Economic Development Corp. Takes Stock at 5th Anniversary

It was five years ago this month that the Oxnard City Council unanimously decided to cede control of its economic development initiative to a private, nonprofit group.

To many, it was a surprising move, considering that the city’s economy had fallen into decline amid the statewide recession of the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Passing the reins to the Greater Oxnard Economic Development Corp., some feared, meant less control over programs aimed at nourishing an emaciated business district.

However, with a growing industrial sector and booming job base, such concerns have fallen silent, and the EDC is looking to the next five years as a time to solidify its gains while continuing to mold Oxnard into a city customized for business.

“The City Council’s willingness to do this experiment where there were no guarantees says a lot about them and the city’s commitment to business,” said EDC President Steve Kinney. “But it was the right move. . . . It’s given the city more legitimacy when it comes to growing the economy here.”

During the recession earlier this decade, Oxnard carried the bulk of the county’s economic hardships.

In less than two years, the city watched as large firms such as Abex, Raytheon, Ohneda and Nabisco closed their doors and left more than 2,200 people without jobs.

“What was happening was pretty dramatic,” Kinney said. “It was obvious to all of us that something had to be done.”

A meeting among council members, city officials and local business leaders concluded that the best course would be to privatize the community’s economic development efforts.

In creating the EDC, they hoped to increase credibility among regional businesses and to make the city more responsive to the needs of individual businesses. In addition, the nonprofit group would be eligible for federal funds and foundation grants not available to similar, city-run organizations.

Located in an airy Victorian-style home at Heritage Square, the EDC’s three-member staff operates on an annual budget of about $400,000, most of which is funded by the city.

Its work is guided by an 11-member board of directors composed of City Council members, area business leaders and city officials.

As the only city in Ventura County whose economic plans are guided by an outside agency, Oxnard has outpaced its neighbors in generating jobs and courting businesses looking to relocate.

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Since its incorporation in 1994, the EDC has helped create about 6,000 jobs in the city and attracted more than $100 million in capital investment.

According to a recent audit conducted by the EDC, job growth in the city has increased 7.9% between 1994 and 1997.

During that same period, job growth in the rest of the county grew by 4.6%.

More dramatic is the city’s growth in industrial jobs, which have increased by 28%, compared to 3.7% in the rest of the county during that same three-year period.

But Oxnard’s success in climbing out of the recession has as much to do with the city’s efforts as it does with the EDC’s.

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In the early 1980s, the city zoned large swaths of land for commercial and industrial development. The amount zoned for such uses now totals more than 2,200 acres.

In addition, it cut permit fees in half and streamlined the process to make it easier for business owners to move quickly in expanding or relocating their firms to the city.

It even offered a money-back guarantee in which it would refund permit fees if permits were not issued on a date agreed to by the city and business.

“[Both the city and the EDC] are very proactive in the approach to developing their economy, and what they’ve been able to accomplish is remarkable,” said Mark Schniepp, director of the UC Santa Barbara Economic Forecast Project. “From an economic standpoint, the city has undergone a major change. . . . It used to be tied to just the military and agriculture, but now it’s a solid mix of industrial, manufacturing, agricultural and retail jobs.”

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One of the EDC’s greatest successes was bringing Haas Automation to the city from the San Fernando Valley in 1997.

Before moving, Haas, a manufacturer of machine tools, had outgrown its original space and was spread out among six buildings in Chatsworth.

“We were spending a lot of money just shipping stuff from ourselves to ourselves, so finding a larger space was pretty important,” said assistant marketing manager Scott Melamed. “Our focus then was to put everything under one roof.”

According to Melamed, Oxnard offered the company a variety of things that other communities could not.

For the company, there was the 430,000-square-foot building available with enough room to increase its size by 50%.

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Land prices were not only competitive, he said, but substantially cheaper than other areas that company officials were considering.

Housing prices were also relatively low, which made Oxnard an ideal location for the company’s relocation.

“They definitely lived up to their word,” Melamed said. “We needed space and they gave it to us, and the quality of life here is something that made the move good for our employees.”

However, Oxnard’s success hasn’t come without its share of problems, specifically a lack of employees skilled in the trades that area companies need.

In the coming five years, Kinney hopes to address that problem and broaden the EDC’s role in developing business in the city.

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In a prospectus titled “The Centennial Project,” Kinney has laid out the agency’s goals until the year 2003 to coincide with the city’s 100th anniversary.

In addition to adding 6,000 jobs and drumming up an extra $1.3 million in city revenue, the EDC hopes to create a better technological infrastructure and get more businesses to begin exporting internationally.

Kinney would also like to see the agency take a more active role in the city’s long-term planning to position it better for the community’s changing needs.

“What this comes down to is marketing Oxnard,” Kinney said. “To do that successfully you have to have a pretty good product, and I think we’ve got that.”

Coll Metcalfe can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].

* TECH SUCCESS: In the future, it will be high-tech firms that power area growth. B6

* MORE BUSINESS NEWS: B6-8