Diverse Local Economy
The Vision theme, Diverse And Resilient Local Economy, and accompanying guiding principles are implemented through the following goals and policies in the Land Use and Community Design, Economic Development, Military Compatibility, and Equitable and Healthy Communities Elements. These goals and policies contain attributes related to retaining and supporting the aerospace industry in Palmdale, leveraging economic opportunities from expanded transportation, and maintaining and enhancing smart city technology in Palmdale to support local businesses and telecommuting.
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Selected Goals and Policies
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Land Use and Community Design (LUD)
LUD-10.1 Mix of Destinations. Develop mixed-use retail, residential and office buildings in the vicinity of the future multimodal high speed rail station to establish the area as a regional and local destination.
LUD-10.2 Places for the Community. Develop community gathering spaces including plazas and neighborhood parks near the future multimodal transit station, in order to evolve the relocated Palmdale Transportation Center into an attractive and unique transit gateway.
LUD-10.3 Transit-Supportive Densities. Support minimum development densities/intensities in the PTASP area to promote sufficient development that allows active placemaking.
LUD-10.4 Station Access. Enhance transit and pedestrian linkages to surrounding areas to create a multi-modal transit and pedestrian-oriented center.
LUD-10.5 Avenue Q Revitalization. Reinforce Avenue Q with development patterns that create a “Main Street” environment. Design the buildings facing Avenue Q (and to a lesser extent 6th Street East and 3rd Street East) to reflect the vision for a new “Main Street” – active uses, street-oriented entrances, tall floor-to-ceiling heights, reduced setbacks (unless adjacent to a plaza or park).
LUD-10.6 Pedestrian-Oriented Design. Implement urban design guidelines and features that encourage pedestrian activity and reduce automobile use.
LUD-10.7 Local Employers within PTASP. Continue to provide assistance to support small locally owned businesses and develop a mechanism to support building upkeep and maintenance, signage, and façade improvements for businesses in the PTASP area.
LUD-14.1 Safeguarding Plant Operations. Support continued growth of Plant 42 operations in the Aerospace Industrial land use district. Maintain sufficient land to accommodate a wide variety of industrial uses to meet military and community needs.
LUD-14.2 Adjacent Use Compatibility. Continue to buffer this area from adjacent, non-compatible residential and commercial uses.
LUD-14.3 Limited Non-Industrial Uses. Prevent non-industrial uses from locating in the Aerospace Industrial area (aside from uses that directly support Plant 42 or airport operations).
LUD-14.4 Accident Prevention. Avoid residential uses greater than one dwelling unit per acre in the Accident Prevention Zones (APZs).
LUD-14.5 Circulation and Access. Maintain vehicular infrastructure and improve circulation to accommodate the unique demands of aerospace workplaces.
LUD-16.1 Healthy Balance of Jobs. Strive for a ratio of at least 1 job per employed resident (which effectively means growing jobs faster than housing during the Plan timeframe).
LUD-16.2 Employment Diversity. Support a diverse mix of light industrial, information, film, makerspace, boutique food/wine/beer processing, local food, and technology uses to provide jobs and tax revenues for the community by allowing emerging economic uses and industries within the Mixed-Use and Employment designations.
LUD-16.3 Flexible Designation. Diversify the City’s economic base by expanding the number of facilities on land designated as Employment Flex to accommodate film, technology, food/light manufacturing, and service tenants.
LUD-16.4 Makerspaces. Encourage collaborative workspaces with tools for the design, prototyping, and creation of manufactured products for sale.
LUD-16.5 Home Businesses. Support home businesses that meet City planning and permitting requirements and create jobs and opportunities for entrepreneurship.
LUD-16.6 Increased Employment. Recruit employment uses between Avenue Q and Avenue P/Rancho Vista Boulevard.
LUD-16.7 Industrial Incentives. Promote establishment of incentives for new light industrial development in Palmdale including the use of local, state, and federal programs.
LUD-16.8 Emerging Technology. Support new technologies that may increase business opportunities in the city, such as autonomous vehicles.
LUD-17.1 Retention of Businesses. Minimize land use compatibility conflicts that discourage attraction and retention of production, distribution, and service and repair businesses in areas zoned for industrial use.
LUD-17.2 Infrastructure Master Planning. Encourage master planning and infrastructure funding districts within industrial areas to ensure adequate and comprehensive provision of infrastructure and efficient, attractive designs, through cohesive planning of larger development projects.
LUD-17.3 Industrial Development Standards. Adopt development standards for industrial uses near residential uses, to ensure compatibility and aesthetically pleasing views from adjacent rights of way, including but not limited to standards for screening of outdoor storage, locations of loading and refuse disposal areas, height, bulk, impervious surface area, architectural enhancement, landscaping, and other measures as deemed appropriate.
LUD-18.1 Flexible Standards. Establish flexible development standards in the Employment Flex designation that allow industrial uses to make building improvements and change with market conditions. Incentivize growth of office and commercial spaces suitable and affordable for local businesses through development requirements.
LUD-18.2 Middle-Income Employment. Expand a core area of light industrial and service uses that provide middle-income jobs for Palmdale residents.
