Belmont In High Gear for Economic Development

This is the silly season, as someone once called election time!

Some council candidates' platforms take a negative tone with regards to what the city has been doing for economic development.       

However, Belmont latest Audit Report says:

-Belmont's sales tax revenues for the last fiscal year has gone up almost 14%!

-Belmont's hotel and franchise taxes have gone up 20%!

-Our end fund balance (money left at the end of June 2011) has gone up $1.5 Million!!!

It is a fallacy that Belmont is doing very little to help economic development.  As a matter of fact in the last few years, we have had to compensate for the loss of sales tax due to internet purchasing, in particular from a large, local software company. 

With the advent of the internet, sales moved from “brick and mortar” to electronic distribution which dramatically affected sales taxes throughout the nation.

Now, let's see what we have done and are doing for economic development:

Volkswagen-Audi

City Staff worked to speed up the permit process for VW/Audi to lease a portion (40k square feet) of the large vacant building at 600 Clipper Drive for their electronics research lab.

Sun Edison

City Staff worked diligently to speed up the permit process with Sun Edison to fill up the remaining space (100k square feet) on Clipper Drive. SunEdison has outlined that approximately 100 existing SunEdison jobs will be relocated to this facility from within California and out of state, and local recruitment has already begun. Sun Edison intends to create 400 new jobs over the next two to three years.

Sun Edison sought incentives resulting in a request for a waiver of construction/building permit fees ($106,400) for all Tenant Improvements for the building. The City Council granted an $86,400 waiver of those fees using RDA money in February 2011.

Other things the City is doing to further our economic development
-Establishing target sites and purchasing key properties, such as the lot at the corner of O’Neill and El Camino Real.

-Working with developer Bohannon to build hotels and an office building along Shoreway Rd.

-Forming an ad-hoc committee to develop new downtown zoning guidelines.

-Offering facade improvement money to commercial properties.

-Continuing to meet with current property owners like Oracle, Nikon and Autobahn Motors to understand their short and long-term goals.

Things are changing!

Nice things are happening:

- Shalizaar Restaurant and their banquet room expansion

- Hotel Belmont improvements – new paint, façade improvements, and landscaping

- Caprino’s Building will have a wonderful upgrade with new awnings, paint, and facade improvements

- New owners of Brown Building on Emmett and the previous Trans-Union Bank building on Ralston are upgrading their buildings to attract new tenants. These improvements include new façade work, parking lot striping, and landscaping. 

- The US 101/Pedestrian Bike Bridge will be completed in November and will be a conduit and passageway from Foster City, Redwood Shores, and the Belmont Sports Complex to the western portion of Belmont.  Completion of this bridge will facilitate pedestrian/bike circulation, improved recreational opportunities, and allow greater access to our commercial center.

- The improvement of the Ralston Avenue Walgreens block included enhanced landscaping, paving, façade improvements and new tenants (Indian food store, etc).

- The City has had reasonable implementation of the new comprehensive sign ordinance and is working with the San Mateo Board of Realtors (SAMCAR) to make minor changes in the ordinance to better serve their needs.

Maybe we could have done more, but a lot of things are happening--and some day really soon--we will start seeing results.  The sky is not falling! 

What kind of retail, restaurants and other shops would you like to see in Belmont that would fit well? Is there a favorite that you use that is in another town? Tell me in the comment section of this article.

Thank you for reading this,

Coralin

Mayor, City of Belmont CA

Visit my webpage at www.coralin.net