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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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