Davis City Council discusses and approves Economic Development Strategic Plan

The plan aims to retain and encourage small businesses and continue to attract visitors

By KATYA OKS — city@theaggie.org

On March 3, Davis City Council met to discuss an Economic Development Strategic Plan. The Plan outlines economic development goals and the ways in which the city should implement them in the next 3 to 5 years.

The initial presentation was led by Katie Yancey, the Davis economic development director, and was then followed by a public comment section and the council members' discussion on how to move forward. Before the presentation began, Yancey discussed the goal of the presentation and the Plan. 

“[The Plan] is intended to articulate very immediate and near term revenue generation interventions [which] align with the city council's existing goals, visions and policy statements that are primarily located within the general Plan,” Yancey said. 

Yancey then shared her vision for the Plan. She explained her hopes that the Plan will maintain a high quality of life for Davis community members while keeping “the university-oriented, small city feel,” according to the slides. Yancey also expressed her wishes for Davis to get “regional recognition” for tourism, aiming to focus efforts on downtown attractions.

To achieve this, Yancey emphasized the importance of diversifying the tax base in order to take some pressure off local citizens. 

“Diversifying the tax base means that the city isn't relying solely on sales tax or property taxes or on circulating earned income generated by its major employers,” Yancey said. “This broader base creates more stable and predictable revenues and puts less pressure on the residents and the businesses to fill gaps with sales tax increases or parcel tax increases, many of which are no longer available, and increases the city's capacity to fund services, infrastructure and amenities.”

Davis is home to many local small businesses; Yancey discussed some ways to ensure that they continue to thrive in the community. 

“Partnering with local agencies [and] organizations, along with state and federal agencies that support small businesses [means] that the city can do more with less and ensure that these businesses have the resources, the visibility, the advocacy and the market conditions that they need to thrive by being both proactive and responsive to small business needs,” Yancey said. “Collaborating with our local chamber, our local nonprofits, our local business groups [...] [will] all help to streamline business support.” 

Yancey then concluded the presentation by stating the importance of continuing to expand outside of traditional revenue models. 

“Simply put, innovation isn't optional here in Davis,” Yancey said. “It's important for us to figure out how to innovate our economic development approaches. [...] Because of limited vacant land, sluggish commercial demand and the heavy reliance on a university-driven economy, [the traditional revenue model] no longer generates enough fiscal stability to meet the community's expectations.” 

The meeting then opened to a public comment section. Carrie Rohrbach, the executive director of the Davis Chamber of Commerce, spoke in support of Yancey’s Plan and the importance of the city’s collaboration with local businesses and organizations. 

“This proactive engagement reduces friction, increases transparency and ensures that businesses have a clear channel for input and support,” Rohrbach said. “We strongly believe this partnership adds tangible value not only to our members, but to the broader Davis community. When the city and the Chamber collaborate effectively, our local economy is more resilient, our businesses are more informed and our community is stronger as a whole.” 

Georgina Valencia, a Davis resident, brought forth some important factors to consider in the implementation of the Plan. 

“One [thing to consider] is metrics,” Valencia said. “What are the metrics going to be? How do you define success, and how are you going to measure that? That's going to be important to economic development. Retention is also really important. We just lost two coffee shops downtown. [...] I think to be proactive about that is really important for the community too.” 

Elaine Roberts Musser, another public commenter and Davis resident, highlighted the importance of diversifying the taxes. 

“It is highly unlikely another tax measure would be approved by voters, not after the last sales tax increase was squandered on city employee salary increases rather than on infrastructure repair as promised,” Musser said. “This is all the more reason to push for more economic development, along with streamlining our zoning and permitting processes to make for a more business-friendly environment. This city council needs to approve the economic development director's proposal and support her in any way they can.”

To conclude, Mayor Donna Neville discussed the next steps in implementing the presented economic development Plan. Although supportive, Neville stated that she would want further landscape analysis provided before more changes can be made. 

“So [for the] first [motion], we would approve the strategic Plan,” Neville said. “The second, we would approve the staff's request to do this initial tax, property tax and sales tax analysis.” 

The tax base analysis would include the city identifying existing budget gaps and deficits, and then figuring out new pathways for addressing such. More updates and information are available on the City of Davis website. 

Written By: Katya Oks — city@theaggie.org