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Economic
Development
Strategy
2018-2023
www.ramara.ca/edo
1
Table of Contents
I.
Executive Summary .................................................................................... 2
II.
Economic Development in Ramara ......................................................... 3
III.
Strategy Development Process ................................................................. 5
IV.
Our Mission & Vision .................................................................................... 7
V.
Strategic Goal #1 ........................................................................................ 8
VI. Strategic Goal #2 ........................................................................................ 9
VII. Strategic Goal #3 ...................................................................................... 10
VIII. Strategic Goal #4 ...................................................................................... 11
IX. Strategic Goal #5 ...................................................................................... 12
2
Executive Summary
The Township of Ramara's 2017-2022 Corporate Strategic Plan identifies a priority
to support Economic and Tourism Development. This priority aims to grow the
local economy and strengthen local businesses while promoting the natural
assets in the Township. To achieve this goal, the Township must have a plan in
place that is reflective of the current environment with realistic actions and
objectives.
The Township's Economic Development Staff and Ramara Economic
Development Committee worked with the Rural Economic Development
Advisor from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA)
to create a realistic and achievable Economic Development Strategy. This
strategy is aligned with the overall strategic direction of the municipality while
reflecting the current business environment in Ramara.
Through extensive consultation and planning with local and regional economic
development stakeholders, businesses and residents; the Township's 2018-2023
Economic Development Strategy was developed with five strategic goals:
1. Increase the amount of infrastructure available to the businesses and
community, including internet, natural gas, water, wastewater and
transportation.
2. Enhance and increase the level of capacity and service for economic
development in Ramara Township
3. Identify and address barriers to development
4. Support Business Retention and attraction from start-up to expansion
5. Promote Investment in Ramara
Objectives and action areas have been identified within each goal. These
objectives and actions will help establish priority areas of focus and guide
activities for the Township's Economic Development Staff and Committee.
Key performance indicators will be established for each of the goals and
objectives, and annual reports will be submitted to provide updates on the
progress that is being made.
3
Economic Development in Ramara
In consultation with businesses and stakeholders many benefits of doing business
in Ramara were identified including:
-
Helpfulness from municipal staff
-
Quality of life for business owners and employees (helps with employee
retention)
-
Location - proximity to Lakes Couchiching and Simcoe, Highway 12
corridor, Orillia and the GTA
-
Buy local initiative within community and business community
-
Untapped business opportunities exist for incoming businesses
Ramara Township's population is forecasted to increase to 13,000
residents by 2031.
Ramara Township is a net exporter of workers with approximately 2,994 jobs
within the municipality and a labour force if more than 8,295. The fastest growing
occupations are positions in art, culture, recreation and sport, health
occupations, and natural resources, agriculture and related production
occupation.
Based on location quotient scores, Ramara has a strategic advantage in 6
NAICS industry sub sectors, the most substantial of which is in the arts,
entertainment and recreation sub-sector.
Ramara's Top 5 Industry Sub-sector by Location Quotient
Arts, entertainment and recreation
3.78
Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting
3.71
Professional, Scientific and Technical Services
2.21
Accommodation and Food Services
1.86
Public Administration
1.80
Location quotient (LQ) is a measure of a region's share of an industry in relation
to the provincial or national economy. A LQ score of greater than1 is
considered to be above the provincial average, and over 1.2 is considered a
strategic advantage compared to other parts of the province.
Residential Building Permit
values increased 292%
from 2011 to 2017
Year
Permit Value
2011
$8.46 Million
2017
$24.72 Million
4
44%
10%
8%
12%
15%
11%
KEY INDUSTRIES BY JOB NUMBERS
Other
Construction
Manufacturing
Tourism
Retail Trade
Health care &
Social Assistance
Other sub-sectors with a substantial increase in jobs between 2011-2016 are
information and cultural industries, and professional, scientific and technical
services.
