The San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors decided Thursday to support changes that add flexibility to the City’s Residential Growth Management Policy.

"The City’s Residential Growth Management Policy in its current form could limit the amount of future approved residential projects, particularly in the proposed Margarita and Orcutt area Specific Plans," said Ron Yukelson, chair of the Chamber’s Economic Development Committee, which forwarded a motion to the board on Thursday to support changes to the City’s policy.

"By encouraging the City to be flexible in its residential growth management it can add the appropriate amount of workforce housing to sustain and encourage future business and population growth without artificial limitations," Yukelson added.

The city hopes to carryover the housing supply that was allocated for a previous 36-month period to the next 36-month period. Developing housing in the specific plan areas is key to the City’s ability to meet the housing production targets of the Housing Element.  

Nearly 200 people gathered in Mission Plaza "Make SLO Fast" Tuesday evening, including San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce members and staff. 

The Chamber's own Technology Advocacy Committee (TAC) was out in force, manning a booth and passing out fliers on how to bring Google to San Luis Obispo. 

The “Make SLO Fast” rally, organized by San Luis Obispo-based business-to-business networking group Tech Networking, provided insight on what Google fiber can offer the community and sent a clear message to Google that San Luis Obispo is the place for this opportunity.

At the annual Beautification Awards edition of the Downtown Association’s Quarterly Breakfast held on March 5 at Mo | Tav (formerly Mother’s Tavern), Beautification Awards Committee Chair Marshall Ochyslki conducted the ceremony issuing certificates in categories of recognition, merit and excellence to attendees whose projects ranged from new construction to remodels to signage and awnings and also to those who demonstrated a high level of care and maintenance of their properties.

"These businesses have worked very hard over the years to beautify the downtown area and make it safer by complying with retrofitting guidelines. We couldn't be more proud that many of the award recipients this year are Chamber members," said Chamber President Dave Garth, who attended the ceremony.

The ceremony culminated with the announcement of the Mayor’s Award winner whose project is annually deemed the “best of show” of all the projects, with Mayor Dave Romero presenting the beautifully framed certificate to this year’s winner Ciopinot Seafood Grille.  

The San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce hopes a local rally next week will galvanize community action and influence Google to bring its fiber optic trial to San Luis Obispo. 

The “Make SLO Faster” rally, organized by San Luis Obispo-based business-to-business networking group Tech Networking, will provide insight on what Google fiber can offer the community and send a clear message to Google that San Luis Obispo is the place for this opportunity. The rally is at Mission Plaza on March 16 from 5 to 7 p.m. 

“This Google Fiber project is the greatest potential economic, cultural and social enhancement opportunity that I have ever seen for San Luis Obispo,” explained Jeff Buckingham, a local entrepreneur who helped form the Chamber’s ad hoc Google fiber group and has volunteered with the Bring Fiber to San Luis Obispo initiative. “To make it happen, we need our community to create and attend multiple initiatives and events just like the Make SLO Faster meet-up before the March 26 deadline.”

Speakers include: Buckingham; Chamber President Dave Garth; Susan Opava, dean of Research and Graduate Programs at Cal Poly; Howard Gordon from Surveyor Corporation; and Digital West CEO Tim Williams. The event will be moderated by Tech Networking President Amy Kardel of Clever Ducks. 

The San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce membership boasts a weighty representation on a list of the world’s most innovative companies this year.

Chamber members First Solar and Pacific Gas and Electric Company were both ranked in the top 10 most innovated companies by Fast Company magazine. First Solar, a solar module manufacturer, ranks No. 6, while Pacific Gas and Electric Company ranks No. 7. Both companies are working locally on the Topaz Solar Farm project, a 550 megawatt solar power plant, proposed the Carissa Plains.

“These companies are known locally as leading-edge and inventive, but this ranking quite literally puts them in a whole new category,” San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce President Dave Garth said. “We’re very proud that not just one, but two, of our 1,400 members are listed among the top companies in the world."

Overall, Fast Company recognized 250-plus companies, including more than 75 non-U.S. businesses. The magazine analyzed information on thousands of businesses across the globe. The result identifies creative models and progressive cultures, as well as revenue growth and profit margins, to define the many forms of innovation that exist across the business landscape. 

Chamber staff joins Sunset Magazine, VCB and other major sponsors for Victory Garden Groundbreaking Ceremony

A Groundbreaking Ceremony kicked off major upscale food and wine event Sunset’s Savor the Central Coast last week.  

Sunset Magazine has partnered with the San Luis Obispo County Visitors & Conference Bureau on the creation of Sunset’s Savor the Central Coast, scheduled for Sept. 30 through Oct. 3, 2010. 

On February 26, the groundbreaking was situated at the Santa Margarita Ranch, located 10 miles north of San Luis Obispo, and the same location where the main event will be held in September. Sunset Magazine’s Editor-In-Chief, Katie Tamony, along with forty major sponsors, planted their shovels in the ground to celebrate the creation of a two-acre Victory Garden, which will include the planting of fresh fruits and vegetables.

All five City Council members last night lauded the Chamber’s 20-month effort to revise its Economic Vision document.

"This is a beautiful document that is beautifully written. It's a work of art, really," said San Luis Obispo Mayor Dave Romero. "It is something our community can be very proud of, and I will personally refer to it often."

This third revision of the document, first created in 1992, was presented to the council yesterday. It recommends several new economic development initiatives, including a new business retention program, incentives for new green businesses, more linkage to Cal Poly innovation, and development of a new community brand to be used for both tourism and business development. The city also helped the Chamber shape this new vision.

In a historic decision nearly 12 years in the making, the San Luis Obispo City Council last night adopted the Orcutt Area Specific Plan.

This multi-use, transit-friendly development plan could potentially – over the next 20 years – accommodate almost 1,000 new homes in a 230-acre area south of the city, bounded by Orcutt and Tank Farm roads.

Next month, the process to annex the land will begin, a move the San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce has long advocated due to the social, economic and environmental necessity of providing adequate workforce housing in the city.

The council also agreed to find grant money to pay 50 percent of a controversial $1.7 million for a pedestrian/bicycle bridge to go over the railroad tracks.