The City of Sarnia is hoping to hear from residents as it looks ahead to support local economic growth and business retention over the next decade.
The city is now in the engagement stage (phase two) of developing an Economic Development Master Plan.
As such, an online survey has been launched and will remain open until December 2.
In-person and online public meetings have also been scheduled to take place on November 26 and December 3, respectively.
"The master plan will give the key recommendations that will be used to guide the allocation of resources through the budget process," said Communication Manager Steve Henschel. "Given that the economy impacts all of us -- we all live, work, and play in Sarnia -- all of our residents are really stakeholders in this process. We really want to hear from them about their visions for the future of Sarnia, what they see our strengths are, what they see our potential challenges are, and maybe some of their ideas on how to overcome those challenges or really facilitate a prosperous future."
Henschel said feedback will also be collected from stakeholder groups and industry partners.
"We'll also be engaging city council throughout the process and in phase four, we're looking at the finalization of a draft master plan," Henschel said.
The goal is to submit a plan to council for approval by March 2025.
"We'll be releasing some findings throughout the development of this," Henschel said. "Stuff like our analysis of the current economy and the challenges it's facing. So there'll be some great information released there to inform residents as we work through the whole process."
Economic resilience was identified as a priority in the 2024 City Council Strategic Plan.
The city retained the consulting services of urbanMetrics Inc. for the project.
At this time, the in-person open house scheduled for November 26 will be held at Clearwater Arena in the lower hall from 7 p.m. until 8:30 p.m.
A virtual meeting will be held on December 3, beginning at 7 p.m. Residents have been asked to preregister for the online open house ahead of the event date.