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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-07-09 ACE MINUTES• • • .. I. ;P- ~ ALLIANCE FOR COMMERCE IN ENGLEWOOD July 9, 2009 CALL TO ORDER The regular meeting of the Alliance for Comm e rce in Englewood (ACE) was called to order at 11 :40 a.m. in the City Council Conference Room of the Englewood Civic Center, Chair Lonborg presiding. Present: Lo nborg, McDermott, Vasilas, Schalk, Panetta Absent: Espinoza Also present: Joe Jefferson, City Council Liaison Jim Woodward, Mayor (entered 11 :51 ) Randy Penn , City Councilperson Staff present: Alan White, Community Development Director Darren Hollingsworth, Economic Development Coordinator APPROVAL OF MINUTES May 14, 2009 -~- Chair Lonborg stated that the Minutes of May 14, 2009 were to be considered for approval. It was determined there was a quorum. Chair Lonborg asked if ther e were any changes or adjustments to the Minutes. There were none . Panetta moved: McDermott seconded: THE MINUTES O F MAY 14, 2009 BE APPROVED AS WRITIEN . The motion carr i ed unanimously. 11. ACE BUSINESS ~ Mr. Hollingsworth distributed a brochure that was designed for th e May 2009 International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) convention in Las Vegas. Approximately 30,000 people attended the convention. Four emp loyees from the City attended to promote the City and the land at Mclellan Reservoir. He also distributed a picture of the City/Englewood Mclellan Reservoir Foundation booth . Chair Lonborg asked who is on the Englewood Mclellan Reservoir Foundati on Board. Mr. H o llin gsworth and Director White provided a brief background on th e Foundation. Direc tor White said attending the ICSC convention was the first attempt at marketing th e property. Since the convention there has been ren ewed interest in t he p roperties and he has spoken to several interested parties in the past few weeks . The balance of th e land is for lease only . The Southwest Light Rail lin e wi ll terminate at the property in approxima tel y 2017. RTD paid between $3,000,000 and $3,500,000 for their property. 1 Mr. Hollingsworth noted the properties are development ready, which makes the property • more marketable. He referenced a map of the area in the brochure. • • Chair Lonborg asked if four peop le attending was consistent with the other municipalities that attended. Director White stated it was . She said she was delighted to hear that the City is out seeking opportunities instead of waiting for someone to come through the door. That's where the City needs to be. Director White said ACE members and City Council members heard a dollar figure as t o what Community Development spent to get ready for the convention for the design and printing of the brochure, graphics for the display, the video, thumb drives, etc. Chair Lonborg asked if that was the number that the person attending the City Council meeting asked about. Director White said it was and was very happy to hear City Council say the money was an investment in the properties. The promotional materials will be used for years to come and if the City/Englewood Mclellan Reservoir Foundation has a booth at ICSC next year we can use a lot of the materials we have, we just need to ship them out. Future conventions will be less costly. Chair Lonborg said for those of you who were not at the City Council meeting there was a question from a concerned citizen regarding the cost of the trip. Chair Lonborg sa id the way the question was phrased she assumed the money was spent on lodging and entertainment, but if it was used to get ready for the convention it was more of an investment. She said she does marketing for a living and it was a very reasonabl e sum of money spent. Mayor Woodward said the v ision of City Council is that the Mclellan properties are an opportunity for revenue of between $4 and $5 million dollars annually for a long tim e. Basically, that means the citizens of the City are not going to be asked for a tax increas e. With what the City has currently, it is not going to be sustainable long term without some sort of changes in the tax structure. In the 1950's when this land was purchased I'm sure nobody thought it was going to be the great opportunity it is today. Mr. Hollingsworth passed around the informational book that was shown at ICSC. It showcased not only the Mclellan Reservoir parcels, but also the City. The quality of the booth was right up there with the rest of the pub lic sector booths . Not many other cities had videos. Director White said another misinformation that was presented at the Council meeting was that Staff did not promote Englewood ..... Staff did. Mr. Hollingsworth said in advance of the convention Staff contacted real estate people who we consider to have development opportunities in the City to let them know Staff would be attending ICSC. All were very pleased to hear the City would be marketing their properties . Information on potential development opportunities was included in the book. Mr. Hollingsworth noted a question came up as to why the Arapahoe County Enterprise Zone map and information on Colorado Brownfield 's was on the back of the fl y er. H e said they paid a fee to be included on the flyer, which offset the cost of production. He gave a brief description of Staff's marketing efforts at the convention . 