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Solano County EDC tells Benicia council power, housing and loans are keys to local jobs
Summary
Chris Rico of the Solano County Economic Development Corporation outlined county-level efforts to attract employers, including infrastructure grants, a $4 million ARPA-seeded revolving loan fund for small businesses, and a county ADU/worker-housing strategy around transit nodes.
Chris Rico of the Solano County Economic Development Corporation briefed the Benicia City Council on countywide economic strategies and local opportunities to grow jobs and housing.
Rico said the EDC secured grant funding including a $750,000 allocation for the port and nearly $1 million in priority production/development monies to prepare sites; he said a major obstacle to attracting large employers is reliable power in PG&E territory and that consultants are working on infrastructure for priority production areas. Rico described the Solano BizGro revolving loan fund, seeded with $4,000,000 in ARPA funds, as a low‑cost lending tool (loans roughly $50,000–$125,000 with rates below prime) and reported an early default rate of about 5%.
On housing, Rico said EDC is piloting transit‑node workforce housing and ADU programs, including a county ADU website and financing work to lower costs for lower‑income homeowners. Council members asked about CRA engagement with banks, criteria for making industrial parks shovel‑ready, and which cities have adopted ADU programs; Rico said the ADU effort is nascent and that Vallejo and Benicia are likely early adopters in the county.
