Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-09-11 ACE MINUTES• • • Alliance for Commerce September 11, 2008 Pagel of8 ALLIANCE FOR COMMERCE IN ENGLEWOOD September 11, 2008 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 Englewood Civic Center, Chair Schalk presiding. Present: Schalk, McDermott, Guinther, Verbeck, Panetta, Espinoza Absent: Lonborg, Vasilas Also present: Michael Morton, Executive Director, Chamber of Commerce Joe Jefferson, City Council Liaison Jim Woodward, Mayor (entered 12:43 ) Staff present: Darren Hollingsworth, Economi c Development Coordinator APPROVAL OF MINUTES August 14, 2008 Chair Schalk stated that the Minutes of August 14, 2008 were to be considered for approval. It was determined ther e was a quorum. Chair Schalk asked if there were any changes or adjustments to the Minutes . There were none. Panetta moved: Guinther seconded: THE MINUTES OF AUGUST 14, 2008 BE APPROVED AS WRITIEN . The motion carried unanimously. 11. ACE BUSINESS ART ABOUT Mr. Hollingsworth stated Artabout is coming up on September 27th and 28 th . A brochure regarding the event was distributed . He encouraged all ACE members to participate. CITY PROCESSES Mr. White was attending a conference and was not in attendance . • • • Alliance for Co mmerce September 11 , 2008 Page 2 of 8 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIC PLAN The Recording Secretary distributed a copy of a memo entitled R You Ready for Retail by Edge Consulting Services. PUBLIC INVESTMENT IN REDEVELOPMENT Ms. McDermott shared some examples of incentives that other cities have offered her company. She said her business deals mostl y with raw ground and new construct ion, but in th e past few years have refocused a portion of the business into the remodel arena . She said the f irst thing she wanted to discuss with the members was what incentives might look lik e and what other communities are doing. Cities are very interested in increasing their supply of affordable housing if the housin g is going to be up graded and amenities are going to be provid ed along with the ho usin g. Denv er had an Ordinance requiring de ve lopers to reserve 10% of the stock the y were building for affordable housing. If developers would do that, Den ver would give a rebate of $5,000 for each unit as a consideration. Boulder requires developers to set aside 20% for affordable development and as an incentive gives density bonuses, parking reductions and waives fees for those developers who do affordable units . Land suppl y can oftentimes be generated b y a community and can be increased even though a City does not h ave a lot of vacant ground . A local government can say we will increase our land supply by inc reasi ng buildable areas within each lot, reducing the cost of the land, and creating alternative PUD zoning by establishing small lot residential developments . It isn't alway s necessar y to h ave acres and acres of vacant land if you ha v e a community that is willing to be creative. O ther tools that can be used as incentiv es are waiving fees , contributing land , contributing part of the approval process , redu c in g the time of the approval process, eliminating public hearin gs for boiler plate issues that come up in an approval process, and modify in g infrastructu re . Eve ry thing a developer has to do in the process of approval is time and money to them . How ever a city can participate to reduce the time and the money needed to get th e project kicked off can be called an incenti ve. What is the cost of doin g business in the city? The more the developer has to pay the more it becomes a determinin g factor about whether they are going to settle in one community versus another. She said all she intended to do with these ideas is to ge t the members thinking ab o ut what things can be negotiable and what things are appealing to developers. It's b y no me an s a full li st; it's just an idea of how to start thinking about it. Chair Schalk said Council is already considering some of your points . He asked her if ACE could come up with some things from different departments that have been helpful to yo ur projects or things that have been done well. Ms. McDermott said her company has not worked in Englewood so we do not have a personal experience here. She said what she has expressed today may already be in existence in Englewood. Chair Schal k said he wo uld like to see a list put together and talk with Staff to get their input. • • Alliance for Co mmerce September l l , 2008 Page 3 o f 8 Mr. Hollingsworth said Council has asked Staff to look at incentives and report back t o them. He said the one on one discussion is currently in place in Englewood. The Development Review Team (ORT), which is made up of seven different City d e partments, meets every Tuesday with developers to review their projects. He referred the members to Mr. White 's memo included in the meeting packet. Mr. Morton said one of his concerns is that Englewood does not have anything in place