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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEconomic Advisory Board - MINUTES - 05/15/2024Page 1 04/17/24 Minutes Economic Advisory Board REGULAR MEETING Wednesday, April 17, 2024 – 4:00 PM 300 Laporte Ave, CIC Room 1. CALL TO ORDER: 4:00 PM 2. ROLL CALL a. Board Members Present – • Tim Cochran • Chris Denton • Thierry Dossou • Erin Gray • Val Kailburn • Braulio Rojas • Richard Waal b. Board Members Absent – • Denny Coleman • Renee Walkup c. Staff Members Present – • Jillian Fresa, Economic Health Manager, Economic Health Office • Erin Sporer, Business Support, Economic Health Office • Paul Sizemore, Planning, Development, & Transportation (PDT) Deputy Director d. Guest(s) – 3. AGENDA REVIEW 4. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION a. 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES a. Chris motioned and Erin seconded to approve the March agenda. Motion carried unanimously. 6-0. 6. UNFINISHED BUSINESS 7. NEW BUSINESS a. Meet & Greet with Mayor Jeni Arndt, EAB Council Liaison • The board doesn’t want to be afraid to speak out and act. • That is super important. Something I am worried about is I had a Page 2 04/17/24 Minutes meeting with a banker in the region and they asked if I feel like Fort Collins is a city in decline. That is a concern. There are some things that we need to pay more attention to like Attracting talent. We haven’t attracted a major employer for a long time. Some of the City processes are too involved and processed to detract businesses, large and small. We have wonderful climate goals and always need to remember there is a balance between driving up costs so the average person can live and work here but also that people need jobs and jobs are businesses. There is a part of this town that wants to drive up the cost of housing and turn away businesses. I don’t share those thoughts but want to have a vibrant, integrated, welcoming community. We need to be intentional about it. We used to rely on physical settings and trying new things. This is an important board when we get an economic perspective. An example is the building codes. Who isn’t for environmental causes, but we have goals of affordability. We want to consider all of those, and this is the board where all of that can happen. • A board member shared an experience regarding a rental home he owned that became vacant but some of the applicants couldn’t afford it. He also mentioned that PSD’s enrollment is dropping. We might be living in a good place now, but what will happen in five years if they don’t act. It is important to provide support to Council to make tough decisions. We should be active and not be shy. • Question to Mayor - We have not attracted a big employer for a long time. What do you think is inhibiting that? • I am not sure. We have Woodward, HP, Broadcom, and Budweiser. • I don’t know necessarily. We need diverse talent to attract. Folks come to Fort Collins and end up leaving because they don’t want to stay. • The reason people stay is varied but most people who come to Broadcom have seen the general nature of the City and are proud to be in Fort Collins. People that haven’t come here, the cost is too high. People make that decision. For some it’s worth it. When you are young, you fathom expenses and it’s hard to attract that. Locals are very excited to work for Broadcom because they see what they offer and see what they are getting. Why is it so expensive in Colorado because it is worth it. You must find people that find it worthwhile. There is always some turnover. Make sure people are not leaving and not knowing about what jobs we have to offer. It's hard to bring people here. People who have come haven’t left. As soon as they are here, they get it. There is a segment of people who don’t want that but we should have that in this community as well. Not everyone should enjoy hiking, biking, and going to Horsetooth. • One board member moved to Colorado 30 years ago from San Fransisco. Businesses around the Bay Area had an expertise. In Colorado there was an expertise in navigation. When they think of Fort Collins, they don’t get that. When trying to attract businesses they look at what is the talent around them. When you think of Fort Collins you don’t think about one thing or another. Page 3 04/17/24 Minutes • The board commends activity at global and local level and Council Priorities. It is not just about development and growth but a wide variety of goals. What makes Fort Collins exciting is we are a good example of a progressive city working on complex issues. There are different incomes and ethnicities. Lots of cities are experiencing the same thing. This is a diverse board that can hopefully help. We can’t please everyone but how do you move in the right direction to move forward. • The mayor believes this is a great role to try and help bring that out. By the time things come to Council it is easy to pass. Council’s view is so narrow. This is where a lot of work comes from, asking have you talked to affordable housing about water supply rate etc. We try to ask but we can’t catch it all. We do the best we can do. This group can catch some of those things and it’s a great place to dig in. • Can you describe what the Council Liaison role is and how often do you come to our meetings? • I come to almost zero. It is the person who if there is a problem or question, I work with Jillian. I also lead interviews. I try to come when I can and read your notes. There are a lot of conflicts