facilities have been developed in the community, including manufacturing and distributing facilities, as well as retail store fronts. Grover Beach is now poised to become the commercial cannabis centre of the Central Coast. Matthew credits the community’s recent success, in part, to the commitment the City Council made into building a public-private broadband fiber-optic network. Around the time Matthew came on board, the Grover Beach City Council had approved the first phase of a 10-year agreement with Digital West Networks Inc. to bring high-speed fiber-optic internet connectivity to the community’s commercial-industrial areas. That rollout has since made the city a more appealing destination. “We know that high-speed internet is essential for modern business,” Matthew says. “That’s why we embarked on a public-private partnership to bring in the fastest internet service available in our area. We want to support future businesses, to help them meet their business needs more effectively.” He also credits the city’s land opportunity – Grover Beach has the largest industrial acreage anywhere within their part of the county, for example, and their land is not as expensive as the land in other communities around the area. Grover Beach is also committed to helping local business succeed, and to making it simple to set up shop. Matthew believes that attitude has gone a long way in recent years. “We have taken steps to expedite our business development review process,” he explains. “We realize the importance that businesses play in supporting our economy, and we know that time is money, so we are helping businesses get through the process as quickly and efficiently as they can.” GROVER BEACH, CA In recent years, Grover Beach has worked to attract a variety of businesses to their beachfront. Hotel developments, for example, are one of their priorities. The city has approximately 400 new hotel rooms in the development pipeline given the city’s prime coastal location. One of those projects is the long-in-development Grover Beach Lodge project, which is a unique partnership between the City and California State Parks to transform a dirt beachfront lot at the end of the city’s main street into a 144-room, four star hotel with meeting space for business. There’s also the aforementioned cannabis industry, which the progressive Grover Beach City Council has been excited to work with. Roughly 10 cannabis-related businesses have commenced operations with another 14 permitted businesses working through the development process. Though four of those are retailers, Matthew THE CONSTRUCTION SOURCE AMERICA Where business can flourish TheCouncilapproaches their policies based on an appreciation of what businesses do in the community. DECEMBER 2023 THE CONSTRUCTION SOURCE AMERICA - WEST
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