Best Business-Friendly City: Rohnert Park

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 “We are the friendly city, and that’s for our residents, but it’s also for our businesses. They created that culture of us helping folks.”—City Manager Darrin Jenkins

The City of Rohnert Park is known for many things, like the array of Redwood trees located along the eastern stretch of Rohnert Park Expressway as you drive towards Sonoma State University. For someone who’s unfamiliar with this city, whenever a resident says they live in a certain section, like the ‘M’ section, every street in that particular neighborhood will begin with the same letter M.However, one thing that best defines the city and that will immediately catch one’s attention while driving on the south end of Commerce Boulevard is the classic-style sign that reads, “Rohnert Park…The Friendly City.”

The city definitely holds true to its nickname when it comes to doing business. This year is the third consecutive year that the City of Rohnert Park has been chosen as Best Business-Friendly City by NorthBay biz magazine’s readers’ poll. City Manager Darrin Jenkins says the city is ecstatic to have its work recognized by the readers of this magazine. The fact that readers voted for the city again only continues to prove that it has a proactive and friendly approach concerning its entire community. “It starts at the top,” Jenkins says. “Our council said, ‘It’s really important that we have a business-friendly approach.’ We are the friendly city, and that’s for our residents, but it’s also for our businesses. They created that culture of us helping folks.”

Darrin Jenkins

The City of Rohnert Park has built a cohesive relationship with businesses in town, based on five core values: Innovation & Creativity, Communication, Collaboration, Fiscal Responsibility and Integrity. “They all factor into helping our businesses, but most importantly communication and collaboration is what makes us a good city to do business with,” says Jenkins. He adds that the city takes the same approach with everyone who walks into City Hall, in that they want to help residents and businesses accomplish their goals, and in order to do that, there must be collaboration and communication.

During the pandemic, the city offered free permits to businesses that had been affected by the closures, says Jenkins. “During Covid, we really upped our communication game with our businesses. We let them know about state grant programs and we offered, for example, free permits if people wanted to move to outdoor seating. It was no cost to them. We wanted to make sure that it was safe for everyone, but to try to help them. It’s partly innovation and creativity. We’re always trying to come up with a better way to do things. How can we serve people better? It just goes right to those core values.”

As for the city’s future plans, Jenkins says there are two major goals right now: develop a downtown area and address homelessness. He says they’re making progress on both issues. In April, the city purchased the 30-acre State Farm Insurance site for $12.5 million; the purchase was expedited to accelerate the project. The land could potentially include market-rate and affordable housing, a hotel, some retail shops, office space and a plaza. The city also received a grant for more than $14 million to build a facility for transitional housing for the homeless. For what the city proposes to do with the State Farm site and building transitional housing certainly aligns with the city’s mission. “We care for our residents by working together to build a better community [for] today and tomorrow,” says Jenkins.

rpcity.org

[Lead photo: Duncan Garrett Photography]

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