Economic strategic plan to be done in May

<p>Petaluma's much-anticipated strategic economic plan has been pushed back a few weeks to ensure a more thorough report, and the city intends to reap the benefits of the information that will be revealed when the report is due out in May.</p><!-- Nothing to do. The paragraph has already been output --><p>The plan will indicate strengths and weaknesses of the city's economy, and council members and city staff will use it to determine priorities for economic development. In November, the City Council unanimously voted to hire Applied Development Economics, a consulting firm from Walnut Creek, to complete a $139,000 study to determine opportunities to strengthen existing businesses and attract new ones to the city. </p><p>“We definitely will take it very seriously,” said Mayor Pam Torliatt about the report. “As far as priorities, it is focused on our redevelopment spending to increase economic development.”</p><p>The report was recently delayed slightly when an advisory committee meeting scheduled for April 14 was pushed to May 12 to accommodate more focus group meetings and analysis. The final report will come in May rather than April.</p><p>“ADE Consultants has had to conduct more focus group meetings than we anticipated,” said City Manager John Brown. “It should make a more thorough project. The extra couple of weeks gives us more time to look at data.”</p><p>Brown plans to incorporate the results of the study into the 2010-2011 budget due in June, and is working with consultants on these aspects of the budget now, before the report is released. The delay will not affect the passing of the budget, Brown said.</p><p>Consultants are in the process of interviewing council members, city staff and business leaders, and have scheduled focus groups for various business communities, including green businesses, arts and small businesses, said Kathryn Studwell, project manager with ADE Consultants. They are interviewing 40 “key informants” knowledgeable about the local economy. The city also formed a 12-member advisory council to work with the consultants.</p><p>So far, preliminary areas of the report have determined that the city is going in the right direction if economic development outlined in the General Plan is enacted. Tourism and hotel offerings, office space vacancies and retail leakage are opportunity areas focused on in the General Plan. Other strengths and opportunities are yet to be seen.</p><p>More public forums are scheduled in the near future to present results and gather more information.</p><p>“We're trying to have some broad outreach,” said Torliatt. “There is a broad variety of interest groups.”</p><p>“We will present all the findings that we have so far and we will work with the participants to prioritize the findings,” said Studwell.</p><p>The next public forum is on May 1, and members of the public are encouraged to attend.</p><p>(Contact Philip Riley at philip.riley@arguscourier.com)</p>