Christopher Wilkens, a local builder in Narragansett, envisions a downtown with a mix of thriving businesses, quaint shops, eateries, a place where lawyers and doctors hang out their shingles, and all coexist among the residential community.

Other than the shops and restaurants in the privately owned Pier Village Marketplace, near the Narragansett Town Beach, there’s not a whole lot as you move away from the sand.

To get everyone on board with a concept of rebuilding the downtown, Wilkens, the Town Council president pro tem, says that local businesspeople first need a voice, and that’s why at tonight’s council meeting, he will propose creating an economic development committee.

The panel would have seven to nine members — likely local entrepreneurs — appointed to a permanent advisory group to assist the Town Council. The group would help with projects and help prioritize, especially now as the state, cities and towns wait to learn of their share of federal funds coming from President-elect Barack Obama’s proposed economic stimulus package.

Part of the need for a local economic development team, Wilkens says, is because the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation has not done enough for the small businesses that call the South County region home.

Wilkens says that the committee would be there to help encourage and empower local businesses.

“It’s about time. The town of Narragansett has a network of neighborhood associations, but there’s never been one for the businesses. Narragansett is a residential community but it’s also a very important business community,” Wilkens said. “The state EDC has it all wrong. They have a top-down approach. They will bring in the Fidelities and give the money to the cities and suburban ring area. So much of the money is going for the I-way, or Quonset Point. We want our share of the improvement. There’s another world down here.”

EDC spokesman Andy Cutler said that with 80 percent of the state’s businesses with annual sales less than $20 million, “the major thrust of the economic agency has been with the midsize and small business.”

The agency doesn’t just focus on larger enterprise, he said, but added that it’s good that local business communities are banding together to find solutions rather than just talking about it.

“It’s about time” that there is “a front-and-center [movement] in the state,” Cutler said. “We are in a downturn economy. We all need to work together.”

Wilkens has tapped the expertise of Edward M. Mazze, the Distinguished University Professor of Business Administration at the University of Rhode Island, to assist with crafting the local committee’s goals.

Mazze, a Narragansett resident who may also lead the panel, said the committee would need to do an economic profile of Narragansett to determine what kinds of businesses would thrive there.

“At the same time, identify what we need to do to keep existing business. Another thing we are looking at is to try to get Narragansett back to the old days when it was a 12-month-a-year-business community,” Mazze said, noting that business slows considerably during the winter months. “In order to make Narragansett a much more dynamic business community, we have to urge people who live here to shop in Narragansett.”

Mazze said the EDC is predominantly concerned with high-paying jobs and is attracting new businesses to Rhode Island in an effort to make up for the tens of thousands of jobs that the state has lost, particularly in manufacturing. The agency could also work more with existing business to create jobs, he said.

“Narragansett should continue to be a good-quality-of-life community with a good economic base. We are not looking to attract national corporations, or headquarters, [such as] what the state is doing,” Mazze said. “We want to make sure Narragansett doesn’t have any vacant spaces. That is quite a challenge.”

lsparks@projo.com