Council and Economic Development Board Will Discuss Near Term Econcomic Development Plan

The City Council and the Economic Development Board will hold a joint workshop at the Dona Benicia Room in the Benicia Public Library at 6 p.m. tonight. The meeting will focus on the Draft Business Development Action Plan developed for the city by Chabin Concepts of Chico.

“This business plan is an initial set of new recommendations on how to move forward,” City Manager Brad Kilger said. “The plan will help the city prioritize actions on the near and long term.”

The plan was the subject of a three-part all day presentation Oct. 12 that featured the plan’s author, Audrey Taylor. The plan discusses actions the city might take in supporting the three major economic drivers in the city: downtown and tourism, commercial centers and the industrial park where about 20 percent of the useable square footage sits idle.

Tonight's meeting will be the first time the plan will be considered by the full City Council though Mayor Elizabeth Patterson attended all three parts of the initial presentation and Vice-Mayor Alan Schwartzman and Councilmen Tom Campbell and Mike Ioakimedes were also in attendance for some of the presentations.

City staff will use the input it receives from the council at the meeting to formulate an implementation plan.