Petaluma focuses on economic development plan

<p>Dick Herman says that a Petaluma information technology company wants to expand its business, hire more people and move into a larger location.</p><p>But he also says there is a dilemma: the planning-approval process in Petaluma is perceived as uncertain and unpredictable and so the business owner feels sure he could get a permit in another jurisdiction within a few months.</p><p>Herman, president of 101MFG, a regional manufacturers' alliance based in Petaluma, declined to identify the technology company. But its situation fits a set of circumstances that some business advocates say plays out too frequently in Sonoma County's second-largest city.</p><p>Petaluma's new economic development strategic plan, a report being fine-tuned by consultants and community leaders, is meant to remove some of that unpredictability.</p><p>“By January or February, we could have a wonderful success story,” Herman said of the unnamed company. “But the way the planning and permitting process works, if one concerned citizen or group gets motivated, 30 to 60 days can turn into 180 days. Business just can't operate with that much uncertainty.”</p><p>Within the next few weeks, the City Council will receive the report, which has been a year in the making. It is widely seen as a blueprint for how Petaluma can retain current businesses, attract new ones and build on the city's strengths. </p><p>The end goal is to grow and diversify Petaluma's economy, reverse the downward trend in sales and property taxes and provide a foundation for long-term financial stability.</p><p>A draft of the report is available on the city's website.</p><p>At the report's unveiling at a recent community meeting, comments were generally positive, with some concern about whether the concepts will be enacted.</p><p>Daymon Doss, chief executive of the Petaluma Health Care District, was a member of the citizen advisory board working with consultants. He wondered whether the City Council has the political will to follow through on the plan.</p><p>“In Petaluma, we have had a tendency, or a rhythm, where every two years we change direction with the way we want to go with certain projects, development or non-development,” he said. “If we're going to have an economic development plan, we need a plan that is owned and supported by multiple facets with the city.</p><p>“If it's ‘start up, slow down, yes, no,' pretty soon the message is ‘we really don't have a plan.'”</p><p>The first proposal is to hire an economic development manager, a person to lead the effort to bring new business — and thus revenue — to the city.</p><p>In a time of layoffs and wage reductions at City Hall, hiring a new department head at a cost of more than $100,000 strikes some as counter-intuitive.</p><p>Herman said a problem with Petaluma is that there isn't one person who an entrepreneur can work with all the way through the permitting process, someone who has authority and accountability.</p><p>Councilman David Rabbitt said he thinks rather than producing a new report, at a cost of about $150,000, the city needs a hard look at its permitting process.</p><p>“An audit of how the city operates now should be the first thing, including the planning process, which is a huge deterrent,” he said. “The development impact fees are a huge deterrent. It doesn't matter who you're trying to attract, because when they get down to the nitty-gritty and see these things, they're not going to come.”</p><p>As the country recovers from the recession, the time is right to attract businesses, Herman said.</p><p>“We have a great window of time right now. Businesses are restructuring. They are looking at their decisions in the next year as the economy starts to the pick up,” he said. “That is a window in time in which Petaluma has an opportunity to reestablish itself into a broad-based business-friendly, life-friendly, family-friendly place.”</p>