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| Study calls for more job sites |
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| Written by Jonathan Partridge / Patterson Irrigator / | |
| Wednesday, 12 September 2007 | |
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“(The state) indicates this area is going to grow. This growth needs to be planned for.” — Doug Sweetland Economic development director, the Alliance
 Pi Photo File The report, produced by the Alliance, urged community leaders to work immediately on creating more job sites as a result of explosive growth projections for Stanislaus County from the state Department of Finance. Patterson’s mayor suggested that the report appeared in part to be a ploy to promote development of the former U.S. Navy airfield in Crows Landing south of Patterson, but Alliance officials said it was a realistic look at what could lie ahead. “The following narrative outlines the dark future for job creation in the county over the next three decades if decisive and immediate action is not taken,” the report said. Crunching numbers The Alliance works to attract businesses to Stanislaus County and retain them. Its report last week cited state projections that Stanislaus County will have more than 1 million people by 2040. That would require development of more than 112,000 homes, as well as 15,000 to 16,000 acres for job sites, the report said. The state previously predicted that Stanislaus County would grow to about 850,000 people in 2040, but those predictions spiked to 1 million in estimates released this year. The Alliance report noted the state Department of Housing and Community Development requires counties to build a certain number of homes during a set time period based on state predictions. “(The state) indicates this area is going to grow,” said Doug Sweetland, economic development director for the Alliance. “This growth needs to be planned for.” The county so far has plans for only 10,000 acres of developable job sites in the next 30 years, according to the report. Those include future business parks in Patterson and Oakdale, a recently approved 2,000-acre project in Salida, and the proposed 4,800-acre PCCP West Park industrial park on and around Crows Landing’s former naval airbase. The West Park project, being planned by Sacramento-area developer Gerry Kamilos, would include an inland port, which would ship and receive goods to and from the Port of Oakland. The report notes the county does have a few hundred acres of land available for job sites, but it said those parcels often are in places businesses are not interested in or they do not have all the amenities or space they require. Varied reactions Kamilos said that the report’s conclusion about the need for more job sites corroborated his development team’s own findings. “That’s reflective not only of Stanislaus County but also of the whole Central Valley,” he said. He said the valley needs to focus on developing a more diverse job base and noted the region’s population projections are coming from third-party state experts. On the other hand, Patterson Mayor Becky Campo said she felt one of the report’s intents was to push the Crows Landing project, and she questioned the Alliance staff members’ role in advocating for the project. She said jobs at the Crows Landing industrial park would compete with jobs within Patterson, and she expressed concerns about trains coming through Patterson to get to Crows Landing. Patterson City Manager Cleve Morris, who said he wished the report had reflected the strides Patterson has already made by planning the 817-acre West Patterson Business Park, said the council would review the report at its next meeting. Meanwhile, county Supervisor Jim DeMartini, whose district includes the West Side, said he felt the state’s projections cited in the Alliance report looked excessive and thought the state’s mandate to build housing was unfair. The Alliance report seemed “simplistic,” he said, and did not take into consideration market conditions. Business parks are not being filled, and the population is not rising as it once was, he said. “I’ve been driving around Patterson, and I see a lot of ‘For Sale’ signs, and I don’t see lot of homes going up here,” he said. Sweetland said the report was based upon the most recent state figures available. “Right, wrong or indifferent, this is what we have at this point,” he said. Supervisor Dick Monteith said he hoped the report would open people’s eyes to the need for job sites, including in Salida and Crows Landing. If even half of the county’s population projections come true, more job sites will be needed, he said. “The numbers are very staggering,” he said. Recruitment challenges Despite the report’s focus on available job sites in the future, Sweetland said there are lots of reasons employers choose not to move their business into Stanislaus County today. Some firms are not ready to move into the Central Valley because their suppliers and customer base are in the Bay Area, while other company officials worry about finding a workforce, he said. For instance, Target Stores decided not to move an online distribution center into Patterson’s Keystone Pacific Business Park based on the belief that there were not enough high school graduates in the area. Other companies are looking for sites with specific attributes — size, access to rail, water and wastewater service — that are not available in the county. An overall economic slowdown also has kept some businesses from moving into the county. “Right now … a lot of companies are in a holding pattern,” Sweetland said. To reach Jonathan Partridge at the Irrigator, call 892-6187 or e-mail him at
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