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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEconomic Advisory Commission - Minutes - 05/15/20131 Minutes City of Fort Collins Economic Advisory Commission Regular Meeting 300 LaPorte Ave City Hall May 15, 2013 11:00 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. For Reference: Blue Hovatter, Chair 493-3673 Council Liaison Wade Troxell Josh Birks, Staff Liaison 416-6324 Wendy Bricher, Minutes 221-6506 Commission members present: Commission members absent: Michael Kulisheck Christophe Febvre Daniel Lenskold Sam Solt Glen Colton Ann Hutchison Blue Hovatter Channing Arndt Jim Clark Guests: Dale Adamy Mike Pruznick Staff Present: Wendy Bricher, Minutes SeonAh Kendall, Business Retention Specialist Tom Leeson, Redevelopment Program Manager Agenda Item 1: Meeting called to order Meeting called to order at 11:03 a.m. Agenda Item 2: Logistics Minutes Unanimous approval of minutes dated 4/17/13, 4/24/13 & 5/1/13 Public Comment Mike Pruznick commented on the recent Foothills Mall Agenda item. He believes there was misinformation provided to boards including funding sources (five on the contract vs. four presented) and was disappointed that public input/outreach was not a part of the Boards meeting held on April 30, 2013 with Darin Atteberry. In addition, he stated that a recent report indicated the City of Fort Collins would Financial Services 300 LaPorte Ave PO Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522 970.221.6505 970.224.6107 - fax fcgov.com 2 be out of power within six years, and that we should consider a new moratorium on electric taps until Platte River Power Authority (PRPA) has a plan in place to address this issue. Dale Adamy commented on the presentation, “Solar for Businesses”, he attended this morning. In his opinion, he felt the incentives were too small to incentivize a small company other than “feel good” green. He believes incentives should be large enough to benefit smaller businesses as well. SeonAh Kendall commented that EAC members were listed as stakeholders and should have been invited to this meeting. Sam Solt commented, "He believes as I do, there needs to be more aggressive, selling / promoting and pricing via a feeding tariffs to further." Both he and I had attended the Solar Energy Presentation by the Utilities Department earlier that day. The presentation may become a future agenda item for EAC. Staff Updates SeonAh Kendall, Business Retention Specialist, commented that the Woodward groundbreaking is today at 4:00 p.m. and that the Foothills Mall Assistance package did pass. She is also working with a company in a possible expansion in Fort Collins, and will present that information to EAC in July. Follow-Up Glen Colton commented that he felt there was not enough time to thoroughly discuss the assistance package for the mall before making a recommendation. Blue Hovatter generally agreed and commented that sometimes timelines dictate the amount of time available, but hopefully with the new EAC revised agenda format and process, the EAC can address some of those issues. Sam Solt agreed with Blue but also offered that with some effort EAC members can download council agenda material and “attend” other public forums (e.g. work sessions) dedicated to providing information / feedback on major time sensitive proposals. Both of these actions can better prepare us for our discussions. He also stated that we should recognize that all of the boards and commissions struggle with the same challenge of being able to make valuable contributions. Another suggestion was to receive information/presentations ahead of each meeting for review, so that members can come prepared with questions as needed. Tom Leeson, Redevelopment Program Manager, asked for specific outcomes the EAC wanted to achieve from the URA 101 presentation in June. The EAC commented that they would like the presentation/discussion to focus around state statutes, what is going on at the state level, observations in other communities and what it means for our larger community, how does it affect other taxing entities and how can we create solutions to those issues? The EAC would also like to see addressed the risk of URA’s becoming the new “norm” and if it gives cities more leverage over the type of development that occurs. In addition, URA vs. DDA will be discussed. Agenda Item 3: New Projects/Policy Review New Agenda Format Moving forward, Christophe Febvre commented that the Economic Advisory Commission should really be focusing on the economic value of packages and policy rather than the nitty-gritty details of the actual deals – more focus on the conceptual space (plan matrix) and less focus on the negotiations. Channing agreed but also pointed out that the EAC had asked very detail information regarding TIF and that the information was provided to them by staff as the focal point (based on that request). Jim Clark commented that we could narrow our focus to economic return and risk factors, and Glen commented that we should include the “why” behind our recommendations when presenting them to Council. Agenda Item 4: On-going Initiatives Review Economic Health Strategic Plan Priorities The Economic Advisory Commission reviewed and discussed the recommendations and priorities they identified in January from the Economic Health Strategic Plan regarding Business Support & Talent Management and Innovation & Quality of Space. The intent was to prioritize and restructure future 3 agenda items based on those priorities identified by the EAC. Discussion included Mason Corridor, the Airport, build-out in Fort Collins, clusters and how each of those items should be evaluated and thought out in the long term. Evaluation could include costs, transportation, air pollution, opportunities and barriers, local labor markets and TBL analyses. Based on the discussion, six key focal points were identified, with supporting agenda topics within each. The revised agenda list is as follows: Future Agenda Items Ongoing: Economic Health Strategic Plan Midtown Corridor Transportation & Infrastructure - Mason Corridor - Airport City Incentives - Business Assistance Packages Energy - Impact on Economy (connect with Energy Board) - Fracking Local Economy - Silver Tsunami - Barriers for local business - Clusters/Incubators - Build-out vision - TBL Analyses Sam Solt commented that this is a good start. Hopefully the EAC will continue to build on this format to the point where our meetings are more constructive and pro-active rather than reacting to the menu-of-the-day. My opinion is that EAC should arrive at a model that more closely aligns us to the charter. The next meeting is scheduled on June 19, 2013 from 11:00 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. CIC Room, City Hall