LUD-18.3 Residential Adjacencies. Buffer heavy industrial uses and light industrial uses, such as general services, light manufacturing, and storage uses from residential neighborhoods.
LUD-18.4 Parking Requirements. Adjust zoning and parking requirements as necessary to ensure reinvestment can occur in buildings while maintaining industrial uses.
LUD-18.5 Parcel Aggregation. Encourage lot assembly to allow businesses to grow and expand.
Economic Development (ED)
ED-1.1 Attract manufacturing employers. Attract supply chain employers for the manufacturing and defense industries to strengthen Palmdale’s economic viability and competitiveness within these sectors.
ED-1.2 Employee serving amenities. Encourage the development of business and employee serving amenities (i.e., retail, dining, hospitality) proximate to existing districts.
ED-2.1 Attract high growth industries. Target economic activities from high growth industries, including film, media and entertainment production, and clean technologies, to diversify Palmdale’s economic base.
ED-2.2 Smart City technology. Maintain and enhance smart city technology in Palmdale to support local businesses and growth of telecommuting.
ED-2.3 Foreign Trade Zone. Position the existing Foreign Trade Zone designations to attract export-oriented employers.
ED-4.1 Active downtown. Create a vibrant and active downtown environment, leveraging the Palmdale Transit Area Specific Plan to focus development.
ED-4.2 Community gathering. Leverage development to provide space for community gathering and events.
ED-4.3 Entertainment and retail. Increase opportunities for entertainment and/or shopping.
ED-4.4 Local business. Encourage and foster local businesses in Palmdale.
ED-4.5 Local businesses in downtown. Support local small businesses and legacy businesses to remain in or relocate to the downtown core.
ED-6.1 Transportation investments. Support opportunities to bring more transportation investments such as a High-Speed rail station and opening commercial air services.
ED-6.2 Infrastructure investment. Prioritize infrastructure and development that unlocks economic investment around the City and increase usage of transportation facilities.
ED-6.3 Neighborhood transportation connections. Improve local transit and last mile connectivity between neighborhoods and regional transportation hubs/corridors.
ED-7.1 Regional partnerships. Initiate and sustain multi-jurisdictional partnerships to leverage regional assets.
ED-7.2 Development review process. Encourage new development through simplifying the City’s development review processes and exploring opportunities to create incentives for new development.
ED-7.3 Expand and diversify tax base. Expand tax base and analyze opportunities to diversify tax revenues to reduce the reliance on Sales and Use tax.
ED-7.4 Infrastructure financing. Explore and implement creative infrastructure financing and delivery mechanisms such as Public Private Partnerships and Community Benefit programs.
ED-7.5 Opportunity zone. Support the viability of the City’s Opportunity Zones to expand existing businesses and attract new investment.
Military Compatibility (MC)
MC-4.1 Land Supportive of Aerospace Industrial. Maintain sufficient land zoned for the Aerospace Industrial use to accommodate a wide variety of industrial, military, and supportive uses.
MC-4.2 Attract New Businesses. Encourage and recruit businesses that are affiliated with or are supportive of aerospace research and development.
MC-4.3 Land Supportive of Aerospace Industrial. Maintain and improve circulation to accommodate the unique demands of aerospace workplaces.
MC-4.4 Military Influence Area Coordination. Reference the Military Influence Area Map (Figure 8.3) to identify possible City actions in or near Plant 42 installations, operations areas, and/or military training routes and consult with Plant 42 for input, as appropriate.
MC-4.5 Legislation Support. Support State or Federal legislation that positively impacts existing and future operations at Plant 42 (e.g., changes to airspace, state tax incentives, encroachment, etc.). Similarly, oppose legislation that may have a detrimental impact.
Equitable and Healthy Communities (EHC)
EHC-1.1 Equitable investments. Prioritize public infrastructure and facilities investments and develop incentives to promote private development investment in disadvantaged communities.
EHC-1.2 Community benefits agreements. Develop a community benefits agreement for major private development projects, which may include affordable housing, job training funds, housing assistance, payment of parks and recreation fees or installation of amenities onsite and/or local hiring.
EHC-1.3 Equity impact assessments. Regularly evaluate the impact of public infrastructure, facilities, and program investments, such as through equity impact assessments, to ensure equitable distribution of public resources across Palmdale.
EHC-1.4 Small business development. Foster small business development with educational resources (e.g., funding sources, mentorship programs, etc.), permitting information, and services that can promote long term success in the city.
EHC-1.5 Small business funding. Consider establishing funding for small business grants that prioritize low-income, women-owned, minority-owned, and/or LGBTQ-owned small businesses.
EHC-1.6 Career pathways. Work with interested organizations and residents to create a youth job development partnership – connecting local businesses to youth for after school and summer work, volunteer positions, mentorship opportunities, and other skills development opportunities.
EHC-1.7 Services coordination. Actively encourage the provision of public and private employment training, rental assistance, financial training, and other supportive services in multiple languages to enable households to be self-sufficient.
EHC-1.8 Internet Access. Offer free high-speed Wi-Fi inside and outside of all City-owned facilities, especially in disadvantaged communities.
EHC-1.9 Bridging the digital divide. Ensure all homes and businesses in the city have access to a fiber optic internet connection.
