Update

Priority Production Area (PPA) Grants

The MTC Priority Production Area (PPA) grant program supports local governments as they create policies and identify investments that protect key industrial lands and expand access to middle wage jobs.

Credit
Karl Nielsen
PPA Planning Grants

The 2022-2023 application window for PPA Planning Grants is now closed.

MTC has awarded four Priority Production Area (PPA) grants that provide technical assistance to 23 locally nominated Priority Production Areas (PPAs) and allows the Port of Benicia to develop a plan for its future.

This PPA pilot program will carry out an implementation action adopted in Plan Bay Area 2050, and will help inform future efforts to support Priority Production Areas.

Priority Production Areas: Part of Plan Bay Area 2050

Plan Bay Area 2050 – the region’s long-range plan – includes over 35 locally nominated Priority Production Areas from 25 jurisdictions as “growth geographies.”

The plan's Economy Element includes a strategy to retain and invest in key industrial lands – including PPAs – as part of a broader effort to shift the location of jobs and achieve a better jobs-housing balance throughout the Bay Area.

Plan Bay Area 2050’s Implementation Plan includes a commitment to create a pilot program with the goal of supporting up to five PPAs by 2025.

The Priority Production Area (PPA) Pilot Program

The PPA pilot program is seeking proposals for funding in the following three categories:

Individual Jurisdiction Planning Grants

Grants up to $750,000 for local jurisdictions to develop specific plans that establish development standards and identify capital improvement needs and financing strategies.

Individual Jurisdiction Technical Assistance (TA) Grants

Technical assistance worth up to $250,000 to local jurisdictions for discrete projects, such as feasibility analyses of proposed policies/programs or implementation of specific economic strategies. It is expected that TA grants will produce the analysis and materials necessary to get the proposed program implemented or policy adopted.

Multi-Jurisdiction Technical Assistance Grants

Technical assistance worth up to $750,000 for projects focused on developing shared analyses or frameworks for implementing programs/policies across multiple PPAs. It is expected that multi-jurisdiction TA grants will provide the feasibility analysis, framework and template materials necessary for local staff to get PPA-related programs or policies adopted.

Eligible Applicants

PPA grant applications are limited to one per jurisdiction, unless a jurisdiction is also included in a multi-jurisdictional application. In this case, the jurisdiction may not have more than two total applications (one individual application and one multi-jurisdictional application).  Only applications centered on PPAs that were adopted into Plan Bay Area 2050 will be considered.

Individual Jurisdiction Planning Grants Eligibility

Local governments with land use authority over a Priority Production Area (PPA) included in Plan Bay Area 2050

Individual Jurisdiction Technical Assistance Grants Eligibility

Local governments with land use authority over a Priority Production Area (PPA) included in Plan Bay Area 2050.

Multi-Jurisdiction Technical Assistance Grants Eligibility

County-based economic development agencies, county transportation authorities or community colleges in partnership with local jurisdictions with PPAs; or multiple jurisdictions with PPAs working in partnership.

Total Anticipated Funding

Two million dollars in funding is anticipated for this grant program; up to five grants will be funded. The share of this total allocated to the three grant categories will be determined by the volume and quality of applications. This pilot program will prioritize providing larger, high-impact grants over small grants spread between many PPAs. 

Prioritizing Proposals

Proposals will be scored by how they meet or advance the following priorities:

Strategic Impact

  • Advances Plan Bay Area 2050 economy and transportation strategies
  • Will create or protect PPA jobs
  • Creates benefits at regional/multi-jurisdiction scale
  • Innovative or replicable programs or policies

Consistent with County or Local Plans/Policies

  • Linked to countywide economic strategy and transportation plan
  • Land uses are consistent with general plans
  • Proposals include adoption of final policy or planning document

Create Opportunities

  • Support communities with a jobs-housing imbalance
  • Benefit low- or moderate-resource communities
  • Demonstrated need for funding

Applications Are Now Closed

A webinar for grant applicants was held in December, 2022. Watch the webinar recording and view the presentation.

The call for applications closed on February 23, 2023. Applicants were required to to:

  • Identify a Project Sponsor and Project Manager.
  • Provide a preliminary scope of work and deliverables using this template.
  • Demonstrate policymaker commitment through countywide and/or local economic development plan or strategy, which references the relevant PPA(s) and/or show that land use designations are consistent with the general plan.
  • Communicate the need for funding and the local match, if any, for planning grant applications, such as staff time for oversight and delivery of final policies/program.

Staff Contact

Ada Chan, Regional Planning Program
Phone: (415) 820-7958
Email: achan@bayareametro.gov