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<br /> <br /> <br />March 23, 2016 <br /> <br />Jill Hutmacher, Community Development Director VIA EMAIL <br />City of Arden Hills <br />1245 West Highway 96 <br />Arden Hills, MN 55112 <br /> <br /> RE: Business Retention and Expansion Program Report <br /> <br />Dear Ms. Hutmacher: <br /> <br />I am pleased to present our findings from the 2015 Business Retention and Expansion Program <br />for the City of Arden Hills. The program successfully identified nearly 50 companies in the community <br />that met the established criteria for a visit and successfully conducted visits with 24 of them. In addition <br />to gathering a set of data that will prove useful in future policy and planning conversations, we had the <br />opportunity to thank businesses for investing in the City of Arden Hills and provided, and continue to <br />provide, technical and information resources to many of them. <br /> <br />We know that retaining and facilitating the expansion of existing businesses is an important part <br />of any city’s economic development plan. We commend the Economic Development Authority and <br />Economic Development Commission in the City of Arden Hills for having the foresight to proactively <br />work to retain your existing base of businesses. I believe we have been successful in achieving the <br />multitude of goals set out by the City of Arden Hills in advance of this effort: <br /> <br /> Demonstrate to businesses that the community appreciates their presence <br /> Help existing businesses solve immediate problems <br /> Increase businesses’ ability to compete in regional, national, and global markets <br /> Establish a strategic plan for economic development <br /> Build community capacity to sustain growth and development over the long term <br />The City of Arden Hills is home to some of the most recognizable businesses in the region, including <br />Boston Scientific and Land O’Lakes. The city is also host to a diverse collection of companies at all stages <br />of growth. We had the opportunity to build relationships and learn from many of these companies. <br />Some of our key findings include: <br /> <br /> An interest in increased transit access to serve the business community <br /> A lack of skilled workers to fill the increasing job opportunities <br /> A general theme that companies in the community are positioned and planning for growth in <br />both revenues and employees in the coming years <br /> <br />In the following report you will find a detailed overview of the Business Retention and Expansion <br />Program, a comprehensive profile of the business communities in the City of Arden Hills and Ramsey <br />County, as well as a complete set of data and information that was collected as a result of the business <br />visits and follow-up surveys. Additionally, we have prepared two sets of recommendation for the <br />consideration of the EDC and EDA. Our recommendations include: