The city of St. Joseph is continuing to advance efforts to grow and market the city with a new economic development and community marketing strategy.

For the last few months, the Downtown Development Authority and City Commission have been discussing moving forward with business and housing development.

St. Joseph city manager Emily Hackworth tells us the city worked with Cornerstone Alliance and Place+Main Advisors out of Lansing, to help with this new plan.

“This is just the beginning. The next step is to put it into action and think about how we can make changes to what we do or how we do it, and how we can go after certain kinds of growth and development and businesses to bring some of these things to fruition.”

The plan, introduced to city commissioners during their October 28 board meeting, includes the establishment of a development and tax increment finance plan, strategic adjustments to downtown zoning to allow for additional middle housing types, and adjustments to the city’s marketing materials and online presence.

“As we move forward, we can do it as thoughtfully as possible, understanding what our residents want and what other folks want when thinking about coming to St. Joe, either to visit or to become residents.”

The Michigan Economic Development Corporation recently elevated St. Joseph to ‘essential’ status, and as a result, was given a $40,000 grant with a 75/25 match to complete the requirements to reach ‘certified’ status to help put this plan together.

Cornerstone Alliance actually covered 25% of the cost, mean