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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEconomic Advisory Commission - Minutes - 09/16/2020 ECONOMIC ADVISORY COMMISSION TYPE OF MEETING – REGULAR September 16, 2020 4:00 - 6:00 pm Via Zoom 9/16/20 – MINUTES Page 1 1. CALL TO ORDER 4:03 pm 2. ROLL CALL • List of Board Members Present − Connor Barry - Chair − Julie Stackhouse - new to board this month − George Grossman − Aric Light − Braulio Rojas − Ted Settle − Renee Walkup − John Parks • List of Board Members Absent – Excused or Unexcused; if no contact with Chair has been made - none • List of Staff Members Present − Josh Birks, Director, Economic Sustainability − Lindsay Ex - Interim Housing Manager − Clay Frickey - Redevelopment Manager, Economic Sustainability − Sylvia Tatman-Burruss - City Planner − DeAngelo Bowden - Specialist, Social Sustainability • List of Guests - none 3. AGENDA REVIEW 4. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES • .August minutes were approved as presented with one format correction 6. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. BR&E Follow-up - Confirm next steps - Josh Birks ECONOMIC ADVISORY COMMISSION TYPE OF MEETING – REGULAR 9/16/20 – MINUTES Page 2 − Several EAC board members have volunteered to help with outreach efforts to businesses. Shannon Hein will reach out to the recent volunteers with guidance. b. Re-imagining Boards and Commissions - Share engagement dates − Connor reminded the commission members that a super board meeting is scheduled Monday, September 28 to discuss this issue. − Ted - Previously, this commission had submitted a suggestion to Council to organize the boards and commissions around particular topics. He asked the commission members who plan to attend that meeting to see if that issue comes up. Josh will follow up on the status of this request. c. Business COVID recovery − Josh reported the CARES Act has funded several thing for the City, including a de- escalation training for businesses. He stated if any businesses the board members reach out to need help on this, they can go to www.fcgov.com/busness regarding this training. Also, another CARES funded program is the expansion of the small business assistance program, including outreach materials in both English and Spanish − Connor - Q - What is total amount of money available to give out? A - The city has been cleared to give out $1.6 Million at a maximum of $7500 per business, which would assist approximately 213 businesses who can demonstrate a direct economic injury as a result of COVID. − Julie - Q - Why is the category of telecommunications substantially down in sales and use tax. A - Josh will follow up and report back to the commission. − George - Q - Where do on-line sales tax dollars appear on the financial report? A - It can fall under the "Other" or "Miscellaneous" category, depending on their reporting. 7. NEW BUSINESS a. 2021 Budget Update (Economic Health Specifics) - Josh Birks − EAC Statement on the 2021 Budget - Josh summarized what the Economic Health office has responsibility over: − EHO budget items; − The 2021 EHO budget has been reduced 4%, and funds for Clusters and Innovation have been shifted to COVID recovery. − Economic Health Leadership; − Attention on policies, the objective of economic resilience, and regional ECONOMIC ADVISORY COMMISSION TYPE OF MEETING – REGULAR 9/16/20 – MINUTES Page 3 activities such as the NoCo Regional Economic development Initiative. − Internal integration helps put a business lens on expenditures for other policies that might affect businesses. − There is substantial economic data and analysis, including the Triple Bottom Line − Overview of the 2021 Economic Health budget: − The focus of funding is on communication tools, business listening sessions, sector partnerships, business appreciation breakfast, business retention and expansion, and talent development. − Business Support; − Focus on communication tools, business listening sessions, sector partnerships, business appreciation breakfast, business retention & expansion and talent development − Clusters & Innovation; − Funding here has been reduced significantly with a loss of one position and discontinued support for clusters and climate economy. Focus will remain on Innosphere operational support, and start-up week, − Business Assistance Rebates; Recovery − This is a new focus for the Economic Health Department and will be redeploying $50k for one year to hire one employee to address the economic impacts of COVID, focus on minority-owned businesses, and encourage shopping at local business during the holidays. − Urban Renewal funding focus; − North College final decade, Prospect and College community investment strategy, Drake and College intersection improvements, and dealing with some urban renewal debt. − GID #1; GID #1 Capital; − Focus on funding downtown improvements such as pavers, sidewalk, parks, Oak Street Plaza, and holiday lights. − The Economic Health office will also reprioritize