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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEconomic Advisory Commission - Minutes - 12/19/2018Economic Advisory Commission Regular Meeting December 19, 2018, 11 a.m.- 1 p.m. Colorado River Room, 1st Floor, 222, Laporte Avenue 12/19/2018 – MINUTES Page 1 1. CALL TO ORDER Time Started 11:09 a.m. 2. ROLL CALL List of Board Members Present • Connor Barry • Ann Hutchison • Sam Solt, Chair • Ted Settle • Linda Stanley • Denny Otsuga List of Board Members Absent • Aric Light • John Parks • Craig Mueller List of Staff Members Present • Josh Birks, Economic Health & Redevelopment Director • Erin Zimmermann, Economic Health Admin/Board Support • Ryan Mounce, City Planner List of Guests • Dale Adamy (r1st.org) 3. AGENDA REVIEW 4. CITIZEN PARTICIPATION • None ECONOMIC ADVISORY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING 12/19/2018 – MINUTES Page 2 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES The November 11, 2018 meeting minutes approved as presented. 6. UNFINISHED BUSINESS. a. City Plan Committee Update (Listen/ Clarify)— Connor Barry (Listen/ Clarify) Connor— Housing and Economy Task Force- No update at this time. b. City Plan Engagement (Follow-Up/On-going)— Ryan Mounce (Discuss/Act) Ryan provided an deeper dive into the land use inventory, as it relates to City Plan. Employment Land Ideas include: • Adjusting the type and location of employment zone districts • Adjusting the overall amount of employment zoning; shifting some employment zoning to residential or mixed-use zoning • Identifying changes to existing zoning or developing a new zone district for advancing manufacturing • Allowing greater flexibility for secondary uses and amenities in existing employment zone districts Demand vs Capacity— There is excess capacity of employment land. However, a large amount of vacant employment in the area is lacking infrastructure and access to I-25. There is likely more redevelopment capacity than estimated. Existing employment land is often not desirable to prospective employers. Retail Office/ Employment: Key prime placed along I-25 (Highway Interchange) and near major arterials. Access to freight transportation. Putting it all together, the comparison to opportunity areas are Mountain Vista where the Montava project is, around Prospect/ I-25, and near the Airpark. This was a qualitative assessment based on scoring. • Prospect/I-25: Around interchange itself. Right now, our structure plan is suggesting this for general commercial. That is what we have up along College Avenue. Tends to be more focused on restaurant and commercial. Less emphasis on general commercial, more employment/ industrial. • Mountain Vista: Reduce size of Employment and Industrial zoning. Consider ECONOMIC ADVISORY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING 12/19/2018 – MINUTES Page 3 residential/ mixed-use designations. Keep Industrial and/or Employment zoning near I-25, interchanges, railroad. • Northeast of Airpark. Right now it is employment but would consider less employment zoning and more industrial. Comments: Josh— my initial response is that these proposed changes do align with what we are hearing from businesses. The Airpark area to me is a way to create an opportunity to have these types of these uses in the community, instead of pushing them outward. The kind of industrial uses in this area are smaller in scale. Lots of trades in that area and as we grow, we want to have a place where they can be closer to their customer base. Fundamentally, it is about creating more space for smaller industrial. Linda— This seems like it makes a lot of sense. Ann— Feels like we have had a number of conversations with owners of the properties at Prospect & I-25, would this impact their plans for those lands? Ryan— It could potentially impact them. These are big ideas we might want to provide policy for. We recognize we would need more detailed analysis and more detailed conversation with the property owners. Ann— Talk to me more about next steps of City Plan. Ryan— We would have revised language about the need for who we are planning for what’s left with land supply. Policy support around idea that we would need to fine tune this and action item that we would need to further study this to then move forward with any specific changes. Considering what is best for what is left is our philosophy. Ann— I think your analysis is great. I just get anxious about the process with the timeline you’ve been given. Can you give us an update on we did all the scenario update, at what point does that intersect with this? Ryan— The scenarios help inform where we might want to make changes in types of land-use. Balancing employment land with market changes, targeted industries, infrastructure. Next steps: City Plan policy direction and structure changes, Structure Plan Changes (Update map), Implementation. ECONOMIC ADVISORY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING 12/19/2018 – MINUTES Page 4 c. Board and Commission Evaluation (Experiment) Update— Ted Settle (Listen/ Clarify) Ted— Had meeting a couple weeks ago and decided to use the Scan Tool as the selected topic. We wanted something to test it on so staff is considering the e-bike topic. There still seemed to be