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HomeMy WebLinkAboutDowntown Development Authority - Minutes - 06/14/2007DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY Regular Directors' Meeting Steve Taylor, Chair 481.5385 (W) Kelly Ohlson, Council Liaison 219-9814(W) Joanna Stone, Staff Liaison 484-2020(W) MINUTES of June 14, 2007 REGULAR MEETING The Board of Directors of the Downtown Development Authority met in Regular Session at 7:30 a.m. on June 14, 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; Kelly Ohlson; William Sears; Patty Spencer; Steve Taylor; Karen Wagner; 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; Craig Foreman, City of Port Collins; Ben Marvel, City Council; Ian Shuff, Adler Lingle Architects; Tom LeSavage, Premier Employment Screening; Josh Guernsey, Brinkman Partners; Steve MacGuire, RP Plaza; Matt Evans, Mike Jensen, Ty Smith, JJ Hannah - Fort Collins Real Estate; Dan Eckles, Eric Nichols— Realtec; Dawn Oglesby CALL TO ORDER Mr. Taylor called the meeting to order at 7:35 a.m. He welcomed new County representative Karen Wagerer to the DDA. Jean Lamm, newly hired Director of Development for Beet Street was also introduced. Roll call was taken. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Mr. Sears moved to approve the minutes ofMay 10, 2007. Seconded by Mr. Wolfe, and passed unanimously. BIG IDEAS Dave Edwards of UniverCity Connections and Chair of the Community Foundation of Northern Colorado Board thanked the DDA for support of UCC. He feels the City now has a road map for the future and the conversation would not have happened without the DDA. He also recognized Chip Steiner's contribution to the final repork which he said would not be as good a publication without Chip's writing skills. Stephen Mack presented the Board with the outline of a proposal to restore the Coke sign on the Coopersmith's building in Old Town Square. He feels the sign is an important part of the heritage of Fort Collins. He pursued the project a few years ago but delayed because of lack of funding. Board members agreed that it was an interesting idea that should be investigated further. Staff will pursue the matter with historic preservation and with Scott Smith of Coopersmith's. BEET STREET Lucia. Liley summarized conversations with City Attorney Steve Roy regarding the composition of the Beet Street Board when Beet Street is incorporated as a 501(c)(3) corporation. Ms. Liley emphasized that board members would not have the same kind of governmental immunity that they have now serving on the DDA board. The work of the new board is not inherently risky and would not give rise to a lot of liability. The best way to address this issue is to take a resolution to City Council extending the same protections to the Beet Street governing board as are now afforded Council and DDA board members. If City Council declined to address the resolution, then Ms. Liley feels the best course of action is to look for director and officer liability insurance which should be relatively inexpensive. Either way we should move forward and the liability issue is not a big concern in terms of members serving on the board. DDA Minutes June 14, 2007 Page 2 'rhe next issue addressed was the composition of the Beet Street board and the question of whether the DDA Board should serve as the governing body for Beet Street. Ms. Liley's opinion is that legally there is no advantage or disadvantage whether it is the DDA board or the Beet Street Steering Committee. Practically it makes sense that funding mid direction for Beet Street we still coming from the DDA board. Other members felt that while representatives from the DDA Board should be on the Beet Street board, Beet Street should have a separate board. After discussion of the organizational structure of Beet Street, Mr. Wolfe suggested that since Beet Street was destined to separate from the DDA, it would be better to start down that path now rattier than go through changing the board composition at a later date. It was also noted that several members of the DDA Board also serve on the Beet Street Steering Committee mid represent abroad section of the community. 'Thom are currently specific seats for the City Manager, a city council member, two seats from CSU, representative from Arts Alive and the ans corununity, United Way, and the Convention & Visitors Bureau. This broad scope will be enhanced further by the setting up advisory councils which will report to the Beet Street board. Miss Hey mentioned that regardless of who the individual board members are, there will need to be a contract spelling out how the DDA and the new entity relate to the non-profit corporation. Moved by Mi. Wolfe, seconded by Mr. Sears: That the Beet Street Steering Committee be established as tie board members of the 501(c)(3) corporation for Beet Street and also recommend that City Council approve a resolution for additional protection from liability. The motion passed unanimously. PADDLEPARK Efforts to install a kayak parkjust east of the North College bridge over the Poudre River have stalled because of higher than anticipated engineering design, hydraulic, and environmental testing costs. DDA has committed $33,300 to the project and another $ 30,000 in tie form of a matching grant. The paddle