The Goleta City Council on Tuesday evening adopted a five-year Economic Development Strategic Plan — a plan that acts as a roadmap toward a vision of the city with an improved economy that has more opportunities for historically marginalized populations and that better supports small businesses.

The council and city staff have spent more than a year developing the plan, with work starting in February 2022. The process involved significant stakeholder and community engagement, such as through online surveys, one-on-one interviews, focus groups, and more with residents, business owners and other community members.

Within the Economic Development Strategic Plan, the city’s long-term economic vision is said to be for Goleta to be a place where “local businesses grow and thrive, visitors are charmed, and residents are proud of the vibrant city they call home.”

To achieve that vision, the plan lays out six imperatives or goals for the city to focus on:

• Amplify the reputation of Goleta as a world-class center of innovation and technology.
• Improve access to economic opportunity by increasing the availability of livable-wage jobs and enhancing support for local [Black, indigenous, people of color] and women-owned small businesses and entrepreneurs.
• Position Goleta as a local leader of high-quality, innovative affordable child care and housing solutions.
• Enhance the experience of Goleta for both residents and visitors by leveraging Old Town’s unique historical and cultural identity and investing in district placemaking.
• Promote and advocate for smart investments in essential community infrastructure.
• Improve city government support of local businesses and relationships with economic development stakeholders.

“A great deal of thought and consideration went into the formulation of the city’s five-year Economic Development Strategic Plan,” Mayor Paula Perotte said. “This plan is a shared blueprint for action and will play a vital role in advancing strategies that foster economic growth and resilience in the city of Goleta for the next five years.

“The city looks forward to working with all of our partners to make this plan a reality and achieving the vision of the plan to make Goleta a place for all to thrive.”

A sobering theme to come out of the engagement part of the process was that the business community in Goleta expressed not feeling supported, particularly small-business owners and entrepreneurs.

The plan further breaks the six imperatives down into specific, measurable objectives and strategies to achieve the goals.

“There are many things in here that build on what we’ve already started or kind of prod us to work a little bit more on — whether it’s the housing, child care issue, the tension to Old Town, infrastructure investments,” Councilman Kyle Richards said. “These are all things that we’re already on our way and doing, so it’s exciting to see that reflected in this plan.”

Some of the strategies in the plan that the city is set to implement over the next five years include dedicating an economic development staff position with the city manager’s office, investing in infrastructure and amenities in Old Town Goleta, partnering with local employers to explore innovative solutions and funding opportunities to increase workforce housing, incentivizing employers to invest in child care options, re-envisioning and expanding the Goleta Entrepreneurial Magnet program, and several others.

“I think I am most proud that there are those pieces of a focus and a recognition of our values as Goleta by including things like a very focused desire to address climate change, to include child care and housing, to have specific strategies to support BIPOC and women business owners, the focus on Old Town and equity pieces,” Councilwoman Luz Reyes-Martín said. “Those are the pieces for me that make this a Goleta plan and makes it really this values-driven plan.”

Goleta’s full Economic Development Strategic Plan can be viewed on the city’s website here, and a summary document of the plan is also available here.