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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEconomic Advisory Commission - Minutes - 11/21/2018Economic Advisory Commission Regular Meeting November 21, 2018, 11 a.m.- 1 p.m. Colorado River Room, 1st Floor, 222, Laporte Avenue 11/21/2018 – MINUTES Page 1 1. CALL TO ORDER Time Started 11:11 a.m. 2. ROLL CALL List of Board Members Present • Connor Barry • Aric Light • John Parks • Denny Otsuga • Ann Hutchison List of Board Members Absent • Sam Solt, Chair • Ted Settle • Linda Stanley List of Staff Members Present • Josh Birks, Economic Health & Redevelopment Director • Erin Zimmermann, Economic Health Admin/Board Support • Ryan Mounce, City Planner List of Guests • Dale Adamy (r1st.org) 3. AGENDA REVIEW • Josh to provide update on the Experiment, in Ted’s absence. • Denny would like to add an item on what to do to recognize outgoing members. 4. CITIZEN PARTICIPATION • Dale Adamy— Spoke on behalf of the group Fort Collins Parity, which is working on ECONOMIC ADVISORY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING 11/21/2018 – MINUTES Page 2 submitting a white paper regarding some of the concerns they have identified with The City Plan. He expressed the value of the Economic Advisory Commission and requested that the commission preview the white paper. Asked if it would be possible to have this as an agenda item on December 19th. The white paper will highlight concerns around terminology with the example of housing issues, as well as the concern that when the community wants to participate, they are not fully involved. • Josh— Thanked Dale for his comments and stated that The Chair and Vice Chair would meet to consider the request and follow-up. The white paper would need to be ready by Thursday, December 13th . 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES The October 19, 2018 meeting minutes approved as presented. 6. UNFINISHED BUSINESS. a. City Plan Update (Listen/ Clarify) Connor— Housing and Economy working group had a meeting and have a finalized view on the scenarios. A lot of the focus is on zoning and land use. We looked at the different tradeoffs and costs associated with the three scenarios. General consensus is further analysis on Employment Land supply is needed. We discussed how the naming of the scenarios could have unintended consequences on how they are received. There could be opportunity or flexibility within them, instead of just picking the middle of the road. Housing discussion focused on the need for a lot more density and that greater funding and transportation will be needed. b. Board and Commission Evaluation (Experiment) Update— Josh Birks on behalf of Ted Settle (Listen/ Clarify) Josh— We now have the planning meeting rescheduled for early December. Hopefully what comes out of that is a clear topic to focus on and a clear timeline with a date for the joint meeting. There will likely be one more meeting prior for the representatives and staff to finalize the agenda. It may be a world café style for dialog opportunities. Potential topics include KFCG, City Plan, or the City’s triple bottom line tool. Comments: John— Would it be beneficial if we suggested a couple times that would work for our ECONOMIC ADVISORY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING 11/21/2018 – MINUTES Page 3 group? Because most of the other boards meet in the evening, maybe we could look at possible dates or evenings in the week or a week in the month. Josh— Boards could elect to have this meeting replace its standing monthly meeting. Ted and Sam have been adamant that it would be good to be able to share info to the members of the commissions prior to the meeting. Wednesday or Thursday may be the best option. Mondays might work as well. John— Would like to propose the 21st , 23rd , 28th , or 30th as options. John made a motion to bring those dates forward. Connor seconded. Denny amended the motion to include that the planning meeting go forward regardless of how many participants can attend. Denny motioned that EAC propose the potential 4 dates (January 21st , 23rd , 28th or 30th ) and encourages the meeting to move forward regardless of attendance at the planning meeting. John seconded. Motion approved unanimously. John— Recommended that EAC still have its regular meeting in January. 7. NEW BUSINESS a. City Plan Update— Ryan Mounce (Discuss/Act) Ryan Mounce returned to give an update on the City Plan Scenarios and summarized areas of agreement and concern that have been heard through community input. Share the preferred scenarios and ideas and strategies for employment land use. Scenario 1: Maintain similar land-use and transportation policies and resources. (Higher density redevelopment near downtown and CSU, funding levels remain similar to today). Scenario 2: Looks at Targeted changes to land-use and transit; requires additional resources. (Higher density near downtown, CSU commercial corridors, more residential and mixed-use development, Neighborhoods-Accessory units and duplexes, Transportation- greater emphasis on bike/ped, Transit reduce coverage to increase frequencies on some routes). Scenario 3: Broader changes to land-use and transit; major additional funding required. (More consistent higher intensity redevelopment along College and Mason/Max corridors, Neighborhoods-ADU plus duplexes, more multi-family buildings, Transportation- large expansions in frequency and coverage, greater emphasis on enhanced infrastructure for pike/ped). ECONOMIC ADVISORY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING 11/21/2018 – MINUTES Page 4 Over 1,000 people participated in the process this fall. General Areas of Agreement: • Support for moderate/big changes to achieve community priorities- greenhouse gas reductions, transportation improvements, housing, equity. • Support for higher density development in commercial corridors to support transit. • Strong support for greater diversity of land use. • Support for additional transportation enhancements and funding (Prioritize transit and bicycling