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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEconomic Advisory Commission - Minutes - 08/21/2019Economic Advisory Commission Regular Meeting August 21, 2019, 11 a.m.- 1 p.m. Colorado River Room, 1st Floor, 222 Laporte Avenue 8/21/2019 – MINUTES Page 1 1. CALL TO ORDER Time Started 11:03 a.m. 2. ROLL CALL List of Board Members Present • Aric Light • Denny Otsuga • Linda Stanley • George Grossman • Renee Walkup • Braulio Rojas • John Parks List of Board Members Absent • Ted Settle • Connor Barry • List of Staff Members Present • Josh Birks, Economic Health Manager • Erin Zimmermann, Economic Health Admin/Board Support • Kyle Lambrecht, Civil Engineer • Shannon Hein, Sr. Business Specialist • Chad Crager, Engineer • Tim Kemp, Engineer List of Guests • Keith Meyer, Ditesco • Craig Russell, Russell and Mills • Matt Robenalt, FC-DDA • Todd Dangerfield, FC-DDA • Dale Adamy (r1st.org) • Kevin Jones, Fort Collins Chamber of Commerce 3. AGENDA REVIEW ECONOMIC ADVISORY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING 8/21/2019 – MINUTES Page 2 No changes. 4. CITIZEN PARTICIPATION No comments. 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES The July 17th, 2019 meeting minutes were approved as presented. 6. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. Board and Commission Evaluation (Experiment) Update—Ted Settle (Listen/ Clarify) Josh provided an update on behalf of Ted. The steering committee came together a few weeks ago. They discussed timing of the second of the two sessions, as well as the topics. They are considering Our Climate Future (October or November). Good news is we are back on track. Considering inviting other boards, but decided we want to keep it as a smaller group. May extend to transportation and energy boards. How many of you were able to take the Respectful Workplace training? They did record it and it will be available to watch on your own. Would like to have everyone go through it in the next month or two. b. Development Review Fee Study Advisory Committee Update— Braulio Rojas (Listen/ Clarify) Linda provided a short update on the new structure that has a fixed cost and variable cost the better reflects time going in. The committee is favorable of it, for the most part. Did discuss development fees and how/if they impact affordable housing, but this will not impact final recommendation. 7. NEW BUSINESS a. Revolving Loan Fund— Aric Light (Listen/Clarify/Discuss) Aric provided an update on Revolving Loan Fund. We received two very good proposals and Shannon is wrapping up some due-diligence steps. We have identified our top proposal. Once it is finalized, we can bring it back to this group. It will target minority-owned, veteran and women-owned businesses. Terms will depend on who we ultimately select. ECONOMIC ADVISORY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING 8/21/2019 – MINUTES Page 3 b. Linden Street Renovation Project— Kyle Lambrecht (Listen/Clarify/ Discuss) Kyle Lambrecht, Civil Engineer gave an overview on the Linden Street Renovation Project. Timeline: 2014- Downtown Development Authority Design Charette 2015- Project became fully funded. 2017- Firehouse Alley Parking Garage Constructed 2019- Project design begins Project Limits: Downtown 200 Block of Linden Street (See PowerPoint Slides for additional detail) Why improve Linden? Looking to create a more pedestrian-friendly environment extending Old Town Square north along Linden Street. Project Goals: • Bridge the Gap to River District • Flexible Space • Economic Vitality • Partnerships (stakeholder engagement) • World Class Experience • Complement Past/ Plan for Future Keith Meyer- presented the existing conditions which included parking summaries (58 stalls currently). Kyle shared some of the plan options that came out of the DDA Charette. Alternative A- Converts to a wider sidewalk. Half the block being diagonal parking and half being parallel parking with net loss of 13 spaces. Overall goal is to transform space to be convertible to event space. The curb and gutter potentially goes away. Still acts as street, sidewalk and patio space. Meant to support smaller events along sidewalk and larger events like New West Fest. ECONOMIC ADVISORY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING 8/21/2019 – MINUTES Page 4 Two Different Design Concepts: Alternative A- Garden Street Features linear pavers, planters in a linear/ rectangular pattern. Entire block would have string lights. Second Concept- Alternative A-Festive Street Focuses on natural elements and where people walk. Sinuous planters. Still have space for patios etc… Vertical feature, lights, planters. Kyle— Through the design process and stakeholder engagement, we heard that we aren’t doing enough with this concept. Block has the have and have-nots on activated space. Looking at an alternative that we are calling Alternative A-1 that transitions to all parallel parking and net loss of 30 spaces. Still convertible space, wider streetscape concept for whole block. Shared street. No designated biking. We’ve heard a lot of concern about impacts to parking. We are hearing it loud and clear and are wanting to be transparent. Feedback Opportunity: Is there support for a preferred alternative? Is there a preferred concept? Keith— We want to preserve landscape as much as possible which includes preserving the trees in the space. In terms of economic benefit, studies have shown there can be 60-80 percent sales increase. If you create a great pedestrian space and do it correctly, these businesses will thrive in a much greater fashion. Comments: Renee— What kind of art in public places do you plan to incorporate? I would like to see more 3D art. Kyle— We have identified an artist who will serve on the planning team. It’s not just about improving Linden street, but carrying people through to the River District. George— I do feel your presentation is disingenuous. You didn’t present option b and c that were presented at the open house, and I would like to hear about those. ECONOMIC ADVISORY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING 8/21/2019 – MINUTES Page 5 Kyle— what we presented today was refined alternatives. When we started the outreach we did look at other alternatives. First one was Alternative B- What would it look like if we improved current structure? Net loss of 2 spaces. Maintain as much of parking as we could. This says what we have currently isn’t too bad. Would keep it as is. Would still remove curb and gutter. Keith— We are in process of stakeholder engagement, so this is a presentation that has advanced since the open house. This alternative fell to the bottom pretty quickly. Cost is similar. Patio