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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEconomic Advisory Board - Minutes - 10/18/2023Page 1 10/18/23 Minutes Economic Advisory Board REGULAR MEETING Wednesday, October 18, 2023 – 4:00 PM 300 LaPorte Avenue, Council Information Center 1. CALL TO ORDER: 4:00 PM 2. ROLL CALL a. Board Members Present – • Denny Coleman • Thierry Dossou • Erin Gray • Mistene Nugent • John Parks • Braulio Rojas • Richard Waal • Renee Walkup b. Board Members Absent – c. Staff Members Present – • Jillian Fresa, Economic Health Manager, Economic Health Office • Erin Sporer, Business Support, Economic Health Office • Sylvia Tatman-Burruss, Sr Project Manager • Megan Keith, Sr Planner • Eric Keselburg, Parking Services Manager • Drew Brooks, PDT Deputy Director d. Guest(s) – • Bill Althouse, Energy Board 3. AGENDA REVIEW 4. CITIZEN PARTICIPATION a. Bill Althouse – Expressed concern about the natural gas plant. He will send a document to the email listed on the Board’s website. John and Erin G. also expressed concern about Fort Collins Utilities’ direction as there is a goal to achieve 100% clean energy, but they seem to be backing off it. They expressed interest in getting Council involved. John stated Platte River Power Authority (PRPA) didn’t offer any alternatives even though there are some out there. 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Page 2 10/18/23 Minutes a. Board Approved September Minutes 6. UNFINISHED BUSINESS 7. NEW BUSINESS a. East Mulberry Plan Update • Did not give another presentation. There to help answer additional questions. Questions • Mulberry coming into Fort Collins doesn’t represent the City. Could that be prioritized? • Looking at prioritization with different departments. That area will be controlled by CDOT. They are looking at redesigning the interchange and the City wants to be involved. • When are you presenting it to Council? • 1st reading is November 21st. Materials are due two weeks ahead. • What kind of costs are we looking at in terms of infrastructure, investment, and timeframe? • Performed a financial analysis. Doing a threshold approach as annexation happens. They will do a thorough investigation of different costs and breakdowns into individual decisions. The upfront costs are substantial. They are looking at costs as they arrive overtime vs big chunks. • Why does 65 million stick in my head? • When they did a full analysis of the full enclave which included all city services at once, it was upwards of $100 million in some scenarios but that is not what Council wanted. They are doing an incremental approach where they can analyze at every threshold point for Council to say if they want to prioritize that right now. • Seems like an opportune time to go after federal resources as money is available now. • It can be helpful. Matching funds is not always required, and it can help with prioritization. City is hoping to partner with CDOT and the County. • Any benefit if us as EAB reaches out to the house or senate to look at putting on the agenda in the near future as congressional offices are always looking for good ideas. • It could. There are some storm water deficiencies so it could be good. • The Board expressed interest in providing a memo as the Mulberry corridor area does not reflect what Fort Collins is. b. Downtown Parking Presentation • Presenting to Council next week • Current downtown pricing structures disincentivize parking in preferred long term parking location • Six square miles of the City is managed by PDT. The rest is managed by the Fort Collins Police Department. • Current Costs Page 3 10/18/23 Minutes • Street – $0, time regulated. • Parking Structure - $1/hour, 1st hour is free. • Monthly Permits - $50-$60/month • Service Lots - $30-$43/month • Fines • Time violation on street - $0-$50 • Other non-serious violations - $25 • Serious violations - $100 • Trends • Unhealthy occupancy is 80-85% • Did study during summer lunch hour summer average occupancy is 77%. 16 of 24 blocks were at an unhealthy level. • The dinner crowd was also studied. 19 of 24 blocks were at an unhealthy level. • Parking Structures underutilized. • DDA parking and travel habits study (2013 & 2023). • Increase vehicles entering downtown area. • More people stayed longer beyond that 2-hour period. • Current operations do not have a reserve balance for repairs to parking structures. ARPA awarded funds to help with maintenance. Using money to catch up on it. If not for ARPA, they would have had to request general fund dollars. The estimated cost of the Civic Center Parking repairs is 800 thousand. • Cost recovery is quasi self-funded. Additional funds come from the general fund. • Parking system for the future • Working with consultants and worked with advisory committees in visioning meetings, strategy meetings, and work sessions. • Looked at curb management (more users wanting to access the curb), how to better manage demand crunches, support the broad community, climate culture, traffic congestion etc. • Objectives – framework, metrics, menu of options, resources needed, and decision makers. • Fears and Concerns • Nothing changes, perception of no parking, parking systems financial condition worsens, too focused on revenue generation, no room for short term parking pick up/drop off/deliveries, not be sufficiently data and survey driven, increase vehicle congestion and rely too much on other travel choices. • Vision of Success • Want a vibrant thriving economy and community, multiple options, welcoming and easily understandable, leverages and maintains key assets, easier and more pleasant, cost neutrality and can fund key maintenance priorities, how they benefit the community customer choice, and data and industry standards. • Guidance objections • Employ paid parking strategically and thoughtfully Page 4 10/18/23 Minutes particularly during peak periods. • Reduce ticket writing. • Off street options need to be heavily