City Beat
First Ever Economic
Blueprint Focuses on
Economic Prosperity
and Vitality
By Edith Ramirez, City of Morgan Hill Economic Development Director,
[email protected], 408.310.4633
T
he City of Morgan Hill released its fi rst ever Economic Blueprint in April 2017
with the intent to further the community’s quality of life by attracting investment,
development, and jobs that will ensure continued economic prosperity. This
report is founded on guiding principles from the General Plan, Morgan Hill 2035, and
incorporates feedback from over 400 residents, businesses, and community leaders
engaged and invested in the future of Morgan Hill.
Thoughtful planning has made Morgan Hill a desirable community within the
Silicon Valley region. With its unique character and strong sense of community,
Morgan Hill offers a superb quality of life. Historically, the community has been
mindful to make strategic investments for Morgan Hill to thrive, including:
• Leading in affordable housing –
creating a community where one of every eight homes is affordable
• Investing in protecting hillsides and open space from development
• Leading the region in agricultural preservation policies
• Pacing growth to provide for the development of infrastructure and ser-
vices
• Providing excellent housing and community amenities
• Offering the region state-of-the-art recreational facilities
• Attracting unprecedented investment in Downtown,
making it a gem within the Silicon Valley area
• Maintaining a high level of safety
• Leading the region in water and agricultural land conservation
Morgan Hill’s natural geography, along with events, recreational areas, and
activities, attract nearly one million visitors to Morgan Hill annually. Complementing
the strong visitor base is the robust dining destination that is evolving in Downtown
Morgan Hill, and the region’s burgeoning wineries. The Economic Blueprint identifies
four industries that are key to Morgan Hill’s future growth and further fiscal
sustainability. By focusing on these areas of opportunity, the Economic Blueprint is
intended to generate jobs, investment, and economic vitality, while providing goods
and services to the community and new tax revenues for the City.
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
The four industries are:
Innovation and Advanced Manufacturing:
Grow existing companies, attract new industry, and grow professional jobs.
Retail:
Grow retail offerings and strengthen commercial nodes.
Tourism:
Grow leisure, agriculture, wine country and recreational tourism.
Healthcare:
Grow and foster the medical service and diagnostics industry by attracting
services and facilities.
By articulating clear intentions to these industries, and developing implementation
strategies, the City and its economic development partners (Chamber of Commerce,
Downtown Association, Tourism Alliance, Wineries Association, businesses, educational
organizations, brokers, developers, service providers, and many others) will be better
positioned to realize the dividends of a focused and collaborative effort. From the
City’s perspective, a primary responsibility is to make land use and policy decisions
that in return will attract investment, remove unnecessary barriers, achieve economic
sustainability, and enhance the community’s quality of life.
As the Morgan Hill community looks to have a focused plan around advancing
the four industries, it is important to establish benchmarks to determine success. The
Economic Blueprint provides a baseline of vital statistics that range from jobs and
revenues to vacancy rates and industry-proven economic indicators. To achieve success
in growing any of these industries will require the City to strengthen its partnerships
as well as develop new ones. It will be imperative that the City and its economic
development partners align efforts in supporting the four industries and thereby
sharing in combined prosperity and success. The full City of Morgan Hill Economic
Blueprint can be viewed at the following link https://cld.bz/5cgfQGe/58. Questions
regarding Morgan Hill’s Economic Blueprint can be referred to Edith Ramirez, Economic
Development Director at [email protected]
MAY/JUNE 2017
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