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HomeMy WebLinkAboutDowntown Development Authority - Minutes - 09/13/2007DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY Regular Directors' Meeting MINUTES of September 13, 2007 REGULAR MEETING The Board of Directors of the Downtown Development Authority met in Regular Session at 7:30 am. on September 13, 2007 in the Meeting Room at Home State Bank located at 303 East Mountain Avenue, Fort Collins, CO 80524. PRESENT George Brelig; McCabe Callahan; Carey Hewitt; Ryan Keiffer; Kelly Ohlson; Kathay Rennels; William Sears; Patty Spencer; Steve Taylor; Jack Wolfe ABSENT Kim Jordan STAFF Chip Steiner, DDA Executive Director; Matt Robenalt, DDA Project Manager; Joanna Stone, DDA Staff; Carol Bennis, Beet Street, Executive Director; Kathy Cardona, DDA Staff GUESTS INCLUDED Darin Atteberry, City Manager; Matt Evans, Scott Allen, Ty Smith & Mike Jensen, Fort Collins Real Estate; Evan Hyatt, Cultural Services; Chuck Seest, Finance; David Short & Peggy Lyle, DBA; Jean Lamm & Maggie Hirko, Beet Street; Jacqie Hasan, Book Rack; Karen Russell, Landmark Preservation Council; Blue Hovatter, Citizen at Large; Dave Edwards, Community Foundation; Julie Keith, J.A.M. CALL TO ORDER Mr. Taylor called the meeting to order at 7:30 a.m. Roll call was taken. New Board member Ryan Keiffer of A -Train marketing was welcomed. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Mr. Sears moved to approve the minutes of June 14, 2007. Seconded by Mr. Hewitt, and passed unanimously. ELECTION OF OFFICERS Nominations and elections were held for new Board officers. Mr. Brelig moved that Jack Wolfe be nominated as Chair; Mr. Sears seconded: Mr. Wolfe was elected by acclamation. Mr. Hewitt moved that Patty Spencer be nominated Vice Chair; seconded by Mr. Sears: Ms. Spencer was elected by acclamation. Mr. Hewitt moved that George Brelig be nominated as Secretary/Treasurer; Mr. Sears seconded: Mr. Brelig was elected by acclamation. The newly elected DDA Board officers are Jack Wolfe, Chair; Patty Spencer, Vice Chair; George Brelig, Secretary/Treasurer. BIG IDEAS Julie Keith presented her art mentoring for youth initiative. The program pairs a high school student with a university student and together they attend an art event in the community. The high school student then produces a work of art based on their experience of the event. The student and mentor meet twice a month for a semester. The purpose of the program is to introduce children and youth to what is happening in the community. Ms. Keith noted that she would love to partner with Beet Street. Mr. Steiner noted that this program would also fit with the UniverCity Connection goal of promoting culturally integrated events. Ms. Bennis added that it dovetails with the art and culture task force. BEET STREET Carol Bennis, Executive Director of Beet Street, provided updates on Beet Street and current marketing efforts. The first issue of the online newsletter "Re:Beef' should hit 2,400 mailboxes today. The website will go live after the September 19's launch event. Ms. Bennis hopes the Community Advisory Council will have their first meetings in October. Plans for the Peace Corps reunion continue to progress with representatives from the national office and Denver recruiting office attending the last meeting. Elizabeth Hare has been contracted to work .on programming for the Beet Street launch. Ms. Bennis presented her contract for ratification. Moved by Mr. Taylor; seconded by Mr. Hewitt: To approve the contract for services with Elizabeth Hare. The motion passed unanimously. DBA HOLIDAY DECORATION & ENTERTAINMENT REQUEST The Downtown Business Association is requesting $29,600 in funding for additional holiday decorations and entertainment. The DDA has provided funds for the past two years. Downtown is a focal point for community holiday celebrations and Mr. Steiner urged the Board to approve the request to enable downtown Fort Collins to be the most appealing and exciting area in Northern Colorado. Peggy Lyle of the Downtown Business Association answered questions from the Board. She noted that the decorations and entertainers add to the fun and also help the merchants. Mr. Short of the DBA added that the carriage rides, carolers, ice skating all add to holiday traditions and encourage people to come back year after year. Mr. Hewitt feels activities add "sizzle" to bricks and mortar projects of the DDA. Moved by Mr. Hewitt; seconded by Mr. Ohlson: To approve the Downtown Business Association request for $29,600 for holiday entertainment and decorations. The motion passed unanimously. UNIVERCITY CONNECTIONS COORDINATOR/DIRECTOR FUNDING UniverCity Connections (UCC) has begun its implementation phase. Task forces are being reconvened and 12- month work schedules are being drafted. To maintain momentum and to provide logistical, technical, and clerical support, the Implementation Committee has recommended that the Community Foundation hire a coordinator. The position would be funded by the City, Community Foundation, Colorado State University, and the DDA. CSU has committed S25,000. The salary is to be $40,000 - $60,000 plus benefits which brings the total range to $50,000 - $ 75,000. DDA's share would be 25 percent or $12,500 - $18,000. Because many of the initiatives begun by UCC have significant long-term benefit to downtown and the community Mr. Steiner felt it is important to support this request. Dave Edwards, speaking for the Community Foundation, explained that each UCC task force has been asked to focus on their highest priority. They feel they need a paid staff person to move these projects forward. This would not be a permanent position, rather a one year contract renewable for a second year. Board discussion felt it was a good idea, but felt DDA approval should be contingent on the other entities also contribute. Moved by Mr. Ohlson; seconded by Mr. Sears: To fund the UniverCity Connections Coordinator position up to 25% or in the range of $12,500-$1S,000 contingent upon the rest of the funding being raised from other entities. The motion