Camarillo City Council
AGENDA REPORT
Date: April 22, 2026
To: Honorable Mayor and City Councilmembers
From: Greg Ramirez, City Manager
Submitted by: Carmen Nichols, Assistant City Manager
Subject: Adoption of the Camarillo Old Town Strategic Action Plan
BACKGROUND
On September 5, 2018, the City Council adopted the Economic Development Strategic Plan (EDSP), which established a strategic framework to guide Camarillo’s economic development policies and programs. The EDSP emphasized not only business attraction, but also business friendliness, placemaking, infrastructure, quality of life, and partnerships. The EDSP further identified hospitality, entertainment, and retail as strategically important because those activities generate fiscal value, provide amenities for residents and visitors, and carry strong placemaking value. In addition, the EDSP identified revitalization of key commercial districts as a high-priority initiative and called for placemaking efforts with a focus on Old Town.
Since adoption of the EDSP, Old Town has continued to stand out as one of Camarillo’s most distinctive districts and as a place where economic development, community identity, walkability, local business activity, arts, and special events intersect. Because Old Town functions as a multi-owner district rather than a single-owner shopping center, it requires a more focused, place-based strategy than broader citywide economic development documents alone can provide.
For that reason, staff prepared the Camarillo Old Town Strategic Action Plan as a district- level implementation companion to the EDSP and as a framework to guide the next phase of Old Town’s revitalization and stewardship.
DISCUSSION
The Camarillo Old Town Strategic Action Plan is a five-year, aspirational framework intended to guide future City decision-making and implementation while preserving flexibility for future City Council decisions. Adoption of the plan does not create automatic budget appropriations or predetermine future development outcomes. The plan does not, by itself, establish final policy or approve implementation actions. Rather, it establishes a
Camarillo Old Town Strategic Action Plan
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framework and identifies opportunities and principles for advancing near-term priorities, sequencing longer-term opportunities, and evaluating future funding, policy, procurement, and project decisions as implementation progresses. The goals in this plan should be viewed as guiding principles for future policy work, and not as final outcomes.
Realization of the plan would come through several next steps where Council will have opportunities to review, adopt, or change these priorities depending on contextual conditions. Such opportunities could include a specific plan, capital improvement plan, or other mechanisms that would set policy, identify funding opportunities, and establish priorities.
Development of the plan was informed by more than 700 survey responses, a town hall, direct conversations with business owners, residents, and non-profit stakeholders, and mobility analysis focused on visitation, circulation, and peak activity patterns. The result is a district-specific strategy grounded in both adopted City policy and more recent community input.
The plan is organized around four strategic goals:
1.Strengthen Public Spaces and District Maintenance. This goal focuses on visible stewardship and the basic conditions that shape daily experience in Old Town, including cleanliness, lighting, landscape care, bike access, and wayfinding.
2.Increase Economic Energy and Storefront Activation. This goal focuses on protecting active frontage, improving business readiness, and reserving future parking management tools for the right phase of district evolution.
3.Build a Clearer Identity and Destination Experience. This goal advances public art, cultural district direction, decorative lighting, Dizdar Park activation, and coordinated branding and marketing.
4.Organize for Catalytic Readiness and Long-Term Delivery. This goal focuses on readiness for major opportunity sites and long-range implementation tools, including the Pleasant Valley School District (PVSD) site, coordination with the City’s former courthouse property, and future Property and Business Improvement District (PBID) exploration where meaningful owner support exists.
In addition to identifying strategic priorities, the plan outlines readiness categories and funding tiers intended to help sequence future actions responsibly. Ready-now items may proceed within existing authority and ongoing operations, while other actions depend on future policy adoption, external funding, partner alignment, or site control. Similarly, the plan distinguishes between baseline City responsibilities, targeted future City investments, and actions that will rely on grants, sponsorships, applicants, partnerships, or future district-based funding tools.
The plan identifies several near-term strategic priorities, including cleanliness, lighting, maintenance, wayfinding, business readiness, and branding. The plan also positions the Camarillo Old Town Strategic Action Plan
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City to respond strategically to longer-term opportunities, particularly as the PVSD surplus land process advances and as broader Old Town site coordination continues.
Upon adoption, the Camarillo Old Town Strategic Action Plan will provide a framework for strengthening Old Town. Where future actions require additional funding, formal policy adoption, separate project approvals, or other City Council action, those items will return through the appropriate public process. Actions that can be advanced within existing maintenance, operating, or already-programmed resources may proceed administratively, subject to available authority and budget capacity.
CITY COUNCIL STRATEGIC PLAN FY 2025/26
This item supports the City Council’s Strategic Plan Goal and Objectives 8.1, 8.2, and 8.3 – Economic Development; Goal and Objective 2.1 – Community Enrichment; and Goal and Objective 4.9 – Land Use, Transportation, Transit and Community Development, as the Camarillo Old Town Strategic Action Plan provides a policy framework to strengthen the business and visitor environment in Old Town, support future public art and identity improvements, and advance strategies to enhance the livability and economic viability of the area. The Strategic Action Plan is also consistent with broader adopted City policy direction, including the General Plan, Economic Development Strategic Plan, Sustainability Master Plan, and other related planning efforts identified in the plan where relevant.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no immediate fiscal impact associated with adoption of this action.
Adoption of the Camarillo Old Town Strategic Action Plan does not, by itself, appropriate new funds. Some ready-now actions may be advanced within existing maintenance, operating, or already programmed resources, subject to administrative capacity and budget availability. Other actions identified in the plan will require future City Council consideration through the annual budget, Capital Improvement Program, procurement, or other applicable approval process before City funds are committed.
CEQA DETERMINATIONS
City staff has determined, in accordance with Section 15061(b)(3) of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines, that adoption of the Camarillo Old Town Strategic Action Plan is not subject to CEQA review because it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that adoption of the Camarillo Old Town Strategic Action Plan may have a significant effect on the environment. The Strategic Action Plan is a framework-level policy document and does not approve any specific construction project, development entitlement, capital improvement, or other physical change to the environment. Any future action with the potential to result in a physical environmental Camarillo Old Town Strategic Action Plan
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impact will be brought forward for appropriate environmental review in accordance with CEQA.
RECOMMENDATION
1. Find adoption of the Camarillo Old Town Strategic Action Plan exempt from review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) of the CEQA Guidelines; and
2. Receive the Camarillo Old Town Strategic Action Plan; and
3. Adopt the Camarillo Old Town Strategic Action Plan as an aspirational framework for future Old Town decision-making and implementation; and
4. Direct staff to return to the City Council, as appropriate, through the applicable public process for future implementation actions that require City Council consideration or approval.
ATTACHMENTS
1. Camarillo Old Town Strategic Action Plan
REFERENCE MATERIALS – AVAILABLE FOR REVIEW AT CITY HALL None