but if you want me to know something or want me to come, I will. b. New Member Welcome • The board did introductions. New members include Tim Cochran, Chris Denton, and Val Kailburn. c. Fort Collins Development Update • Paul is part of a large department in the City • 90 people - covers planning and development, historic preservation, neighborhood services, etc. • Recent development activity • Reviewed data up to 2023 including development applications and minor amendments. • A little concern in new applications in 2021-2022, fluctuates overtime. Not sure if it is a trend down, but in 2023 went back up. • Other set of data- forward looking pieces – pre-submittal review, conceptual reviews, and preliminary design reviews • consistent over time. • Development applications by type • 2022 inflated over 2023- double counting on some. Useful to see what industry and sector we are seeing. • Since 2020 commercial has been on steady decline – made up by “other” (earlier stages of larger scale and longer-term projects, ex pud plan), multifamily increasing as well. Single family residential also declining overtime. Less zoned land available for single family available. • Building permit trends, looking at multifamily units, 2023 was a strong year. • Geographically looking at permits as well – some years we see it concentrated in one area. This shows it spread out. • Master plan communities • Largest one is Montava • NE part of town. Longest term built out over 25 years on 1000 Page 4 04/17/24 Minutes acres. 3 phases that are all at planning right now in development review process. • Phase G and E moving along. The developer has run into situation with ditch company regarding storm water. Need to come into agreement to get these phases to approval so it is taking longer than they expected. They are working on an agreement. • Phase D overview is not reliant on ditch company and will now probably 1st phase to get started on construction. Working hard to get to that by the end of the year. It is an aggressive timeline. • Bloom • 225 acres. Many filings are in process and actively under construction. It is smaller than Montava. • Sonders Village • 129 acres, 689 dwellings include 95 affordable housing units. It just started. • Commercial development • Very few new nonresidential development apps in 2023 • Parts of larger developments • Prospect sports only commercial project recently approved by planning and zoning commission. • Basketball venue with courts for league practice, games, and tournaments • Located on sharp point drive off east prospect. • Projects under construction • Morning Star/block 23 • Midtown King Soopers • Multifamily overview • List of 8 projects that have been through development project either approved or prehearing. • Policy process and customer service • Land Use Code (LUC) foundational updates. • 1st zoning code adopted in 1929. The current code from 1997 has been amended but there is only so much working around the edges you can do. 2018 adopted new city plan. • 1st phase of LUC includes a new framework for development code but also focused on residential components. Last night they came back with the 3rd iteration of updated code. This version has taken out the components that were controversial including not increasing density or allowable uses in existing residential neighborhoods. All foundational changes that adjust densities in already dense residential areas. Incentives for affordable housing are all intact. • Get foundational changes in place can get on to the rest of the work they have been doing on the code. • Phase 2 focuses on commercial corridors – 15-minute City • Revise processes and procedures. • Modernize development standards. • Work session with city council June 11 to confirm scope. • Development review evaluation • State of development review- see what is working well and not Page 5 04/17/24 Minutes working in development review process. • Creating plan – goals for development review plan, areas of focus and rethinking performance measures on how review works. • Come back and visit to share about that. Questions • What is the difference between single family detached and single family attached? • Attached is like a townhome, where they share a wall, but it is individually owned. • Are multifamily permits separate from multiunit buildings? • We can permit them under master permits but it’s unit counts. So, it is not individual permits. • You are saying the reason Bloom was faster was because they didn’t have a ditch issue and it’s also smaller. • There was less complexity, and it is a quarter of the size of Montava. In terms of timeline, Montava started the process before Bloom, but Bloom made it to the construction phases before them. • It seems like the new codes are trying to be more discreet in its neighborhood designation on what is allowable in certain types of neighborhoods. • I think that is part of it. A big thing that has changed in 25 years in zoning and land use codes is a lot of zoning ordinances are based on lengthy descriptions where you describe allowable dimensions on the lots, and they get pieced together section by section. In that time, form-based codes have become the industry standard where you define a building envelope, and you focus on the urban design and form to fit within that envelope and less on the narrative approach or even worrying so much about the different use types. That is one of the biggest foundational changes being made. • If there is anything the board can do now or with land use