Title
Recommendation to Discuss Priorities for a New Economic Development Strategic Plan
(Economic Development 10061810)
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the Mayor’s Economic Development Advisory Panel
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The last Economic Development Strategic Plan (EDSP) was completed in 2018. The City is now at the stage where it needs to update the existing EDSP to meet the needs of Alameda and set the Economic Development program over the next five years. The new Strategic Plan will include assembling and analyzing data to develop policies, actions, and a roadmap to guide future economic development activity. The purpose of this staff report is to discuss the priorities of the Economic Development Advisory Panel (EDAP) for the City’s new Economic Development Strategic Plan, which will inform the content of a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a consultant to support this effort. Staff will return to EDAP each quarter with an update on the work once a consultant is selected.
BACKGROUND
In 2018, the City Council adopted the existing EDSP, which was designed to guide the City’s economic development activities over a five to ten year period. The EDSP served as Alameda’s roadmap to achieve economic growth, and to improve the quality of life for residents and employees. The overall goal of the EDSP at that time was to focus limited City resources for economic development on the business sectors in which Alameda was an attractive option, there was room for growth, and they complemented Alameda’s long-term goals.
When the EDSP was developed, there were ten priority areas that were identified to support Alameda’s economic resiliency. The priority areas were divided into two major categories:
Business sectors identified as opportunities for growth
1. Life Sciences
2. Clean Tech, Green Tech, High Tech
3. Blue Tech and Maritime
4. Retail and Restaurants
5. Tourism/Hospitality
6. Artists and Small Manufacturers
Critical services to support the retention, expansion and growth of businesses in Alameda
1. Transportation Choices
2. Housing
3. Workforce Development
City Services and Policy Documents
DISCUSSION
While the current EDSP has served the City well, and in many ways is still quite relevant, the deep impact of COVID-19 on the regional economy - including plummeting demand for traditional office space, the need for more retail space, and the rise and fall of the life sciences industry in the East Bay - warrants a new strategy. The emergence of AI also may warrant a change in the strategy. Further, the priority business sectors are still relevant, but the categories may too broad to be useful when staff are conducting targeted business retention and attraction efforts.
The new Economic Development strategy will provide a road map for the City in determining where to allocate resources and identify priorities over a five-year period in business attraction, retention, and expansion. The strategy is to be fact based and market-disciplined, draw from international best practices, and is to include specific action items geared towards creating new job opportunities, encouraging entrepreneurship and innovation, enhancing fiscal sustainability, investing in catalyst commercial and development areas, and increasing private investment throughout the City.
The goal of the new strategy is to move the Economic Development program forward to meet current as well as future needs and priorities. The strategy will provide a work plan and future roadmap for implementing recommended strategies and establishing metrics in which to measure the outcomes.
Staff propose that the Economic Development Strategic Plan RFP should contain the following three sections:
1. Evaluation of Current Conditions and Trends
The evaluation of current conditions and trends and sections is meant to provide the context and analysis needed to develop the strategic plan workplan and roadmaps. It is meant to look at the characteristics of Alameda and how those characteristics compare to the surrounding communities.
• Review existing economic development programs and incentives.
• Conduct a Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis of the City’s competitive position.
• Identify the fastest growing and most competitive industries in Alameda compared to Alameda and Contra Costa counties using quantitative analysis and broker interviews.
• Complete an inventory of existing space available for retail, office, industrial, lab space and R & D to include asking rents, total square footage, and vacancy rates. Include sub-areas of Downtown Alameda Business Association, West Alameda Business Association, Harbor Bay, Marina Village and Alameda Point subdistricts.
• Analyze sales and TOT tax trends per district as compared with the County and East Bay.
• Analyze housing costs and multi-family rents compared to Contra Costa and Alameda counties.
• Conduct a general assessment of water, sewer and electrical rates to determine competitive advantages/disadvantages.
• Compare above information with Alameda and Contra Costa counties to determine competitive advantages/disadvantages.