for incentives nor do we have someone that is assigned to a certain project to shepherd it through the City with our present business owners . That is something we need to look at; maybe it's part of this or maybe it's something separate . He stated he has been working with the BID for nine months to try and get outdoor seating on Broadway and it's just not happening . He said they continue to hit snag after snag after snag. There 's really no on e person from the City who is taking it and shepherding it through the different departments to make sure that everybody understands what is going on. It continues to be a frustratin g process with our present businesses . He said he felt ACE should address that at the sam e time as for projects that are trying to be done by people who have been here for 30 years . Chair Schalk asked that the group not get too far off track . Mr. Morton said he just wanted to say if ACE if forming a committee like that it shouldn't just be for outside businesses , it should be for inside businesses or anyone that wants to attempt this process and have the City help them go through the different steps . Mr. Hollingsworth said , for the record, outside seating was approved by Council the las t meeting in July and was effective immediately. He said businesses can now come in and apply for outside seating permits in the public right of way. He said Englewood is a small community and the developers that are working with ORT are gi v en Sta ff's business ca rds and they are just a phone call away. Chair Schalk said we 're getting off track; please let Margaret finish . Ms. McDermott shared some personal experiences about working in other communities and how her company's developments were enhanced by the relationship they built with the communities . In Adams County they added more parking for a development in exc hange for less open space . In Commerce City her company traded traffic control for a credit of $180,000, which was the cost of the improvements the City needed done at the corner. The money w as reimbursed at the end of the project. There also was a small corner of their property that the y didn't need. It was part of an old homestead that meant a lot to Commerce City and the City also wanted to build a new senior center. They donated the land back to the City to build the senior center right next to their new senior project. • In Denver County we have a property in the area of Sheridan and Hampden that runs along Bear Creek . The City wanted a bike path extension behind our property and we w er e Alliance for Commerce Se ptember 11, 2008 Page 4 of8 • wi lling to create the bike path extension from the east to the west side of our property, but, the City wanted a bike path extension beyond our property line. Her company said no , we cannot afford it and it's not going to benefit us. Our project was totall y held up by parks and recreation for months. They spoke to the Mayor, Wellington Webb, and he helped by speaking to parks and recreation . The y agreed to only build the path along their property, but did not really want the bike path because of the liability issue so the y donated it back t o the City, which reduced their liability. Th e City of Thornton had not had a senior development in a very long time and was very interested in our project. The negotiation worked out was that we went to the front of th e lin e for water taps . The City felt our development was going to enhance their community. Also , there were five design guidelines that we had to adhere to and we were allowed to choose t wo of the five to comply with and didn't have to comply with the other thre e guidelines . Parker has very strict guidelines that we had to adhere to . Our property was adjacent to the Cherry Creek Trail. The City wanted a paved trail from our property to the Cherry Creek Trail, which was very costly. She said her company was also having trouble coming up with their open space requirement. The area between the buildings and the trail was unusable space, couldn 't be turned into a park and we couldn 't build there so we asked the City to have it considered as our open space requirement if we donated that land back to the City and built their bike path connecting the property to the Cherry Creek Trail. The City ga ve • approval for that. • With new construction there 's lots of flexibility, lots of things happen in new construction that can become potentially negotiable items in the process . She said they had two remodel projects that had less grandiose items approved, but ne ve rtheless were very important. In Lakewood we were building a clubhouse as an addition to our property. The City waived all of our permit fees because it was an affordable housing community. Aurora is a very tough city to negotiate with. We currently want to build garages there . The City has a 30% requirement for certain types of facades on buildings being added to a project. The only thing we have been able to negotiate is that they have agreed