The City of Carlsbad received a challenge recently when one of the largest companies headquartered in the city, ViaSat, said it was hiring new employees at a rapid clip and needed to add new office space as quickly as possible.
ViaSat produces satellite and digital communication products and services and made international headlines in 2011 when it launched its own communications satellite, ViaSat-1, to improve the speed and quality of satellite Internet service. It plans to launch ViaSat-2 in 2016, so it's easy to see why the company is expanding quickly.
"We added 435 people in 24 months, and 240 in nine months," said Bob Rota, ViaSat's vice president for facilities and security. And that's just in Carlsbad. ViaSat began here in Carlsbad 28 years ago and employs about 2,900 people worldwide, 1,550 of whom are spread among 10 buildings in a business park west of El Camino Real and south of Palomar Airport Road. It had annual revenue of $1.3 billion and pours about $170 million annually into the North San Diego County economy.
"We needed a building in early 2015 and we have 20 locations around the world, so we had options where to hire people," Rota said.
One of the City of Carlsbad's primary goals is to retain businesses in Carlsbad, so it became a high priority to process ViaSat's development application promptly.
"ViaSat is an important business and significant employer," said Glen Van Peski, the interim Community & Economic Development director when the ViaSat project was approved . "And it's a cool home-grown story." ViaSat was founded in 1986 in the North County garage of its current CEO.
There was no room for ViaSat to expand on the west side of El Camino Real where it currently occupies 10 buildings, so the solution was to design two three-story buildings on the east side of El Camino Real, just north of Gateway Road. ViaSat proposed linking the two sites by installing a signalized crosswalk across the six-lane roadway and redesigning the west side of El Camino Real to form an attractive connection between its paired locations.
"We don't want employees in their cars, so the signalized crosswalk was really important in keeping everyone within walking distance," Rota said.
In this instance ViaSat's values align perfectly with the city's. The City of Carlsbad has stressed a "livable streets" concept, which emphasizes that roads should accommodate all modes of travel, not just vehicles. So designing a well-functioning crosswalk between the two sites became a linchpin for the project. In addition, ViaSat suggested adding a bus stop and turnout on southbound El Camino Real.
But to meet ViaSat's ambitious development schedule, the city would have to squeeze the time frame. The company was aiming to deliver the first building in 15 months, a process that typically takes three years.
Van Peski said that for the city to meet such an aggressive schedule, it would have to devise something new. One way was to reduce the time it takes to circulate plans among the different departments involved in the review process. And one way to do that was to get everyone all together within the same four walls.
"We booked a room in the City of Carlsbad Faraday Center and everyone involved in the process would go to the room, including managers, so they could look the plans over and make a determination right away," Van Peski said. "We had all the disciplines represented in the room, planning, engineering, fire, so we could have real-time coordination."
City of Carlsbad Development Services Manager Mike Peterson said the planning approval process normally would take 30 days. "We told ViaSat we could do it in 18," Peterson said. "We did it in nine."
Peterson noted that the aggressive schedule was harder on ViaSat's development team than it was on the city, because ViaSat had to make plan changes and resubmit in record time. But the city and ViaSat met regularly to keep to the schedule.
"We were always told we were important to Carlsbad, and this time we really felt that way," Rota said. "We didn't ask for special treatment, we just asked for a more collaborative treatment, and that's what we got."
Van Peski said it's not possible to do this for every project, because other items get tabled in such a process. "That said, we're looking for lessons we can take away from this to see if and how we can apply them in general, or maybe to a subclass of expedited projects."
For the City of Carlsbad, it was important to help one of our leading businesses without compromising the city's high standards. Mission accomplished.
ViaSat produces satellite and digital communication products and services and made international headlines in 2011 when it launched its own communications satellite, ViaSat-1, to improve the speed and quality of satellite Internet service. It plans to launch ViaSat-2 in 2016, so it's easy to see why the company is expanding quickly.
"We added 435 people in 24 months, and 240 in nine months," said Bob Rota, ViaSat's vice president for facilities and security. And that's just in Carlsbad. ViaSat began here in Carlsbad 28 years ago and employs about 2,900 people worldwide, 1,550 of whom are spread among 10 buildings in a business park west of El Camino Real and south of Palomar Airport Road. It had annual revenue of $1.3 billion and pours about $170 million annually into the North San Diego County economy.
"We needed a building in early 2015 and we have 20 locations around the world, so we had options where to hire people," Rota said.
One of the City of Carlsbad's primary goals is to retain businesses in Carlsbad, so it became a high priority to process ViaSat's development application promptly.
"ViaSat is an important business and significant employer," said Glen Van Peski, the interim Community & Economic Development director when the ViaSat project was approved . "And it's a cool home-grown story." ViaSat was founded in 1986 in the North County garage of its current CEO.
There was no room for ViaSat to expand on the west side of El Camino Real where it currently occupies 10 buildings, so the solution was to design two three-story buildings on the east side of El Camino Real, just north of Gateway Road. ViaSat proposed linking the two sites by installing a signalized crosswalk across the six-lane roadway and redesigning the west side of El Camino Real to form an attractive connection between its paired locations.
"We don't want employees in their cars, so the signalized crosswalk was really important in keeping everyone within walking distance," Rota said.
In this instance ViaSat's values align perfectly with the city's. The City of Carlsbad has stressed a "livable streets" concept, which emphasizes that roads should accommodate all modes of travel, not just vehicles. So designing a well-functioning crosswalk between the two sites became a linchpin for the project. In addition, ViaSat suggested adding a bus stop and turnout on southbound El Camino Real.
But to meet ViaSat's ambitious development schedule, the city would have to squeeze the time frame. The company was aiming to deliver the first building in 15 months, a process that typically takes three years.
Van Peski said that for the city to meet such an aggressive schedule, it would have to devise something new. One way was to reduce the time it takes to circulate plans among the different departments involved in the review process. And one way to do that was to get everyone all together within the same four walls.
"We booked a room in the City of Carlsbad Faraday Center and everyone involved in the process would go to the room, including managers, so they could look the plans over and make a determination right away," Van Peski said. "We had all the disciplines represented in the room, planning, engineering, fire, so we could have real-time coordination."
City of Carlsbad Development Services Manager Mike Peterson said the planning approval process normally would take 30 days. "We told ViaSat we could do it in 18," Peterson said. "We did it in nine."
Peterson noted that the aggressive schedule was harder on ViaSat's development team than it was on the city, because ViaSat had to make plan changes and resubmit in record time. But the city and ViaSat met regularly to keep to the schedule.
"We were always told we were important to Carlsbad, and this time we really felt that way," Rota said. "We didn't ask for special treatment, we just asked for a more collaborative treatment, and that's what we got."
Van Peski said it's not possible to do this for every project, because other items get tabled in such a process. "That said, we're looking for lessons we can take away from this to see if and how we can apply them in general, or maybe to a subclass of expedited projects."
For the City of Carlsbad, it was important to help one of our leading businesses without compromising the city's high standards. Mission accomplished.