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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007-02-08 ACE MINUTES• • • ALLIANCE FOR COMMERCE IN ENGLEWOOD February 8, 2007 I. CALL TO ORDER The regular meeting of the Alliance for Commerce in Englewood (ACE) was called to order at 11 :35 a.m. in the City Council C o nfe rence Room of the Englewood Civic Center, Chair M c Dermott presiding. Pr ese nt: Absent: McDermott, Schalk, Panetta (e ntered 11 :42), Verbeck, Guinther, Lonborg (e ntered 11 :45), Espinoza Vasilas (excused) Also present: Olga Wolosyn, City Council Li aison (departed at 12:40) Jim Woodward, Councilman Staff present: Darren Hollingsworth, Economic D evelo pment Coordinator John Voboril, Planner Brook Bell, Planner Robert Simpson , Director (e ntered 12 :0 4) NEW MEMBER WELCOME Chair McDermott introduced Jeann ette Espinoza, the new A lli ance for Commerce Alternate. Jeannette is a bank mana ger for Vectra Bank Colorado in Englewood. She sa id she looks forward to working with ACE and thanked everyone for the opportunity to serve. She pledged to serve the community with integrity and to the best of her abilities. Chair McDermott asked eac h member to please introduce themselves. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Janu ary 11 , 2007 Chair McDermott stated that the Minutes of Janu ary 11 , 2007 were to be co nsidered for approval. Guinther moved: Schalk seconded: The Minutes of January 11 , 2007 be approved. The motion carried unanimously . • • • ELECTION OF OFFICERS It was determined there was a quorum. Chair McDermott asked for nominations. Mr. Steve Schalk was nominated for Chair and Ms. Deborah Guinther was nominated for Vice-chair for 2007. The members voted unanimously to elect Mr. Scha lk as Chair and Ms. Guinther as Vice- cha ir. II. ACE BUSINESS DOWNTOWN AND MEDICAL CENTER SMALL AREA PLAN Mr. Voboril gave a brief recap of how the Small Area Plans came about, where Staff is today, and what the next steps are . In early 2006 the new City Council stated their main priority was economic development. In support of that, Staff held an Economic Development Retreat with Council. About one half of the projects documented for the retreat lie in either the Downtown or Medical District. Staff felt this was a priority area and began to develop a proposal to do a Small Area Plan for the two districts . Citizens w ho live, work or own property or businesses within the boundaries were invited to register to become Stakeholders to participate in the plann in g process. Approximately 330 people registered. Several Stakeholder meetings were then he ld in the fa ll to talk abo ut the City 's p lannin g philosophy. The two areas were divided into sub-areas and a discussion was held regarding the existin g cond itions in those areas. The partic ip ants were asked to talk about what they liked and didn't like, what they would like to see changed and areas that they would like to see stabi li zed and revitalized rather than redeve loped . Feedback was recorded and Staff developed preliminary goals and objectives. At the second meeting the goals and objectives were discussed to see if Staff was on the right track. The stakeholders felt Staff was doing a good job of captur in g the ir id eas and opinions acc ur ately. Since then Staff has been work in g with the Planning Commission to better refine the goals and objectiv es. The next step in the process is a Public H earing with the Planning Commission o n March 61 h . Th ere is also a Study Session schedu led with Council for February 20 111 • Staff is hoping to have the plan adopted by Council sometime in April. Some things that came out of the meetings that we need to work on are regulatory zoning changes (current zon in g is a barrier to redevelopment in some areas), undertake a design study for both the Broadway and Old Hampden corridor, a parking study in the medical district area, and how to fund the Art Shuttle in the future. That concl ud ed Mr. Voboril's presentation. H e asked for comments and questions from the members. Discussion ensued. Mr. Voboril stated Staff will continue to work on the plan throughout the year developing the ideas and strategies that will help to implement the plan and develop the processes that 2 • • • Staff wants to go through with the community so the plan is ready to go in the first part of 2008. Mr. Schalk said he would like to know what some of the sho rt-term goa ls are and what ACE could do to help push them along. Mr. Simpson stated there may be things that could move forward sooner. Mr. Simpson said Staff has done a very careful process to make sure that everyone is brought along as we go and Staff wants to make sure that continues. Chair McDermott thanked Mr. Voboril and Mr. Bell for their presentation. BUSINESS COMMUNICATION Mr. Hollingsworth referenced several communication p ieces included in the meeting packet. Reviewed were the historic note card series, the Business Community Profile, and the Business Services brochure. He asked for ACE's input on the pieces. The pieces would also be used in the welcome packet Staff is putting together for