Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutEconomic Advisory Commission - Minutes - 11/20/2019Economic Advisory Commission Regular Meeting November 20, 2019, 11 a.m.- 1 p.m. Colorado River Room, 1st Floor, 222 Laporte Avenue 11/20/2019 – MINUTES Page 1 1. CALL TO ORDER Time Started 11:06 a.m. 2. ROLL CALL List of Board Members Present • Denny Otsuga • Linda Stanley • George Grossman • Braulio Rojas • John Parks • Ted Settle • Connor Barry • Renee Walkup • Aric Light List of Board Members Absent List of Staff Members Present • Josh Birks, Economic Health Manager • Erin Zimmermann, Economic Health Admin/Board Support • Noelle Currell, PDT • Tom Leeson, PDT • Shar Manno, Community Development and Neighborhood Services List of Guests • Kevin Jones, Fort Collins Area Chamber of Commerce • Dale Adamy (r1st.org) • Michael Pruznick 3. AGENDA REVIEW Harmony Gateway project was continued, so Cameron Gloss provided a quick update that this will be moved back to December or January. There is a little more work that needs to be done. Had community workshop on Oct. 21st and comments were reflected in the packet. The scope was broadened to include all the gateways. Need to understand policy implications from an economic perspective a little more. 4. CITIZEN PARTICIPATION ECONOMIC ADVISORY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING 11/20/2019 – MINUTES Page 2 Michael Pruznick, shared his story and concerns regarding becoming fossil fuel free, the 120 percent rule, and the triple bottom line not working. Highlighted his privilege related to peak hours and how it is not an equitable approach. He shared his story of going through the conversion process and stated he could not complete his conversion. he applied to be on advisory board and was not accepted. Have concerns about the process. 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Braulio read a letter that he requested be included in the meeting minutes (see attached), expressing his dissent of the October meeting minutes. He stated that open meetings apply to email electronic chats and a statement via email can and should be included if requested. This was in relation to a request he had made to the chair to include a written email statement in the previous month’s minutes following the meeting. Connor requested that Denny have an opportunity to respond. Denny stated that he found this concerning and felt he was being personally accused of going against City Code. He stated that he asked at the last meeting if it would be sufficient to include a simple statement of his dissent be included in the minutes and this was agreed to in the meeting. He stated that his role is to make sure what occurs in the meetings is accurately reflected in the minutes. Braulio requested there be a record dissent on the vote and move forward, acknowledging the difference in perspectives. Connor entertained vote for approval of minutes. October meeting minutes were approved; Braulio voted against. Denny motioned to reject including the letter from Braulio in the November minutes, stating that the letter personally questioned his integrity. Connor seconded it. Conner, Renee, and Denny voted in favor of the motion; John abstained. Motion was denied. Open discussion: Connor, I think the professionalism of the board is at stake here. I want to insure we welcome dissenting of fact. To this point I think the discussion is great, but my preference is that we do not include minutes. Sets precedent that we can attack each other in formal memos. John– Braulio read the letter, Denny responded to memo. I don’t see it as necessary to include because we have had the discussion. ECONOMIC ADVISORY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING 11/20/2019 – MINUTES Page 3 Aric– I would air on the side of including it, as he did read it. George– I believe both sides rightly and wrongly are included. Linda– I would include that Denny might want to consider also putting his perspective in writing. Having it included, airs on the side of being open, but you have the chance to do the same to make it more formal. Denny– My preference is to not burn through our precious time especially next month. I would like to record that this is very disappointing, I’m deeply disappointed. Josh– Offer suggestion that Denny could submit a letter in the public record as a response. 6. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. Board and Commission Evaluation (Experiment) Update—Ted Settle (Listen/ Clarify) Ted– I have received the same notes as everyone else. If you haven’t filled out the survey yet, please do so. December 10th is the next work session to scope what the conversation is going to be with Council. Our Council Liaison will be here next month as well, so this may be a topic we want to consider. Josh and Erin will send out a paragraph summary of the December work session. b. Commission Elections— Connor Barry (Listen/ Clarify) Chair and Vice Chair are the two open positions. Connor expressed interest in Chair and Renee said she might be interested in Vice Chair. EAC members were asked to email a statement of interest to Josh and Erin so that members can elect a Chair and Vice Chair next month. c. Finalize 2020 Work Plan—(Listen/Clarify/ Discuss) Renee will cleanup the last version of the workplan and send that out with next months packet to be approved at the December meeting. 