to waive the 30% requirement on the garage faces, but it is still in effect for the sides and backs. Chair Schalk asked if her company had any Englewood projects in the works . Ms . McDermott said no, it is very expensive to build in Englewood . The land is costly. She said they have contacted several land owners, but haven 't been able to find an y one who is willing to sell. We also have not been able to identify anything to be redeveloped. Mr. Hollingsworth asked how large a typical unit is in her projects. Ms. McDermott said from 500 square feet to 1,500 square feet. • • • Alliance for Commerce September 11 , 2008 P age S of 8 Mr. Jefferson said he would like examples to take to Council. When yo u think of incenti ves I always thought of money, but in reality some of what you discussed today can really make a big difference in a project. Mr. Morton said we need to address the businesses that ha ve brought in tax revenue for multiple years ; presently they are not getting the assistance from the City that they need. He said with all due respect to all of you from the City, you have helped me and the Chamber immensely and I am not trying to overly criticize, but there are a lot of frustr ate d business owners out there that call m e on a regular basis, and even th o ugh the y have approval through City Council for outdoor seating, they have hit so man y snags they have g iven up . If you build housin g, what amenities do we have to support the housin g? If we do not have the shopping or the restaurants people will spend their money somewhere els e other than Englewood. He said El Tepehuan has said forget it regardin g the outside se ati ng; it's too difficult. The Breakfast Queen has blown it off. These things that can be aut ify Englewood, create street traffic, and revitali ze the downtown area ha ve hit so man y snags that the owners of the businesses just give up and go away. Mr. Panetta said on the flip side hopefull y that can be a learning experience for th e City. Mr. Morton agreed , let's sol ve this . We have a good base of businesses here already, let 's keep them happy. Chair Schalk said in some minor defens e of th e outdoor seating, he said he belie v es it is a grea se trap situation that is involved with El Tepehu an and also with the Br eakfast Queen. There are other issues that are invol ved . Adding outdoor seating increases capacity, increases your grease trap needs, etc. He said he doesn't believe any one person can shepherd someone through it. He said he went through the process; his busines s is approved for outdoor seating but is not doing it right now, and probably a lot of others are not doing it right now, because it's too late in the season to get any benefit out of it. There are a variety of things that have to be considered and the City can't just "make those thin gs happen ". He said we are learning from this issue and believes that Staff and the City have come around a little. Hopefully, we will get better on future issues . Mr. Jefferson said he believes part of th at is the communication is sue and th at's why we asked Mr. White to provide an idea of th e City processes . He said he feels Council is also on board with this idea and it is frustrating to us to have business owners frustrated in trying to mov e throu gh a process . We are all on the same p age as far as wanting outdoor seating . Ch ai r Schalk thanked Ms. McDermott for prov idin g great information. He wo u ld like to continue this discussion at the October meeting. Mr. Panetta said one of th e important comments Margaret made and Joe commented on is just getting over the ste reoty pe that incenti ve me ans giving away t ax reven u e or waiving fees . Mr. Hollingsworth stated Staff will conduct a sur vey of other jurisdictions to see w hat the y are doing and bring it back to ACE and Council. • • • Alliance for Commerce September 11 , 2008 Page 6 of8 Mr. Verbeck said not everyone that wants to come in is going to be a big developer. Maybe t here are two different parts; one for big business and developers and one that serves the ex isting and new smal l b u sinesses. Mr. Jefferson asked if he saw the Catal yst Program as providing that. Mr. Verbeck said yes , that's a part of it and the Enterprise Zone is another piece of it, but the problem is if you are not making a lot of money the tax breaks and matching funds aren't going to help you. Mr. Espinoza said the bottom line is what is of value to that business . She believes you ha v e to have both the monetary and value proposition . Chair Schalk said his general impression is that the City does not have the financial depth to provide cash incentives. H e said h e believes the mill levy for residences is very low and if there was more money being gathered from the residences maybe the City could have more negotiating power to make some of the bigger deals happen, which could really help the economic development. Mayor Woodward said types of cash incentives that have been discussed in economic