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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-06-18 Business and Economic Development Committee Minutes BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE Tuesday, June 18, 2013 5:15 PM City Council Chambers MINUTES Committee Members Present: Blanchette, Nealley, Chair Sprague, Longo, and Civiello City Staff Present: Conlow, Pereira, Bird, and Hathaway Chair Sprague called the meeting to order at 5:15 p.m. 1. Parking Enforcement Proposal Jason Bird, Business Development Officer/Downtown Coordinator, indicated that Staff is recommending Republic Parking’s proposal to operate the City’s downtown parking enforcement. Their proposal is for a vehicle mounted technology that reads license plates as it scans and travels through traffic in the downtown. A base line would be set, another scan would be done at a point in time and it would be noted whether a vehicle had been in that same spot or in that same area at that time. The scanning technology would create a signal, a ticket would be printed, and the attendant would then place it on the vehicle and continue scanning vehicles in the downtown. This would help to eliminate parking issues such as those who go out and wipe chalk marks off tires. It would also be a tool to help to turn over parking spaces for additional customers in the downtown. Council Longo moved staff recommendation. Councilor Blanchette seconded the motion. Councilor Nealley indicated that he felt that a lot of the people who park in the downtown also patronize the restaurants. He said that he felt that the present parking enforcement personnel while walking around are observing things and keeping a presence in the downtown which is a net benefit. He indicated that he was going to vote against this. Councilor Blanchette indicated that she feels that the times and circumstances have changed. She is encouraged by the fact that Republic Parking is going to train its employees to be sensitive to downtown issues. She said that those parkers who shuffle their cars are taking parking spaces away from customers. The present situation is not working and now is the time to try something different. 2 Councilor Civiello asked how giving tickets will encourage those who would rather pay for a ticket than park in the parking garage to park elsewhere, and also asked about the data collection. Parke Clemons, with Republic Parking, indicated that their system will not be used at any time to look for stolen vehicles and all of the data collected during the day will be dumped. The data will be for tracking the time a customer has been in a parking spot and not connected to anything else. Bird indicated that downtown employees are the primary people who are racking up tickets. Councilor Longo indicated that the cost of this has gone down significantly and he feels this is a better proposal. Chair Sprague welcomed public comment. Mr. Wayne Mallar, a resident of 103 Essex Street, asked if they had done a cost analysis between having a hand held system for the existing people on the street versus the system in a vehicle. Clemons indicated that they did and they concluded that there is no cost savings to that. City Manager Conlow indicated that two people with a handheld device cannot cover the area that a vehicle does. It will cost less for the City to operate. Mallar indicated that he did not feel that Staff has looked into this enough and he saw the possibility of savings while keeping more people in the downtown. He also indicated that this proposal is only for the downtown and the City is not considering the other areas of the City that are just as important. Chair Sprague asked for a vote. The committee voted 4 to 1 in favor of the motion. (Nealley voted against.) Motion passed. 2. Sidewalk Agreement with Seasons Tanya Pereira, Business Development Specialist, indicated that this is a sidewalk agreement with Seasons Restaurant to allow them to have outside seating in front of their restaurant on Main Street. This is exactly the same agreement that the City has with downtown restaurants such as Giacomos and Ipanema’s. The only difference is that this is outside of the downtown area. In the downtown, they don’t have to come before the Council. Because it is outside of the area, Staff felt that this should be considered by the Council. It has been approved by the Code Enforcement Office, the Fire Inspector, and the Police Department has signed off. Councilor Longo indicated that he has reviewed the plans for this and he is confident that the sidewalk is passable, won’t create a new pedestrian burden, 3 and will be a positive asset. He moved Staff recommendation. Councilor Nealley seconded the motion. Councilor Blanchette asked what the advantage was for them to have tables adjacent to the sidewalk as opposed to around the side of the building. Pereira indicated that it is because of Waterfront Concerts. Councilor Blanchette indicated that she was uncomfortable with this as drinking could get out of hand. Pereira indicated that the Legal Staff has done a very good job of making sure that there are strict alcohol enforcement provisions. If there is a problem, Staff can address it. Councilor Blanchette indicated that while she did not have a problem with the downtown restaurants she did not see the need to have seating out on Main Street. Police Chief Hathaway indicated that Asst. City Solicitor Nicklas has crafted language that will allow the City to correct poor behavior not just with Seasons Restaurant but with anybody that has an outdoor area where they serve alcohol. Chair Sprague said that his concern would be whether this would be blocking the sidewalk. Nicklas indicated that they have left six feet which is more than is generally required along the entire sidewalk. Tom Workman, Food and Beverage Manager of Seasons Restaurant and Sports Lounge, indicated that foremost they are a restaurant. Secondly, the reason they looked at being on Main St is the visibility it gives them as their parking and main entrance are on the opposite end of the building. He indicated that the waterfront is an exciting place to be and they want to make themselves part of that. Chair Sprague called for a vote. All in favor, Motion passed. 