Darrell Doan’s Elk Grove Economic Development ‘Victory Tour’ - Part I: Retail Developers Follow Population, Not Doan's Department
This is the first installment in a three-part series reviewing the recent annual update from Elk Grove Economic Development Director Darrel Doan at the March 11 Elk Grove City Council meeting
During his annual report to Elk Grove Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen and the city council, the city's Economic Development Director presented the department's activities. While the report was filled with glowing information about retail development, it also buried massive missteps that will be covered in Part III.
Mr. Doan, who seemed to be goofing on a caffeine-induced high while delivering his report, spoke glowingly of new retail developments. What he failed to mention is a simple economic axiom - money follows people.
Put another way, the development of shopping centers like The Ridge, which was coincidentally given an $8 million Elk Grove taxpayer incentive to the developer, would happen because of population growth. It was nothing Doan could take credit for other than being the errand boy who delivered the cash.
If there were no economic development department, developer Louie Pappas would have built the shopping center because it was in his economic interest.
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Without that incentive, the center would have been built, but the city and Doan blinked first and lost the standoff to Pappas. You can further argue that Doan costs Elk Grove taxpayers millions of dollars!
The other thing Doan didn't mention was that some of these new developments, like The Ridge and soon-to-be-open The Village, create a zero-sum game. While these new developments are shiny, they kill retail activity at shopping centers like the Bond Road Elk Grove Marketplace, which is almost 30 years old and has large vacant spaces.
The Mayor and City Council don't really care, because of two words: Measure E. These new high-volume shoppers generate substantial sales tax revenue, and under the current economic development focus, that is the name of the game.
As a counterpoint to the population-induced success of The Ridge and the certain fortunes of The Village, there are losers. As noted, one example is the Elk Grove Marketplace on Bond Road in Old Elk Grove.
Developed over 30 years ago, there are two significant vacancies at that shopping center. Those vacancies are the former Sports Chalet and JoAnne Fabrics.
These are not small storefronts that have frequent turnover, either. Yet they lie vacant for years now with no known immediate occupants in a dying strip center.
As you can see in the video below, the large, unused shopping center is now utilized as a delivery truck parking lot. At least these commercial vehicles are not parked in residential neighborhoods, so that's one positive!
But here are two points: for every shiny new shopping center that opens because of population growth and housing development, other areas of "Old" Elk Grove lose. This is a case study in zero-sum games - for every winner, there is a loser.
The second, more significant point is this: if Mr. Doan is going to bask in the glory of these new, massive, sales-tax-revenue-generating shopping centers, which he had little, if anything, to do with, he must take responsibility for the vacancies in "Old" Elk Grove. Naturally, Doan made no mention of this.
When Mr. Doan, Mayor Singh-Allen, and her four city councilmen brag and pose for selfies at the grand opening of The Village, which, as sure as the sun sets in the west, they will do, ask them this: "What about 'Old' Elk Grove?"
