Meetings focus on expanding Farmington business community

Talk about it

It takes a lot of time and planning to make a garden grow. You plow the land, you choose the seeds. You plant them, you water and fertilize the garden. And if you’re lucky, you’ll soon reap the benefits of your hard work.

That’s kind of what folks over at Farmington City Hall are hoping for — to reap the benefits of a successful growing season. Only, they want to grow Farmington’s business base.

Hence, the Grow Farmington meetings, one of which was scheduled for Wednesday night.

Grow Farmington is a collaborative effort of city staff, council/economic development authority members, the Farmington Business Association and the Dakota County Regional Chamber of Commerce, along with input from residents and other interested community stakeholders.

The group first met in December to start thinking about what they’d like to see in Farmington. They were asked to list the top things they felt were important to the community. From the many answers provided that night, city staff put together a list of the top 10 priorities.

That list, economic development specialist Tina Hansmeier said, was to be the basis for the Wednesday session.

“The group will be asked to identify the top three initiatives that we are going to to work on,” Hansmeier said. “It will be decided by the group, based on what are the most important priorities to the group. We will work on whatever items they choose.”

Once the group selects its three most important topics, Farmington city planner Lee Smick will set about creating action steps to accomplish each of those goals. Smick will also develop a strategic plan to carry out those initiatives.

At press time, this week’s Grow Farmington session had not taken place. As such, Hansmeier did not have a date for any subsequent meetings of the group. Grow Farmington meetings are posted on the city’s web site, www.ci.farmington.mn.us.

Tags: local government, news, farmington, government