Economic Development Stakeholder Meeting Summary
On November 15, 2024, the City Manager and staff met with representatives of local business groups. These groups included the Salinas Valley Chamber of Commerce, Salinas United Business Association, Salinas City Center Improvement Association, and Salinas Valley Tourism and Visitors Bureau. The group discussed current City efforts and challenges related to business development , the General Plan Update, and draft Economic Development Element (EDE). Described below are the themes from the dialogue portion of the meeting. Attendees also participated in a dot voting activity to prioritize draft EDE goals, policies, and actions.
Themes:
The biggest theme from the discussion was the desire to change regulations, processes, and culture at the City level to make it easier to start and grow businesses. This includes updating municipal code to address common regulatory stumbling blocks that it has control over, such as the master sign permit, or overly strict zoning use regulations. The City should identify ways to streamline permit processes to make them understandable and easier to navigate and improve consistency in communication and enforcement. City staff should be empowered to help the community get to “yes” on development , which also requires a culture/mindset shift towards a collaborative approach with applicants.
Discussion notes:
Observations:
• Business o rganizations like those here would like to partner with City to market/attract new businesses.
• Better centralization of resources and referrals.
• It can take time for changes (revitalization), don't give up. • More collaboration and forums like this.
• Make sure information is available at a click, several website issues, information challenging to find, broken links.
• More collaboration with Monterey County Business Council • Easier to grow from existing/local business but don’t ignore the big ones • Need to find a balance between new economy and brick and mortar • Master sign permit challenging
• Sign process does not incentivize rule following
• Amazon has moved mountains, but others could be driven away by process challenges
• Road conditions, make sure it is in Circulation element • Stakeholders noted problems with vendors selling in parking lots and driveways. • Also unapproved vendors using social media to sell out of their homes. • Did note less unapproved vendors out since enforcement began.
Recommendations:
• Make it easier (regs, signs, fees) to stand up small businesses • Big support for saying “yes” and permit streamlining
o Culture challenge in staff
• Cross collaboration with large organizations.
• New idea to create an Economic Development strike team. • More communication w/ City- Example: Support with ADA compliance. o One place for people/businesses to access information, issues can be communicated to a broad group - like the issues with the ADA lawsuits in the Alisal.
• Create a way to track real time property availability • Recommended enforcement strategy - > random weekends, couple times a month. • Targeted enforcement (Example: Parade of Lights).
EDE Activity: Top ranking Goal, Polices and Actions
Top Goal:
Goal ED -2: Encourage a thriving business environment through supporting start -ups, growing current businesses, and attracting new industry to build a dynamic economic landscape in Salinas with higher paying employment opportunities.
Top Policies:
• Policy ED-2.2: Promote entrepreneurship and business innovation and expansion. • Policy ED-5.1: Improve the appearance, accessibility and cleanliness of the city and its commercial corridors.
• Policy ED-2.1: Build relationships with business and property owners. • Policy ED-1.2: Support the advancement of agricultural productivity and technology.
Top Actions:
• ED-2.2.2: Leverage existing small business support resources to promote entrepreneurial activities.
• ED-2.2.3: Increase zoning flexibility to accommodate diverse business needs and spur innovation thought Zoning Code update.
• ED-2.1.1: Develop a business retention program.
• ED-2.1.3: Work to streamline licensing and permitting processes to ease administrative burdens for businesses.
• ED-1.2.2: Attract investments in agricultural technology by promoting Salinas as a hub for agricultural innovation.
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