 Here, let the record reflect that all committee members are present. All right. We have any announcements. No, departmental announcements. We will cover some regular business and some updates on our agenda. Perfect. So to approval of the minutes, we've got January 9th, 2024 draft minutes. I don't know if I was here that day. So, I was saying on the sign of caution. You came in late. You came in a little late. Because I was. But you were here. Okay. And therefore, we're working. I will remember what I was saying. It's inspiring confidence. I like that. Let's go to public comment, see if anybody has any amendments to the minutes. Well, we only allow public comment in person. That's right. We no longer have that. All right. Well, without objection, we'll show those adopted as presented. Let's move on to public comments. Not seeing anybody here for public comment. Here for public comment for non agenda items. I'm here just to. Perfect. All right, we'll keep moving then. Let's go to new business item 5.1. That's our update on our economic development strategic plan. Good morning, everyone. I'm Jill Scott. I'm the acting deputy director of economic development. And we just want to give a quick update on where we are with the strap plan. So since our last meeting when we went over the strap plan with you, we've spent some time sending the strategic plan out to our national and our local partners. So we had review by the California local economic development association. The economic development board of Sonoma County, Sonoma County tourism metro chamber, visit Santa Rosa, Sonoma small business and among other things. So we spent some time sending that out and then getting back comments and reviewing and talking it through with them. The only changes that we've made are mostly in alignment with language and concepts. So what we found is there's so many things that are national and our local folks are our partners are already doing and how we can align with them to do it together. Rather than us being on separate paths. So we've taken the plan and looked at looked at that piece and really aligned all the language. So it's similar to a national and local and taken opportunities to put partnerships within the plan. And those are really the only changes that we've made. And as of right now, the plans at the with the graphic designer getting designed and having some pictures, some new pictures taken of our local area. And we're hoping to have it back and be able to bring it to full council in April. And that's kind of where we are with that. Any questions on that one piece? Okay. Just a few pieces of implementation that we started on just to let you know, even though the full plan is not going forward, we started, we're starting to work on what we really align with measurements and metrics so that we can really look at our plan. It's a five year plan, right? A lot of plans are three. There's either three or a five year plan we found. So we really want to be able to look at metrics at the end of every single year to see where we are and how we're implementing where we need to adjust and move forward. So right now we're working on a survey, a pretty large survey for small business, which includes home business, women, BIPOC, all kinds of different business owners. We're going to be partnering because there's several other agencies that are also want to do this and set foundational metrics for where we are with these types of businesses and what we can do moving forward. So we're working with them to prepare the survey and get that out. I'm hoping in the next several months it'll be out on the street and we'll have some information from that to report back. And then we've begun reaching out to the national and the local real estate companies to discuss land preparation and availability for large business attraction. That's really going to be a key component I think for us for large business attraction. We're also setting up vacant and commercial retail building less retail industrial commercial, what's vacant what's available reaching out to those property owners to see who's interested in what their future plans are if we can, you know, get the low hanging fruit and connect them with businesses right now, or larger ones right but we can think about the future and what we can put in there what we can connect with those so all of that is started that process is started behind the scenes. And that's really the majority of implementation. Is there any any questions about that before I move on or comments. No, okay. And then gave and I actually today is our first one we're starting our medium and large business tour. So we're going to be meeting with me all the medium size to large size businesses talking to them about. You know, really, really making connections and opening up communication as much as possible but also talking to them about what we can do better, what their struggles are in Santa Rosa, what are the good things we're doing here in Santa Rosa, how it is to to be a business here and what we can work on in the future and so I think there's two parts to this great it's great that we're going to, you know, have this open door communication and these relationships with these businesses which is a key to this, but also just gathering information for when we're doing business attraction, what works what doesn't work what we need to work on. And so that's not starting today we'll be making the rounds on those I'm trying to do at least at least a couple of month if not more. And then, after that, I just have some, we have some overall updates for you. When I want to go through kind of what the economic scene in Santa Rosa and Sonoma County is looking for the first, we're