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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-01-10 ACE MINUTES• • • ALLIANCE FOR COMMERCE IN ENGLEWOOD Ja nu ary 10, 2008 I. CALL TO ORDER The regular meeting of the Alliance for Commerce in En g lewood {AC E) was called to order at 11 :43 a.m. in the City Council Conference Room of the En glewood Civic Center, Chair Schalk presiding. Present: Absent: Schalk, McDermott (entered 11 :48), Lon borg, Verbeck, Panetta, Vasi las Espinoz a (a lternate ) Guinther Also pres ent: Jim Woodward, Mayor Joe Jefferson , Coun cilma n Staff present: Alan White, Community D evelopme nt Director D arren H o llingsworth, Eco n omic Development Coordinator Chair Schalk welcomed Mr. Jefferso n to the ACE Commission and to City Coun ci l. APPROVAL OF MINUTES November 4, 2007 Chair Schalk stated that th e Minutes of November 4, 2007 were to be considered for approval. Vasilas moved: Panetta seconded: THE MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 4, 2007 BE APPROVED AS WRITIEN. The motion carried unanimously. II. ACE BUSINESS ELECTION OF OFFICERS FOR 2008 Mr. H o llin gsworth reviewed the By-laws regarding election of officers. It was determined there was a quorum. Chair Schalk aske d for nomin at ions . Lonborg moved: Vasilas seco nd ed: TO ELECT MR. STEVE SCHALK AS CHAIR . The motion carried un animously. 1 • • • Ms. Lonborg nominated Mr. Ted Vasilas to serve as Vice Chair. He declined due to his commitment to the BID. Vasilas moved: McDermott seconded: TO ELECT MS. JULIE LONBORG AS VICE CHAIR . The motion carried unanimously. The Board asked Staff to provide them with a list of term dates for each member. The Recording Secretary will provide the information. BROCHURE: THAT'S A GOOD SIGN Mr. Hollingsworth referenced the new sign brochure that was included in the meeting packet. Tacito Design helped Staff design the brochure. It is designed to help business owners make the best use of their limited resources in regards to signage and will be distributed to City Council later in the month. He discussed several new business signs that have gone up on Broadway and asked the members for their comments regarding the brochure. Mr. Verbeck wanted to know if the City has a list of who to go to for sign fabrication. Mr. Hollingsworth said a sign contractor list could be put together and be available through the building department, but Staff cannot recommend a particular company . Chair Schalk asked if the brochure would be sent out to the businesses. Mr. Hollingsworth said it is includ ed with the business welcome package that is mailed to all the new businesses monthly. The package includes a welcome letter signed by the Mayor, a brochure of City services and the sign brochure. The brochure is intended to get business owners to think about a sign design that really shows the image of their business. Ms. McDermott said the brochure is a little edgy, very colorful and the signs tell a story. She said it covers all bases of style and design. She felt it is a good brochure. Chair Schalk agreed. Ms. Lonborg asked if a notation regarding the Catalyst Pro gram could be placed on the brochure. Mr. Hollingsworth said that certainly could be done. Chair Schalk inquired as to whether people are taking advantage of the Catalyst Program. Mr. Hollingsworth said there are several new businesses that will be taking part in the program this year ... l sis Books and Breakfast on Broadway. H e also noted a new restaurant, Las Brises, has opened across from Swedish and will be participating in the City's grant program. Also, there is a seamstress on Broadway next to the post office and a glassblower that bought a property in the 4000 block of South Broadway that may participate in the Catalyst Program. He said the program has been well received. Mr. Vasilas asked if the Commercial Catalyst Program is just for new businesses. Mr . Hollingsworth said currently the money is going to businesses that are renewing and applying for sales and use tax licenses. Mr. Vasilas asked what the incentives are. Mr. 2 • Hollingsworth said for signage through the program, the grant amounts are based upon the store frontage with the average grant being approximately $10,000 with a maximum of $15 ,000. It is a 50 /50 matching grant. The business owner must put up 50 % of the money. Mr. Vasilas asked if the brochure could be given out at the BID meeting on Wednesday, January 16 1 h at Bank of Choice. Mr. Hollingsworth said he would be happy to distribute it at that meeting. CO MMU NITY PRO FILE Mr. Hollingsworth reviewed the Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG) Community Profile for Englewood th at was included in the meeting packet. DRCOG puts together profiles for numerous jurisdictions. He noted Staff also puts together a profile internally which talks more in terms of marketing Englewood. Both profiles are on the City 's website and the DRCOG profile has been forwarded to City Council. Staff is currently in the process of updating the City's internal profile. Mr. Schalk said the report shows the Littleton and Wheat Ridge employment growth is unbelievable . He said it appears Englewood