Economic Development
Economic Development
Located in beautiful Monterey County on California's Central Coast, the City of Salinas is a young, vibrant, and diverse community of over 157,000 residents. Located in one of the world's premier agricultural areas and just one hour from Silicon Valley, the City of Salinas is poised for long-term economic growth. The Economic Development Division is dedicated to identifying and removing barriers to prosperity, while seeking new opportunities for private investment in the City.
Broadband Request for Proposals
March 19, 2021 - The City of Salinas has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) from qualified companies to operate, provision, maintain and/or provide services on the Salinas Municipal Broadband Network (Salinas Network). The City is seeking proposals that would take advantage of the City's fiber assets to do the following:
- Providing low cost, reliable consumer broadband service, delivered to residents inside their homes at download and upload speeds sufficient to enable full and unrestricted access to online services.
- Licensing by respondents of surplus (i.e. not needed to support consumer service) dark fiber on the Salinas Network for the purpose of providing dedicated gigabit-class service for large numbers of commercial, industrial, and institutional users.
- Selling such services to the City of Salinas on an anchor customer basis.
- Operation and maintenance of the Salinas Network on a contract basis.
Copies of the RFP and documents referenced therein may be found below.
Frequently Asked Questions (Updated April 14, 2021)
Responses to the RFP are due no later than April 30, 2021. More detailed information, including specific timelines and City contact information, may be found within the RFP document.
Agriculture/AgTech
The Salinas Valley is one the world's premier agricultural regions, with an estimated economic impact of over $8 billion per year. Monterey County has ten crops with an annual farm gate value of over $100 million, with 26 crops having a farm gate value of at least $1 million. The City of Salinas serves as the processing center for regional produce.
In addition to being an agricultural hub, the City of Salinas is also home to a number of businesses and initiatives in the Agricultural Technology (AgTech) industry. Information about local agtech can be found here.
Opportunity Zones
The City of Salinas has had five Census Tracts designated as Opportunity Zones. Please click here for more information.
City Announced as Finalist for City Nation Place Award
October 19, 2018
The City of Salinas has been chosen as one of this year’s finalists for City Nation Place’s Place Brand of the Year award. As a global organization dedicated to the advancement of place brand strategies, City Nation Place selects top cities, states and countries for their prestigious awards. This year, the organization received more than 100 entries from more than 70 places across 16 countries.
For the Place Brand of the Year award, judges take into consideration all aspects of a community’s strategic branding efforts and messaging strategies. Home to more...
Five Salinas Census Tracts Included in Governor's Opportunity Zone Request
April 2, 2018
Governor Jerry Brown submitted a request to the United States Treasury to designate 879 census tracts throughout the State as Opportunity Zones; five of those tracts are located in the City of Salinas. The selected zones represent some of the City's best opportunities, including Downtown Salinas, Chinatown, Carr Lake, Division Street, the Alisal Marketplace, and the City's industrial center.
Opportunity Zones are being created on this one-time designation round, and designations will have a term of ten years. The City of Salinas worked with Assemblymember Anna Caballero and her staff to aggressively pursue the...
New AgTech Microsite Launches
May 19, 2017
With significant momentum happening in Salinas' agtech industry, today the City of Salinas introduced a new agtech microsite -- agtechsalinasca.com -- which aims to showcase the agtech opportunities that Salinas offers, and serve as an inspiration for those looking to start, expand, or grow in the industry.
Over the past five years, the City of Salinas has led a strategic initiative to build an agtech ecosystem -- transforming the city into a hub for agtech entrepreneurship and innovation -- and this microsite is part of the city's latest efforts....
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Economic Development Element
public_draft_eir.pdf
public_draft_eir.pdf (29.4 MB)
