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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEconomic Advisory Commission - Minutes - 01/20/2021 ECONOMIC ADVISORY COMMISSION TYPE OF MEETING – REGULAR January 20, 2021 4:00 - 6:00 pm via Zoom 1/20/21 – MINUTES Page 1 1. CALL TO ORDER 4:00 pm 2. ROLL CALL • List of Board Members Present − Connor Barry − Ted Settle − Julie Stackhouse − Renee Walkup − Spencer Clark − George Grossman − Braulio Rojas − John Parks • List of Board Members Absent – Excused or Unexcused, if no contact with Chair has been made. − Aric Light • List of Staff Members Present − Josh Birks - Director, Economic Health and Redevelopment − Lindsay Ex - Interim Housing Manager − Clay Frickey - Redevelopment Manager • List of Guests – Kevin Jones, Fort Collins Area Chamber of Commerce 3. AGENDA REVIEW • No changes 4. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION • N/A 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES o There were some minor changes made to the minutes including punctuation, term limits of 2 members and December absences. With no further changes or AIR QUALITY ADVISORY BOARD TYPE OF MEETING – REGULAR 1/20/21 – MINUTES Page 2 modifications, the Commission unanimously approved the December minutes as amended. O UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. Welcome New Member: Spencer Clark o Spencer works in international business development and sales, is in the Army Reserve, and works with other militaries and civilian populations for the military. b. Officer Elections - Chair: Connor Barry; Vice Chair: Renee Walkup • Connor and Renee are currently Chair and Vice Chair. They have agreed to run again for those offices in 2021. With there being no other candidates, Connor moved, and Braulio seconded a motion to elect Connor as Chair and Renee as Vice- Chair of the Economic Advisory Commission for 2021. Motion passed unanimously 9-0-0 c. Reinventing Boards and Commissions - Ted Settle • The Reinventing Boards and Commissions project grew out of the desire of the EAC to make itself more effective by meeting with other commissions who also wanted to meet with other boards and commissions for cross-fertilization of ideas around a topic. • In addition, the City has initiated efforts to reevaluate the entire advisory board and commission structure. Among the new policies will be strict attendance requirements, continued remote meetings, and varying terms. City Council will review the draft report on January 26. • Discussion: o Julie - pointed out that some groups will be renamed to clarify their governance authority. o The EAC will remain an advisory commission. d. COVID Response Update - SBR (SB20B-2020) - Josh Birks • Active Response Programs: o Small business relief program AIR QUALITY ADVISORY BOARD TYPE OF MEETING – REGULAR 1/20/21 – MINUTES Page 3 o De-escalation training o Federal programs application support o Outdoor seating expansion still in place • Results of completed actions: o Small Business Relief (SBR) program - created by Colorado General Assembly - Bill SB20B-001. It provided $37 million for direct relief payments to eligible small businesses in Colorado. - Larimer County is using a Hub model, with 3 hubs (Fort Collins, Loveland, and Estes Park) that are verifying eligibility and servicing this program. The goal is to have a consistent and fair process for all County businesses. - The program is targeted primarily to food and beverage businesses, gyms, theaters, and recreational facilities. - Fort Collins is currently servicing about 2/3 of the total applicants in Larimer County. - Julie - Q - How are businesses being made aware of the money? A - There are many communication channels including social media and direct channels. o NoCo Nosh delivery - As background, Josh explained that in 2020, COVID all but stopped indoor dining in local restaurants, leaving only take out to sustain their businesses. Instead of taking a regulatory approach to help restaurants who are paying high food delivery fees that are negatively cutting into their profits, the City chose to subsidize a local food delivery service (NoCo Nosh) from November to the end of December 2020, to help restaurants stay in business. - This program cost $152,490.51, has increased NoCo Nosh's deliveries 22%, and resulted in $700,000 in food sales. The City will continue this program in early 2021, with a fixed 15% delivery fee. - In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the program, staff will survey restaurants to see if this program has helped to increase their sales and if they had more deliveries through NoCo Nosh than before. AIR QUALITY ADVISORY BOARD TYPE OF MEETING – REGULAR 1/20/21 – MINUTES Page 4 - Renee - Q - wants to know, since restaurant sales increased using NoCo Nosh, how did this program benefit their margins? A - The survey will address this. - Julie - Q - Would like to know if the restaurants also advertised the NoCo Nosh service on their websites to encourage people to use it. A - The survey will have questions like this. Plus, the City ran an intensive media promotion when the program began. There will be another promotion like this the night of the State of the City to encourage take out. - George - Q - Suggested advertising this program with For Fort Collins to support local businesses. Also, how much was NoCo Nosh charging for delivery before this program? A - The City chose to use their established social media channels because of