HomeMy WebLinkAboutMarch 11, 2025 Minutes Approved ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY BOARD
March 11, 2025
Carolina Club— Peebles Room#112
150 Stadium Drive
Chapel Hill, NC 27514
Minutes
Members Present: Estella Johnson, John Kim, Tom Proctor, Kristen Young, Elise Tyler, Emilee Collins,
Hasan Abdullah
Members Not Present: Jane Saiers, Lisa Kaylie, Joy Mercer
Orange County Staff: Steve Brantley, Amanda Garner, Lindsey Hirni
Guest Speaker: Crystal Morphis
Call to Order
The meeting was called to order by Kristen Young at 11:35 a.m.
Approval of Minutes
A motion was made by Estella Johnson and seconded by Elise Tyler to approve the Minutes from the
January 13, 2025 meeting. The motion passed unanimously.
Old Business
Kristen asked for an update on any new Advisory Board applicants for the upcoming 3 vacancies. Staff
informed the board that a past board member, Sharon Hill, has applied. The board should continue to
recruit for the 2 Core Business Community positions.
New Business
Crystal Morphis, Founder& CEO Creative Economic Development Consulting, introduced herself to the
board and went over the scope of work she and her team will be doing on the Economic Development
Strategic Plan. After board member introductions Crystal had everyone participate in a SWOT (Strengths,
Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis so they could share their feedback on each category
for Orange County.
Strengths—location, schools, education/public university, medical facilities, Article 46 '/4 cent sales tax,
arts, talent.
Weaknesses—cost of living/higher taxes, affordable housing, transportation, water/sewer, lack of start-
ups, labs, private sector companies.
Opportunities—transportation, EDD (more industry = adds to tax rev.), land use plan (additional property),
UNC new arena, innovation center, workforce development.
Threats—development, traffic/roads, fed funding, cost of living, EDD restrictions, Schools (old, not full
capacity) % of income on housing.
Crystal spoke about some trends she is seeing in other communities like water, schools, migration from
other states, working from home, retention of small businesses, online shipping, the value of 4 year
education, A.I. (Artificial Intelligence). She also had the board discuss public investment such as
affordable housing, Economic Development Districts, transportation, centennial campus (UNC),
leadership development, climate resilience.
Crystal then asked the board to think about some goals for the county to strive towards and each member
provided a variety of ideas such as a better understanding of Economic Development, larger ED budget,
attracting more high-tech companies, increasing commercial tax base, retaining high stable labor, and
confirming the EDD's &expanding. Crystal mentioned that there could be a recommendation for an
Economic Development Summit in the Strategic Plan. She also asked the board to ask A.I. "why would I
want to move to Orange County" and "Should I start my company in Orange County or(insert another
county)"to see what people are saying about our area.
Adjournment
Kristen Young adjourned the meeting at 1:30 PM