new businesses coming into Englewood. Mr. Hollingsworth said as of the end of January sixteen new businesses have applied for sales or use tax licenses. Ms. McDermott said personally she liked the note cards . She thought they are beautifully done. The other members agreed. Ms. McDermott wondered if there are any stat istics on housing and traffic counts other than the 2004 statistics for the Community Profile. Mr. Hollingsworth said updated statistics would be obtained when the reports have been completed. Mayor Wolosyn said she would also like to see DRCOG profiles included. Staff will email the DRCOG reports to ACE members for their review. Mr. Schalk said he thought the profile was great. Ms. Lonborg suggested it be printed on a heavier stock paper. Chair McDermott asked for comments on the Business Services draft. Members thought it was an excellent piece. Mr. Schalk would like to see the brochure in a different format. It was suggested it be printed in two different formats. Mr. Hollingsworth asked if ACE approved of launching the welcome package idea. He would like to provide a package to all businesses that have opened their doors since January 1, 2007. The Commission agreed. They also asked if they could each have a copy in an electronic format that could be updated easily. Staff agreed to provide such a copy. Mr. Woodward suggested a picture be taken of the artwork along Englewood Parkway and incorporated into the brochure. BUSINESS FINANCING TOOLS Mr. Hollingsworth said this February marks the second anniversary of Englewood's Economic Development Strategy. This is a document that ACE worked on developing goals and strategies and Staff has worked over the years to implement. Barriers to attracting industries and businesses and encouraging redevelopment/rehab are some of the issues Staff has discussed . Staff has been discussing what barriers exist and ideas to address them. Examples are financial barriers and regulatory barriers. Mr. Hollingsworth asked the ACE 3 • • • members what they thought is keeping businesses from doing something that there is otherwise a market for. Members said small businesses always are challenged with the time and money factor of their business and challenging landowners. Members discussed the need for some type of marketing program to let people know you are driving through Englewood. Mr. Simpson sa id Staff is exploring several new financing tools that currently do not exist in Englewood. The programs would help supplement what the banks are doing and provide an alternative. More information will be available at the March meeting. He asked all Ace members to let Staff know if they have other ideas. Ill. COMMENTS & EVENTS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE Ms. Mendel was not present. Chair McDermott sa id she heard the Gala was a huge success. Mr. Panetta said the Gala was well done and well attended. He said the people he had the opportunity to interact with were very pleased. Mr. Panetta said the Women in Business program has been revital ized . Chair McDermott said they have two good programs on the calendar, the usefulness of the web and guest speaker Susie Wargin. ACE MEMBERS Ms. Lonborg said from Swedish Hospital 's standpoint our heartfelt thanks go out to the City for all their help during the past several snowstorms. The City's help with plowing was needed to get nurses back and forth from a hotel. The AIRLIFE helicopter has been relocated to Skyridge Medical Center. It comes and goes from the hospital now only on life support missions. Ms. Lonborg passed around a rendering of the proposed hospital expansion for everyone to see. The hospital also plans on renovating an existing parking structure. The public hearing before the Planning Commission will be held on March 6th. BID COMMENTS Mr. Vasilas was not present. STAFF COMMENTS Mr. Hollingsworth stated in a couple of weeks City Council would be hearing about moving to the 2006 International Code, away from the Uniform Building Code. This is something the development community has been asking Staff to do over the past few years. Mr. Hollingsworth said at the next meeting the discussion will center on linking up the business community with the schools. The principal of Englewood High School will be a 4 • • • quest speaker. He asked all ACE members if they know of any volunteers in the community that might be interested in participating in a working group to let Staff know. Mr. Woodward wanted to acknowledge that Mr. Hollingsworth secured Kacy Fine Furniture to take over industrial space in Englewood, replacing their space at Gates. Mr. Hollingsworth said they will occupy approximately 100,000 square feet in the Dartmouth Industrial Park. Ms. Leslie Fishbein attended the February S1h City Council Meeting. She stated they will employ 70 to 80 people. No further business was brought forth for consideration. The meeting was adjourned at 1:10 p .m. The next meeting is scheduled for March 8, 2007. Barbara Krecklow, ecording Secretary 5 UPCOMING ITEMS • • Small Area Plan Upd ate • Welcome Package Update • BID Update • Business Financing Tools Update • • 6