Mayor, Matt Hall, is a fiscal conservative who brings his unique blend of hard work and common sense to the Mayor’s office. Matt is a proven leader and successful businessman. Matt and his wife Phyllis have deep roots in Carlsbad. While raising their daughters, Matt ran his business and volunteered as a Lightning Soccer coach; and Phyllis owned and operated two successful restaurants in the village.
Matt Hall presented extracts from his State of the City talk to Carlsbad Rotary.
Carlsbad’s vision began with the Growth Management plan and managed our growth in a very controlled way:
- Preserving nearly 40 % of the city for open space,
- Ensuring that proper infrastructures like fire protection,
- Sewer, water, parks and traffic issues were addressed with each new development and paid for by developers.
- Capping the number of housing units in each quadrant.
- All development after 1994, and continuing today, have followed a rigorous set of guiding principles, laws and regulations to control growth in an organized, systematic way.
This growth management plan was a vision for the future and it has made Carlsbad the model for other communities, not only in this state, but also throughout the nation.
Today, the world has changed: Today with build with the rapid introduction of technology, environmental issues that were never identified in the past, energy alternatives never imagined, with new methods of transportation such as Uber, Lyft and autonomous vehicles….
This with a new generation of residents who have a different vision and values for their future.
Today we need to look at a new vision for Carlsbad that will address the needs of our children, and grandchildren, and great grandchildren. I am calling this the Carlsbad 2050 Vision Plan. It will be looking at what we need to be planning now, to meet future community needs.
The reason for our success is Community Involvement, which incorporates the four “C’s”:
- Communication – listening with an open mind
- Collaboration – willingness to work together
- Consensus – finding middle ground that we can agree upon
- Commitment – all of us working together for the greater good
There is a statement created by our City forefathers, written on a plaque in the Council Chambers.
2018 Business Highlights
- Carlsbad is ranked #1 for best start up environment for new business
- Carlsbad ranked #3 out of 350 by Coast News for small-business friendliness
- Listed in the top 20 by Travel Magazine for Most Charming Towns and Small Cities in CA.
- Received the Beacon Spotlight Award from Coast News for Sustainability
- Listed as #5 by city Lab for being one of America’s Most Sustainable Cities
- Listed #2 by National Geographic for being the Happiest City in the US
- Carlsbad the sixth safest city in the US according to Business Insider news website.
Economic Enhancement
- Tourism – 5,000 room nights TOT income is excess of $23 million. Newest additions - Legoland and Westin-Sheraton
- Retail Shoppes at Carlsbad…formerly Westfield
- Many improvements at Car County Carlsbad.
- Clean tech has grown to 21 companies and 523 high paying jobs
- ViaSat is well under construction with completion around the first of the year representing 2000 high paying new jobs in the near future.
- Ranked #1 for best start up environment for new business by Forbes Magazine
- Ranked 7th best city for job seekers by Nerd Wallet
- Ranked #8 among the best public schools in America
- Carlsbad is thriving in part, because of vision, leadership and community involvement.
- All of the activities, accomplishments and accolades bring revenue into our City to allow us to have the amenities and quality of life that makes Carlsbad - Carlsbad.
About Matt Hall: https://www.matthall.org/about