not to the end of the first quarter but the beginning of the second quarter in the end of 2023. We're seeing about the same level of vacancy in the downtown that we've seen for a while we still have some key spaces that are open as you all know we've got one Santa Rosa, 10 Santa or one Santa Rosa Avenue, 10 Santa Rosa Avenue and then the third street is a corridor and third street but is all open. And those are some key spots we'd like to see move. Industrial which I think you all know has seen like this steady upward trend for so many years has really studied out and stalled not stalled but slowed down a bit in Sonoma County and Santa Rosa and actually nationwide there's a really seen vacancy rates on an upward trend. We think that a lot of the economists think that that's likely because there aren't a lot of buildings that have had that have kept up with the needs. And so, it's mostly just about inventory. Retail vacancy rates have slightly risen. Office is still on the rise unfortunately. In comparison, office vacancy rates in 2022 were 14.5% and in 2024 they're 16.1% so that's a 1.6% increase and that's here in our county and in Santa Rosa that's one thing we don't want to see. Retail in 2022 was a 6.9% in 2024 it's 8.5 that's also a 1.6 increase in vacancy rates and then industrial which is a bit of a surprising one in 2022 was 4.7, 2024 it's 7%. So that's quite an increase that we're seeing. In the development and the real estate world overall, we're still seeing higher rates although they did a little bit of a plunge and then back up again. The cost of money is still high and couple that with CDs being, you know, the interest rates being high so you can keep your money in it. We're seeing a lot of 1031 exchange clients that would usually buy another piece of real estate and roll their money over actually taking the capital game loss and putting their money into high yield accounts and holding it. So we're seeing a slow in development right now where people are holding their money in the higher rate accounts and just waiting for the interest rates to change and to do something and that's nationwide. We're seeing it here in Santa Rosa we're seeing it in Sonoma County. But despite all of that the 2024 forecast for Sonoma County is much better and exceeds our Bay Area partners. If the forecast is correct so that's something to look forward to I'm good but something also for us to watch when we're doing we're thinking about local businesses and business attraction. I think you've all probably all heard that the Calais conference is coming here to Santa Rosa and it's April 10th through the 12th of this year it's going to be at the Hyatt which is pretty exciting to have all here. The mayor and the city manager are both speaking on opening day at the conference. We split up tours on Thursday from 2 to 4 on the 11th there'll be two tours. The Economic Development Board is planning one tour, City of Santa Rosa is planning a second tour. The Economic Development Board is doing the Spassful Road area they're going to visit Sonoma County Meads, Tia Maria, some of the developments, the mural projects and then end at Matote and then Santa Rosa staff. We are scheduling the downtown revitalization tour so we're going to start at the Hyatt we'll go to the Canary project over to the smart station talk about smart proposed housing project community benefit district and then we're going to head uptown to see 420 Mendocino Avenue development and in progress and then over to the two city surplus lots garage 5 and White House site to talk about the surplus lands act and where we are with those developments and then back down to the Hyatt again. And that is really it for the conference for right now did you want to talk a little bit about the thoughts updates. Absolutely. So first off any questions about conference. Right. When we speak about the office vacancy rates at one point something and how we're actually very better than our original part of the Bay Area. Are there any zoning alternatives that we see being used elsewhere, other than just office space that might be working for other parts of California. I can touch on that and gave can also talk on that but that was a big piece that Ashley, myself gave and the planning team has worked on in the general plan update and I probably should have mentioned that as well as that we've combed through the general plan update with a fine tooth comb to make sure that these two plans coincide that they match. We've made a lot of changes for it to match the strategic plan, and we've looked at things and Ashley's been a huge help with that at different types of zoning and different districts that we can put in place to allow that in the general plan so we can make some changes. Did you add anything. I think then that's an excellent point and we've seen with some of the unused office space in other areas that it's reprogrammed in a way that people did not envision years ago. And that's for recreational purposes I've seen pickle ball look at vacant office space. So what how we're responding to that is we need to be nimble enough to be able to handle that from a policy standpoint if all of a sudden that request comes in so we can activate that space without a really rough road through the permanent process and that really starts with the discussion in the general plan, but then I think it really moves when when Jill and I do this tour of businesses that really is to obtain feedback. And then our goal is really to provide incentives from a process standpoint that's something that the department can do by just changing internal process and policy. So all this feeds into that is really the next step in our process and our evolution