park promoters are requesting DDAto release the original commitment to the City to help launch the design work. Mr. Steiner explained that lie was reluctant to have Board endorse this request because even if the group has the design work done, they probably do not have enough funds to actually build the paddle park. As a compromise, he suggested 0hat the Board consider releasing half of the design cost up to fifty percent of the previously with the rest paid by other contributors. Matt Evans and Craig Foreman spoke for the project. They noted that design costs have risen and some funding sources they had hoped for have not materialized. Emphasizing that the paddle park is still considered a public/private partnership and the parks department would manage the operation, they reported that they have raised approximately $40,000 mid are expecting additional grans from the Bohemian Foundation ($10,000) and the Poudre River Trust ($5,000). Part of the environmental assessment has been completed and it underway. So far they have received one bid for the design work and hope to get two more. Great Outdoors Colorado will no longer fund design work mid to receive GOCO funds the project design and scope must be in place; permitting requests have to be submitted; and, local matching funds must be seemed. At this point, the project falls short in each of the three areas. The hope that if the DDA will help fund the design work they would be able to go to GOCO for additional support. So far the City has not committed any financial support. Mr. Steiner commented though he does not support release of the funds, he would support shared risk with other donors. Mr. Atteberry expressed concern that the project would die without DDA help. Discussion of the use of the park, water flow, and days of use followed. Because allthree bids have not been received, it is difficult to estimate design costs so no action was taken. The project representatives were asked to return for the next Boad meeting when all bids have been received. OPERA GALLERIA Patty Spencer mcused herself for this discussion. The Opera Galleria has submitted renderings of both thefapade work and the new entry at the rear of the building. Dan Eckles of Realtec and Dawn Oglesby, designer, presented drawings of the proposed entryway. The fagade improvements am already underway with 17 new windows installed and stucco has been repaired. Brick work will be completed soon. The total cost of remodeling the entry, which will be a purely public entrance to the building, is approximately $117,000. The Board expressed approval of the new design, emphasizing that it is an important connection to the parking garage and also serves as another improvement to the alley. Improved access to the anihmt will also enhance an existing DDA asset. Board then expressed a desire that the owners get bids on the construction, to be reviewed by Chip and the Board. Muved by Mr. Wolfe, seconded by Mr. Sears: That the DDA fund the improvements to the rear entrance of the Opera Gallatin subject to competitive bidding up to the amount of $117,300, and selection of the contractor subject to approval by one (1) DDA board member, the DDA board City Council representative, and the DDA Executive Director. The motion passed unanimously. OTHER BUSINESS April Sales Tax: Mr. Steiner reported that April sales tax figures for the DDA footprint were down slightly last month, mainly in the area of building materials mid supplies. He also pointed out that numbers have been up for 22 of the past .24 months so this is not viewed as a significant change. DD.A Minutes June 14, 2007 Page 3 UPDATES Old Town Snuare Sculpture: The public response to the sculpture project has been overwhelming with many members of the public stopping to watch the progress. All agreed that we should be open to more opportunities for interesting projects downto%an. Oak Street Plaza: McCabe Callahan asked whether more chairs and tables could be added to Oak Street Plaza. The plaza gets a lot of visitors and there are not many places to sit. He also thought it would be a great idea to get tables with chess boards. Mi. Steiner answered that staff would look into the matter. Holiday Disvlav: Mr. Atieberry said that within 2-3 weeks the City should have more information about the citizen task force and timeline for meetings on the holiday displays. River District & parkin!: Mr. Brelig commented that with increased visitor traffic to local breweries, transportation and parking are becoming more of a problem in those areas. Mr. Steiner responded that a lot of things are in the works on this issue, with the help of UniverCily Connections and the river district improvement project. Mr. Robenalt added that a Transfort link from the River District to the Transit Center. Green Building Criteria: Mr. Steiner and Mr. Robenalt have met with Poudre School District officials in regard to their green building criteria and practices. It was a very productive meeting. Mr. Robenalt hopes to have some information for the Board to consider soon, possibly by the time of the next Board meeting. Mr. Alteberry reminded the Board that the City also has a LEED certificd planner and rucltitect ADJOURN There being no further business, the meeting adjourned 9:28 a.m. Carey Hewitt, Secretary