Timothy W. Peters, chairman and chief executive officer of Warfel Construction Co.,this morning outlined the LancasterProspers Plan initiated by the EDC last year to "insure Lancaster's current and future prosperity.''

"Lancaster, like many communities in the Northeast, has not aggressively tried to recruit companies from other locations,'' he told some 300 people who attended the EDC's annual breakfast meeting at Willow Valley Resort and Conference Center.

Others addressing today's breakfast included Lancaster County Commissioner Pete Shaub and EDC executive director David Nikoloff, who both also talked about economic growth.

"The county has historically been able to grow its own,'' said Peters. "We need to develop a marketing strategy targeted to groups of companies and site selectors that might be interested in relocating to Lancaster.'' In addition, he said evidence exists that the county may not be effectively nurturing the next generation of entrepreneurs and needs to create a system of "entrepreneurial support,'' which is important to the county's to help the county'sal Peters listed those among seven strategies determined by the LancasterProspers planning committee, a group of 39 business and community leaders that over the past year examined the local economy to come up with a economic vision.

The first strategy includes fostering more collaboration or "regionalization'' among the county's many government entities, an issue that comes up time and time again in economic studies.

"This collaboration concept should be applied to initiatives within the county as well those from beyond our borders in a further effort to reduce fragmentation in local planning an decision making,'' Peters said.

Another strategy is to create "a vibrant urban environment in our cities and boroughs and especially downtown Lancaster, which he said should be a social and entertainment hub for young adults.'' "Our current downtowns are underdeveloped, retail hours are short, entertainment venues are limited, crime and parking are perceived problems, real estate markets are slow and redevelopment costs are high.'' All those problems, he said, lead to sprawl and loss of farmland.

Other strategies include:

· Doing more research about the county's economic condition to determine which sectors are facing slow or no growth.

· Work with local educational institutions to create a base for science and technology research.

· Encourage companies to work together "to identify and address significant market challenges'' and to design training programs with local educational institutions to suit their hiring needs.

He said the LancasterProspers planning committee "felt strongly'' about not creating another group to put the strategies in place. Rather, the strategies will be assigned to existing organizations that have the expertise to fulfill for them.

As an example, the Lancaster County Workforce Investment Board has already identified "job clusters'' with the help of local companies to determine what kind of job training is needed to make sure the county has capable work force.

The 90-minute breakfast also included some very optimistic comments from Nikoloff, who said economic development projects "have been rolling in at a tremendous pace'' to the county.

He referred to many "best news'' projects including the baseball stadium being planned at North Prince Street, the James Street Improvement District's efforts and the city's new industrial park to be located off South Prince Street.

Later, in his presentation, Shaub reiterated some of his previous public comments, including his concerns about the county's new budget.

He said the new budget calls for multi-million projects that will put the county in the red. Shaub has criticized former commissioners Ron Ford and Paul Thibault for creating and approving the new budget before leaving office.

Nonetheless, Shaub ended up voting for the budget to stop a two-week stalemate.

"Our mission is to reduce these trends,'' he said, adding that the new board wants to get more public input before approving projects in the future.

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