Santa Rosa staff report progress on economic development plan, note federal limits on a technical partner for Rise & Thrive program

Scott Nadair, the city's Chief Economic Development Officer, told the subcommittee the Economic Development Strategic Plan adopted by the City Council in April 2024 remains the division's guiding document and that staff plan biannual and quarterly updates on implementation.

Nadair outlined a series of implementation actions and sought the committee's input on recurring reporting categories. He described the plan's three broad principles—innovation, sustainability and inclusivity—and said staff will return with a more detailed implementation report in August and a second update in November.

On program delivery, Nadair reported the Rise and Thrive program, a city initiative aimed at technical assistance and education for socially or economically disadvantaged businesses, encountered a federal partner withdrawal. "One of our technical partner agencies is not able to support that program because it could be considered an initiative which could be a violation of the presidential order," Nadair said; staff said there was no direct grant funding at stake but that the withdrawal removed the partner's planned staff support. Staff said they are working with state counterparts to find alternate avenues to deliver program support.

On business attraction, staff summarized a May delegation to the ICSC retail trade show in which teams met with more than 20 national retailers to recruit expansion and retention leads; staff said follow-up work continues and that retail gap and leakage analyses will be brought back for committee review. Scott said film tourism was the subject of a preliminary meeting with the Film Liaison of California (FLICS) and county film commissioners to explore incentives and festival-based economic activity.

Director Osborne described the Permit Ready program, an effort to create site-by-site “road maps” for vacant parcels and re-tenanting opportunities that list timelines, costs and permitting steps to reduce friction for new or expanding businesses. He said the program aims to make relevant information available to brokers and business prospects and to identify processes the city could streamline to reduce staff time and cost.

Program analyst Rachel Beer summarized several downtown-related activation efforts (pop-up program, shipping-container vendor pilots, a Theater Alley concept and a revived Sunday farmers market). Staff reported the Sunday market drew an estimated 800 attendees at one recent event; staff said social media promotion generated several thousand impressions and hundreds of event engagements.

Ending: Staff will return in August with a fuller implementation update on the strategic plan, a more-detailed progress report on Rise and Thrive alternatives and results of the retail gap/leakage analysis and permit-ready site inventories.