Town of Windsor finds business policies ahead of curve

As nearby cities try to attract businesses with newly adopted
regulations, the Town of Windsor is capitalizing on an existing
group of policies that officials say make Windsor a friendly place
to do business.
At their October 20 meeting, the Windsor Town Council was given
a presentation comparing sections of Windsor law to newly adopted
changes in Santa Rosa designed to make the city more welcoming to
businesses. In each area of comparison, Windsor’s existing
regulations either met or surpassed those of neighboring
cities.
Windsor regulations allow businesses to reuse vacant buildings
without requiring extensive improvements to the structure, provide
flexibility on zoning changes, eases permit acquisition for some
uses, consolidate authority with the planning director, unifies
sign rules along the freeway and defer payment of fees to
accommodate difficulties in the building process.
Town staff said the end result is a legislative process that
provides the town with flexibility to accommodate incoming
businesses and a streamlined bureaucracy to facilitate
development.
Associate Planner Pauletta Cangson said town staff have been
looking for ways to assist businesses and while staff knew they
were implementing business friendly policies, she said presenting
to the council would hopefully spread the word beyond staff. “This
was a way for us to get it out to the public that we’re actually
doing this,” she said.
Councilwoman Debora Fudge said she was aware of Windsor’s
policies when she first read about Santa Rosa’s updates and said
Windsor was ahead of its time with its policies. “I’m proud of our
Council and Staff for being proactive and for being an easier city
to do business,” she said.
“We continually tweak our rules to try to lessen bureaucracy,
but more importantly, Council makes our policies clear to staff so
that they are empowered to make decisions without having to require
developers go through unnecessary meetings. We know that time is
money.”
Councilmember Steve Allen said the report showed Windsor’s
pursuit of a good business climate was an ongoing process, not just
a reaction to the current economy. He said he has seen Windsor do a
lot to simplify it’s planning process and that the development
community is beginning to take notice. “We have really turned that
around, and can point to a recent winery approval that got through
in a single meeting, and other examples of speedy
staff/community/Commission cooperation. It will take a while for
the word to get out, but we’re already starting to hear that we are
Sonoma County’s best place to bring a new project.”
Town staff and councilmembers said the process for fostering new
businesses while retaining existing businesses would remain a
collaborative effort between everyone involved and said they hope
the process will keep Windsor in prime position to grow its economy
whenever opportunities present themselves.