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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007-05-10 ACE MINUTES• • • ALLIANCE FOR COMMERCE IN ENGLEWOOD May 10, 2 00 7 I. CALL TO ORDER The regular meeting of the Alliance for Commerce in Englewood (ACE) was called to order at 11 :40 a.m. in the City Council Conference Room of the Eng lewood Civic Center, Chair Schalk presiding. Present: Absent: Vasilas, Schalk, Panetta, Verbeck, Guinther, McDermott Espinoza (a lternate) Lonborg (unexcused ) Also present: Olga Wolosyn, City Counci l Liaison Jim Woodward, Councilman Katie Mendel, Chamber Representative Staff present: Darren Hollin gswo rth, Economic Development Coordinator Mark Graham, Planner Tricia Langon , Senior Planner APPROVAL OF MI N UTES March 1 5, 2007 Chair Schalk stated that the Minutes of March 15 , 2007 were to be considered for approval. McDermott moved: Verbeck seconded: The Minutes of March 15, 2007 be approved. Th e motion carried unanimousl y. II. ACE BU SINESS Mr. H o llings worth asked if ACE was interested in adopting a summer schedule. Chair Schalk would like to schedule a m eeting each month and if a quorum cannot be met the meeting wi ll be canceled. Mr. Panetta would like to see a meeting with no C ity agenda and where ACE reviews its mission . Ms. McDermott suggested that be the topic for the Ju ly meeting. DUPLEX LOT WIDTH Ms. Langon intr oduced herself. Mr. Hollingsworth asked Ms. Langon to provide ACE with an update and background information on the issue of 50 foot versus 60 foot lot width for • attached h o using. Historically the majority of the City, other than in the extreme northwest ar ea where lots are mostly 60 feet, properties are platted in 25 foot increments (lots ). Typical lots that allow attached housing are multiples of the 25 foot width and are generally 50 foot wide. Up until the Unified Development Code rewrite went into effect in 2004 everything was based on that 25 foot per unit for attached housing. Prior to 2004 when ther e were discussions of attached units there was a move to increase that requirement to 60 feet in the hope that the units would be better designed and there would be room for rear garages with side driveways. There were no additional requirements beyond the 60 foot w idth that garages or parking pads could not also be placed in the front of units . The outcome was bigger units were built with garages and parking pads still located in the front. Th e 60 foot c hange was effective for the entire City, not just the extreme northwest area . As a result, the majority of th e properties that were in other areas of the City were basically hindered as far as development goes because they only have a 50 foot property. The 50 foot lots became defacto single unit properties and man y of those districts do not function as single unit districts. • • Ms. Langon stated th e Plannin g Commission is charged with reviewing any Code changes and providing comments and recommendations to Council. Ultimately, it is Council 's determination as whether or not changes to the code will be made. The Planning Co mmission is discussing the issue at this time. Ms. Lan go n offered to answer any questions. Ch air Schalk introduced Mr. Kevin Dickson of Dickson Redevelopment. Mayor Wolosyn said her concern was basically based on design and quality. She said she li ves in o ne of the multi unit districts and there are absentee landlords of single family units that are not taken care of. She believes absentee landlords want to maximize their profit by selling their lot to a developer who builds a multi unit property and there aren't any standards. She would like to see some kind of standards for what can be built. Ms. Langon said one thing the Planning Commission is looking at right now is putting requirements on parking and driveways on properties that have alley access and possibly establishing some type of development standards that developers would have to choose several from . Ms . McDermott said she believes if there are too many restrictions then the City becomes a covenant controlled City and developers would not look at Engle wood. She said she believes Planning needs to prioritize half a dozen issues that are important and then make that part of the process for new development. Mr. Verbeck said he believes there is a way to implement design guidelines without making th e City super restrictive. Di scussio n ensued . 