Once we make up our minds, many of us are slow to change them. I am certainly included in this, but I have to tell you, it’s time to correct some outdated ideas about our county.
During the last 25 years, many developers in Mendocino County have left town with a sour taste in their mouth. But starting with the populous of our community, working its way through elected officials, management staff, and the front line customer service people, Mendocino County has joined the small percentage of government entities who can honestly say they are business-friendly and interested in encouraging job growth.
This is NOT to say they’ve tossed out the rule book. They are not granting special favors or making bad decisions. What it does mean is this: if you have a development or business project that meets local standards for zoning and fits within established environmental constraints, this county is willing to work diligently to create an atmosphere of success for your project.
Going back three or four years, when local business man Ross Liberty bought the old Masonite property to relocate his manufacturing facility, the county staff and elected officials were not just helpful, but according to Liberty, their encouragement for him to complete the project bordered on harassment.
In fairness, Liberty was in the process of buying what many would have referred to as a sow’s ear—and the county was eager for Liberty to transform it. Now, that property is more like a silk purse. After that initial purchase, Liberty decided to buy most of the rest of the old Masonite property, and the county has continued to be wonderfully supportive. Since Liberty has been through this before, he has relationships with the people who oversee development projects in the county, so you might think that’s why things are going so smoothly.
Sure, it helps to know people, but I just spoke with the project manager at In-N-Out Burger. He didn’t know a soul in Mendocino County before this project, and he described his interactions with people at all levels of the county with words like “professional, helpful, realistic, and accommodating.” To me, this means our community has turned a corner. We now understand that for our children to have an opportunity to live and thrive in their hometown, we need jobs. To get jobs, we need industry. And for industry, we need some level of development.
None of us is willing to sacrifice our way of life for the sake of development, but I believe we have reached a sustainable long-term balance. Our next challenge is to facilitate the development of affordable housing for our children to be able to remain in the area. Be aware, when I use the term “affordable housing,” I mean it in the economic sense, not the political sense. We need market-priced housing that people can afford on salaries generated by businesses in Ukiah.
If we can bring those two things together, and I believe we can, Ukiah will once again be one of the best communities in which to live and work in our nation. Now if we can just get the City of Ukiah and the Sanitation district to come to resolve their disagreement, we can all move forward ….
If you have questions about real estate or property management, please contact me at rselzer@selzerrealty.com or call (707) 462-4000. If you’d like to read previous articles, visit my blog at www.richardselzer.com. Dick Selzer is a real estate broker who has been in the business for more than 40 years.