Complete an Economic Development Plan Community Survey
Residents and the business community are invited to share their ideas about Gold River’s economy and quality of life via a community survey.
Take the survey here – https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/GoldRiver
Economic Development Plan
The Village of Gold River is creating an Economic Development Plan that aims to answer fundamental questions that will shape next generation job creation and prosperity:
- What does our future economy look like?
- What if we could achieve the exceptional as a community?
- What kind of community do we want to leave behind for our children and grandchildren?
The Village of Gold River completed an Economic Development Plan, and a Tourism Plan, in 2018. This Economic Development Plan is intended to bring fresh eyes to economic opportunity identification and investment readiness by bringing community voices with common interests together in pursuit of shared economic vision.
Founded as a mill community, closure of the mill in 1998 has required economic re-invention. Water access at Muchalat Bay and rugged west coast geography has generated tourism growth. There is potential to further grow the tourism industry, and consider realistic growth opportunities in other industry sectors such as aquaculture. Rural communities in BC have also benefited from affordability-seekers moving from expensive urban locations. The global, national, and BC economy continues to rapidly evolve and innovate, generating a number of considerations for Gold River including the future of resource-based industries, resident attraction & retention, housing affordability, and nurturing of entrepreneurship in pursuit of economic resiliency.
Economic Development Plans are about job creation, but also community development and the joy we seek in life well-lived. Emerging industries. Downtown vibrancy. Housing affordability. Entrepreneurship. Placemaking. When we connect these dots, an Economic Development Plan can be the ONE plan that answers a question at the soul of community pride, sense of belonging, and belief in a positive future: what makes Gold River distinctive in a way that attracts business, new residents, and visitors?
Economic development plans specifically focus on new ways forward for:
- Investment Attraction (industry sector development and diversification – e.g. tourism, aquaculture).
- Business Retention & Expansion (supporting existing business in their growth plans).
- Destination Development (enabling tourism infrastructure and product development).
- Workforce Attraction and Retention Development (skills matching with employment opportunities, community development foundations like housing, etc.).
- Resident Attraction (attracting quality of life seekers & entrepreneurs).
- Marketing (investment attraction/job-creation focused salesmanship).
We can embrace big ideas about the future in an Economic Development Plan. We also need to focus on identification of pragmatic actions that generate progress toward our vision of the future. We need your input and ideas! Thank you in advance for spending a bit of time to complete the survey (https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/GoldRiver). The survey will remain open until February 17, 2025.