LAKE COUNTY – The Lake County Board of Supervisors recently approved a strategic effort targeted at attracting commercial and resort investment to Lake County.

At its Feb. 24 meeting, Supervisor Anthony Farrington asked the Board to direct the County’s Economic Development staff to develop a marketing strategy designed to position local projects as investment opportunities and to allocate one-time funds to recruit a firm to assist in a targeted attraction effort.

The board agreed with the concept and directed Economic Development staff to prepare a draft set of criteria for determining which projects to include in the promotional effort and also to prepare a draft request for proposals to seek consulting assistance with the outreach effort.

Both drafts were approved by the Board at its March 17 meeting.

“With the current state of the economy, it is extremely important that our board do what we can to assist local business,” Farrington said. “I believe this effort, which will represent a public-private partnership, has the potential to lure capital to local projects, many of which are in need of investment dollars to either get off the ground or to continue development that already has begun.”

Farrington said he envisioned reaching out directly to potential investors at all levels – local, state, national and perhaps even international.

Lake County’s Administrative Officer Kelly Cox said, “We see this effort as a direct way to promote local investment opportunities that will have a positive impact on our local economy, and most importantly, create or retain local jobs.”

The board acknowledged several types of opportunities in the county, from commercial and light industrial projects to resort developments, all in various stages of planning and completion, as well as differences in the scale of job creation and/or retention.

Also noted was the need for property owners to demonstrate their own investment in the development by having completed some level of project planning, such as conceptual designs, feasibility analysis, or environmental reviews.

To that end, the approved set of criteria addresses these issues and puts forth a selection committee consisting of the chair of the Board of Supervisors, the Community Development director and the deputy chief administrative officer for Economic Development. The committee will use the approved criteria to determine which properties will be included in the effort.

The board also approved staff’s recommendation to pursue advisory assistance from CALED, the California Association for Local Economic Development. In addition, staff will be working to develop professional promotional materials specifically for use in this investment attraction effort.

Those interested in having their project/property considered for inclusion in this attraction effort will need to complete a project submission form, available from the Lake County Administrative Office, and submit it no later than April 7.

For more information, contact Debra Sommerfield, Deputy Administrative Officer for Economic Development, in the Lake County Administrative Office at 707-263-2580.

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