Camarillo Adopts Economic Development Plan

A strategic economic development plan adopted by the city of Camarillo calls for maximizing the community’s finite real estate resources. According to a Camarillo Acorn report, the Camarillo City Council has unanimously approved the new economic development plan, which provides recommendations on how the city can boost and nurture existing businesses and attract and retain more high-paying jobs. The study set as the community’s highest priorities to expand economic development marketing, revitalize key commercial districts and position Camarillo as a tech hub. “This document provides a strategic framework to guide the City of Camarillo’s economic development policies and programs over the next five to 10 years,” read the study’s preface. Camarillo sought the services of Yorba Linda-based consulting firm Natelson Dale Group to conduct the study, which was based on a combination of online surveys, community and stakeholder workshops, summit meetings, target studies and input from community members and city staff conducted over the course of more than a year. The report identified Camarillo’s collective strengths, including retail destinations, agriculture and tech. “Within the local business community,” the study said regarding the latter, “there is a unique level of interest in technology-oriented entrepreneurial development (i.e., ‘tech startups’); there is also an emerging cluster of biotech startups in the larger region, which Camarillo can potentially leverage.” Among the important local institutional assets addressed in the report: California State University – Channel Islands; Camarillo Airport; and Port Hueneme and Point Mugu Naval Base, “each of which can potentially be ‘drivers’ of new economic development opportunities,” the report said. At a Council meeting, Natelson Dale Group principal Roger Dale outlined the report’s key findings, advising the Council to maximize Camarillo’s remaining finite undeveloped land, stressing that Camarillo’s situation was a matter of quality over quantity.