Ramara's fastest growing industries are mining, quarrying, and oil and gas
extraction, health care and social assistance, retail and manufacturing
Other: Agriculture forestry, fishing and hunting, Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction, Utilities,
Wholesale trade, Transportation and warehousing, Information and cultural industries, Finance and
insurance, Real estate and rental and leasing, Professional, scientific and technical services, Management
of companies and enterprises, Administrative and support, waste management and remediation services,
Educational services, Other services (except public administration), Public administration
5
Strategy Development
With assistance and direction from the Rural Economic Development
Advisor from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affair (OMAFRA),
the Ramara Economic Development Committee (REDC) and staff
undertook a comprehensive process to prepare an Economic
Development Strategy for the Township of Ramara. Currently the
municipality does not have an Economic Development Strategy, however
direction from the Corporate Strategic Plan highlighted a need for more
focus on Economic Development.
A series of consultations, workshops and planning sessions were held from
September 2017 through March 2018. These sessions included:
- Business and external stakeholder open houses were held on
November 15th 2017
- A business questionnaire email was sent to businesses for the week
after the open house
- A resident survey was posted online from September 27th 2017 to
October 27th 2017
- OMAFRA's Community Economic Development (CED) 101 Workshop
was held on January 14, 2018 with the REDC to provide an overview
of economic development practices and activities to help establish
roles, responsibilities, priorities, and direction for the plan; and
- Three strategic planning workshops were held on February 2, 2018,
February 9, 2018 and March 16, 2018 with the Ramara Economic
Development Committee that refined the direction of the plan,
established its scope, identified specific goals and objectives, and
developed performance measures.
The findings from several other projects that were completed in advance
of the Economic Development Strategic Planning Exercise were
considered when developing the plan. These projects included:
- A Regional Business Retention and Expansion (BR+E) Study
completed in 2016
- A Regional Tourism Asset Mapping Exercise completed in the Fall of
2016.
6
- A First Impressions Community Exchange (FICE) program that
recommended key improvements to the Village of Brechin and
identified positive features as well.
The information gathered from these studies and the elements of the
Strategic Planning exercise provided valuable insight regarding
community and business strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
This information shaped the direction of the strategy and the steps the
municipality needs to take in Economic Development.
7
To serve as a connector, advisor and facilitator
of the economic development ecosystem that will
support the attraction, retention and expansion of
business in Ramara.
Our vision is for a cohesive, well-serviced
community that has facilitated the development
of a diverse and profitable business
community and municipality.
8
Strategic Goal #1
Increase the amount of infrastructure available to the businesses and
community, including internet, natural gas, water, wastewater and
transportation.
Objective 1: Meet and advocate with servicing companies to provide
necessary infrastructure within the community
Action Areas
o Identify priority areas - establish a rationale to facilitate a pitch
o Identify suppliers in Ontario, potentially Canada
o Meet with the most likely suppliers (prioritized list) to advocate for
servicing, find out the requirements to bring infrastructure in
o Create an action plan to address the gaps in requirements
Objective 2: Investigate appropriate and achievable tactics to bring
infrastructure to the Township, prioritizing the Rama Road Corridor
Action Areas
o Advocate to the County to support/coordinate efforts to share the
"need for infrastructure" message to other levels of government
o Connect with other municipalities who have been successful in
obtaining infrastructure funding to learn from their success
o Connect with relevant levels of government to advocate for the
need, and to better understand the funding process
o Research best practices and creative ways to drive forward
infrastructure development
Objective 3: Leverage the SWIFT program
Action Areas
o Investigate how SWIFT (for internet) can benefit the municipality
o Follow up for ways to move forward quickly
o Continue partnership with SWIFT
9
Strategic Goal #2
Enhance and increase the level of capacity and service for
Economic Development in Ramara Township
Objective 1: Dedicate the necessary resources to the Economic Development
department to complete the objectives identified in the strategy
Action Areas
o Identify time and budgetary requirements to complete strategy
(identified in annual work plan)
o Identify any gaps in knowledge and/or personnel
o Address gaps through training and increased staff time dedicated
