COUNCIL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
MEETING MINUTES – October 28, 2021
CALL TO ORDER: The Regular meeting was called to order at 5:00 p.m.
ATTENDANCE (September 2021-July 2022):
Committee Member
Present
10/28/2021
All Meetings
Year to Date
Meetings Mandated
By Resolution
Present
Absent
Present
Absent
Council Member Salinas
Π
1 0
1 0
Council Member Wahab
Π
1 0
1 0
Council Member Andrews
Π
1 0
1 0
OTHERS IN ATTENDANCE:
Kelly McAdoo, City Manager; Jennifer Ott, Assistant City Manager; Sara Buizer, Deputy Director of Development Services; Paul Nguyen, Economic Development Manager; Catherine Ralston, Economic Development Specialist; Leigha Schmidt, Senior Planner; Suzanne Philis, Senior Secretary
PUBLIC COMMENTS
Hayward Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Kim Huggett reviewed Chamber-organized events that had occurred including the Black Business Roundtable and the Mariachi Festival. He also noted the latest edition of the Business Guide had been distributed throughout the city and that the next session of Leadership Hayward was about to begin.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING JULY 22, 2021
A motion to approve minutes from the July 22, 2021 Regular Meeting was made by Council Member Wahab and seconded by Council Member Andrews. The minutes were approved.
Members heard Item #3 before Item #2.
ROUTE 238 PROPERTIES DEVELOPMENT UPDATE
Assistant City Manager Ott gave the presentation.
Council Member Andrews thanked her for the presentation and asked what tools the City was using to maintain or increase the number of affordable housing units. She said she liked that new development was overall at least 28% affordability.
Assistant City Manager Ott explained that Parcel Group 3 was 100% affordable and for Parcel Group 8 staff was able to expedite the affordable housing piece so that raised the percentage of affordable units. Even if Parcel Group 9 ended up with housing, she said, they would still have affordable housing requirements to meet. Assistant City Manager Ott noted that the 100% affordable projects were the most certain so the City should be able to maintain the overall range of 25-30% affordability.
Council Member Andrews asked if there was any chance a grocery store could be included in the Parcel Group 9 development. Assistant City Manager Ott said that could be tricky because of the location near the freeway onramp, but said she was open to asking the developer.
Council Member Andrews asked her about a food court instead. Assistant City Manager Ott said a food court might want to be closer to the City center but the zoning allowed for flexibility so a variety of uses could be considered.
Council Member Andrews asked if the Campus Association was being kept up to date on the Parcel Group 6 development and Assistant City Manager Ott said yes.
City Manager McAdoo noted staff was meeting with the Association the next. She noted she gave neighbors her phone number and email and had received several calls. She said traffic calming measures would be maintained and that City staff was using a consultant for a traffic study.
Council Member Salinas asked where Parcel Group 4 was located and Assistant City Manager Ott told him it was near Harder Road. Council Member Salinas asked if the land could be used for a farm or an agricultural use. Assistant City Manager Ott said the land may be too steeply sloped for ranching but she could ask. She noted that staff issued a Request for Proposals but didn’t receive any responses.
Council Member Salinas asked if the City could purchase Parcel Group 4. Assistant City Manager Ott explained that the City would have to purchase the land from CalTrans and pay maintenance costs which could be quite high. She said staff was working with the Hayward Area Park and Recreation District to own and maintain the land as open space.
Regarding the Eden Housing school project, Council Member Salinas asked if the school wasn’t approved what would happen to the building. Assistant City Manager Ott said the City was very committed to working with the Hayward Unified School District to keep a school at the site. She said it could also be a Charter school, but if there was no school the site would be in default.
DEVELOPMENT SERVICES DEPARTMENT ACTIVITIES UPDATE
Deputy Director of Development Services Buizer gave the presentation.
Council Member Andrews asked for an update of the Kmart site on Mission Boulevard. She mentioned that there was a Keep Hayward Clean and Green event and the parking lot was really dirty. Deputy Director Buizer said she would follow up on the concern.
Council Member Andrews asked staff about the co-working item on the Future Meeting Topics list. Economic Development Manager Nguyen said the item got pushed out due to low staffing levels and COVID restrictions.
Council Member Andrews confirmed that Below Market Rate housing units were planned for the former Burlington Coat Factory location.
Council Member Salinas mentioned that he’d been receiving lots of questions about the Lincoln Landing development. He said Hazel Street was closed which caused an inconvenience, but noted the site was otherwise very neat and tidy. Deputy Director Buizer said the developer had been very responsive to neighbors and diligently followed up on any concerns or issues. She noted construction was on track and that they’d been great partners with the City.
Council Member Salinas said he stopped by a Raising Cane’s establishment on his way home from the mountains and the line was even longer than In N Out. He went in and was pleased with the portion size and quality of the food.
FUTURE MEETING TOPICS AS OF OCTOBER 28, 2021
Economic Development Manager Nguyen noted staff was continuing to address the impacts of COVID by developing new programs to help local businesses. He said staff would continue to report back to the Committee.
Regarding Review of Select Policies Impacting Businesses, Council Member Andrews suggested staff promote the City’s Adopt a Block program to new project developers. She also suggested a public art fee for a new development. Economic Development Manager Nguyen said staff could include those questions during discussions, but noted the intention of the item was to analyze barriers to business attraction. He noted that staff was focusing on COVID recovery efforts for the next year.
Assistant City Manager Ott said staff could include these ideas when discussing the City’s Strategic Road Map.
COMMITTEE MEMBER ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REFERRALS
Economic Development Manager Nguyen announced Economic Development had received two awards from the International Economic Development Commission, the world’s largest Economic Development entity, three Innovation Awards from the East Bay Economic Development Alliance for Hayward businesses Potrero Medical, Gel-Pak and Nelumbo, and that he was named Business Partner of the Year by the Eden Area ROP. He said staff doesn’t talk about all they do behind the scenes as it includes managing relationships and providing in-kind support of efforts including job fairs, coordinating business speakers with local workforce development partners, and STEM career events.
Economic Development Specialist Ralston announced the Together for Hayward eGift Card program launched; noting that 39 businesses had already signed up to participate. She said the City was contributing $75,000 toward bonus cards and said more than 20 gift cards had been purchased just that week with over $1,000 in bonus money.
Council Member Salinas said he loved it.
Council Member Wahab thanked staff and said she was so glad for the awarded recognition of efforts. She encouraged staff to send our press releases announcing the wins.
Council Member Andrews congratulated staff and said she liked that staff was posting these achievements and mentioning the winning businesses on LinkedIn. She mentioned she recently learned robotic dolphins were being made in Hayward and encouraged staff to highlight the innovation happening in the City. Regarding the gift card program she asked staff to format announcements for Instagram so she could post them on social media.
Council Member Salinas said these efforts were a great comeback from COVID and once again thanked staff for their great work.
ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 5:55 p.m.
Hayward Council Economic Development Committee
Regular Meeting Minutes
October 28, 2021
Page PAGE 5 of NUMPAGES 6