and the strap plan is to sort of understand what an incentive package looks like to bring these uses in. And that's a really important point a lot of jurisdictions have that and really and you're dealing with vacant office space around the county, we have to be competitive and that program increases that that competitive nature in that environment. But that is what we're looking at is how we program that space for uses that we would not envision in the past. I'm very happy that we're looking at the agility and adaptability when it comes to zoning in our downtown district specifically, just because we've seen it work and whether it's Santana row or the gaslight in San Diego, or even at that point in this vast world where we've seen the mix use become some of that's that's that's normal for our city, so I definitely apply the efforts of visiting and and and really gaining information of what was needed for the specific parts of our city. And to piggyback, we have to be competitive with other areas that one of the policies that we've talked about for quite a while, possibly revamping is the local preference and really giving people a strong incentive to continue to have office space or to continue to have industrial space in the city of Santa Rosa, and I'd be really interested in seeing us right now it's at 1%, 1% isn't going to make margins for for folks, and we know that the economic multiplier is up to seven, nine times when it stays in your community. We bumped that up to 3% or 5% is driving economic development, and keeps those businesses and those jobs here. So, I don't know if there's a way for us to continue to advance that. I know that it's hinted at, if not called out directly in the economic strategic plan but I think that that's a pretty simple policy for us to be able to look at. And I also had a question mentioned with Ote, and that's a prime example of something that's popped up that's driven interest and economic development. And yet, I know it's futures a little bit uncertain and I'm wondering if there's just an update on sort of where that's at with, as the county moves forward. And that's an excellent point I think metote was an incredibly creative idea that really had an impact to the community in a space that was sort of underutilized but was not part of the bigger program. I've been having Greg, I meet with the CDC and mid pen week to discuss the status of that project. Right now, it looks like they're still the financial aspect they're still balancing that out but it's getting much closer that they've closed the gaps significantly. Much of the discussion is about breaking ground this summer. And we have allowed them to phase the development of that site to ensure that metote can stay as long as possible. And then through that process there'll be discussions about what the final use looks like. But specifically they can build the infrastructure we can build the affordable housing, and then there's solutions to protect that through the entirety of that construction exercise. I'm glad that's very much a conversation with the CDC on what their ultimate plans are for the plaza, but just know that we are supporting the longevity of metote for as long as the county wants to keep it there. Yeah, I think that that's the interest from my interest I expect for the rest of Council is don't get rid of an asset to a community and then have it sit vacant while we wait for the CDC to either find their financing or to move forward on a project. Right, because it has been, it's been great. No, and I appreciate your comment even going back to when it was property of the county, and we're looking at the old Albertson site. The site was tore down only to do just that sit vacant for for decades or decade plus years. But to piggyback on your comment, you know, we do have the food vendor. I don't know if that's part of it, but also I'd like to incorporate or include that conversation. The knickknacks or the crafts or the artisan aspect of what used to be the metote inside the teaching in a while or teaching by site, where a lot of those vendors weren't able to continue, because we weren't able to find the space and logistical issues that we couldn't overcome. So hopefully in that conversation about food vending is also the artisan vendors that hopefully are included in the incubator program. Okay, and there are next item. I just wanted to provide a brief check really fast scene public comment. No comment. Okay, so just a very quick update on where we stand with our ARPA programs very specifically our small business support program. The one program that had the least amount of expenditure in it and there's a few good reasons for that. So the small business program is actually made up of three separate elements. We have our facade grants. We have our place making, and then there's also an incubator component to that with that small amount of funding to it. So the facade grants are inside that there's two components there's parklets which are slightly different and then there's those improvements people were making to the front of the building to increase destination awareness to improve that site for those that were impacted by the So on the grants we have roughly around 720,000. There's agreements that take place in there the property owner has to commit to completing those by surf timeframe. We've been partnering with our city attorney's office to get those completed they're all at the finish line now, and we're really ready to start rolling these out. Basically the way that program works is the businesses are eligible to get 20% up front and then there's an 80% reimbursement for the full amount on the back end. Most of these projects we've teed them up to