Beginning in 2011, the Lompoc City Council established five priorities to improve the city.
First and foremost is economic development and jobs. Over many years, the Lompoc Valley has become a bedroom community for Santa Barbara County and was particularly hard hit by unemployment in the 2008 downturn. To create a more business-friendly city, the council created a single-purpose committee to review the building, planning, and engineering departments. The committee made a number of recommendations that the council approved and the city staff implemented. Additionally, the council hired Broadspec to operate the city building department. Along with their written time guarantee for plan check, they focus on facilitating, not complicating, projects. Additionally the city administrator and human resources director worked with all city staff to develop the Charter of Excellence, which empowers city staff members to make decisions and deliver consistently great customer service in the shortest time frame.
These changes have made the city very successful in attracting new business. Since September 2012, Marshals, Grocery Outlet, Dollar General, DenMat, Fallas, Rocket Town Chrysler, Applebee’s, and a number of small retailers have all opened in Lompoc. Rocket Town Chrysler submitted its development plan for a vacant parcel in September 2012 and was open for business 10 months later. The city of Lompoc has now gained a reputation as a place where businesses can open in a timely manner. As a result of the new stores and a focus by Lompoc residents to “Shop in Lompoc,” the city has experienced eight consecutive quarters of sales tax increases to fund city services. In total, these businesses and those under construction have created more than 1,000 more jobs in Lompoc.
As a result of the recent successes, other businesses are now coming to talk with Lompoc about their expansion plans. We welcome the opportunity to talk with all interested businesses. Also under construction in Lompoc now is the $17 million remodel of the old Lompoc Hospital into the Champions Center, which will provide PTSD treatment for emergency responders and military personnel. The center will add 100 jobs next year.
The Hancock College Public Safety Training facility, due to be completed next month and opened in January on land donated by the city of Lompoc, will be the state-of-the-art public safety training facility in the West. In addition to all the unique training features, it is the only facility where fire, police, and EMS workers can train together in a realistic environment. It includes a 110 MPH EVOC driving track to provide hands-on-the-wheel training for all first responders. Allan Hancock College is nearing an agreement with the Petroleum Education Council to bring oil industry safety training to the facility. When open, the facility will bring thousands of students per year to enjoy the Central Coast and return to visit.
The second goal of the Lompoc City Council is to provide additional police and fire staffing. This has been accomplished through successful grant applications. Now, the increased revenue flowing to the city from economic development will fund the positions when the grants end. On a related subject, in 2011 the City Council approved a program that has largely eliminated graffiti and the patchwork paint-out that it leaves in Lompoc.
On the recreation side, the city has improved the five-pool indoor Aquatic Center, refurbished the Little League fields, and opened our new community center. Currently under construction is a 6-acre dirt BMX bicycle park, a motor cross park, and an 8-mile drag strip.
Building on our successes, the council is focused on the continuous improvements at the city of Lompoc and in the lives of the Lompoc residents.
John H. Linn is mayor of Lompoc. Send comments to the executive editor at rmiller@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Oct 10-17, 2013.