is falling way behind. He asked if the report was using recent numbers since the report spans a 25 year period. Mr. Hollingsworth said DRCOG supplied the data and he did not know their methodology. The members noted the report doesn't portray Englewood in a very good way. • Mr. Hollingsworth asked Mr. White to comment on the growth numbers for Wheat Ridge. • Mr. White said he worked for the City of Wheat Ridge for 10 years of the 25 year range of the report. He said the bulk of the growth was probably the expansion of Lutheran Hospital and related medical employment, a Wal-Mart and several other retail businesses. He said he felt the more important numbers are the 2005 total and what has happened in the past three years and what we see happening in the next five to ten years. Mr. White also noted some numbers in the report are based on the 2000 census , which was eight years ago. Chair Schalk felt the City's i nternal report should be distributed rather than the DRCOG report. Ms. Lonborg asked if there is a link from the City 's website to the DRCOG report at this time. Mr. Hollingsworth said that is correct. Ms. Lonborg asked Mr. White if he felt the report should be distributed. He said he did not. Staff agreed to remove the link to the DRCOG website. Mr. Vasilas said the City officials need to be encouraged to do what they can to encourage developers to do more scrapes and rebuilds. Young families are not moving to the City because they cannot find appropriate housing and that in turn affects the school system. Ms. McDermott said it is hard for a developer to come in and find a street that may be worth the risk of putting in a new home, particularly if the remainder of the street is not kept up or there are absentee owners on the street. Mayor Woodward said the housing market is depressed right now. Investors may come in and buy up homes cheap for rentals as opposed to doing a scrape and rebuild . He said Council will be looking at several housing issues in the near future, including the 50 foot 3 • • • versus 60 foot lot frontage for multi-unit. Land value in Englewood is hi gh. On a long-term basis there are some positive directions that Council can take to hopefully, turn the housing market around. Mr. Jefferson said he agreed there is room for improvement in the housing stock. He said he felt the environment is right in the northeast area of town for scrape offs and rebuilds and has seen some of it in that area and hopefully, it will work its way south . Ms. Lonborg asked what is happening on several lots on South Clarkson where the homes have been scraped . Mr. Hollingsworth said the Englewood Housing Authority is building a new high rise for seniors . He also said Mr. Steve King is building several new homes in the northeast part of the City which will sell for in excess of $600,000. Mayor Woodward said he feels the northwest area will be the next area of change. Ms. McDermott asked if Mayor Woodward knew what the average per square foot price of residential real estate is in Englewood . He said over the last couple of years it has been averaging between $185 and $205. When people outgrow their home they realize they can move into Littleton or Highlands Ranch for the same price . Mr. Vasilas said the ground is too expensive for a builder to buy an old house, scrape it, rebuild and sell at an affordable price. He said homes in the $325,000 to $400,000 range are needed. You cannot jump from $200,000 to $600,000. Affordable housing for young families will help the school system. Most young families cannot afford a $600,000 mortgage . Mayor Woodward said McStain builders, who has built a number of duplexes south of 1-25 on Logan , has indicated they would like to build in Englewood. Their units would be on the more affordable level as opposed to the high-end level. Ms. Lonborg asked the members what they thought about asking a representative of the school district to attend a meeting to see what they think and where they are headed. Mayor Woodward said that was a very good idea. Chair Schalk asked for an update on the Flood Middle School. Mr. Vasilas said it is for sale. Mr. White noted the school district has hired a consultant, Mr. Bob Simpson, to help them with their Request for Proposal. He thought the Request for Proposal would be out by the end of February with a close in May. Right now most of the property is zoned R-2 and if anything else other than residential is proposed the developer will need to go through a rezoning process, which could take six months or more. Mayor Woodward noted the property is currently the most valuable piece of property in the City of Englewood as far as potential goes. Mr. Simpson will do a presentation to City Council later in January . Mayor Woodward stated that several members of the school board and the Council members have met several times and the school board has made it very clear they want to do what is in the best interest of the City. Ms. Lonborg asked Mayor Woodward if Council 's posture is to do whatever it takes to get done what is in the best interest of the City. Mayor Woodward said speaking for himself, he is certainly going to and can't imagine