ensure that anything that requires an entitlement review or a planning action is done up front, so we can put them in a very small window. So we're about to release the 720 to the community and we'll march that through what we have to be mindful of is some won't be able to complete it for a variety of different reasons. So there will be turn back in that program. What I've been looking to do with the turn back is to better support parklets downtown the construction of a parklet downtown. It's very difficult to think this but with current construction and design costs $40 to $60,000 for a platform that nature is going great. That's more expensive than what we thought when we went down the road of providing a permanent advocate for parklets. So adding that additional amount will help us transition from the few we have sitting there there's still temporary under coded so that would be Elko key or icky belly, and also concha which may not I think they'll pull that. But that will give us right now, five parklets in the downtown that are permanently in what you'd see out of that is very similar to what I still is did, which is beautiful it aligns to the building. It's an asset to the downtown and it's assets of the public right away. So there may be some shifting with the disbursement of those funds. The other piece is facades or excuse me murals, which falls under place making those have commenced. We are spending money in that arena there's more to come on that front so we'll build out that program. And then one of the pieces that Jill and I are working on very closely now is an incubator program. So we wanted to dedicate some funds to that. It can be a little challenging to set up an incubator program that the city runs becomes very costly usually have to have partners that are providing time to run that long term. But we want to use some creative approaches here we've discussed concepts with Katari we're discussing concepts with the county on how we can come together as a larger group of jurisdictions to provide an incubator somewhere in the city, because that provides resources to everyone in our county and can benefit Santa Rosa through that. So more to come on that front that those are in the initial stages of understanding sort of the best use of those funds, but we do want to dedicate dedicate dollar amounts to. So any questions on facades. Is there any discussion happening about closing down 4th Street again through the summer. So that was one of the conversations that Jill and I have had with chamber, and this, this will be an ongoing discussion. Because through the use of SRTBA funds through the use of community promotion funds the city does support events. And how can we take those funds and better support instead of many events over the course of multiple months. How do we sort of throw our eggs into a few different baskets that provide a bigger bang for the buck downtown. So there are some creative approaches for what we want to do downtown and I think using this committee to bounce off those ideas to understand what it would look like if we sort of work with the chamber to reprogram something like the Wednesday night market. I know that that concept. Jill and I have talked about just a downtown block party concept that how do you provide an avenue to allow businesses to come out it's not bringing other businesses in it's just supporting the downtown businesses to provide what they have in the public right away space. So right now, there's a lot of good ideas being thrown around, and we will continue those discussions and as they start materializing into something more formally will bring that forward in front of this committee and they'll be the more formal process to make that a program. Yeah, I just don't want to say sir is that there seems to be very little interest from Mendo Mendozino up to a Russian river of closing that section of fourth. We are engaging some business owners from the mall up to Mendo Zeno so the Rosa Belly, we're in key. And there seems to be a little bit of interest. What we don't want to do is if there is no interest from the business owners to close for the street. Obviously, we don't want to move forward with that. And we'll continue those conversations and work for that. And there's the flip side of that also though which is the interest from the public. Because one of the things when you talk about the parklet program when you talk about putting art in public places that works really well with fourth street there, and it did drive people's interest in coming downtown. So I do think continuing to explore that as an option that it makes it more sense for people to make that investment in their parklet it makes it so that it makes more sense for people to have Taco Tuesday bike rides down fourth street if it's a protected area for folks to be. I think there's two sides to that coin. Absolutely. And so personally, not speaking for the team. Yeah, I do see a benefit in showing proof of concept right one for from Santa Rosa Plaza up to Mendo right and so for the sake of partnership right it can close that section say a pilot program, maybe from June to September. We work with parks and break in possibly program out that area, work with the market as well. And we can show the benefit we can show the value. I think we have a stronger case to make sit then extend the pilot. The duration of it, but also the physical space. Yeah, I think for me I think that the pandemic was the proof of concept, getting to see it play out and then as a bike rider. That segment is not big enough to attract me to use that, but but fourth street being longer, having more opportunity that's what would be interesting to me. Absolutely. And so knowing