2 • In summary, Ms. Langon stated the Planning Commission is working on these issues , looking at the difference between properties with alleys and without alle y s. The y will brin g re co mmendations forward to Council. As for ACE 's role , when the Planning Commiss ion ge ts to the point of Public Hearings the Commission wou ld be happy to have ACE's input. • • Mayor Wolosy n asked what Denver's frontage regulation is and do they have d esign /development standards. Ms. Langon said that was addressed on a Council request and will look it up for ACE . Mr. Dickson stated he knew the Denver code and they do not ha v e any su c h standards . Mr. Graham provided an update on the Bates Station project. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMEN T CORPOR ATION Mr. Graham said two questions asked are (1) why do cities want Community De v elopment Corporations (CDC) and (2) how do you fund it. A lot of the activities that Community Development Corporations get invol v ed in are very expensive and the pool of money does not start to re cy cle for many years . Th e CDC is a c orporation. It is an umbrella for a set of activities typically having to do with property and ser v ices . The business development ang le of a CDC is that businesses annu all y contribute to the CDC. A CDC does offer some things that you cannot do as a City such as lending. Because of the Charter restrictions of the City of Englewood housing/rehab cannot grow their program regardless of how the demand grows. That program could be moved into a CDC and the City could fund money into the CDC so that program cou ld expand. The Charter does not all ow the City to loan from the general fund , but would allow the City to fund a program that in turn could loan money. A CDC can also appl y for grants from both federal and private foundations. Chair Scha l k said he feels like it would be an enormous undertaking and wanted to know what the first step would be. Mr. Graham said probably starting from the specific and movi ng to the general. He used parking and cultural facilities as examples. Discu ssion ensued. Chair Schalk asked the members if they thought ACE should pursue a CDC. He said he would like to see several scenarios of how it could work i n Englewood. Mr. Graham will put tog ether a scenario for housing and business . Ch air Schalk called for a motion. Pan e tta move d : Vas ilas seconded : Staff will move forward in establishing a CDC program . The motion carried unan i mous ly . 3 • • • BUSINESS VISITATION Staff has purchased the license for software and the Sta t e wi ll provide training for staff and vo lunteers. Staff would like to see if there is any interest for volunteers from ACE or obtain names from people who might be interested in visiting industria l businesses . The State will provide train ing i n Ju ly and also accompany staff and vo lunteers on the first round of vis i tations. Mr. Graham said what he is looking for is a board of four to six people who would each go out two times in the course of a year . Staff is looking to have 12 visitations the fi rst year and build up to 24 a year. ACE will conti nue the business visitation d iscussion as information from the site visits becomes available. Ill. COMMENTS & EVENTS CH AM BER OF COMMERCE Ms. Mendel updated the members on Chamber events. • Golf Tourn ament to be held on Ju ly 16, 2007 at Pinehurst Country Club ACE MEMBERS Mr. Vasi/as sa id there was a nice write-up abo ut Englewood in the Denver Post a few weeks ago . M1 -. Woodward said there was a picture of a kayaker riding the chutes at West Union and South Santa Fe in Eng lewood on the front page of the Rocky Mountain News. H e also noted the Eng lewood Lions are trying to p lace flags on Broadway for $35 each. They wi ll maintain them. BID COMMENTS Mr. Vasi/as stated forms have been sent out for the b u siness directory. The sidewalk cleaning has been completed, but the BI D Board Members were not pleased . They will ask for the job to be redone. The banners are on hold right now. The BID is waiting for City Council to change the Sign Code and Xcel Energy to provide acceptable banner size . 4 • • • STAFF COMMENTS Mr. Hollingsworth stated KC Fine Furniture is scheduled to open in late May. They are open ing a 90 ,000 square foot warehouse which will add 70 new jobs to the Dartmouth Industria l Park . Dessert for today's meeting was provided by Azucar bakery at 11 West Hampden . Mr. Hollingsworth provided an upd ate on issues coming up before City Council: 1. Sidewalk sale dates have been requested for June and September. 2. First Reading for the banners will be on May 21 st . The public hearing will be in June . 3. Also on the 21 st will be consideration for Micro Business Develop ment. No further business was brought forth for consideration. The meeting was adjo urned at 1:10 p.m. The next meeting is scheduled for June 14, 2007. Barbara Kreck/ow, Re ording Secretary 5