City Council
MEETING DATE: 3/28/2018
TITLE:
Title
Cathedral City Equitable Economic Strategy
End
FROM:
Leisa Lukes, Business Development Manager
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
This item is presented for information, discussion and direction only.
Body
BACKGROUND:
An equitable economic strategy strives to ensure that the community at large benefits from good jobs, adequate infrastructure, and responsive local institutions - the amenities typical of vibrant communities. It aims to shift how public, private and philanthropic investments are deployed and how economic benefits, workforce development opportunities, and community-oriented social and cultural resources are delivered throughout the community.
The City Council and staff are focused on creating long-term economic opportunities for Cathedral City’s residents. Economic development is well underway in Cathedral City as indicated in the recent State of the City address. An Economic Development Plan is being crafted to further grow and expand economic opportunities within the city. In balance with this Plan, equitable economic strategies are intended to provide a roadmap of clear, actionable steps that the City and its stakeholders can take to support economic development, promote small business and create viable employment pathways for residents. In 2017, the City contracted with Estolano LeSar Perez Advisors (currently Estolano LeSar Advisors) to prepare an Equitable Economic Strategy for the City, which the consultant will present for Council information and discussion.
DISCUSSION:
On January 25, 2017, the City Council approved an agreement for services with Estolano LeSar Advisors (Estolano) to create an equitable economic strategy for the city. Estolano is a public policy and urban planning firm with offices in Los Angeles and San Diego. The scope of work, led by Cecilia Estolano, Co-CEO of Estolano, and Cynthia Guzman, Project Manager, consisted of two phases.
During Phase 1, Estolano conducted a Stakeholder Engagement Workshop to identify the community’s goals and vision for the city. The Workshop was held on March 16, 2017, at the Date Palm Country Club. Approximately 30 members of the community along with Councilmen Aguilar, Kaplan and Carnevale, and City Manager Charlie McClendon attended this 3-hour visioning session. Input included maintaining and enhancing the city’s quality of life, providing training and advancement opportunities for residents, managing growth in key areas of the city, and attracting key industry. Estolano also provided attendees with an overview of the range of economic and community development tools available to the City and key stakeholders to advance the vision of broadly shared prosperity. This included memorandums of understanding for local hire programs, community benefits agreements, career pathways programs, and job quality standards, among others. Estolano also interviewed Josh Bonner, President of the Greater Coachella Valley Chamber of Commerce, and Fabiola Alvarez, Board Member of Inland Congregations United for Change (ICUC). They then conducted Workshop debriefs with Councilmember John Aguilar and City Manager Charlie McClendon.
During the period leading up to the commencement of Phase 2, a meeting was held between Mayor Pro Tem Pettis, Councilman Aguilar, City Manager McClendon, then Economic Development Director Curt Watts, and Fabiola Alvarez, Josie Diaz, and Jay Diaz of ICUC. The purpose of the meeting was to review the outcome of the Stakeholder Engagement Workshop; to obtain a clearer understanding of what a community benefits agreement is and when it is appropriately used; and other tools that are available to the city and community groups to promote prosperity. A community benefits agreement (CBA), sometimes associated with equitable economic strategies, is a tool that can be used when demand for development exceeds the supply of available development sites. This is not currently the situation in Cathedral City.
Phase 2, preparation of the Equitable Economic Strategy, commenced at the start of Fiscal Year 2017/18. Estolano reviewed a wide array of existing reports and data, and interviewed 16 stakeholders from throughout Cathedral City and the Coachella Valley to understand the city’s current and projected demographics and to gain an in-depth view of the city’s economic potential. This information, combined with the feedback obtained during the Stakeholder Engagement Workshop, indicated how Cathedral City is perceived and its economic strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and challenges. According to Estolano, participants overall had a positive image of Cathedral City, its location relative to other cities in the region, and its business-friendly practices. The weaknesses that surfaced included lack of major destination retail, stand-alone financial institutions, and public contracting opportunities for small businesses. Most agreed that the cannabis industry will have a significant impact on the city in years to come. The interviewees and the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Challenges (SWOC) analysis are identified in the attached Equitable Economic Strategy (Attachment 1, pages 4 and 15, respectively).
With assistance from City staff, Estolano also established a 13-member stakeholder committee. Participants included representatives from local businesses, regional organizations, community advocates, and the public sector. Steering Committee members are listed in the attached Equitable Economic Strategy (Attachment 1, page 3). The Committee met twice during the project. At the first meeting on September 11, 2017, the Committee reviewed and provided feedback on the SWOC analysis, which became the basis for the Equitable Economic Strategy outline. Estolano presented the proposed outline to the Committee when they met a second time on November 15, 2017. The feedback that the Committee provided essentially resulted in the attached document that will be presented for Council discussion by Estolano on March 28.
