Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Economic Development topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Citrus Heights highlights early economic development wins and finds strong resident support for vacancy rules
Summary
Staff reported early progress on the 2025–27 economic development work plan (site inventory, business toolkit, Love Local campaign) and presented flash‑vote survey results showing broad resident support for a commercial vacancy ordinance; staff will continue outreach and refine a draft ordinance focused on registration, maintenance and security standards.
Citrus Heights — City staff on Sept. 24 gave a six‑month progress report on the 2025–2027 Economic Development Work Plan and reviewed next steps on a proposed commercial vacancy (reoccupancy) ordinance after a statistically valid resident survey.
Megan Huber, the city’s Economic Development and Community Engagement Director, said the work plan includes five focus areas — business attraction, retention and expansion, small‑business support, marketing and placemaking, and organizational culture — and described new programs and tools the city has launched, including an opportunity site inventory, a development liaison role, a small‑business design support fund that assisted Black Sales Coffee, and Placer AI analytics for recruitment.
"We set out to implement and it is a phased approach," Huber said, listing site visits, business toolkit distribution and trade show recruitment as key actions underway.
Staff then reviewed a draft vacancy/reoccupancy ordinance intended to require owners of long‑term vacant commercial properties to register with the city, meet minimum exterior maintenance and security standards (no graffiti, working alarms/sprinklers), and pay fees to recover program administration and enforcement costs. Casey Campanarra, Community Development Director, said the ordinance is designed to prompt early maintenance and reduce blight, vandalism and safety risks.
To test public sentiment the city issued a 'flash vote' resident survey. Staff reported 422 resident respondents (±5% margin), finding 68% of respondents consider long‑term commercial vacancies a public problem and that a combined 79% somewhat or strongly support a policy that would require registration, maintenance standards and fees.
Council members raised concerns about homeowner vs. property‑owner perspectives and urged expanded outreach to commercial property owners, who can be difficult to reach and who often have lower survey response rates. Staff said they will continue stakeholder workshops, outreach and revisions to the draft ordinance to address exempting "good actors," adding reasonable timeframes and tiered enforcement for different owner circumstances.
What happens next: Staff will continue outreach with property owners and businesses, hold additional workshops this fall/winter, and return to council with a revised draft ordinance and implementation plan.