some lack of understanding around the table on what the tool could be. Still some differences of opinion on if it is a tool that the staff or boards could use. The staff is looking at the last week in February as the date. It may cause lack of involvement in looking at the tool, if we get too wrapped up in learning about the tool and e-bike concept as opposed to focusing on testing the tool. It’s important to me that we do it right rather than fast. Josh— My understanding is that staff would likely use the tool and then bring the information to boards and commissions, as opposed to them being expected to use the tool, but that absolutely can be part of the discussion for the group to weigh in on. Sam— My take is a little different. I was not inspired at all, but when we put the topic in the mix of outdoor burning and e-bikes, it makes it valuable. I think the tool is a good component, but also think it is important to use the tool to help drive some unified positions on a topic. 7. NEW BUSINESS a. Recognize Out-going Commissioners— Board (Act) The Commission recognized outgoing members: Sam Solt, Ann Hutchison, and Craig Mueller for their service and dedication to the Economic Advisory Commission. They were presented with a letter from the Mayor and members took a few moments to share their appreciation. b. College & Drake Urban Renewal Plan— Josh Birks (Listen/Clarify) Josh Birks presented on the Urban Renewal Authority and the new proposed plan area at College and Drake. Urban Renewal is the revitalization of urban areas and the removal of economic impediments. The most common URA tool is Tax Increment Financing where at the beginning of the project you freeze the property value. Through financial incentives and strategic partnerships, the URA attracts private sector investment to the urban core to achieve the community’s desired land-use pattern. ECONOMIC ADVISORY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING 12/19/2018 – MINUTES Page 5 The URA invests Tax Increment Financing and forms strategic partnerships with the aim to: • Create a project that would not otherwise happen when site conditions make private, market-rate redevelopment impractical. • Accelerate the timing of a project when conditions on the site make the timing of market rate redevelopment uncertain, and perhaps slower than the community would like to see. • Enhance a project so that it conforms, or exceeds identified objectives in the City’s comprehensive plan when conditions on the site are such that the likely market rate redevelopment outcome is not desirable. URA is not new in Fort Collins. We have two plan areas in Fort Collins. (North College, and College Avenue (Prospect South and Foothills Mall). Why do Urban Renewal at College and Drake? Site falls within Target Infill and Redevelopment. We have two projects in the area that want to make an investment (King Soopers and Spradley Barr). Must find four factors to establish area as blighted our analysis has found 6 factors by the visual survey. Objectives of the Plan: • Remedy conditions that impair sound growth • Leverage reinvestment complementary to community goals • Effectively utilize undeveloped and underdeveloped land • Improve pedestrian bicycle, vehicular and transit-related circulation and safety Private Investment (Tax Increment) goes back to Tax Entity Allocations, Project Related, Plan Objectives, Community benefits. The City conducted an open house in October and received feedback on what improvement categories were the biggest priority. Intersection, Bicycle and Multi-use Trail, Traffic Safety and Parking where the top ranked categories. ECONOMIC ADVISORY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING 12/19/2018 – MINUTES Page 6 King Soopers would take down K-Mart Building. King Soopers has been working on their site plan for a long time. Comments: Connor—Have they considered what will happen to King Soopers? Will that make that area more blighted? Josh—Them leaving won’t change their eligibility in the plan area. It is in the targeted area and would probably be eligible in the future and some questions have been asked why not include it in the plan area now. The new statutes require us to be very specific and right now I have no real idea of what potential project would be there. There is also an interest to keep the plan area as small as needed to achieve impacts. Allocation Process Analyze Impact (PRC) —>Negotiate—> Entity Board Approval—> URA Approval —> Council Adopts Plan. Timeline: Targeting Council Adoption March 19th , 2019. Key takeaway: Two-month delay; 120 day ends Feb. 27th 2019. Josh— This was meant to be high level orientation, I would like to bring this back in the future. 8. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS None 9. OTHER BUSINESS 10. ADJOURNMENT Adjourns 1:01 p.m. UPCOMING TOPICS ECONOMIC ADVISORY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING 12/19/2018 – MINUTES Page 7 January: *Note: Location Change: January 16th meeting will be in the CIC Conference room at City Hall, 300 Laporte Ave • Chair and Vice Chair Elections – Board (Discuss/Act) • FoCoCreates Arts & Culture Master Plan – TBD (Listen/Clarify) February: • Open Slot • Open Slot Unscheduled: • Update on Industry Cluster Approach – TBD (Listen/Clarify)