that. Like the bank, the banks on that side are not particularly attractive for me as a pedestrian. I hear you. And also as an elected official. If we see the value the benefit and closing all the fourth street and we would need your assistance and messaging that to the business owners happy to help. Yep. For sure. Any additional questions on a comment. I think of producing a, a, maybe a program that involves other cities incubator program. And I know that the building behind towns and a fundita has remained open or vacant for a long time. So I always thought of what possible use could that will improve by for foreign sea services as a benefit. It's thrown out there. I mean, there's a lot of space in there. And I could almost imagine like a, like an indoor flea market type of thing, or incubator program or whatever we should call it. It's thrown out there just give it a mic. We appreciate that. Yes. Very much. Yes. On this. Yep. Public comment. Go ahead. Okay. So if we talk about incubator space, could you describe what you have in mind. Like in terms of incubator space. How would the spaces possibly be used. Sounds interesting, but could you define that go into a little more detail about incubator space. Yeah, sure. Thanks for the chair and can you stage your name for the record, sir. Sure. Be happy to. It's David. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We're very loose in this committee. So in incubator, and it really just depends on what sort of business sector that incubator is focusing on. The ones that I have heard about here locally have a tendency to focus on food. So beverage or food production that's happening at a very startup level where someone is actually operating out of their home. They start running into space, but they're not start running out of space excuse me, but they're not generating enough revenues to find their own space and a much larger commercial business. So in incubator space is often a shared location where different businesses can use similar equipment in that shared location. There's a certain level of management and training that takes place long term. So someone wants to be a professional chef and they're starting a home kitchen, they're advancing through this. And then there's generally a period of time in which the individual can be in that space before they have to make the next step in their business career. So it really is a bit of a startup location, and it has all the equipment needed. For example, if you're making permitted beverages such as kombucha, it would focus on those items. From a long term management standpoint, some of the options that have been discussed is really how do you partner with Sonoma State or the junior college because they have these programs where they can either offer those programs to individuals or then handle some of the management long term for those types of uses, because it is it's a space issue. It's upfront costs with hardware issue and then it has a long term management to be successful as well. Thank you. Appreciate that. And if I may add, you know, if where I've seen incubator spaces is very effectively are places where there's high amount of density. And Los Angeles, for me as a prime example, where also you find yourself in the international building, so to speak, where you have every every food from every part of the world, but also mixed in with artisan products, handmade products from also all over parts of the world. So you're definitely seeing where where the entrepreneur spirit is being nurtured and supported. And at one point or another, I've seen it in Rosin specifically, where we start seeing the vendors move outside of our area into the general mainstream or downtown of the city that they occupy such will start to seem out Santa Rosa. So it's definitely a incubator so the chicks become a spread their wings and fly. A couple more comments or questions if I could, in terms of the parklets, you know, improving upgrading the parklets downtown would be terrific it seems like you're on track to do that. That would make a huge difference I think it's great to have the outdoor dining, but upgrading some of those facilities would be wonderful to do. What about for those that don't go through the upgrade. Do you have a phase out program in place and what's the time for that. Yeah, go ahead and get all your questions out so they can so another another question. I think the pilot for downtown for 4th street kind of looking at different options. For really creating a more vibrant downtown by closing a portion of 4th Street is a great idea and should be pursued and the pilot option. Even though we've had a COVID period as a trial run. I think a more formal pilot looking at different options would be important to do, but I think it's important to put down a date in mind. Get it on a schedule. When is that going to happen. The pilots a great concept coming back to this committee is terrific, but when. So that's it. Okay, so on the parklets. The way it actually works is, as I mentioned, there are a few out there they're still under their temporary parklet program that was put in place in our initial responses to the code. When we adopted our permanent program, we set a transition plan for those parklets. Basically the way it worked is there was a certain deadline in which they had to apply for the permanent parklet, and then they had to keep that permanent parklet active and be moving on and couldn't create a delay of more than 60 days through that cycle so what's happened with some of those as they went down that road and they applied for the parklet is the costs were increasing they were sort of value engineering so there was a lot of back and forth in the review