2 • • Chair Lonborg asked if other front-range cities attended . Mr. Hollingsworth said Commerce City, Arvada and Longmont were there . Mr. Panetta said he applauded Community Development and the Foundation for taking the steps to attend the convention . I think we all realize there is always going to be people that are critical of anything Staff does. Panetta moved : Vasilas seconded: That ACE send a letter to City Council giving our support and applauding Community Development and the Foundation for being pro-active in attending the convention and trying to promote the City of Englewood . Timing wise this is the best time to be doing such. It was very timely and the appropriate thing to do. The motion carried unanimously. Staff will write the letter for ACE's signature. The vacant three properties on the northeast corner of E Hampden Avenue and South Broadway were discussed. Mr. Hollingsworth noted he had spoken to the owner of the property and he wants to find the right high-quality tenant for those spaces , but has not brought anything forward to date . Mr. Vasilas asked if the City had an Ordinance in place for vacant properties such as these. They are a black eye for the community; they hurt the entire area. Mayor Woodward said the City has a maintenance code; staff will look into it. Mr. Hollingsworth noted the property is currently being marketed. Mr. Panetta asked if there were any immediate leads that came out of the convention. Mr. Hollingsworth said there was not, but Staff is doing follow-up as a result of the convention. Staff has ideas for good business information coming out of Co-Star, which is a real estate data base. Staff spoke to several consultants at the convention and to an alternative power company (wind turbine). The convention created a lot of knowledge as to what is happening outside our market. Staff brought back marketing materials from several communities and participated in the public sector showcase and marketed th e City. Englewood had a good public booth. Ms. McDermott said you were packaged and prepared . She stated she did a lot of trade shows in the 90 's and Staff had an excellent looking package. The beauty of the booth is that it is modular so you don't necessarily have to spend big dollars to rent space at other shows. She congratulated Staff. Director White said Staff has an opportunity next week to attend th e International Council of Shopping Center's Alliance meeting where we can promote the City once again locall y using some of the same marketing tools we used at the convention . • ']~1' Mr. Hollingsworth provided a 2009 update on economic activities. There are 11 businesses this year that are participating in the Commercial Catalyst program . He briefly 3 • • • reviewed those businesses and what improvements they would like to make. One new business is Quackers located in the 3400 block of South Broadway. He said the owner signed the lease immediately after speaking with Mr. Vasilas. Mr. Vasilas said he told her he felt she choose the best location in Englewood for her business . Mr. Hollingsworth said he would like to present an update to Council in the near future as the Commercial Catalyst Program has completed almost 100 projects since being cr eated in 1998. Chair Lonborg suggested that the City profile with bells and whistles whoever that 1001h person is. Mr. Hollingsworth thought that was a great idea. Mr. Panetta asked for an update on Flood Middle School and the Hilltop Motel. Mr. Hollingsworth said he did not believe there were any proposals on the table for the school at this time . Director White said it was his understanding the offers they have rec eiv ed have been very low and were not considered. The school district has been approach ed b y Englewood Arts for a center and school of the arts, but Director White did not kno w ho w far along they were in their discussions. The motel is currently on the market. Mr. Vasilas asked who the protestors are in front of Kaufman 's store ev er y Saturd ay . Mr. Penn said they come out about once a month and he believes they are protesting Scientology. Mayor Woodward said they are not required to obtain a permit as long as they are on public right-of-way. Mr. Vasilas asked if there was a way to have th e m stand in another location. 