ATASCADERO, Calif- Atascadero is seeing a spike in its growth over the past few years. Something its next door neighbor Paso Robles really felt almost 15 years ago, when its wine country began to explode. But Atascadero is still trying to find the "it".
Both cities have roughly 30,000 people, and Atascadero may be taking a page from Paso Robles book.
"I'm trying to remember, there was nothing here before I believe," says Steve Salzman, while looking at the Colony Square project in Atascadero. Colony square has been coming to life for sometime. "We are going to concentrate on retail businesses and restaurants," said Atascadero Mayor Bob Kelley. It isn't the only plan in progress for Atascadero, the city has a room full of new development plans happening in the city.
With so much growth it becomes an attraction for new business. "That's why we decided this area would be a great place to open up our business," says Salzman, who is opening a digital marketing business next month.
The city has seen a lot of growth in the past 4 years and hopes to have a unique edge like its neighbor Paso Robles. What's unique in Paso Robles? The eruption of wineries in the early 2000's.
"With the wineries came hotels and came the idea of putting in nice restaurants into the downtown," says Ed Gallagher, from Paso Robles Community Development. Just in the past 10 years the population has grown by nearly 20%. Doug Brooks has lived in Paso Robles for over a couple decades and he's seen changes. "There's a lot more stop lights, several more than when I first came here."
Like Atascadero, Paso Robles is continuing to grow. For example, the city recently approved a resort hotel. You can say Paso Robles and Atascadero are striving to be big little cities and many community members are on board." It's not the same, but I still really enjoy it," says Brooks.
