SALEM – The economic development committee discussed the city’s new five-year economic development plan March 17.

Sustainable Opportunity Development (SOD) Executive Director Julie Needs said having the previous five-year plan in place was very beneficial to guide Salem’s economic development efforts from 2021 through 2025.

Under that plan several significant milestones were achieved including the expansion of the city’s existing Community Reinvestment Area (CRA) and the creation of its Post-1994 CRA; the creation of the Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area downtown; the creation of a formal business retention and expansion program; the formation of Elevate Buildings Solutions, the city’s contracted third-party commercial building department; and being named as a top 100 micropolitan community by Site Selection Magazine for six years. Needs said during that time the city’s annual income tax collection increased by $1.55 million, or 25%, which she attributed to job creation and workforce investment efforts.

The SOD Center began the process of developing a new economic development plan to guide the city’s efforts from 2026 through 2030 in July with an anonymous stakeholder survey. According to Needs, the survey –which asked respondents questions about how they feel about Salem, what challenges they feel the city is facing and what they felt it needed more of –had an extremely strong community response. The survey had 593 responses in approximately 45 days, which was “more than double” the number of responses SOD received for the previous economic development plan, which Needs said had “a little over 200” responses.

That total of 593 responses was only via fully completed surveys. The SOD Center had even more responses from surveys that were only partially completed. Needs will be happy to share data from those responses with any members of the city council who wanted it. In addition to the survey, Needs said SOD hosted 15 dedicated stakeholder meetings with local business owners, community organizations, and city residents.

“The community support for the plan was extraordinary. We collected 593 surveys for the plan. That was from residents, from employees, from employers. We even had surveys completed by visitors which gave us a really good perspective of people who are coming into Salem from outside,” she said. “Why they’re coming in, what else would drive them to Salem, and what other kinds of shopping would they do in Salem if we had it. So, we got really good data for this next plan we’re excited to have it.”

While the full plan still needs to be completed this year, Needs told the committee SOD had five key impact goals it was aiming to complete by 2030 including: positioning Salem as a competitive hub for advanced manufacturing; increasing housing availability and retail diversity; fostering a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem; strengthening workforce readiness and community engagement; and ensuring long-term organizational sustainability and financial resilience.

That process begins this year with building a foundation by updating and collecting data utilized by site selectors and developers including an industrial site and owner database, a retail property catalog, a vacant property database, and an “infill program” to update and convert existing properties into usable housing.

“Economic development and community development are one and the same,” said Needs.

It will also include continued efforts to market that information like the city’s video postcards which were unveiled during the summer and the development of manufacturer incentive marketing materials.