and examine funding strategy, future expansion and business engagement. − Metro Districts − Focus on funding policy updates, application review, annual report ECONOMIC ADVISORY COMMISSION TYPE OF MEETING – REGULAR 9/16/20 – MINUTES Page 4 review, and information maintenance − Commission Q&A − Renee - Q - What is timeline for development at Drake and College for King Soopers and the City's improvements at that corner ? A - King Soopers will probably begin construction in March 2021 and open 4th quarter 2022. That construction project will do some intersection improvements. The City is investigating getting URA financing for other improvements to coordinate and do it all at one time. − Connor - Q - Since the Climate Economy position was eliminated, will other areas focus on climate economy health and resiliency? A - Much was learned from that work and it is now being integrated into the everyday work of the organization, especially the "Our Climate Future" work. − Ted - Q - Has the additional exposure of the City's Economic Health Office to local businesses resulted in any other ancillary benefits to the City? A - Yes. Several things, including how City council is becoming more educated about the local economy being inter-related to other things in the community. More connections with more variety of businesses has given the City more insight into their function in the community. − George - Q - The General Improvement District (GID) usually funds infrastructure. Any plans to fund marketing and other "soft" aids for businesses? A - Council initially limited GID to infrastructure. The Economic Health Office is putting together a plan to ask Council to vote to expand the scope. The Downtown Development Authority, has a window to collect taxes as funding sources until about 2030, and then it's influence on downtown development will change. It is hoped the GID will be able to assist at that time. Various boards and commissions would be contacted about this issue, including the EAC. − Barry - Q - What is "Workforce Health" in the EHO budget? A - That part of the budget has funds to help support regional employment activities, along with helping local businesses to acquire, retrain and retain an appropriate workforce from here and along the front range. The City is also expanding focus on industry, healthcare and construction. − Julie - Q - Over time what do you see about budget allocation regarding the higher education system, and do you see any issues around this budget when it is submitted to Council? A - COVID has accelerated many economic trends and helped focus this budget on them. Students are a significant economic impact to the local economy. Community colleges often become retraining centers. The value of traditional and mostly privately ECONOMIC ADVISORY COMMISSION TYPE OF MEETING – REGULAR 9/16/20 – MINUTES Page 5 funded colleges like CSU is being re-evaluated. It is yet to be seen if student numbers will decline in the future. City Council is currently reviewing the budget, along with public hearings, and are generally supportive of the EHO section of the budget. − Renee - Q - Will there be a revision of CityPlan as a result of COVID? A - Josh will follow up and get back to the commission. − Conner asked the commission to discuss thoughts on the City's overall budget and what items does the commission want to support so the commission can write an advisory memo to Council regarding the 2021 budget. Aric volunteered to draft this recommendation to to be discussed and finalized at the November EAC meeting. − John - Gave overall support for the budget and would like to note that the budget is going in a proper direction, even though it was accelerated by COVID. − Josh pointed out the normal two-year budget process was changed to a one-year budget so it could be flexible, in anticipation that more would be known about recovery and other issues in 2021 in order to plan for 2022. − Connor - Was a little concerned to have a one-time draw down on reserve funds in 2020, and suggested the EAC commission comment to City to keep a close eye on the reserve funds going forward. b. Affordable Housing Priorities and Affordable Housing Strategic Plan Update − Lindsay Ex, Interim Housing Manager explained that City policy and planning has been working on affordable housing for about 20 years. Her group is currently updating the City's Housing Strategic Plan − Vision of affordable housing - "Everyone has healthy, stable housing they can afford." − Planning to expand to the entire housing spectrum includes considering strategies across every income level, consider right way to "bucket" strategies, universal strategies, and targeted strategies. − Existing conditions assessment - Clay Frickey - Redevelopment Manager, Economic Sustainability − This report is a living document and contains the status of the housing market in Fort Collins, sets the stage for the Housing Strategic Plan, contains equity and inclusion, housing data, biggest challenges and questions. The