111. COMMENTS & EVENTS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE If]' Mr. Penn said the golf tournament was tremendous with 28 teams play in g. The Chamber has already lined up several sponsors for next year . There will be a seminar meeting at Broken Tee on July 28 1h featuring Adult & Youth Group Employment Opportunities -Work Force Investment and Steve McDermott of Lib e rty Tax on "Tax Stimulus & Deduction". The car show and motorcycle show are all set to go for Englewood Days on August 29th. There will be two stages , one on the Lincoln side and one on th e Acoma sid e. Eight restaurants have signed up for the Taste of Englewood, but we would love to have more. If the Chamber doesn't get 20 Englewood restaurants they will go outside of the City. On the Acoma side there will be a "Spotlight on Englewood". The City of Englewood w ill sp o tl ig ht several of their departments and ACE is welcome to do something. The service clubs ha v e been invited to have a booth, Englewood Education Foundation will be there, letters are going out to Swedish, Kaiser and Craig to see if they would like to have a booth, there will be two tents for golfing and two bands have been signed. The fee is $15 to set up a tent, but that could be waived by the City. The cost for a vendor is $50. The Farmer 's Market is going well and currently has 14 vendors . Mr. Penn noted that Amy Dolezal will be taking over the Chamber as soon as possibl e. 4 • • • Colore Pizzeria Moderna at 2700 South Broadway will be holding their Grand Opening on Saturday at 10:30. The Mayor will be there for the ribbon cutting . BID COMMENTS ~ Mr. Vasilas said the planters on Broadway look very nice and there has been a lot of positive comments regarding them. People love the artwork in the planters. Sixteen new planters were placed in May. The balance (6 planters) has been ordered to finish the 3300 and 3400 blocks of South Broadway and should arrive in August. Next on the agenda is to improve the BID's website and after that they want to improve on their marketing and advertising. They would like to do some telev ision ads for airing early next spring. Mayor Woodward said he has had numerous comments from citizens who live here and from people who drive through the City that have noticed the planters and have mentioned what an improvement it is . Some thought the City was responsible, but we have let them know the BID installed the planters and flowers. Chair Lonbor g suggested the Englewood Herald feature the improvements in an article. The next BID meeting will be held at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Jul y 22n d at Acoustic Music Revival. He invited all to attend. ACE MEMBERS -~, Chair Lonborg asked what became of ACE's request to have a representative from the school district attend a meeting. Mr. Hollingsworth said the school district gives an annual update to City Council and Staff was planning on inviting ACE to attend that meeting; it has not been scheduled to date. Chair Lonborg said what she had in mind was for Mr. McDaniel to come to an ACE meeting, not for ACE to attend a formal City Council meeting. Chair Lonborg asked who should contact him. Mr. Hollingsworth said Staff would make the call and invite Mr. McDaniel to an upcoming ACE meeting. Mr. Panetta asked if the Micro Business Development funding project is officially dead. Mr. Hollingsworth said Micro Business Development is no longer in existence and there is no recourse on the City's part for any of those dollars. The only people who had legal claim were the banks and they hired an entity to help try to get their monies back to pay off the debts. Mr. Panetta asked if all of Englewood 's money is gone . Mr. Hollingsworth said that was correct. Mr. Panetta asked Director White if the Community Dev elopment Corporation (CDC) issue was dead. Director White said it is not dead but dormant at this time . Mayor Woodward said the City has applied for $1.2 million of Arapahoe County's share of the Neighborhood Stabilization dollars. There is a possibility that some of that money could provide seed money for a CDC. STAFF COMMENTS ~· Mr. Hollingsworth will send an email to ACE members regarding Artabout to be held on August 1 '1 • 5 • • • Mayor Woodward noted the Annual Boards and Commission Appreciation Night will be held on Monday, August 10 1h at Pirate's Cove . No further business was brought forth for consideration. The meeting was adjourned at 1 :30 p.m. The next meeting is scheduled for August 13, 2009 . 6