Equitable Principles -
The following principles that evolved from the Steering Committee, Stakeholder Engagement Workshop and one-on-one interviews guided preparation of the Equitable Economic Strategy:
1. Support the growth of businesses of all sizes, particularly in priority industry sectors and areas of the city;
2. Establish new or leverage existing partnerships to implement economic opportunities;
3. Ensure small businesses have access to resources to grow and thrive;
4. Promote new development and events as evidence of Cathedral City being an attractive dynamic place to be;
5. Explore partnerships with prominent employers and community organizations to promote the hiring and training of residents and local businesses;
6. Ensure the benefits of economic growth and prosperity accrue to all Cathedral City residents.
Strategy Recommendations and Actions to Date -
The following is an outline of the proposed Equitable Economic Strategy recommendations in support of the above principles and some of the current actions that are underway.
1. Place equity at the forefront of City decision-making
A. Increase and enhance community engagement
Actions to Date: Several steps have been taken to engage the community, including “City Hall at Your Corner”; working committees focused on current issues such as cannabis and short-term rentals; evoking the participation of organized community groups such as ICUC; and conveying information through broadcast Council meetings, Weekly Newsletters, Community Updates, and Council videos.
B. Incorporate community benefits into the City’s long-term decision-making
2. Focus growth and investment in high priority areas
A. Incorporated City area north of 10 Freeway
Actions to Date: Working with landowners of property in the North City area to improve infrastructure and update regulations to facilitate development that may lead to additional investment and employment opportunities.
B. Date Palm Drive - Gateway to Cathedral City
C. Downtown - 12.5 acres at the south end of Date Palm Drive
Actions to Date: Cooperating with commercial brokers to actively market the property and working proactively with interested developers to achieve a successful project(s) for the property.
D. Cannabis Business Improvement District
3. Create Meaningful Job Opportunities for Cathedral City Residents
A. Automotive Technology
Actions to Date: Working closely with College of the Desert representatives as they seek to develop an automotive training facility in Cathedral City.
B. Horticulture Technology / Cannabis
Actions to Date: Created a community-based cannabis task force that has provided input on the regulations to address multiple aspects of cannabis operations thereby providing additional employment and economic opportunities that are within the realm of California state law.
C. Create a workforce development resource center to help achieve job readiness for hard-to-employ individuals.
Actions to Date: Finalized a Community Hiring Efforts Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the City and Mike R Investments, owner of the new Ace Hardware store on Date Palm Drive with support from ICUC/Community Action Project (CAP) led by Josie Diaz and Fabiola Alvarez (see Attachment 2). Staff is also working with the owner/representative of Sunniva to complete an MOU that will secure additional city resident employment interview opportunities for their operations. Additionally, ICUC is developing a series of “soft-skill” workshops, such as resume writing, job interview preparation, professional appearance, and customer service, to better prepare residents for employment.
D. Workforce Development in Emerging Sectors - Gaming Technology
4. Increase Capital and Procurement Opportunities
A. Increase access to banking opportunities for low-income residents
Actions to Date: Networking to attract additional banking operations to Cathedral City and prepare a map of all banking locations currently within the city. Also propose to partner with a banking institution to offer an educational session(s) on banking processes and offerings.
B. Make public contracting more accessible to established small businesses
Actions to Date: Participated in Sunline Transit’s Public Procurement Outreach Program. Plan to offer an educational session to provide information on how a business may obtain a Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) designation.
Summary -
An equitable economic strategy provides a roadmap for enhancing the City’s quality of life and providing advancement opportunities for all City residents. As the City’s overall economy improves, there will be opportunities to implement additional components of this equitable strategy. While this equitable strategy is not intended to be a stand-alone economic development plan, it does provide quality suggestions that can be employed to the benefit of all City residents, with the objective that no one is left behind. Some of the consultant’s recommendations are either underway or in process. Implementation of other recommendations may have to wait for the right economic conditions, primarily a local economy where the demand for developable land exceeds the supply of readily developable properties. Staff is seeking input on Council’s priorities for implementation.
FISCAL IMPACT:
None.
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment 1- Draft Equitable Economic Strategy
Attachment 2- Community Hiring Efforts MOU for ACE Hardware
Attachment 3 - Summary of Recommendations
Attachment 4 - DVBA Letter - Comments for the Record