planning to be supportive or any issues we need to consider, let us know. • Feel last slide is admirable. The process is always a challenge because you need to do work but get it done efficiently. Talk about attracting companies, whatever size they are to come here, I think the development piece, and that process however streamlined you can get it is great. Obviously, you have to hit hurdles. • That s a great point of the balancing act. It is Incumbent on us to make sure we are applying standards and doing a good thorough review on projects, and we are aware there are pieces to the process where there are processes that are redundant, have evolved over time where they don’t make sense, or don’t see them because we are running through them repeatedly. So that is why it was helpful to do that survey work and get some feedback on those things that were process challenges. Some fascinating feedback we got was that people who go through process are okay with standards; the rub is that the process things can be hard. • That is a piece of marketing, the one stop show if you want to open a business. We talk about Fort Collins being open and welcoming and all of that might be more elements where we can be more welcoming, and we have updated processes to be efficient. • It is something where we try to work with our Economic Health partners to focus on small businesses that are not Page 6 04/17/24 Minutes developers and haven’t been through the process. It can be daunting. • You said with commercial there is only one, is that because people don’t want to develop or are we running out of space? • I can speculate. A lot of it is market supply and demand. Post covid environment, that has been less of a demand for employment type uses and office space. Those types of developments that might have come through pre 2020 would classified as commercial. We are not capturing those right now because there is enough inventory. A lot of it is happening through those minor amendments to existing development where a business already has location but needs to expand. They can do it on their property, so they do not need to acquire a new site. • Do you have data on other communities to compare? • Anecdotally with conversations. Loveland also presented. I think there is a lot of alignment but haven’t done cross referencing. • I was just curious if it was local, regional, nationwide or industry as a whole. • When looking at housing and current demographics of the City as far as income and the housing that’s available, and trying to have more unformal affordable housing or likely curve of what people are going to be able to need to spend on housing, are you going to be able to provide through this plan a match to that long term need Or will we accidentally build too much toward the higher or mid high? • I wish I had my colleague lead Meaghan here who is the Housing Manager. She could give a more detailed answer on demographic impact. The foundation changes that City Council considered at first reading has built in a lot of additional capacity on already high- density zones. That is one of the key pieces of this first phase of this Land Use Code update is take that long term approach of what is needed in the future and trying to align those zone districts. Your point on how much of those units are going to cost, that is the piece I don’t have as much insight into as so much is driven by the cost of construction and what the larger economy is doing. I think the hedge there is the City has taken a strong position on taking more deed restricted affordable housing so being able to provide housing for folks that are at that very bottom end of the spectrum and there are incentives that are built into the code update under consideration right now would step that up from what we’ve historically had. • Is affordable housing strictly multifamily housing or are those also single-family residences too? • Can be single family residences, multifamily, rental, ownership. There is a need for all in the community. In general, the regulations are set up where there are different thresholds for what qualifies as being affordable. There is opportunity development by development if this is a product that fits well in that development and can choose. • Are you seeing more condos or is condo defect loss still problematic? • We don’t have data to show trends so don’t want to give answers one way or another but I think it’s safe to say a Page 7 04/17/24 Minutes majority are still apartments; condos are on the rare side. • 8. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS 9. STAFF REPORTS a. Sylvia and Megan are applying for an industry award for the mulberry corridor and looking for some edits on the letter EAB wrote. b. Council interested in EAB being more involved. 10. OTHER BUSINESS a. Board wants to be more active and effective. • Role of memos, pros and cons also emphasized. • Each month City staff present - asking them questions and drilling into things is helpful for them to understand what residents care about so they can sharpen their presentations for Council. • Be more proactive. • Recommends board to look at workplan, Council priorities and planning calendar. • Jillian works to find presenters; it is a dynamic moving target. • If the board feel something is important and relevant let Jillian or chairs know • Board share duties of writing memos. b. June meeting falls on holiday • Meeting moved to June 26th. 11. ADJOURNMENT a. (5:51PM) Minutes approved by a vote of the Board/Commission on 05/15/24