Staff briefed the council on early work by the economic development subcommittee and presented two example vision statements for the city's general plan.

Subcommittee members said they preferred example 2 over example 1 and recommended several edits to avoid ambiguous or politically loaded terms. Council members asked staff to clarify "urban design" and to explicitly include residents and landowners in statements that otherwise focus on businesses and tourism. Several members suggested replacing or qualifying the phrase "environmental preservation" with language such as "natural character" or "good stewardship" to avoid triggering expectations that the city will take actions beyond typical planning strategies.

Staff explained that the vision statement is intentionally high level; each subchapter (land use, transportation, economic development, environment) will translate the vision into specific goals, measurable objectives and strategies. Councilmembers emphasized that the draft should function as a guiding framework that the subcommittees can use to develop chapter-level missions and implementation steps.

Council discussed the idea of four priority themes (described in the meeting as the "four legs") to guide the plan: (1) protection of natural character/environmental stewardship (reworded), (2) high-quality urban design, (3) thoughtful infrastructure improvements, and (4) a balanced economy that supports residents, local businesses and tourism. Staff will incorporate subcommittee edits, solicit further input from councilmembers and return the vision language and subchapter outlines for additional review in December.