2. Stakeholder engagement
The RFP requires the Consultant to develop and execute a stakeholder engagement plan to solicit thoughtful participation and input from four stakeholder groups and key individual stakeholders. Stakeholders include the following:
1. Members of the Alameda Mayor’s Economic Development Advisory Panel
2. Advisory group made up of members from the Alameda Chamber of Commerce, the Downtown Alameda Business Association and the West Alameda Business Association
3. Advisory group made up of tenants and business owners of Alameda Point
4. Advisory group made up of developers and brokers active in the Alameda community
5. One-on-one Major commercial owners and developers in Harbor Bay, Research Park at Marina Village, Alameda Point and the Northern Waterfront
Engagement with stakeholder groups will be a critical part of the process, but staff are aware that the benefits of stakeholder engagement must be balanced with the potential for scope and budget expansion for the consultant.
3. Develop an Economic Development Strategic Plan
Prior to the development of the plan, the RFP requires the Consultant to complete the following analysis:
• Given current economic conditions, determine whether the six business sectors previously identified are still opportunities for growth to be focused on and whether there are more nuanced industries (as defined through the North American Industry Classification System, or NAICS) that require more targeted focus.
• Identify which industries to continue to target and develop attraction strategies and a roadmap to follow tied to the individual sectors.
• Identify within this, the extent to which the focus should be on retention and growth versus attraction.
• Given existing staff resources and budgets, determine the role economic development staff can play in the four previously listed critical services categories and determine which service categories to continue to focus on.
Based on the information and understanding gained from the evaluation of Alameda’s current conditions and trends, the stakeholder groups and the background evaluation described above, develop an Economic Development Strategic Plan that:
• Identifies industry best practices for utilizing data in developing programs, allocating resources and in making decisions.
• Compare the City’s current development project processes, including setting fees, taxes, rates, and incentives to regional best practices, and provide recommendations to City staff for improvement.
• Identifies best practices for developing and enhancing strategic partnerships with entities such as county government, trade associations, business groups, schools, labor unions, etc.
• Defines the City’s role in workforce development, including the development of strategies to enhance educational opportunities and job training, and the required relationships with trade and professional schools and higher education.
The Strategic Plan should also include specific activities to:
• Support small businesses and foster entrepreneur development.
• Support business attraction for targeted sectors.
• Support business retention and expansion.
• Include an Economic Development Marketing Plan that is multi-pronged and includes, but is not limited to, the creation of branding, campaigns, collateral, and website and social media content.
Finally, the Plan should include the following components:
• A road map for any necessary modifications to the Economic Development Work Plan within the resources provided, and alternatives requiring more resources, with costs and benefits.
• A plan for telling the story of the Economic Development program, activities and successes internally and externally.
• An explanation of the important economic development roles tangentially assumed by other City departments (ie AMP, planning, building, public works, police)
• Identify appropriate economic development performance tracking metrics and methods and the cadence for performance monitoring by metric (quarterly, annually, biannually, every 5 years).
• Identify priorities and resources necessary for implementing recommendations.
• Provide recommendations for the frequency of future Economic Development Strategic Plan updates.
RFP Timing
The anticipated timeline for the RFP is as follows:
• June, 2026 EDAP for review/comments on proposed RFP
• July, 2026 Send out RFP
• August, 2026 Receive RFP responses back
• September, 2026 EDAP review/comments on RFP responses
• October, 2026 Council to approve contract
• January, 2027 Present final plan to new City Council
Discussion Points
1. Does the background information asked to be gathered in the RFP seem sufficient to guide the development of a workplan and roadmaps for Alameda? Is there sufficient/other analysis EDAP would want to see?
2. Does the stakeholder engagement seem sufficient? Have we covered the bases needed? Are there recommended stakeholder or industry groups who should be added?
3. Do the listed required components of the plan put the Economic Development program on the path that you think we should be on?
FINANCIAL IMPACT
No financial impact.
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommend that EDAP review the Strategic Plan RFP in preparation for discussion and feedback.
.
Respectfully submitted,
Economic Development Division Manager
By,
Cesar Mesias, Economic Development Specialist II
Exhibits: NOTE:
1. DRAFT Request for Proposal for Economic Development’s Strategic Plan