Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-07-2012 ac B2 levanway & karim b20 San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce 1039 Chorro Street • San Luis Obispo, California 93401-327 8 (805) 781-2670 • FAX (805) 543-125 5 Ermina Karim, President/CE O July 19 2012 Mayor Jan Marx Members of the City Counci l City of San Luis Obisp o 990 Palm Street San Luis Obispo, CA 9340 1 RE :Draft San Luis Obispo Economic Development Strategic Pla n Dear Mayor Marx and Council members , The San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce is pleased to submit our comments regarding Sa n Luis Obispo City's draft Economic Development Strategic Plan . The development of a five-year strategy is an exciting opportunity for the City and th e community to prioritize efforts to enhance our local economy . We greatly appreciate th e opportunity to be a part of the process to-date and commend the City for its efforts . W e understand the significant importance of this document in providing important direction fro m which resources will be allocated and economic activity driven in our community for man y years to come. The Chamber, in its representation of nearly 1,400 businesses employing over 33,00 0 individuals in our community, believes that the success of this plan is critical to building on th e economic development efforts of recent years as well as to chart a course for future economi c health . We are providing with this document specific recommendations to enhance th e document and the identified strategies . While the document does address many key areas to spur economic development, there ar e many elements that we feel are missing from the document including discussion of , o the San Luis Obispo Regional Airport and its role in attracting busines s investmen t o housing, which is at the heart of the challenge for employers, new and existin g o more emphasis on the need to attract outside business that fits with th e community vision and that supports local small and home-based busines s owners RECEIVE D JUL 25201 2 SLO CITY CLERK the Chevron/Tank Farm Road industrial park plan should be directly included a s a critical element to the goals of promoting entrepreneurism and busines s growt h o workforce development and trainin g o business assistance programs and connecting to our local service provider s o energy and resource conservation assistanc e o the expansion of SLO's brand beyond its tourism base to promote it as a goo d place to establish and build a busines s In addition, we believe that the plan will be improved by incorporating clearer metric s associated with the strategies to ensure measurable outcomes . Successful implementation o f the strategies will be predicated on clearer description of the strategies, priority actions, responsibilities, and metrics . Finally, the Chamber also believes that regular updates to thi s document will ensure its effectiveness and short and long term reports back to the City Counci l should be established . Please see the attached documents for specific line item edits we feel will help accomplish th e goals of the document and support the growth and success of the business community . Thank you for considering our views on this matter . 2012 Chairperson of the Board President and CE O San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerc e Cc: Michael Codron, Assistant City Manage r Claire Clark, Economic Development Manager 1 .BreakDownBarriers to Job Creatio n General Comments : The metrics in this section need to be more measurable and specific . Please explain mor e clearly where there is an expectation that the community plays a role in efforts t o accomplish/complete strategies . For example, for the metrics associated with strategy 1 .1, "establish new procedures or revis e current procedures as appropriate through implementation of this strategy . Solicit communit y input and seek City Council approval" it is not clear how this will be accomplished by that description alone . More detail is needed on how the new/current procedures will b e approached . What will the solicitation of community input look like?Will it include publi c meetings, outreach to organizations and/or gathering of feedback from developers as the y work through this process? Setting very clear timelines for each of these processes is vital to the success of the businesses involved . More directly stating that would greatly enhance thi s section . Missing : The overall processing of environmental studies, EIRs and planning documents needs to se e significant change . Strategies for decreased timeframes for planning and CECW review an d creating greater certainty in the review process should be incorporated . PG 30, 1 .1 Project management specific to permit processing and development applications an d requirements needs to be much more efficient and timely. Predictability particularly in th e area of planning has tremendous impacts on the financing and overall movement of a project . More specific guidelines, training, accountability for assigned staff are important additions t o improve the process . In addition, significant improvements to interdepartmental coordination need to b e undertaken . This is a key element in the efficient delivery of public services for the City . Wher e multiple departments have review and decision-making authority, a system of management i s needed to create a head department and a "point" person who is responsible for delivering review, resolution of issues, and conflict resolution between city departments . PG 32, 1 .4 While we appreciate that financing infrastructure is a key provision of the draft more focu s must be made to more fairly distributing the costs of infrastructure improvements wher e community needs are being met . The current problem stems from a deferral of pas t investments in roads/traffic, drainage, water and sewer . These costs of community-wade need s should not just be borne by new development . PG 32, 1 .4 (a) More emphasis needs to be made on the successful annexation of developable land in th e airport area as an economic driver . The Chevron/Tank Farm project, in particular, represents critical future inventory of commercial/office space . More energy needs to be directed a t collaboration between the city and county in planning the area (not enough to reference it as a metric). PG 32, 1 .4 (c ) Broaden the base of possible funding mechanisms .For example,explore options for a genera l obligation bond . PG 34, 1 .7 The description of the strategy needs to be more specific about potential fee reductions as thi s is a key stimulant to economic growth . The city's fee structure has long been referenced as a barrier to desired development . There are significant variations in fees when compared t o other cities even within the County . An effort needs to be made to meaningfully address thes e costs to ensure that San Luis Obispo's economy continue to healthily, evolve . The Chamber suggests changing the time frame for this strategy from long to medium . I n addition, a first step effort could be to do a fee analysis and the underlying components tha t drive the fees . It's important we deal with the one of the most significant barriers to busines s development as soon as possible . 