their following but will consider using For Fort Collins in the future. Regarding NoCo Nosh's charges, it has a tiered structure with 40 local restaurant investors that get a lower delivery rate of 12.5% versus 17.5% for non-investors. The City negotiated a 15% rate for restaurants that wanted to sign up with NoCo Nosh that hadn't used them before. - Ted - Q -Is the City seeing any other benefits to the bigger picture by doing this program? A – Yes. These programs have taught us more about the challenges that small local businesses face, how they want to hear from us, and what kinds of services would benefit them. This kind of input has created relationships with smaller and minority businesses and will be helpful to create a local economic strategy going forward. o Minority Business Outreach - To target minority-owned businesses, the Economic Health Office created a program that was open to all but had specialized outreach to minority-owned businesses. This included using CARES funds to hire two temporary specialists (a Cultural Broker and Economic Specialist) and legal consultation to administer the program properly. - Outreach included Spanish language ads, social media, and in-person contact. The Economic Specialist personally contacted 90+ businesses, which also created some new businesses, and created a Spanish-language newsletter. - This program has learned a lot about the problems and needs of minority- based businesses and that it is important to have bilingual outreach AIR QUALITY ADVISORY BOARD TYPE OF MEETING – REGULAR 1/20/21 – MINUTES Page 5 materials and phone text communications. - Renee - Q - Is the Fort Collins Chamber of Commerce interested in helping these businesses? A - The Chamber is also learning how to best assist minority-owned businesses and, like the City, is open to partnering with other resources to help them. - Julie - Q - Is Mi Casa a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI)? In her experience in another city they had the best results with community based CDFI s for economic growth involving the banks, and Fort Collins does not seem to have many of these. She has some experience with this and volunteered to help, if needed. A - Josh did not think Mi Casa was a CDFI. The City is working to build a fund to develop relationships to build a local CDFI program after COVID is over. - Braulio - commended the City to be focusing on the Latinx- businesses. As he sees it, the challenge here is that Latin American immigrants who form businesses here are not used to the formal organizational structure we have here in the U.S. They will need support for that and encouraged the City to provide support for them. e. Update on Housing Strategic Plan Update (Cont.) - Lindsay Ex o The Draft Strategic Plan has been finalized and the first reading before Council will be February 16. Lindsay was present to ask feedback from the EAC regarding the draft prioritized strategies and guiding principles of the plan and if they want to make a recommendation to Council about the Housing Strategic Plan. o Staff held numerous workshops and conversations to refine this list down to 26 strategies. Lindsay presented 10 quicker win strategies (3 new, 7 expanded), 8 transitional strategies (1-2 years to implement, with 3 new and 5 expanded), and 8 transformational strategies (2+ years to implement, 4 new and 4 expanded) for the Commission's review and comment. o Once the plan has been adopted, it will transition to a 2-year implementation cycle that will assess progress, revisit priorities, conduct a community design summit and confirm priorities. This work will be in a learning and testing mode, due to an ever- changing environment with accountability and transparency. It is recognized that not all strategies will be successful. o Draft guiding principles have been established: - Center the work in people - Be agile and adaptive AIR QUALITY ADVISORY BOARD TYPE OF MEETING – REGULAR 1/20/21 – MINUTES Page 6 - Balance rapid decision making with inclusive communication and engagement - Build on existing plans and policies and their engagement - Expect and label tensions, opportunities and tradeoffs - Focus direct investment on the lowest income levels - Commit to transparency in decision making - Make decisions for impact, empowerment, and systems (no ease of implementations) o Next steps will be to prioritize strategies, release the draft plan in January for Council consideration for adoption (February 16) and then begin implementation. o Discussion: - Julie - is concerned about single family housing inventory because houses are selling so rapidly and does not think housing is going to be solved unless supply is increased. Water is also very expensive and will be very important for developers. - Renee - Q - If builders are building affordable houses or not, it still costs the same for preparation of the lot and, therefore, building affordable housing will reduce their margins considerably. A - It is true incentives to build affordable housing is lacking. There are several strategies in the plan will address that such as changes to The Land Use Code and financing barriers. - Renee - Q - Wouldn't it be best if we contact Council before the first reading so they can discuss these issues prior to the meeting? A - It is up to the EAC what recommendations they would like to make to Council. Options could include: (1) focus on the strategies in a letter prior to first reading, (2) focus on the plan and