Consultants last week presented Williamsport City Council with an ambitious economic development strategy meant to make the city more desirable as a destination.
It's hard to argue with the five goals Delta Development Group of Mechanicsburg laid out for the city's future economic development strategy:
Creation of the Destination 2014 plan that has been pushed for the YMCA block downtown.
Completion of Reach Road improvements at Industrial Park.
Finding multiple uses for Bowman Field.
Expanding compressed natural gas use for industrial fleets and the public.
Development of additional parking.
As with any plan of this nature, the proof of its worth is in how much it is actually used, rather than gathering dust.
And beyond that, the plan has to be used judiciously, with a premium on transparency, practicality and a cost-benefit ratio.
The administration promised City Council that all the projects in the strategy would be ranked in order of importance, with funding sources identified and project timelines set.
Council members were promised they would have input in the process.
That's important.
Many possible future developments for Williamsport, particularly for downtown, have been announced without much involvement from council.
As important as all these plans are, they need to include a cooperative effort with input from council from the start.
And given the budget news for Williamsport of recent days, any public costs for these plans needs close scrutiny.
