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HONORABLE CITY COUNW.
Palo A1to j C~lifornia
ECONOMIC RESOURCES PLANNING
Meombers of the Council;
This. is an informational report; no Council action is required. The purpose
of this report is to inform the tity Council of the status of staff efforts in
the area of what we are now cal'ir.g Economic ResourCES P1anning (ERP).
Economic Resources Planning embodies three ongoing programs in the City:
Corporate Planning; the Economic Outlook Committee process; and the Re~enue
Impact Analysis Study. The most recent addition to £RP is the special
as~i9nment of the Chief Planning Officlal to coordinate the p,eparation of an
t!ccnomic reSC!Jrces strategy or :'plan-for the City.
Corporate Planning
Approximitel) two years ago, the City Manager initiated the concept of
corporate planning centers within the City. Corporate planning was
descrfpt1ve of a new organizational effort to provide various City departments
with the resou~ces necessary to function effe,tiveTy between now and the
beginning of the 21st century. The Human Resources Director was assigned the
task of d~~eloping i center to focus on trafning. recruitment and development
of City personnel. That center ~as been established at Cubberley and has been
Tn operation for se.eral months~ Included in the center's focus is th~
adllinistration cf the City staff's Transportation Oemarld "'anagelJlent (TOM) and
housing assistance programs.
The PTanning Dlrecto~ ~as charged ~itn the responsibility of de~eloping and
understanding the physical ~nd economic conditions affecting the (ity now and
in the future. The initial tnrust of this effort W3S to conduct a study of
the Stanford Research Park to determine those factors influencing the
continued economic ~ita'ity and success of t~e Park. Tenant constituenc)t
overall business climati~ and City relationships with park users and Stanford
University were addressed, as was the identification of imp~diments to the
Park's long·term economic future. That study has been completed and was
initially reviewed by the Policy and Ser~ices Committee of the Council on
October 29, 1991.
[cenomic Qytloo~ Committee
The [conomic Outlook Co~ittee (EOe) was formed in 1988 by the Finance
Oinder to pr{)~id'2 insight on issues in the local economy that might affect
the City's budget, and to create a forum for business leaders to provide
feedback on City servjces. Tne EOC is comprised of (ity staff members and
bUSiness leaders from the 10cal COITUTlur,itj. The Committee meets qLJarterly~ and
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such topics as the status ~f the Stanford Shopping C~nter sales and leasing
effDrts, political trends affecting local and r~gional economy, and Research
Park. issues ife di. z.custed.
In July 1991, the City CouncIl aut'oriz.d City .taff to contract .lt~ Gru,n
Gruen + Assochtes, retatl sales tax/land use analysis. spp.chlists. to ccnduct
a study of t~e City's commercial areas t~ determine impacts, if any, of land
use regulations and sales tax revenues. Furthermore, the study ~as to
identify tn~ areas of potentill revenue opportunities for Palo Alto. The
study was to focus on the City's neighborhood commercial areas, the El (amino
Reil str!p ~ommercia', and t~e development cap on the Sta~ford Snapping
Center. The study is under staff r~vi~w, and it is anticipated thit Planning
CO~lssion consideration will be sch~du'ed for late January.
The most recent addition to the Cityrs Economic Resour(~s Planning effort has
been the assignment of the Chief Planning Official to coordinate the
development Gf an !conomic resources strategy for the C,ty that would
e~compa'$ all of these efforts to date. H~r energies have concentrated on
investigation Df other cft;~s' and counties r economic planning efforts and
nation~ide trends, in general, on economic strategy~ Substantial time has
been devoted to the establisnment of an in-house committee, representative of
111 departments ir tne CHy, to assist in identifying fco!'lomic issues
pertinent to the Cityrs current and future fiscal situation. Initial ~etings
of this Committee~ wbich are held biweekly, hive consisted of brainstorming
sessions to define the issues. and te familiarize tne Committee with non
standard approache-s to go¥ernmental problem suh'ing. such as the pub1 ic
equivalent of corporate scenario planning. We are hopeful that a~ outline of
the Committee's direction an~ ultimate product will be i~ii'able after four to
five meetings. This Dutline ~1ll be forwarde~ to th~ CounCil for
consideration in late January or early February. Due to the data intensive
nature of the exercise and the educaUonal precess necessary for the Conmittee
te werk effectively, it is not antiCipated that any public partiCipation
campanent of this exercise will be feasible until after this time period.
Once specific pelicy areas are identified, staff wlll solicit Council input
for future dlrectio~.
Respectfully submitted,
a1t';l;;b/}~:7'rj
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CAROL JANSEN
Chief Planning Official
cc:: Planning tOll1l'1ission
(MR;S06;91
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11/14/91
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