there wasn't really the city's time it was more on the applicant making a decision about design. But to answer your question more specifically or Ike and belly are moving forward with the permanent parklet that temporary parklet will be allowed to remain in place until that's done. And Elco key are not at this point so they will be removed and we were working through that process so those two will be removed. And then we have other applications that that may come through with new parklets and certain areas through the small business support program that I mentioned. But generally the timeline of Contra and Elco key is you're looking at a few months of removal there. Contra will likely occur before that. Okay. Thank you. I'm just trying for Park border, say looking at Ford Street. We don't have a timeframe right now sir. We'll work on it. It's important. Yeah, we understand. We have more information will share. And I'll bring it back game. Anything else. I just one quick update on the staffing side. Obviously with the acting roles that we currently have. We're maneuvering through what the economic development team looks like in the future. We're working on filling spots. What I would like to announce though is Rafael which I know you know him really well. We want to move him into more of a predominant outreach role for the department as a whole. So our goal is to pull him into the graffiti pilot program that the council adopted to have him be the face of that program to work on community engagement efforts through our code enforcement team. And that's going to be part of an ombudsman for the department. So he is really your face. And if there's issues you go to him, he has a direct line to me. We think that that that's going to be a more efficient way to get issues resolved and he's done a fabulous job. I really appreciate the efforts he's put in over the years and creating relationships with the community. We want to honor him with a more difficult role in the department. And that means that he'll be taking more on or understanding what that means to the economic development team and we're working through that. But we have a lot of creative approaches where we potentially can really look at, you know, our first step is to look at options that do not increase costs. But when we look at our strap plan, we're also developing what our strap plan really needs to succeed. And I think that's an important part of this process. So just understand that we're going through that. It is a priority on our end to get this solidified. Jill's been an amazing job in the acting role. But we also want to solidify this and really move forward with the strap plan and, you know, have the community feel comfortable with the services they're getting from this department and fill those roles and get people moving in the right direction. So that is our strategy. But the immediate is to have Rafael take on more for the department. Congratulations. I think it sounds like it sounds like we're simply giving the title to a job is already been doing. Congratulations. Absolutely. And I will say either we've reiterated it over and over again in this committee, but I'll continue to do so. We understand if we need to dip into some of our money to be able to deliver the economic strategic plan. I view it as revving the engine that it'll pay itself off over time if we can create lasting economic development throughout the city. So just let us know what you guys need to implement because I think it's a good plan. Priming. Priming the engine? Priming the engine. Priming the engine doesn't go anywhere. Kind of like conversation. Anything else guys? Cool. That concludes our agenda topics for today. Okay. So, are you heard from me earlier? Let's see if the council members have anything that they are interested in us bringing in the next couple of meetings, but I am interested in the revamp of the local preference. I think that that's something that we really can move quickly. Anything else from. Yeah, go ahead. David, if I'm with our conversation here, just you can update on the child care density bonus and where that's at. And then we've talked a couple of times about, I don't even know how you would describe it like the miscellaneous business ordinance. We talked about this kind of ordinance that covered multiple things with signage or improvements and stuff like that. And it may overlap with parks to a certain extent, but and attracting people to downtown. A small play structure of some kind on courthouse square and make it more family friendly. Yes, specifically, I'm glad you brought that up because specifically vacant spaces. Repurposing vacant spaces where developments are not yet moving forward with some form of an amenity for the downtown so that it's not just a blank spot. And then just as a report item. If we could reach out to the economic development board of the county about the, the CFO bill and see if there's any ramifications for us as a city. I know they're doing their own economic analysis on it. Whenever that comes out, have an update for us. And then just the last thing under adjournment here we have, you know, our accessibility stuff. There's the phone numbers not complete. So I just want to make sure that we update the, the agendas that we're in compliance with all ADA requirements. Thank you. No, thanks for meals early updates, but those were just touched on so just see how we're doing and signage was available. Right. Good idea with the playground. That's an excellent idea. Well, all right. Any public comment? Yeah. All right. I think with that business is done. So we'll adjourn. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Chris, if you look at that paper about. Yeah.