ESCONDIDO COMPREHENSIVE ECONOMIC ... - City of Escondido
ESCONDIDO COMPREHENSIVE ECONOMIC ... - City of Escondido
ESCONDIDO COMPREHENSIVE ECONOMIC ... - City of Escondido
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Comparisons <strong>of</strong> <strong>Escondido</strong> with Close-By Communities<br />
draft is available online for the Downtown Specific Plan, which provides a comprehensive plan for land<br />
use, development regulations, incentives and guidelines for Downtown <strong>Escondido</strong>.<br />
Expedited Development Processing<br />
Cities’ use <strong>of</strong> Expedited Development Processing programs was investigated by means <strong>of</strong> Web searches,<br />
on the premise that it is the communication about programs <strong>of</strong> this type that is critical to creating a<br />
city’s “business friendly” image. Web searches among the competitive cities revealed expedited<br />
development processing programs only in Temecula and Murrieta, which each utilize a Fast Track<br />
program.<br />
The Murrieta Fast Track program details were accessed via the Planning Applications and Forms portion<br />
<strong>of</strong> the <strong>City</strong>’s Community Development Department webpage. 6 This page emphasized program eligibility<br />
criteria, which include:<br />
Providing 50 or more new, permanent full-time jobs within the <strong>City</strong>, with preference to existing<br />
residents, on condition that at least 10% <strong>of</strong> the jobs created pay in excess <strong>of</strong> the average<br />
household income in Temecula or Murrieta;<br />
Generating a private investment <strong>of</strong> at least $25 million in land, building and/or equipment;<br />
Generating at least $50 million in new, taxable retail sales, annually.<br />
Details for the Temecula program were found within the Business Advantages section <strong>of</strong> the Economic<br />
Development portion <strong>of</strong> the <strong>City</strong>’s website. The procedural details listed there include: 7<br />
Two-week pre-application review process;<br />
Three-week review <strong>of</strong> initial formal submittal, two-week review <strong>of</strong> resubmittals, one-week<br />
condition <strong>of</strong> approval preparation;<br />
Construction process: 10-12 business days for initial review period, 5-7 business days for<br />
resubmittal review period and inspections within 24-48 hours <strong>of</strong> request.<br />
<strong>Escondido</strong> maintains a comprehensive database <strong>of</strong> the status <strong>of</strong> development projects and specific<br />
permits as they are routed through the <strong>City</strong> approval process. In reviewing this database, TNDG did not<br />
attempt to use it as part <strong>of</strong> this competitive assessment. The information would have to be compared to<br />
databases in other cities, and even if those databases were similarly structured, the modeling effort<br />
would still also require an in-depth understanding <strong>of</strong> target processing times, assumptions about the<br />
reasons for the length <strong>of</strong> certain review periods, etc. The <strong>Escondido</strong> permit/project databases will be<br />
revisited in later stages <strong>of</strong> the Economic Development Master Plan.<br />
6 http://www.murrieta.org/cityhall/cd/planning/apps.asp<br />
7 http://www.city<strong>of</strong>temecula.org/Temecula/Businesses/why/BusinessAdvantages.htm<br />
<strong>ESCONDIDO</strong> COMPETITIVE ASSESSMENT | The Natelson Dale Group, Inc.<br />
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