2 .Actively Support Knowledge and Innovatio n PG 35,2 .1 The Chamber of Commerce would like to see more specific description of the implementatio n and deliverables on this strategy, including the allocation that would be needed from the city. For example,a business incubator, innovation marketplace, co-location workspaces, support o f home based businesses all have costs attached . What will the timeline be for these and what i s the plan for financing ? PG 35, 2 .1 The Chamber would also like to see Cuesta College called out in this section as thei r entrepreneurship programs greatly enhance economic development . PG 35, 2 .1 (a ) In addition to Cal Poly and the community,assist startups and spin-offs from Cuesta College. PG 35, 2 .1 (d ) Be more specific about how the City will "support" home-based businesses . What resources ca n be used to connect them such as the incubators or co-location options mentioned previously? Lowering fees could be an option to evaluate as well . Gather creative options/input to hel p home based businesses truly succeed . PG 35, 2 .1 (e) (Add ) Support, use, maintain and update openforbusinessinslo .com . Partner to keep the site curren t and fresh . PG 35,2 .1 Metric : "Establish systems, entities and/or tools that foster and support business start-ups" is not clear . What kind of systems/tools will be looked for? How will that be measured ? PG 36,2.2 The Chamber agrees that access to broadband is a top priority . This section should b e strengthened with a strategy to identify the kind of potential investment that the City ma y make in this area that supports the efforts of the private sector and enhances San Lui s Obispo's competiveness and attractiveness for business growth . This is an important asset tha t could distinguish San Luis Obispo . PG 36, 2 .2 Metrics : Access to broadband : can be measured by number of customers being served, miles installed , capacity of broadband and cost . "City council approval" is not a metric . The goal for this should be to increase San Luis Obispo's cost competitiveness versu s metropolitan areas . Building out broadband will exponentially bring costs down over time, 3 .Promote theSLO lifeto enhance BusinessOpportunitie s Missing : This section would benefit from greater emphasis on outreach to residents about th e significance that a robust local economy has on the ability to deliver on quality of life investments and quality of life benefits of tourism to our community . The City should continue to strengthen the brand of the City and the role of tourism as a n economic development tool . Options to utilize existing resources, such a s www .openforbusinessinslo .com,or new marketing tools should be explored . The Chamber also believes that focused efforts to encourage the development of large, state - of-the-art, green conference facilities would allow San Luis Obispo to accommodate mor e events, business, and tourism to enhance the community and stimulate the local economy. The sense of safety in San Luis Obispo is a significant draw for tourists and potentia l businesspeople looking to relocate to the region . This should be referenced in the document . PG 37, 3 .1 Metrics: The term "SLO Lif e"is a tourism brand that may actually be communicating the wrong messag e for business development and attraction . An alternate marketing slogan may be a more positive way to phrase what we're trying to communicate . PG 37,3 .2 The role of the tourism manager should be empowered to collaborate with other regiona l tourism efforts as well as with various stakeholders throughout the city and county . The Chamber believes that one new role a tourism manager could take on is proactive effort s to recruit events and organizations to the area (city and county). This section should b e expanded to include local attractions, such as active support of the SLO Botanical Garde n Concert venue, City-to-sea multimodal path connection, Octagonal Barn Project and othe r historic/cultural activity enhancements as significant community assets . PG 38,3 .3, 3 .4 Metrics : Incorporate the analysis that organizations of all city-funded events provide to understan d which events drive the most economic impacts . 4 .Build on Existing Efforts with Regional Partner s General Comments : Title is confusing . It should be changed to something along the lines of "Identify and Increas e collaboration with Partners Throughout the Region ." Missing : The Chamber believes that the active recruitment of new businesses to SLO is an importan t element of economic development and that active recruitment should start with connections t o alumni at Cal Poly and Cuesta College . Although "partners" are referenced many times in this section they are not identified clearly i n this section . A few suggestions of those entities which we believe should be included are EVC , SLO County, large and small businesses, SLO Chamber, etc . There needs to be more explanation of who the partners are and how they coordinate . There are many references to strategies that deal with data collection in this section .Gatherin g data and maintaining accurate data about our community is not a strategy it is a tactic . W e recommend that resources be allocated to purchase data from known and reliable sources fo r our use in creating a viable strategy . PG 39,4 .2, 4 .4, 4 .5 If included in the final document, the data collection and use from these strategies should b e consolidated . More specific description should be included on how the data will be used . Th e data collected should be made available to other entities to promote business growth . Look at opportunities to build on partnerships as an outcome of the data collection in strategie s 4 .2 and 4 .4 . PG 40,4 .6 Support related efforts to grow and retain businesses in the area . Organizations like th e Chamber, the EVC and others are already working to have more collaboration on this front an d bring attention to the great efforts of our existing local businesses . PG 40,4 .7 Business retention should be moved up in the list of priorities. Keeping businesses here an d helping them grow should be outlined as a primary goal of the Economic Developmen t Strategy. Take more of a proactive role in recruiting and retaining businesses .