development workshops and seminars he has been involved in are cities will do a sales tax type incentive for the l arger businesses and in return ask for something that benefits the community, such as i nfrastructure improvements to the site. Ms. McDermott noted there were no cash incentives in anything she described and yet they are very good neighbors in those communities and we support the communities that we are in. Mr. Panetta presented an article stating IKEA is coming to Centennial. Ill. COMMENTS & EVENT S CHAMBER OF COMMERCE Mr. Morton noted Englewood Days is coming up on October 4th. He said he needs support from the community, volunteers, people to rent booths, sponsors, etc. He said frankly it has been a little b it frustrating that the Englewood community is not embracing this festival. We have a general apathy among businesses to participate with the Chamber. The booth rentals are not that expensive. We have both food and non-food booth rentals and sponsorships open . The festival benefits the Military Families Relief Fund and we need more local businesses to sign up or at least sponsor the event because it's bringing recognition to Englewood itself. We need more help to pull this off in the first inaugural year since being moved from just a car show over by Swedish to right in front of City Hall with light rail access into the main part of the festival. He asked for ACE members to let him know of anyone that might be interested in participating. He provided his phone number to all members. Chair Schalk said he believed everyone also had his email and asked if he could send everyone information as to what is going on at the festival so it can be passed on to other businesses . • • • Al li ance for Commerce September 11 , 2008 Page 7 of 8 Mayor Woodward asked if posters were ready to be placed in business windows. Mr. Morton said there are some posters out and the Chamber ha s flyers that can be picked up or he said he will deliver them . The Chamber does have their event license and will have alcoho lic beverages. Mr. Morton said there aren't too many festivals that are located on the light rail line. This could be built up into something o f prominence and we can showcase a very nice section of Englewood. BID COMMENTS Mr. Vasilas was not present. ACE MEMBERS Mr. Verbeck presented Mr. Hollingsworth with his resignation letter and stated thi s would be his last ACE meeting. He sold his business , Mile High Coffee, on September 51h. He said it's been great serving on ACE . The members thanked him for his service . Chair Schalk asked Ms . Espinoza if she would li ke to move up from the alternate position . She stated she would . If Council approves her appointment, the vacant altern ate positio n would be filled in January. Mr. Hollingsworth encouraged ACE members to let oth er business people know about the vacancy on the Board. Mr. Jefferson will provide more information regarding Bates Station at the October meetin g. Mayor Woodward said he was at the Metro Mayor's Caucus with RTD this morning. Metro Mayor's Caucus is going to establish a Task Force to make suggestions to RTD as to what should be done about RTD since they are so far over budget. One of the things that the mayors were very clear on was that anything that was approved by the voters was not going to be taken off the table. Each one of the eight lines will ha v e one or two representatives . He said he is hoping he will be representative of the southwest corridor since Bates Station and the parking at City Center were both part of FasTracks an d Englewood sold RTD the land for the Highlands Ranch Station and owns all the land around it. Mr. Flaherty stated RTD will hold a public meeting on October 2 nd at 6 p.m . 1n th e Community Room to discuss FasTracks options. Mr. Panetta asked what is happening with Micro Business Development. Mr. Hollin gsw orth said he will provide additional information, if it is available, at the next meetin g. He believe s they have laid all employees off and closed shop . Mr. Panetta asked if all of the Englewood funds have been spent. Mr. Hollingsworth said a little over $100,000 was lent out of the $218,000 placed in the fund . He said he has requested a letter from Mr. Jack Cra w ford , the Interim Executive Director and President of the Board, regarding the status of Englewood's assets. He stated he will share that letter with ACE and Council. • • • Alliance for Commerce September 11 , 2008 Page 8 of8 STAFF COMMENTS Mr. Hollingsworth said at the last meeting ACE endorsed the smoking ordinance change for the hospital area. It will be on Council 's agenda for Study Session on Monday night. Mr. White has been working close ly with Planning and Zoning Commission regarding "Sale Day" flags that the Business Improvement District is requesting. The issue will be in front of Council in October. No further business was brought fo rth for consideration . T he meeting was adjourned at 1: 10 p.m. The next meeting is scheduled for October 9, 2008 .