CITRUS HEIGHTS, CA (MPG) - At the July 28 meeting, the Citrus Heights City Council considered allocating $35,124 from the City’s Economic Development Support Fund to continue the City’s membership in the Greater Sacramento Economic Council (GSEC). Citrus Heights has been a member of GSEC since 2015, and membership benefits include access to research staff and databases valued at $500,000 which are used to attract new businesses and to diversify and strengthen the local economy. Economic Development and Community Engagement Director Meghan Huber said that GSEC will work with City staff to focus on marketing Citrus Heights to find developers and support redevelopment efforts at key sites throughout the city.

GSEC is funded by 21 jurisdictions in the Sacramento region, as well as by some private investors. Scott Powell, executive vice president of GSEC, explained that all the local economies in the region are interconnected. People live, work, and shop throughout the region, not just within the boundaries of one community. So, Powell said, “one community’s success begets everybody else’s success in the region.”

Powell said GSEC efforts in the 2021-2022 fiscal year were highly successful: 3,006 new jobs were brought into the region with an average annual salary of $143,000. Those higher salaries create more disposable income—money which will be put back into the local economies through increased shopping, dining, etc. Higher earning and higher spending also translate into higher tax dollars generated for local governments and a more robust economy overall.

For the 2022-2023 fiscal year, GSEC’s key focus areas are incentives and opportunities to help businesses grow, support for entrepreneurs and small businesses, the development of additional employment centers to attract talented staff, and a focus on equity with expanded training opportunities.

Councilmember Jeannie Bruins said the investment in GSEC “has been well worth it and paid off in greater dividends than I ever could have imagined.”

The Council voted unanimously to approve the funding to continue membership with GSEC.

In November 2021, the Council approved the Sunrise Tomorrow Specific Plan, which will guide redevelopment of Sunrise Mall. The plan supports mixed-use projects that will triple the density and diversify types of use on the 100-acre site. It will be a phased plan over the next 5 to 20 years, with the final build out allowing for retail, residential units, hotels, office space, and community areas.

Since the Specific Plan approval, Huber said more than 25 developers have expressed interest in the project. Under the Plan, projects that align with the plan vision only need a development agreement and project review for expedited approval: “That kind of certainty is practically unprecedented in the development community,” said Huber.  

While the site has access to water, sewer, storm drainage, power, and utilities along Sunrise Blvd. and Greenback Ln., Huber said the Specific Plan requires a transformation of the existing site infrastructure and utilities to ensure it is organized, effective, and efficient, “as well as creating a site design that allows for circulation, mobility, connection.” The next step in this process is to assess the site’s infrastructure needs and identify the associated funding sources to implement that development. To meet this goal, the Council was asked to approve the issuance of a Request for Proposals (RFP) to conduct analysis of various public infrastructure financing scenarios and other economic development tools to inform future development.

Huber explained that the study resulting from the RFP will help City staff understand the options, financial benefits, and any advantages or disadvantages of designating portions of the infrastructure as public (but privately maintained) in order to facilitate development. It will also examine how to leverage a variety of financing tools and public funding to plan and construct the necessary infrastructure. The resulting study will be used as an action plan so that the site will be eligible for infrastructure grants and financing tools that will facilitate the redevelopment.

The Council voted unanimously to issue the RFP.

Due to the many school shootings across the country in recent years, the Council previously requested a review to ensure the best plans are in place to protect children in Citrus Heights as they attend schools in the community. During Department Reports, Citrus Heights Police Department (CHPD) Chief Alex Turcotte presented an update summarizing the department’s recent review and updates of school safety protocols.

Chief Turcotte explained that in the last five years, there have been numerous shelter-in-place orders for local schools, during which an incident is taking place outside of the school, so doors are locked, and students are kept inside but school continues as normal. Only twice in that time have any schools required an actual lockdown for a credible threat. After reviewing the response report on those incidents, Turcotte said he is “confident we’re on a good track.”

The CHPD is currently hiring and training more staff, and a full-scale active homicide simulation training is planned for later this fiscal year. The CHPD also has a firearm simulator of multiple-officer response to active homicides that is available for more immediate training.

Vice Mayor Tim Schaefer emphasized that school shootings “really could happen anywhere.” And when looking at prior incidents, he pointed out that there were often issues that didn’t meet the threshold for a credible threat at the time but were later viewed as red flags when looking back. He agreed that CHPD is highly trained, and he hoped that a fresh perspective for looking at possible threats could prevent these incidents from happening.  

Turcotte said, “At the end of the day, it’s the safety of our children that’s number one; procedure and other things take a back seat, frankly. … And we’ve seen it time and time again, you can never prevent all tragedies from occurring, but you should learn and grow and continue to plan.”

Councilmember Bret Daniels said all plans are reactive and he believes the city needs to be proactive: “For me, that’s an officer in each school.” Daniels said he’d like to have a future discussion about the feasibility of such a plan.

Turcotte said this was just a preliminary report specific to the CHPD’s protocols and trainings, but an in-depth presentation in cooperation with Safe Schools, an organization which implements protocols and training for school staff, will come before Council at a later date.