to economic development
Objective 2: Enhance and expand economic development capacity through
the leveraging of relevant partnerships
Action Areas
o Continue to liaise with the regional support system to help refer and
answer inquiries
o Identify support services where there is no existing connection and
explore opportunities for partnership and/or referral
o Improve communications (email/phone/in-person meetings) with all
partners regarding initiatives and opportunities in Ramara, and
initiatives and opportunities they may be offering to share back to
the business community and public
10
Strategic Goal #3
Identify and address barriers to development
Objective 1: Continue advocating for Ramara's needs through Official Plan and
Zoning Bylaw update process
Action Areas
o Identify areas where advocacy is required
o Remain involved in Official Plan and Zoning Bylaw update
discussions
o Participate in Zoning Bylaw update for home based businesses to
make it easier for start-ups. Support changes to be more inclusive of
home based business
o Review existing provisions to identify land use limitations (including
road access) and where acceptable and possible, remove land
use limitations
Objective 2: Explore the feasibility of a development permitting system (DPS), if
feasible, adopt
Action Areas
o Identify agencies that need be involved in DPS
o Discuss with relevant agencies what could be possible under DPS
o If feasible, implement new system
o Communicate about the new system to the business community
and public using multiple channels
Objective 3: Advocate for Ramara with local and provincial officials to remove
existing barriers to development
Action Areas
o Identify and document comprehensive list of barriers and concerns
o Identify the local/provincial point person(s) responsible for the
barriers and concerns identified on the above list
o Connect with point person to better understand how/why the
barrier/concern came to exist, what are the long-term plans (i.e.
MTO and entrances) and what options are available to remedy the
issue
o Where possible, pursue potential options to remedy
o Where not possible, connect with other municipalities facing similar
barriers and advocate in creative ways
o Research best practices related to advocacy
11
Strategic Goal #4
Support Business Retention and Attraction from start-up to expansion
Objective 1: Improve communication with and access to information for the
business community
Action Areas
o Welcome/start-up package with CDC/OLC information
o Packages for businesses with zoning information (parking etc.)
o Home based business information package
o Update and modernize economic development website, include a
news and information (programs and events) section
o Assess the need and role of social media in connecting with
businesses
o Assess the need and role of creating a business focused newsletter
to share news and information
o Build and maintain a business database
Objective 2: Improve communication and coordination with business support
services
Action Areas
o Maintain and improve relationship with CDC/County/Chamber to
support start-ups, expansions, retention, etc.
o Maintain and improve relationship with OLC/Tourism Simcoe County
to help promote business community and Ramara from a tourism
perspective, as well as support product development
o Explore opportunities to expand partnership with Brechin and
Beyond
o Work with partners to develop a business to business networking
event to facilitate stronger connectivity in the business community,
assess feasibility of creating an on-going event
o Explore best practices with partners for business start-up, retention,
and expansion
Objective 3: Implement a Community Improvement Plan (CIP) for property
improvement and on-farm diversification
Action Areas
o Connect with Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing to
understand CIP development process and what
incentives/abatements are possible to offer
o Develop and implement CIP
o Promote CIP to existing and incoming business
12
Strategic Goal #5
Promote Investment in Ramara
Objective 1: Complete a branding exercise
Action Areas
o Perform a branding exercise
o Roll-out and implementation of recommended actions
o Communicate out new brand
o Update Township materials to reflect the brand
Object 2: Improve Township signage
Action Areas
o Explore feasibility of digital signs to advertise community events
o Update Township signage to reflect new brand
o Identify locations and attractions for wayfinding signage (ex.
Beach, library, farmer's market)
o Purchase and install wayfinding signage
Objective 3: Market available land and investment opportunities
Action Areas
o Create marketing materials for Township and industrial park:
Materials should include a community profile, information on doing
business in the Township, information on available properties, etc.
o Identify channels to promote the industrial park
o Promote industrial park lands
o Continue to partner with OLC/County/Small r regional group for
investment attraction projects (including: regional marketing
partnership, tourism attraction/investment, etc.)