tracks the inclusive economic growth performance of
the 192 largest U.S. metro areas. https://metro-interactives.s3.amazonaws.com/monitor-
2023/v0/index.html
2. The Denver Post Article: Fort Collins rose from 126th to 26th in the Brookings economic
ranking.
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https://www.denverpost.com/2023/03/09/denver-greeley-economies-pandemic-decline-brookings/ 1
Pandemic walloped metro Denver and Greeley
economies
Boulder proved resilient, while Fort Collins and Colorado
Springs strengthened
Metro Denver went from having one of the strongest economies prior to the pandemic to
one of the weaker ones. So too did Greeley, according to Brookings Metro. Pictured
here is an empty Sixth Avenue Freeway in April 2020. (Helen H. Richardson, The
Denver Post)
By ALDO SVALDI | asvaldi@denverpost.com | The Denver Post
PUBLISHED: March 9, 2023 at 11:26 a.m. | UPDATED: March 14, 2023 at 11:24 a.m.
Metro Denver had the eighth strongest economy heading into the pandemic, but two
years later, its economic ranking slipped to 121st out of 192nd metro areas, making it
among the most deteriorated economies during the pandemic, according to a study
from Brookings Metro.
The region joined the “tested” category of top-half economic performers between
2011 to 2019 who dropped to the bottom half between 2019 to 2021. About 40% of
very large metros, defined as having more than 1 million residents, moved into that
tested group, including New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Atlanta,
Boston and San Diego.
“There are a lot of theories, but not a lot of firm answers as to why. Very large metros
had this tremendous run of growth and they were where economic activity was
increasingly concentrated. Denver was a poster child for that inclusive growth,” said
Joseph Barilla, fellow and director of applied research at Brookings Metro Monitor and
a co-author of the study.
Brookings looked at three indicators each in four categories, including typical
measures like job growth, GDP growth, wage growth, productivity and the
employment rate. It also had a category for racial inclusion to measure the gap in
employment, earnings and poverty among various groups.
While very large metros slipped, many nearby large metros, defined as those with
populations of between 500,000 and 1 million, rose in the rankings. One explanation
is that they may have benefitted from lower housing costs, which workers, freed to go
remote, found more attractive.
Almost mirroring in reverse of Denver’s decline, Colorado Springs’ ranking went from
119th to sixth, making it among the metros that came out on top economically despite
the chaos of COVID-19. One explanation is that El Paso County is more reliant on
federal and military spending, which were not impacted as severely as other areas
like tourism, health care and retail trade.
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https://www.denverpost.com/2023/03/09/denver-greeley-economies-pandemic-decline-brookings/ 2
Colorado Springs was in the emergent category, along with Fort Collins, which rose
from 126th to 26th in the Brookings economic ranking. Emergent metros are defined
as bottom-half performers last decade who rose into the top half.
Metro Greeley, which encompasses all of Weld County, also was in the tested
category, going from 53rd to 190th, near the very bottom. Barilla said many oil and
gas hubs found their economies severely tested by depressed oil prices, which
caused a reduction in drilling activity. Weld County, once a top performer for job
growth and wage gains, also stands out for still not recouping its pandemic job losses.
Boulder was in the resilient category, meaning its economy was in the top half before
the pandemic and stayed there during the tough years. Boulder’s ranking didn’t move
much, going from 14th to 22nd. It was strong and stayed strong.
At the other extreme were stagnant metros, which weren’t doing well before the
pandemic or during it. Their level of misery tended not to change much. Most stagnant
metros are in the Midwest and Northeast and were once dependent on
manufacturing. None of the five Colorado metros studied were considered stagnant.
Barilla said the concentration of growth in very large metros, especially in the Western
half of the country, made it hard to supply enough housing to their growing
populations. That caused home prices and rents to spike and during the pandemic
contributed to population declines, especially in core urban areas like Denver County.
“There are a lot of fundamentals in metro Denver that made it a strong economy and I
don’t see this derailing what had been a strong economic trajectory,” Barilla said.
“More time is needed to see whether this is just a blip or something more significant.”
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