SEDI has identified various broad policy and planning issues that apply to all six focus areas. Our strategies are designed to address these issues on a case-by-case basis.

Current barriers to sustainable economic development

Government policies and regulations sometimes inhibit sustainable economic development. To address this, SEDI is working to incorporate “best practices” from other successful city, county, and state sustainability programs so we can foster an effective policy and regulatory environment in the county. For each of the six focus areas we have identified barriers — regulations, policies, or practices in planning, permitting, etc. — as well as effective incentives for change.

Short- versus long-term planning

Sustainability requires a long-term perspective to insure that future performance is not sacrificed for short-term gains. Consequently, our strategies are designed to ensure that planning remains long-range.

Need for evaluation criteria and monitoring

We can measure both short- and long-term performance by a set of progress indicators. SEDI plans to develop and apply a specific, yet flexible, set of County-specific evaluation criteria to continually monitor progress. Our goal is to provide a “scorecard” for how well sustainable economic development is progressing.

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