incentivized, assess need to be attractive, flexible parking potions, better maintenance and user experience, study different governance models. • Partnering with DDA • Help with funding. • Will do more work with groups downtown and connect with stakeholders downtown. Questions • What does unhealthy mean? • If a block has 85% or less parking the appearance is that you can reasonably find a place to park. When it goes over that the perception is there is no parking, or it is harder to find. That is when trolling and congestion increases. • When does the time stop? • 6pm • Thinking of people’s habits, they want to stay longer but they are being disincentivized to stay longer. It has a negative impact on economics downtown. • Is it true the City does not enforce two-hour parking on the weekends? It seems employees are parking closer now which is frustrating for the business owners. • Our hours of operation are Monday – Friday 8am-5pm. Most cities don’t regulate on Sundays. We are discussing extending our hours of operation to include weekends and later hours for enforcement. We are looking at different models. • Boulder changed their parking; do you know if they are generating revenue? • I did not ask but I can. • Causes for cost recovery. • Revenue stream that has grown back to pre-pandemic levels is citations. The other two have not matched levels. The goal is to not use general fund dollars. • If you get the blessing, would you propose parking meters? My concern is for simplicity. That is why some don’t park in the garage. • We would need to have a payment system, not parking meters. We would have some sort of pay station and see what model works for Fort Collins. • Concern expressed for wanting cars in front of buildings so the downtown seems vibrant but don’t want people trolling. It is a challenge, especially with the habits of people that have lived here too. Interest in seeing solutions presented. • We are not trying to move everyone off the streets, just trying to provide solutions for short term, midterm, and long-term parking. • Does your survey differentiate from those who don’t just want to park in the garage? Some just don’t want to park in a garage. How do you incentivize there? • We might not get those people. Some people don’t feel safe Page 5 10/18/23 Minutes in them so some just won’t park there. • Do you have information on how much of revenue is related to parking fees vs ticketing? • Prior to Covid hour, permit, and citations was a 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 split. Right now, it has gone to 25% with the fourth 25% coming from the general fund. Permit revenue is not specific to downtown but all systems. • Seems like a clear case for Council. It is nice to see modernized systems and how cities use revenue to think more progressively like adding EV charging stations. More information on future revenue gaps you might expect could be helpful for them to see as well as equity considerations. If we are promoting higher pricing for parking, how are you going to deal with equity? A request to see that prioritized. • Everyone ignores maintenance but it needs to be foremost. Also, is there any way to build relationships with apartments so they can park in empty lots. • It has not been successful in the past, but we need to relook at it. Parking system as it serves different users, daytime, dinner, and bar patrons. There is also a seasonality of weather and CSU. How do we serve all? It goes back to flexibility. • The tricky part is the story is different if you go to business owners. They don’t want parking fees because customers are already paying taxes and that should count as the parking fee. Another side is that we have parking we need to take care of and the financial implications. We are way behind compared to other cities. Suggestion – keep it simple for everyone. c. Board Member Concern • The Board discussed a concern regarding downtown and having unhoused folks block sidewalks in front of businesses. It can make people uncomfortable and community members might drive to Walmart outside of town or buy online instead of buying locally. • There is an outreach program where business can call, and outreach will go out and talk to them. They are also planning to open a new shelter that will be north of downtown. • The Board expressed interest in bringing someone from the City to talk about it. 8. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS a. Denny – Congratulations to the Economic Health Team on a successful Business Appreciation event. b. Braulio – Checked in on the City Council Meeting last night regarding City Code. He was satisfied EAB could contribute by providing a memo. That is how the board should be present in other processes. It passed but there was a lot of public participation. Braulio shared a document that included responsibilities of the board. He is thinking they can use the guide to have more direction when making decisions when people are presenting. (endorsement, favorable consideration, support with reservations) and standard feedback for staff not going to council (highly satisfied, satisfied, partially satisfied with reservations) will share document with board. Looking for standards to help them deliver quicker. He is open to feedback. 9. STAFF REPORTS Page 6 10/18/23 Minutes a. The work plan is due November 30th. The board discussed how they have too many priorities and should hone in on specific topics. They also discussed working with other boards. 10. OTHER BUSINESS a. Next meetings November 15th and December 13th. b. Think about priorities for council next year like circular economy or energy. c. Memo for Mulberry • Board discussed memo including: • Can you do it more expeditiously but not overextend the city? • Things city can and cannot control like East Mulberry and CDOT • Braulio moved and John seconded to approve the memo. Motion passes unanimously 8-0 11. ADJOURNMENT a. (6:00) Minutes approved by a vote of the Board/Commission on XX/XX/XX