priority strategies, or (3) wait until after first reading to address the strategies. - Spencer - agrees affordability is a supply issue and would like to know how much housing needs to be created to reduce housing costs that could make a significant impact? A - Input from the community has suggested that good design can be prioritized while also accommodating higher density with less impact than solely focusing on dwelling units per acre. - Spencer - Q - would like to see an evaluation of the secondary impacts of increasing population density, such as increased traffic, law enforcement, etc. A - The Ad Hoc Housing Committee researched this density issue and Josh can share that with you. The Land Use Code update, which will be considered on February 16 as well, will need to consider how to balance the need for increased density with preserving livability in Fort Collins. More AIR QUALITY ADVISORY BOARD TYPE OF MEETING – REGULAR 1/20/21 – MINUTES Page 7 community engagement will be included in implementation of this strategy. - Connor - Q - Are there strategies to use state or local partnerships to increase incentives that the City's budget cannot cover? A - This is being considered and we will need to be agile enough to take advantage of changing availabilities of funding sources. - George - Q - How does this plan connect to the Land Use Code inside City limits? It is upsetting to see valuable land being used for things like storage units. How do permits in land use get decided when housing is a priority? A - Private property rights and a permissive Land Use Code are part of what needs to be addressed for future growth. Revising that will be a hard conversation and is identified as a first next step. - George - Q - Will the Land Use Code be revised soon? A - Council will be considering overhauling the Land Use Code on the same night it will have first reading of the Housing Plan. - Braulio - supports the Housing Strategic Plan in general as an accurate view of the real estate market and affordable housing, but there is a limit as to what the City can do. He believes the approach for affordable housing should keep a decent stable balance comparable to other cities. Builders need to make a profit, but higher density units are not as profitable. Zoning changes could create other problems such as desirability. Another problem is the high price of housing is the result of the high quality of living in Fort Collins. - John - Q - applauds the city for addressing equity in the plan. He also recognizes the inclusion of the effect of COVID regarding people moving here but are working remotely. It is causing an influx of high-income home buyers and makes it difficult for affordable housing. A - The supply issue is not just for homeowners. Renting is also affected. - Julie - Q - which is the best place to make comments for Council - at the first or second reading? A - Council will have a Work Session next week and comments from that will be put into the first reading packet. Typically, there are not significant shifts between first and second reading of the plan, and while comments are always welcome, comments received earlier are easier to incorporate. There are 2 readings because it is an ordinance. - Connor asked if the EAC wants to make a motion for a targeted recommendation or feedback at this meeting. Does the group want to call out specifics to highlight or have general broad support of the plan with emphasis and highlights? - Braulio - suggested giving the Commission's general support of the plan at the first reading. AIR QUALITY ADVISORY BOARD TYPE OF MEETING – REGULAR 1/20/21 – MINUTES Page 8 - Renee - Housing development seems to conflict with parts of the Climate Action Plan and needs to be reconciled with it. - George - Q - Since the Economic Advisory Commission deals with economics issues, what specific points should the EAC address that are under the Commission's purview? A - Possible strategies to focus on could be how job growth outpaces housing growth, and the cost of housing is a barrier to attracting talent. - Connor - density issues, like 2+2, could also be an economic issue. - Josh - pointed out supply is not the only issue here, and suggested the EAC make a recommendation of general support, but also have the EAC members craft a short explanation about the mutual and other issues discussed at this meeting. - Discussion o Renee - Is not convinced the City is ready for a housing plan at this time because of the pandemic and suggests the city reevaluate where the City's population is going and not use past data because things are changing rapidly. There seem to be too many questions about the future like how many houses do we need if we do not know what the new population will look like. o Braulio - I think we agreed this plan is not going to resolve the affordable housing issue. However, this plan is a good source of information and a starting point and can be improved in the future. - Braulio moved and Spenser seconded a motion that the Economic Advisory Commission send a memo of general support that the City Council adopt the proposed Housing Strategic Plan. The memo will also highlight certain issues of interest to the Commission. Motion passed 6-1-0 o Action item: Conner will draft the memo to Council with input from Committee members and send to Josh for submission to Council. 6. NEW BUSINESS a. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS 7. OTHER BUSINESS 8. ADJOURNMENT 6:30 PM