3. Commission on Cultural Development Proposed Budget, Grant Eligibility and Review Changes. Jason Bird indicated that the Cultural Commission wishes to make a couple of changes to their budget and funding guidelines as they would like to fund individual artists or reimburse individual artists for work on public art for public consumption. They are proposing a $1,000 limit for materials and this funding would not be released until the art is completed. Another change being proposed is that the City would have a rolling basis application process for applications under $1,000. If over $1,000, it would be considered twice a year. Bird also noted that the Commission was proposing changes regarding its budget. Councilor Blanchette explained that the $1,000 grants to individual artists is a new concept for the Cultural Commission. Councilor Longo asked who 4 approves these. Bird indicated that if the ordinance were changed, any subsequent application received by the Cultural Commission would be forwarded to this committee and the full City Council. Councilor Longo indicated that he would like for this to be changed so that an organization or an individual could only apply once every 12 months and not receive funding in consecutive years. He said that they need to become self-sufficient. Councilor Nealley felt that the discretion should be left to the City Council. He added that it could be an extraordinary situation where they have a matching grant, etc. He said that he did not want to hamstring the Commission’s discretion. Councilor Blanchette agreed and added that she would like to leave it up to the Commission and Council so as not to miss out on something. Councilor Longo said that the Councilors have made some valid points and discretion is important. Councilor Longo moved Staff recommendation. Councilor Blanchette seconded the motion. All in favor, motion carried. 4. Proposed Changes to Design Review of Downtown Facade and Waterfront Facade Districts. Chair Sprague indicated that this item will be discussed at a future meeting. 5. Request for Proposals – Pickering Square Commercial Space. RFP) Tanya Pereira indicated that Staff has drafted a Request for Proposals for reuse of the vacant space in the bottom floor of the Parking Garage. In light of the fact that the Bus Transit Relocation Study has not been completed, Staff recommended that the Request for Proposal be considered by the Committee but that it not be sent out until the completion of the Bus Transit Relocation Study and that discussion. Pereira indicated that Staff felt that any developer who would be interested in bidding on this proposal would be “hamstrung” by the lack of a decision on the bus station. Councilor Civiello moved to recommend the draft RFP but not proceed with it until the Bus Transit Relocation Study has been completed. Councilor Blanchette seconded the motion. All in favor, motion carried. 6. City Owned Properties – Available and Leased. Tanya Pereira noted a previous BED Committee meeting discussion about the waterfront properties. During that discussion there was some question as to what the City has for available properties. Staff has compiled some specific information about all of the properties that the City has. She discussed the handout prepared by Staff which includes a listing of all properties available, a 5 power point presentation which gives an overview of each property, and various other information. 7. Discussion on Signage Implementation. It was noted that this item would be discussed at a later meeting. 8. Executive Session – Economic Development – Property Disposition – 1 M.R.S.A. § 405(6)(C) Councilor Longo moved to go into Executive Session under – 1 M.R.S.A. § 405(6)(C). Councilor Nealley seconded the motion. All in favor, motion carried. 9. Committee Action on Above Item It was moved and seconded to exit Executive Session. The Committee moved th Staff recommendation to move forward to the City Council on Monday June 24 to seek approval of the execution of an Option Agreement in final form approved by the City Solicitor and Director of Community and Economic Development. The motion was seconded. All in favor, motion carried. 10. Executive Session – Economic Development – Property Disposition – 1 M.R.S.A. § 405(6)(C) It was moved and seconded to go into Executive Session under – 1 M.R.S.A. § 405(6)(C). All in favor, motion carried. 11. Committee Action on Above Item It was moved and seconded to exit Executive Session. The Committee moved Staff recommendation to move forward to the City Council to seek approval of an agreement in a final form approved by the City Solicitor and Director of Community & Economic Development. All in favor, motion carried. The meeting adjourned at 6:40 p.m.