Anaheim is on a precipitous path to ruin. Over the past decade, and accelerating over the past two year, Anaheim has relinquished much of its power to regulate what goes on in the city. The city has given developers and businesses free reign within its borders with the misguided belief that it will spur economic development and create jobs.
In reviewing the votes of the Anaheim Planning Commission over the past several years, you’ll start to wonder why we have any zoning regulations at all. Every time a developer goes before the commission for a General Plan Amendment, Zone Change or Variance the planning commission will grant the change or waiver the developer is seeking. The General Plan and zoning regulations are important tools any city has to guide their future development. By allowing developers to change that guidance at their will, the City of Anaheim is indicating that it’s not interested in where it goes in the future.
By contrast, the most economically successful city in Orange County, Irvine, has an unbelievable set of rules that are enforced with vigor. This has been especially true since Irvine recruited a number of people from Santa Monica into their planning department a few years ago. Irvine’s success has attracted many large and successful companies that pay top wages, especially in technology. Not everyone wants to live in a hyper-planned community like Irvine, but it is where people want to work and companies want to locate.
The path that Anaheim has set itself on ensures that many businesses will want to locate within the city. Unfortunately, they’re the wrong type of businesses. Anaheim is currently attracting businesses that have very low margins and are looking for any advantage they can find to improve their bottom line. They are willing to give up on nice buildings and smooth roads because they simply don’t have the money to afford to locate in a nicer area. Unfortunately, these are the same businesses that tend to have lower wages.
The City of Anaheim shouldn’t discourage any type of business to establish itself within the city. However, it should try to specifically attract companies that will offer high wage jobs even if that means some of the lower wage paying companies don’t end up locating within the city. Anaheim could attract companies like Blizzard Entertainment or Linksys into its business corridor, as Irvine has done, if it enforced planning guidelines and invested in beautifying and enhancing the roads and right-of-ways.
Anaheim is currently in a race to the bottom, but we seem to be racing against ourselves. We need to stop relying upon a doctrine that says less regulation creates economic growth and realize that one of our neighbors is eating our lunch by having more regulation than any other city in the county. The only way to attract good paying jobs into Anaheim is by creating a place companies want to call home. The only way to do that is by creating and enforcing rules ensure Anaheim is a desirable place to do business, that it looks nice, has low crime and a quality transportation network.
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