The basis of the Pierce County Economic Development Department’s strategic plan is jobs, Division Manager Denise Dyer said at Thursday morning’s  Gig Harbor Chamber of Commerce Public Affairs Forum at Cottesmore of Life Care.

She highlighted the strong partnership between Pierce County and local businesses meant to foster an environment that provides opportunities for business expansion and production — important considerations at a time when the economy is sluggish at best.

“We don’t see, if you will, the boundaries of jurisdictional differences,” Dyer said of Pierce County. “We work with all communities to attract businesses.”

While Pierce County enjoys a geographically desirable position in terms of international commerce — located between Asia and Europe and home to one of the nation’s top five container ports, the Port of Tacoma — the Economic Development Department works hard to take advantage of that and other assets to bring businesses to the area.

A big part of that is working with, not against, other economic development groups in the county — the Gig Harbor Chamber of Commerce, for example.

“We do not compete amongst ourselves,” Dyer said. “I think we’re experts at it.”

Good news
The good news for the area economy, according to Dyer, includes the county’s improved permitting system; increased visibility for infrastructure investments; the 2015 U.S. Open golf tournament to be played at Chambers Bay, a municipal golf course near Tacoma; and a focus on industry clusters.

The county’s permitting system is a work in progress, but has undergone changes in the last year to expedite the permit process for business relocation or expansion, including the ability to sign up for email notifications as a permit application goes through the review process and expanding the types of applications that can be made online, saving applicants a trip to county offices in Tacoma.

“There’s still a long way to go,” Dyer said, “but it’s getting there.”

When it comes to securing investments in infrastructure, she described the county’s efforts as “close to obnoxious,” as King County/Seattle often overshadows Pierce County.

The U.S. Open, the country’s annual golf tournament staged by the United States Golf Association, coming to Chamber’s Bay in mid-June 2015 bodes well for the local economy.

“One hundred twenty-five million dollars is estimated to come into the community,” Dyer said. “We think it’s an important thing for our community.”

Chambers Bay, a former gravel and sand quarry, is a links-style golf course that opened in 2007. The facility is owned by Pierce County and is pat of a 930-acre park in University Place.

Supporting selected area industries — the military, aerospace, tourism — also plays a prominent role in the thinking of the Economic Development Department, Dyer said.

“The military is one-third of the economy in Pierce County,” she pointed out.

Joint Base Lewis-McChord — an amalgamation of the Army’s Fort Lewis and the Air Force’s McChord Air Force Base, which were merged in February 2010 — is a military facility located near Tacoma.

Bad news
Negative factors impacting the economy of Pierce County include concerns over particulate matter in certain parts of the county and transportation issues, Dyer said.

The Environmental Protection Agency has designated the Tacoma-Pierce County area as a “non-attainment area” for air quality standards relating to tiny particulate matter – essentially dust, soot and smoke – which is one of six types of air pollution monitored and regulated by the Clean Air Agency under the federal Clean Air Act.

The Clean Air Agency has concluded that most of the Tacoma area’s particulate pollution does not come from industry or automobiles, but from wood-burning stoves, fireplaces and fireplace inserts.

The area is able to meet standards most of the year, but on some occasions in winter, weather conditions create an inversion pattern that traps cold, stagnant air close to the ground, causing fine particulates to build up rapidly.

Tacoma is the only city in the state to be labeled a non-attainment area for fine particulates, a distinction that is not only unhealthy but also bad for business.

“It will be hard to get anything permitted over the next few years,” Dyer explained.

If the state can’t create a plan for improving air quality acceptable to the EPA by December 2012, the Clean Air Act requires the EPA to impose its own plan.

Not taking corrective measures would also endanger federal funding and grants.

Transportation issues continue to bedevil economic development on occasion, Dyer said, noting that county residents on the Gig Harbor side of the bridge are all too familiar with transportation problems, given the impending toll increases on the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.

Traffic congestion is also having a negative effect on businesses looking to move to Pierce County, Dyer said.

She told a few stories of business leaders coming to Pierce County to discuss the prospect of moving their businesses here, only to change their minds — sometimes on the spot — because they ended up getting stuck in traffic.

Supportive business environment
Beyond streamlining the county’s permitting process, the Pierce County Economic Development Department provides direct services to businesses by providing survey results as well as information from the analysis of data and statistics.

The department also provides assistance in the form of business loans and works with banks to help area businesses access federal programs.

“We’ve been really prudently using this,” Dyer said of using banks to leverage federal aid.

Perhaps the most important service the department provides is basic communication.

“We communicate strategically,” Dyer said. “For example, we tell businesses about road construction and how it’s going to affect them.”

The bottom line is the department is doing what it can to bring businesses—and the jobs that come with them—to Pierce County.

“It’s important that Pierce County government respect businesses,” Dyer said.


Reporter Brett Davis can be reached at 253-853-9243 or by email at brett.davis@gateline.com. Follow him on Twitter, @gateway_brett.