Economic Development Director Amanda Norton, left, and Community Development Director Darcy Goulart gave a presentation on March 21 at the Cordova Community Council’s and the Rancho Cordova Area Chamber of Commerce’s monthly luncheon. Photo by Idaly Valencia

RANCHO CORDOVA (MPG) - The Cordova Community Council and the Rancho Cordova Area Chamber of Commerce discussed the growing development in the city during their monthly luncheon on March 21.

Economic Development Director Amanda Norton and Community Development Director Darcy Goulart gave a presentation about the upcoming new developments such as businesses, jobs and homes for Rancho Cordova. The plan for the latest infrastructure is outlined in the city’s General Plan Your City 2050, an initiative that was started last summer.

Goulart began by explaining the coordination that takes place between the community and economic departments to make Rancho Cordova a better place to live. Aspects that go into this collaboration of efforts include group planning, housing, building, zoning, promoting economic wealth and creation for the community.

“So this plan will help guide development for the next 25 to 30 years in the city,” said Goulart. “We strongly, strongly encourage you, if you are a resident, a partner, stakeholder, a city employee, anybody that does a business in the city, to please participate in this process.”

Rancho Cordova has seen the most growth within the last five years in the sector of housing development, which includes residential, commercial and industrial.

Current projects discussed include the Westboro Specific Plan (northeastern portion), Lavado Specific Plan, Mills Crossing, Rio del Oro Specific Plan, Sun Creek Specific Plan, Stone Creek Village, Brighton Village and a Veteran Village near the former Mather Airforce Base.

“It's super important that we build the trust with our community, with our policy makers,” said Goulart, “with our developers that come to us to process our projects. That develops into strong partnerships throughout the city.”

Norton continued the second half of the presentation by highlighting the streamline process that meets the needs of businesses and residents.

“Darcy’s department is book on what is happening here in the city.” Norton said. “My department takes a look at it, like, what is happening in terms of not only the city but the state, the county, nationally and internationally.”

The Cordova Community Council and the Rancho Cordova Area Chamber of Commerce held their monthly luncheon on March 21 to discuss the growing development in the city. Photo by Idaly Valencia

Part of Norton’s and her department’s responsibilities is to oversee and plan the proper allocation of resources needed to bring attraction, retention and expansion to the city. In other words, they assist new businesses that have already chosen Rancho Cordova as their new home and help strengthen them by reinforcing city codes that need to be updated.

“We also look to maintain the quality of life that our residents are expecting to see here, so we help them navigate the systems. A lot of times, we’re looking at various sites that might be available to those businesses but how that actually feels most of time, from our perspective, is we’re herding cats, because we are the piece that goes, OK, business, you might want to locate here; we’ll get you in touch with that property owner,” said Norton.

The city’s commercial property operation is currently at 89.4% for retail, 95.6% for industrial and 86% of office park usage. Rancho Cordova is preparing to see more growth with the advanced manufacturing and technology industries. Solidigm, a leading chip manufacturer company in the technology industry, is an example of how partnerships help create economic growth in the community. The company named Rancho Cordova as its global headquarters in 2023. 

“We worked really closely with our various partners. And again, power was the main key driver of that, so our partnership with SMUD really helped us be able to land Solidigm,” said Norton.

Norton added that Rancho Cordova is the largest employment center outside of downtown Sacramento, with more than half of the city’s population working within the city.

To learn more about the updates and how to give input for the city’s upcoming developments, visit yourcityrc2050.org.