PLANNING COMMISSION STAFF REPORT
MEETING DATE: April 26, 2016
PREPARED BY: John Lang, Economic Development Coordinator
APPROVED BY: Andrew Crabtree, Director/Community Development
Title
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT BLUEPRINT WORKSHOP
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RECOMMENDATION(S):
RECOMMENDATION
Discuss and provide recommendations regarding the Economic Blueprint including strategies and practices to support new investment and jobs in Morgan Hill for the next five to ten years.
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CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act):
Not a Project
Planning Commission discussion will help identify strategies or actions to be included in the Development of the Economic Blueprint. Such strategy strategies and actions may influence or inform possible changes to the Draft Morgan Hill 2035 General Plan for City Council consideration and would be addressed through the CEQA analysis for the General Plan update.
BODY
PROJECT SUMMARY:
The City of Morgan Hill has grown and transformed over the last 20 years. With a resident population over 41,000 and nearly 3,400 businesses, now is the ideal time for the City of Morgan Hill to develop an Economic Blueprint. To foster economic growth and support fiscal sustainability, the Economic Blueprint is envisioned to be a "big picture" document to guide land use, policy development, budget decisions for the next five to ten years.
Building upon the initial research and community engagement process undertaken with the General Plan update, the development of the Economic Blueprint has included focus groups and one-on-one meetings with various resident, business and organizational stakeholders to ascertain the opportunities that exist to drive investment into Morgan Hill. Thus far, staff has solicited and received feedback from focus group meetings with Kiwanis, Rotary, Chamber of Commerce, City employees, and Morgan Hill residents. In addition, staff has had several one-on-one meetings with small and large companies in Morgan Hill on the Economic Blueprint. Feedback can be categorized in three basic buckets, business and industry focused efforts, infrastructure improvements and investments, and regulatory and policy making.
The purpose of this workshop with the Planning Commission is to solicit feedback on two questions fundamental to the Economic Blueprint.
Questions.
1. What is the single most significant action the city could take to ensure economic prosperity?
2. What is the best thing the City could do to make it attractive for companies to locate here or for people to invest in Morgan Hill?
Extensive public engagement for the fact finding portion of the Economic Blueprint is coming to a conclusion. The City has held focus group and one-on-one meetings with various stakeholders. Additionally, two key groups (Thought Leaders and Pathfinders) have been identified to make sure the report is focused, strategic, and meaningful while at the same time aspirational and high-level enough to stay relevant in the next five to ten years. The next phase of the Economic Blueprint will be to develop the Economic Blueprint document. The document will contain facts and figures that support the findings and direction of the Economic Blueprint. A draft Economic Blueprint will be shared with the Thought Leaders and Pathfinders to provide grounding in the findings before moving a document forward for Planning Commission and City Council approval in the May timeframe.
Additional information can be found on the Economic Blueprint at www.morgan-hill.ca.gov/EconomicBluePrint. <http://www.morgan-hill.ca.gov/EconomicBluePrint>
LINKS/ATTACHMENTS
Economic Blueprint Presentation