anyone not unless a proposal came in that made no sense . Ms . Lonborg said she feels a sense of comfort having Mr. Simpson working on the 4 • • • project because she believes he demonstrated his passion for the City and he 'll help do what is right. The members would like to see a nice hotel on the site. 2008 GOALS Chair Schalk asked the members if they wanted to go into the goals for 2008 since we are short of time. He said the members always bring up good discussion and the members already know what some of the goals are. Communication certainly is one. He said since he has been on the ACE board he feels communication has gotten much better. He said he feels we have good people on Council now and hopefully the new Council can quickly get up to speed and can move aggressively. Mr. Vasilas suggested Chair Schalk and Mr. Hollingsworth sit down before the next meeting and map out what ACE would like to see happen I 2008 and then discuss it at the February meeting. Mr. Panetta said he felt the 2007 goals need to be reviewed. It would be nice to see what ACE set aside for goals in 2007 and what was accomplished. Mr. Panetta asked Mr. White what progress has been made researching the possibility of a CDC. Mr. White said providing information on that subject is one of his and the Department's goals for 2008. He stated the toughest hurdle facing a CDC is the initial funding. Chair Schalk suggested a lunch be set up with Mr. Hollingsworth, Mr. White and any members of ACE who wish to attend a 2008 goal setting session. Staff will coordinate . Mr. Vasilas asked about the visitations for 2007 that did not take place. He said he would like to see that as a goal for 2008. Ms. Espinoza said she attended a training session, but no visitations. Ms. McDermott said ACE did not follow through on the visitations but did note the Chamber was to be an integral part of that program and as the Chamber began to slide it became a problem. Ill. COMMENTS & EVENTS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE There was no Chamber representative present. ACE MEMBERS Mr. Vasilas said he is very disappointed at what is going on with the Chamber of Commerce . He has been a member since the inception and was not made aware they were closing their doors. He said if the Chamber cannot afford to have a full-time person the BID may be able to provide a small amount of money to help out. Mayor Woodward said he is happy to say that the Chamber employed a new Executive Director this week and there is an offer out for the new office manager who has experience with chambers. For the most part a new board is being formed . He said hopefully within the next several weeks you will start seeing activity. One thing the existing board has been very 5 • • • clear about is that the Executive Director and the board members need to deal directly with the BID . BID COMMENTS Mr. Vasilas said about $15,000 has been spent on marketing, specifically branding, since the end of November. He showed the Board an ad for the Broadway District that has ran twice a week for seven weeks in both the Rocky Mountain News and Denver Post. A full page ad has also run eight times on Yourhub.com. Mr. Vasilas said the banners across Broadwa y were up for the holidays. The BID banner will go up every tine there is no other banner scheduled. The BID is currently in the process of designing a banner with larger letters and made of better material. The BID has a website now .... broadwayshoppingdistrict.com. All the businesses in the District are hi ghlighted on the web site . They are currently working on adding properties for lease to the web site. The next BID meeting will be held on January 16 1h at 1 :30 at the bank. He said about 30% of property owners did not pay their du es to the BID . A little over $20,000 is uncollected. The delinquency will show up on the property taxes. Mr. Vasilas asked the City how the businesses can get better snow removal on the sidewalks along Broadway. He said when there is a big snow the snow needs to be removed, not moved from side to side on the sidewalk. Snow is a major problem and it hurts all the businesses. Ms. Lonborg and Mayor Woodward asked if the policy had changed as they have noticed a difference too . Mayor Woodward said he has received a number of complaints that the sidewalks have not been shoveled. He said he believed there is already a Council Request in regarding the issue. Mr. Vasilas said the BID is working with the City and the Parks and Recreation department to trim all the trees along Broadway. Some are blocking business signs. The BID would like the work completed before March. Mr. Jefferson said if was a pleasure meeting the ACE members and is happy to be their liaison . He said if anyone enco unters business owners who have a problem, such as the trees, to please feel free to contact me . He said he would love to help out, individually or collectively for all the businesses. He gave each member his business card. STAFF COMMENTS Staff had northing further to report. No further business was brought forth for consideration. The meeting was adjourned at 1 :06 p.m. The next meeting is scheduled for February 14, 2008 . 6