document drew from many sources: 2015-2019 Affordable Housing Strategic Plan; Housing Affordability Policy Study ECONOMIC ADVISORY COMMISSION TYPE OF MEETING – REGULAR 9/16/20 – MINUTES Page 6 (HAPS); Trends and Forces Report (Existing Conditions for CityPlan); Caps analysis, Housing and Poverty Sections − Obstacles − Restrictive covenants, health and equity land use decisions − Redlining took place on a national level in the past. And, while it never took place in Fort Collins, these legacies contribute to the outcomes we see today in many communities. − Julie - Stated she has past experience with the Federal Reserve and agreed redlining was a bad practice. However, she wanted to point out that redlining was originally used as a proxy for credit when there were no credit scoring and credit bureaus back then. − Home price escalation affects everyone, especially black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) households, and wages are not keeping up with these cost increases, especially in BIPOC households. − Current incentives and financial resources are insufficient for meeting our affordable housing goals. Only 5% of housing stock is currently affordable and city funding for affordable housing is falling short of meeting projected goals. − Job growth continues to outpace housing growth, resulting in approximately 46,500 people who work here but live and commute in from elsewhere. − The cost of development continues to rise due to increasing land prices, city fees & taxes, zoning restrictions, and other soft costs. − Addressing the entire housing spectrum will require new tools and processes to address housing for lower income populations. − Unknown questions are: − How long will the lasting effects of COVID be? − How will housing policies evolve to address health and stability, especially affordability for renters? − Commission Q&A − Renee - Q - What are other similar sized cities doing that is successful? A - There is no silver bullet. It will require creativity, adaptability and reassessment of existing policies and housing availability. We are also looking internationally at cities that are ECONOMIC ADVISORY COMMISSION TYPE OF MEETING – REGULAR 9/16/20 – MINUTES Page 7 working on these same goals. − Connor - Felt the City needs to address: the fact that the cost of housing is primarily a supply problem, especially for rentals; occupancy restrictions and zoning for density; and increase funding for subsidized housing. Q - What does staff think would be the quickest and most effective way to address the supply problem.? A - Plans are being evaluated to align with greatest challenges. and efforts are currently working towards that end − Julie - Suggested the plan should more strongly emphasize the challenges of the cost of water, the difficulty of changing zoning, reducing emissions, the cost of building, and fluctuating interest rates. − Braulio - Market failure prevents affordable housing. Many of these factors are out of the City's control. However, making fees and permit fees more affordable for a developer could help increase housing. Rent and income disparity reduce consumption, and at some point will negatively affect the City's income and other economic activity. He feels the City's focus should be on making Fort Collins an affordable place for people to live, rather than a place to work because many people who can't afford to live in Fort Collins but work here, are working from home in another city and not spending money in Fort Collins. Changing You plus 2 is hard to enforce and may not be that effective. − Arik - Q - Would like more clarity on housing subsidies work. A - Subsidies for homeowners are based off a formula using the percentage of the person's income. The City is contributing a subsidy to developers to build affordable housing that is calculated on historical allocations in relation to the number of units needed. Arik suggested subsidies are important, but realistically did not anticipate an increase in the budget to do it. − George - Was concerned that CSU is building student housing on valuable land that could have been used for affordable housing. He suggested policy and zoning be adjusted to require them to build on their own land. − John - Would like to see greenhouse gas emissions from commuters and general transportation be quantified to determine impact to the City's Climate Action Plan. He would also like to see how the homeless issue is being affected by increasing rents. ECONOMIC ADVISORY COMMISSION TYPE OF MEETING – REGULAR 9/16/20 – MINUTES Page 8 − Connor - Q - What else can the Economic Advisory Committee do to help with this plan. A - Lindsay Ex explained that this will be an ongoing effort and invited the commission members to attend upcoming outreach events so they can engage with the public during strategy identification and then operationalization planning of what the City can do regarding affordable homes. 8. COMMISSION MEMBER AND STAFF REPORTS 9. OTHER BUSINESS 10. ADJOURN 6:12 PM