expansion opportunities are gone. Sidewalk space is a little upgraded but not to the extent of other plans. Would have to probably still close down streets for events in this plan. John—Cultural shift takes a lot more time than just changing a space. I always find that intersection to be very funky with the three stops. I compare it to Pearl Street in Boulder. We have come a long way in honoring pedestrians and bicycles. It makes me wonder what is included in this project that is outreach such as signage, flyers? George— I think bridging the gap to the River District is hugely important, but I’m going to go back to the point that you have already moved on to A and 1A. There was a petition from businesses on that street that says they prefer alternative B. As they continue to learn more about how A1 will affect parking, we believe there will be a negative impact due to parking. People don’t want to walk 200 feet. They want to park convenient and they want to park in front. These businesses have all said to me they don’t want to lose parking spaces. Your data doesn’t match what my data says. I think there is a direct threat to economic vitality on that street. Linden street was closed twice this year New West Fest and Cinco De Mayo. Most businesses suffer when there are events on the street. Crowds are not shoppers. Any sort of disruption ruins businesses. I shared this at the Council meeting. 95 percent of this project is beautiful. You can’t guarantee that it will increase business. These are real people at this moment and those people are scared. If it is truly a convertible space then that means there is parking and space. Linda— There are 58 spots. These businesses aren’t getting all their customers from those spots. Do you have examples on what happens when you go to parallel parking? What’s the net gain? What’s the net loss? Keith— Great question, not sure that we can answer that. Brulio— I am more of an observer. You have a lot of information that I don’t know. At the same time George has a lot of information because he is directly affected. When watching the presentation, I feel like there is a tradeoff, you lose something you gain something. It looks like it is focused on summer, but I don’t see a winter approach. Now we feel like we want to walk, but when talking about 4-5 months of winter, parking becomes really important. In order to trade parking for walking ECONOMIC ADVISORY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING 8/21/2019 – MINUTES Page 6 space, there should be more data. How long does a car get in parking and stay in parking? How can we ensure people in parking will keep moving? I can’t say one option is better than the other, but I would recommend more data. Keith— Our stakeholders are different. Informed consent requires us to cast a very wide net, which includes all stakeholders that use the space. John— I’m interested in pricing of parking. Makes me think how it impacts the business approach. If you can just go in and not worry about the first hour. Curious why the decision was made and if it were the same as the others if that would be a change. Linda— I think people are still not aware of that garage. Our pricing makes no sense at all. It is a valuable commodity and on street parking is free. Kyle— Taking a step back, how do we manage the parking better. It’s not only on Linden. It’s that bigger picture. Josh— There have been a number of studies that look at the value of parking. The availability and ability to have it turnover also impacts its value. We will look for studies that answer questions you have raised. Denny— If I understand concerns the issue comes around to parking spaces potentially being eliminating with the assumption they are being used by active customers on that street. George— As a stakeholder in the area and on the DBA board and this board, concern amongst Main Street is that it will have a negative impact on the economic vitality of Linden Street. If it is, this board is supposed to make recommendations to Council. Denny— One option is to continue to have this discussion with more data. Linda— How many people stop going there vs. how many people won’t go because of parkin?. Kyle— I hear you loud and clear about data. Denny— Is it OK to continue the conversation? What would be helpful? The questions are just as important as the answers. If you could distill a question that you would like this commission to consider. And Josh to provide additional data to help us formulate comments. Kyle—We would love to meet with you and others that share these concerns. We are problem solvers. Next steps: Staff to collect additional information to bring back to the Economic ECONOMIC ADVISORY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING 8/21/2019 – MINUTES Page 7 Advisory Commission. 8. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS NA 9. OTHER BUSINESS Succession planning. Denny and Linda will be termed. Connor plans to serve a second term and would be the incoming Chair. Usually new incoming members are not interested in taking on the Vice Chair role, so existing members, please consider if you might be interested. General consensus to have leadership established prior to having new member onboarding. And, to begin planning ahead to set the stage for next year’s workplan. ACTION ITEM: Erin will send out expectations document. Put it on website as well. Josh— Provided quick update on Council’s Economic Health priorities: jobs and small business plan. He provided a quick summary of Council work session and the focus on Economic Resilience- being able to bounce back, withstand or avoid shock. Need to think about it from the individual labor level, business perspective, and industry perspective. Resilience is made up of being able to start, sustain and renew a business. We want to convert that to metrics. What impact are our endeavors having? And then think it would be good to have a smart goal. Shared what we are currently doing and generally the direction we received was to stay on course and should we feel we need more resource, consider bringing forward in next budget cycle. We can send the PowerPoint out. Linda— I saw some of this and think this could be a place where we could contribute. 10. ADJOURNMENT Adjourns 1:03 p.m. UPCOMING TOPICS September:  Harmony Gateway Plan – Cameron Gloss October: ECONOMIC ADVISORY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING 8/21/2019 – MINUTES Page 8  Industry Cluster Re-boot Update (Bring earlier as the Input Item) November:  Harmony Gateway Plan Update– Cameron Gloss Unscheduled:  Update on Industry Cluster Approach – TBD (Listen/Clarify) 2019 Priorities:  Talent Development, Economic Dashboard, Business Engagement, & Cluster