if additional funding available.) Areas of Tension or Concern: • Determining the appropriate amount of change in established neighborhoods. • Responsibility and ability to meet future housing demand; regional impacts • Displacement impacts in commercial corridors (residents and businesses) • Change in community character and resources to serve a larger population • Impacts on lands and open spaces • Role of transportation services (micro-transit) • Mismatch between desired transportation system and the funding/ land-use changes required to support it • Strong support to achieve CAP goals, but the most aggressive scenario does not meet assumptions for vehicle miles traveled reduction. Other comments and themes from engagement process: • Additional density or higher population should be tied to creating attainable/affordable housing or other community priorities. • Concern about rapid changes in community appearance and feel; losing the existing vibe of Fort Collins. Impact of funding decisions on residents and businesses. Group discussed Employment Zoning in greater detail. Currently the City has 25 different zoning districts. ECONOMIC ADVISORY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING 11/21/2018 – MINUTES Page 5 Initial ideas and strategies for Employment Zoning include: • Adjust amount, type, or location of employment districts • Update standards to create additional flexibility in existing employment zone districts • Efficiency of secondary uses • Flexibility in employment zoning (Standards have not been updated to reflect market changes and emerging employer preferences). • Biased toward office/campuses (Often struggles to provide amenities and place- making close by) Comments: Anne— Windsor just changed their policy on Accessory Housing Unit Development. Ryan— If we are not making changes in existing neighborhoods, we will need to focus on vacant or un-developed lands, commercial and mixed-use corridors. Anne— I know this is City of Fort Collins plan, but I think regional context is important. As you look at the County maps, it is terrifying how little land is available to meet our housing demands, even at a County or region level. Josh— What came up for us is the need for more coordination regionally and that maybe we need to focus less on the hard blue line and jurisdictional boundaries. Aric— In terms of I-25 Corridor, what does the utility look like? Connor— The employment use supply in my opinion fits within our priorities as a board. I see that as an appropriate place for us to give more of our feedback. Josh— I think what we really need to do is look at how to encourage more mixed use and more employment use in the center of our City. Anne— I also think the transit corridor plays an important role here. Using the Max example, if someone lives on Harmony works along the Max, they can hop on the bus to go downtown for lunch. Denny— Sounds like we have consensus on need to be engaged in the process. Would it be too much for Ryan to come to our meetings Jan through April? The overview is helpful, but I don’t want another overview, I want to look at what can we really work on. If you can prep us by giving us background ahead of time, that would be great. Ryan— Can definitely come every month. ECONOMIC ADVISORY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING 11/21/2018 – MINUTES Page 6 Connor motioned to add a limited scope City Plan update as a standing agenda item from December through April. Aric seconded. The motion passed unanimously. b. Budget Review Update— Josh Birks (Listen/Clarify/ Discuss) Josh provided an overview of the proposed budget. Seen significant decline in Use Tax and Sales tax has slowed. Flat to modest revenue growth, though have seen significant cost issues. The process included making modifications to the initial budget assumptions, identifying a stop doing list and making discretionary reductions. The City reduced proposed staff salary increases from 3.5 percent to 3.0 percent. Funding for the Vine/Lemay intersection was not included in the 2019-2020 budget. Josh— We also looked at the price of government. Since 2000, we were on a downward trend, uptick when KFCG first came on board, but even with that revenue, we have had a flat line for many years. Josh then provided more information on the Economic Health Outcome Area of the budget, highlighting the bigger ticket items that include the vast majority of light and power, as well as Broadband, DDA, and URA. Highlighted EHO Departmental budget adjustments include: • Redeployment of industry cluster funds— 2019 $25K reset; Revolving Loan Fund; $19K Business Engagement Support • 2020-$100K cluster program; $44K Business Engagement Support • Metro District Support— 0.75 FTE and consulting services URA Renewal (Redevelopment Program Manager- 1.0 FTE and $300K to North College Stormwater project Comments: John— Is there going to be a big push or campaign for KFCG? Josh— The City’s job is to provide language, bring it to council for approval, and then likely there will be campaigns, but officially the City can not lobby for or against. Anne— Although there are stickers on vehicles saying this vehicle is funded through ECONOMIC ADVISORY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING 11/21/2018 – MINUTES Page 7 KFCG, social media/Facebook posts etc. Josh— Yes, that falls under education. Anne— Glad to see we are take a pause on clusters. Thank you for that. I think we are struggling as a larger business community on how to articulate that. Denny— I would like more information on the Revolving Loan Fund. Josh— We plan to issue an RFP after first of the year. Details will be subject to who we select. That might be a good time to put it on our agenda. 8. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS None 9. OTHER BUSINESS Members discussed how to recognize outgoing members. Erin and Josh will work on this. 10. ADJOURNMENT Adjourns 1:10 p.m. UPCOMING TOPICS December: • Recognize Out-going Commissioners • City Plan Update • College & Drake Urban Renewal Plan January:  Open