DATE: February 3, 2025
TO: Council Economic Development Committee
FROM: Chief Economic Development Officer and Development Services Director
SUBJECT
Title
Business-Friendly Hayward Project Update (Oral Report Only)
End
RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
That the Council Economic Development Committee (CEDC) receive an update and provide feedback on the Business-Friendly Hayward project.
End
SUMMARY
Strategic Roadmap. The Hayward Strategic Roadmap articulates the City Council’s shared vision and outlines the highest priorities for Fiscal Years 2024, 2025, and beyond. There are six core priorities required to achieve the Strategic Roadmap’s vision and numerous key projects to advance each priority. The “Grow the Economy” priority focuses on investing in business support services, creating thriving commercial corridors, growing workforce development pipelines, and strategically disposing of City property. Grow the Economy Project E6 requires an informational report on older ordinances that may have an adverse impact on businesses and business development, such as the cabaret and alcohol ordinances, and offer recommendations to update them. It should be noted that the City’s alcohol regulations were updated in March 2023 to make it easier for full-service restaurants to obtain permission from the City to serve alcohol at their establishments. Grow The Economy Project E5 requires a report on how midsized cities revitalized downtowns.
Downtown Specific Plan. In 2019, the City Council adopted the Downtown Specific Plan, which provides a strategy to achieve the community’s vision of a resilient, safe, attractive, and vibrant historic Downtown. It includes a series of implementation programs, including:
• Program LU 2: Update zoning regulations to allow temporary uses such as temporary structures on vacant lots, temporary uses in existing structures, pop-up shops, fruit stands, and mobile businesses, especially in vacant or underutilized spaces (including vacant storefronts) to increase small-scale business opportunities and to temporarily fill gaps in the urban fabric.
• Program LU 4: Update zoning regulations to modernize land use regulations and allow uses consistent with the vision for Downtown, such as neighborhood and regional serving retail, destination dining, entertainment, and indoor recreation that serve a diverse population including students, families, seniors, creative class professionals, and artists.
• Program CD 2: Update use regulations to encourage pedestrian-oriented uses that can help to activate the Downtown, such as sidewalk dining, and outdoor seating.
• Program ED 2: Modify zoning regulations to allow on-site retailing with small-scale production or processing at the same location.
• Program ED 3: Modify zoning regulations to allow collaborative incubator and working spaces for emerging innovative start-ups or smaller companies that benefit from shared and more affordable working space.
• Program ED 6: Improve and streamline the entitlement process to attract investment and development and for projects involving the expansion and upgrades of existing Plan Area businesses, including for code-compliance upgrades.
Business Friendly Hayward Project. The Business-Friendly Hayward Project aims to accomplish Strategic Roadmap Projects E6 and E5, and the Downtown Specific Plan implementation programs listed above by focusing on the following project objectives:
• Streamline entitlement and permitting processes for desirable businesses across the City’s commercial and mixed-use zoning districts.
• Activate vacant and underutilized properties and storefronts Downtown.
This project will be a joint effort of Economic Development and Planning. To support staff’s efforts, $100,000 has been allocated from the Planning Division’s budget to bring on a Planning consultant from the City’s on-call list and an Economic Development subconsultant that with expertise in in commercial real estate and retail leasing. The consultant team will assist staff in:
• Analyzing the City’s codes and practices related to commercial and mixed-use districts.
• Reviewing best practices in nearby and comparable communities with lively and thriving commercial areas.
• Conducting a commercial analysis that identifies community preferences and impediments to business attraction and start up.
• Preparing outreach materials for use in stakeholder interviews, pop up events, and other community engagement opportunities; and
• Revising the Municipal Code based on the analyses above and feedback from decision makers, the community, and staff.
Once the consultant team is brought on board, staff anticipates this project will take approximately 12 months to complete.
At the February 3rd CEDC meeting, staff will provide an oral update on the status of the Business-Friendly Hayward project, including progress made to date, consultant selection and anticipated work plan (Attachment I).
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment I Business-Friendly Hayward Workplan