7. NEW BUSINESS a. Harmony Gateway— Cameron Gloss (Listen/Clarify/Discuss) ECONOMIC ADVISORY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING 11/20/2019 – MINUTES Page 4 Update moved to earlier in the agenda. b. Development Review and Building Permit Fees— Tom Leeson and Noelle Currell (Listen/Clarify/ Discuss) Tom Leeson and Noelle Currell presented on the Development Review and Building Fees project. Intent of the fees are to cover costs. Policy is that Development should pay its way, There are 32 different application types under the Development Review Fees. Interested in simplifying the fee schedule. Many of these fees hadn’t been updated in a long time and needed to be brought up to current levels. Also wanted to make sure everything was consistent. Staff did a bottom up cost analysis, and looked at indirect costs, materials, overheard costs; and examined the accuracy of time estimates. Staff looked at process improvements. Generally speaking, development fees are increasing. Cost inputs needed to be updated. Fees were consolidated. Some costs previously in permits are now in development review fees. Building permit fees are going down. Changed the way methodology is calculated. Two new fees: Erosion Control Construction Inspection and Stormwater. Formed an advisory committee with 16 members. The committee unanimously supported the plan. Next steps: Council Work session on Jan. 14, 2020 and Council adoption is scheduled for Feb. 20, 2020. Comments: Ted– If it is breakeven, would you end up behind on the third year because costs will increase? Tom– There is a percentage for inflation that is included. Denny– Asked about capital investment costs. Tom– Said that would be done through the budget process. Noelle– Looked at costs over time and took averages as well so it took into ECONOMIC ADVISORY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING 11/20/2019 – MINUTES Page 5 consideration maintenance and also larger expenses. Connor– Going forward, were there any fees you weren’t able to get approved or do you anticipate any other outstanding items that weren’t included? Tom– Not at this time, but that’s the nice thing about being able to review it every four years. Ted– Any comparison with fee structure to other communities? Tom– Yes, we looked at peer communities and regional communities. Have a comparative review slides that shows more broad comparisons. Denny– Time scaled to when fee is incurred, looks like development application is where the biggest fee is, are there instances where fee is paid by developer, but then the project falls through and someone else comes in? Tom– That happens all the time. If they want to continue with the project, they would continue on the track. If they wanted to do something different, they would need to go through it again. These days, most projects are entering the development review process and moving on to construction process. Braulio– At the beginning, I think I was afraid about how big the increase will be, but then going through it we realized the increase is not going to be that big. At the same time, they did a cost-review that they didn’t have before. Now they have a tool to identify and have a better source of information. I thought it was a great exercise. Linda– I had served on the impact fee committee which was much more controversial. This one, we had good conversation, but it was straight forward that you needed to recover your costs. Tom– We have received comments, but not specific recommendations from other committees. If you want to include a recommendation, you can do that. Linda motioned that EAC make a formal recommendation of administration approval of the new development review fee updates. Braulio seconded it. Motion passed unanimously. Braulio will draft memo and circulate to EAC members. 8. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS None 9. OTHER BUSINESS None ECONOMIC ADVISORY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING 11/20/2019 – MINUTES Page 6 10. ADJOURNMENT Adjourned at 1:07pm UPCOMING TOPICS December:  Councilmember Liaison Check-In– Councilmember Gorgol  Metro District Framework  Climate Economy Update– Josh Birks & Sean Carpenter Unscheduled:  State Demographer– Update on Forecast & Current Condition  Industry Cluster Update? 2019 Priorities:  Talent Development, Economic Dashboard, Business Engagement, & Cluster