Business, government leaders explore Valley’s economic future

MAT-SU — The Mat-Su Borough is starting to come into its own, shedding its reputation for slapdash development and as a bedroom community for Anchorage.

At least that’s the hope of 120 business leaders from all sectors of the area’s commercial community and a number of government officials who contributed to the borough’s Economic Development Strategic Plan, which was unveiled last week.

“We’re no longer a bedroom community. The reverse commute is starting to happen,” Dave Johnston, president of the Greater Wasilla Chamber of Commerce, says in a borough press release.

The borough set aside $125,000 to put the plan together and hired TIP Strategies out of Austin, Texas to do the job.

“We more than got our money’s worth,” said Dave Hanson, the borough’s economic development director, whose excitement about the plan is palpable.

One of the main recommendations of the plan is to lure high-paying jobs to the borough. Hanson said, in a way, that should be easy. About 32 percent of the borough’s work force commutes to Anchorage, which means talented people already live here.

It might be tough to get those firms to relocate wholesale. But some have already moved bits and pieces of their operations to the Valley. Hanson pointed to the architecture and engineering firms USKH and HDR, which both now have branch offices in the Valley.

“We can support satellite offices out here,” Hanson said. And the plan calls for more of that sort of thing.

But how does government encourage that?

“I think the government’s role is working with business to put together positive information on the borough, … having that information packet available for going in and speaking to the businesses,” Hanson said.

The plan, he said, includes an unprecedented level of support from local businesses. The list of participating professionals almost reads like an honor-roll of Valley commerce — farmers, real estate agents, construction companies, sporting goods stores, fishing and hunting guides, hotels and lodges and many others contributed input. The businesses even set up their own committees apart from government officials.

One of the unexpected bonuses of that approach, Hanson said, was that the borough got to meet with a number of businesses it may not have heard from before, businesses that fly under the radar, yet still manage to have millions of dollars worth of business. Meeting with such successful businesspeople, he said, was enlightening and a good way of finding examples of how to thrive as a Valley-headquartered enterprise.

“One of the things we learned from them is how great it is here to do business,” Hanson said.

Another interesting piece of the plan is its recommendation that the Valley create its own combined university/medical district.

Actually, Hanson said, consultants noticed on their own that the Valley essentially already has a nascent U-med district — both Mat-Su College and Mat-Su Regional Medical Center are on Trunk Road and not far apart.

“Do you realize what you’ve got? Do you realize what this could become?” Hanson recalls one consultant saying as borough officials took them on a tour. He said one of the committees was made up of human resources directors. They told him that in introducing new employees people to the Valley, a lot of them had trouble making the pitch while driving around town.

Many of them said it would be easier to convince people of the Valley’s charms, Hanson said.

“If we could have less junk along the roadsides and screen our gravel pits and encourage people not to clear 20 acres and top it with gravel and leave it there for years.”

Which, Hanson pointed out, is not a criticism of any type of job in the Valley, just a reality about some of the challenges the area has when it comes to leaving a good impression. The whole experience of watching the report come together was one Hanson saw as close cooperation between businesses and government.

“People want to work together to improve the borough as a quality place for quality jobs,” Hanson said.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.