passed unanimously. SCIENCE AND CULTURAL FACILITIES DISTRICT REQUEST The DDA is being asked to contribute $1,000 toward the development of a brochure explaining the proposed Science and Cultural Facilities District. Mr. Steiner cautioned that the Board should look carefully at the issue of whether this was a political campaign effort in which case the DDA may not be able to support. Lucia Liley explained that her understanding was that if an election was not in process this would not be campaign funding, but she would like any board approval to be contingent of verifying that is the case. Several concerns were voiced. One is that several tax measures may be on the ballot which could weaken the chance of this initiative passing. There was also concern that if the committee promoting the scientific/cultural district could not fund a brochure in the amount of $1,000 they would not be able to gain financial momentum to get the issue on the ballot or passed by the voters. Mr. Steiner concluded the conversation by removing his approval for the proposal because of concerns over getting involved in a policy question. LULU'S ASIAN BISTRO A year ago the Board approved $63,596 tax increment financing towards improvements associated with Lulu's Asian Bistro. Since there have been significant modifications to the design, the project is being brought back for reconsideration. The project, initially estimated at $764,000, is actually going to cost $923,500. Mike Jensen, speaking for the proposal, is requesting a total of $85,000 from the DDA. Because there will be no increment collected in 2008, Mr. Steiner recommended that the DDA commitment increase by $4,400 to $67,176, stressing that DDA could not give more than the TIF. He pointed out that there are actually two issues for the Board to consider: 1) does the Board still want to support the project? and, 2) if there is still support, is the Board willing increase the investment? Mr. Jensen outlined the reasons behind the redesign, which included issues with preserving the ghost sign on the outside of the adjoining building and reducing the project from two levels to one. Mr. Taylor noted that the request once again raised the issue of how to handle projects come back for Board consideration. Ms. Spencer wished that DDA had been involved when the changes were made, rather than after the fact, and added that it should now be viewed as a new project. Mr. Brelig felt that the new design was far different than the plans originally approved and was not as pleasing. Further discussion noted that there were many changes in the original fagade but that quality materials were used, the ghost sign preserved and other guidelines were met. Moved by Mr. Hewitt, seconded by Mr. Sears: To maintain the DDA funding commitment at the original amount of $63,596. The motion carried with Mr. Brelig voting nay. 2008 BUDGET ITEMS The 2008 budget recommendations were included in the meeting packet. In addition to the budget, Kathy Cardona has updated the DDA checkbook, the running cash flow, and added a spreadsheet on the fagade grant program which were also included. Four resolutions were also presented for Board approval and were addressed in two motions: 1. Resolution 2007-04 adopting the 2008 budget and recommending adoption by City Council; 2. Resolution 2007-05 recommending to City Council that the 2008 levy be set at five mils; 3. Resolution 2007-06 recommending appropriation of debt service to City Council; 4. Resolution 2007-07 recommending transferring the $1 million committed to the museum/Discovery Science Center to the Beet Street fund for 2008. The purpose of this is to spend down proceeds from previous bond issues to avoid arbitrage penalties. The $1 million for the museum will be added to a 2008 bond issuance. Moved by Mr. Taylor; seconded by Mr. Sears: To adopt Resolutions 2008-04, 2008-05 and 2008-06. The motion passed unanimously and the resolutions were adopted. Moved by Mr. Sears; seconded by Ms. Spencer: To adopt Resolution 2008-07. The motion passed unanimously and the resolution was adopted. OTHER BUSINESS Sales tax Reoort: Chuck Seest reported that July sales were very strong with a 9.6% increase in August sales tax collections within the DDA footprint. Retail was up 8.4% and arts, hotel and food were up 13.9%. The City as a whole showed an increase of 11.2%. UPDATES October 11 retreat: Items on the agenda include: 1. Financial updates on tax increment projections and projected use of funds; 2. Update on TIF legislation; 3. Parking District concept; 4. LifeCycle Center. Other suggestions are to include a discussion of the state of sidewalks downtown and of contracts: how they are approved and which contracts need to be presented to the Board for approval. Jefferson Street & CDOT Staff is awaiting final signing of contract between CDOT and City for $1 million grant for Jefferson/Riverside roundabout and Jefferson 2-lane reconfiguration analysis and design before initiating an appeal to CDOT Director, Russell George on its disapproval of the roundabout design. Mr. Sears questioned why CDOT did not like the roundabout. Mr. Robenalt replied that we have had conflicting information from CDOT, with Region IV indicated that they did not support the project, however another part of CDOT gave money to review the design. International Downtown Association Annual Conference. Mr. Steiner noted that Matt Robenalt of DDA staff and David Short, Executive Director of DBA will attend IDA conference in NYC on September 14th and 15". Of special interest is the workshop on creation and management of business improvement districts. EXECUTIVE SESSION Moved by Mr. Taylor, seconded by Mr. Sears: To move to Executive Session to discuss a real estate option. This Executive Session for the purpose stated is authorized pursuant to CRS 24-6-402 (4) (1) (1). The motion passed unanimously. Moved by Mr. Taylor, seconded by Mr. Sears: To move from Executive Session back to Regular Session. The motion passed unanimously. ADJOURN There being no further business, the meeting adjourned 10:00 a.m. George Brelig, Secretary