02-25-08 Special Called Regular Meeting of the La Porte Development Corporation Board of Directors

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Introduction The City of La Porte is strategically located south of the Houston Ship Channel with its eastern border on Galveston Bay. The city is at the end of a corridor defined by the Houston Ship Channel, Battleground Industrial District, and the Bayport Industrial District. It is bounded on the west side by the Cities of Deer Park and Pasadena. The City of La Porte has prepared this request for proposal for a city-wide economic development plan to assist the city in determining the best economic mix for the long- term and outlining a strategy for attracting that mix. The. City understands that because of our location between two Port of Houston terminals we could fill all remaining land areas with port related business and be done. However, because we desire to diversify our tax base and to provide our citizens with shopping and leisure activities, in the summer of 2006 we commissioned the Buxton Community ID@ Study. It was determined that from this study we could work to develop a "Retail Attraction Strategy". Additionally in 2005 the City was officially accepted into the Texas Main Street Program and any proposed plan developed must review and incorporate the tenants of this Program. I. Objectives The overall objective will be to define an economic development strategy for the City of La Porte. Specific objectives within this context that must be achieved are as follows: 1. Determine the best economic mix for the City of La Porte in the future; attracting, creating & retaining jobs; improving workforce & education; and capturing emerging opportunities. 2. Develop a strategy to achieve the desired economic mix. 3. Determine the adequacy of the current development policies and regulations of the city. 4. Define the budget and organizational responsibilities for implementation of the strategy. II. Scope of Work While the study approach should be defined by the consultant, there are several factors that must be covered in the scope of the project. These are: 1