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Home My WebLink About2010-06-09 Business and Economic Development Committee Minutes BUSINESS & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE City Hall Council Chambers Wednesday,June 9, 2010,5:00 pm MINUTES Councilors: Chair Weston, Blanchette, Gratwick,Nealley and Wheeler Staff: McKay, Harrington, Patterson, Nicklas, Wellington, Police Chief Gastia Others: Brian Ames, Board President of the Downtown Bangor Partnership; Diane Cormier of Diva's Inc.; Kathy Baldacci of The Bangor School House; Jay Liscolia, Pastor of Pathway Church; Dean Perry, employee of Diva's Inc.;Pamela Murphy Williams, Bangor resident; Lucinda Jacaky- member of Pathway Church; 1. Bangor Center Management Corporation/Downtown Bangor Partnership Community& Economic Development Director, Rod McKay, gave a brief history of the Bangor Center Corporation District the City Council first approved in 1987. The City raises revenue from a Special Assessment District in the downtown area that averages $40,000 per year that is used to provide additional services(over what they normally would do in other areas of the City). As part of this process, the City contracts with the Bangor Center Management Corporation (now known as Downtown Bangor Partnership)to carry out a development program and to advise the City on downtown activities. At the City Council meeting scheduled for Monday, June 14, 2010, there will be a public hearing prior to adoption of the development program and financial plan for the Bangor Center Development District. Also a second public hearing will be held on the establishment of an implementation assessment on properties within the District and then authorize the contract with the Bangor Center Management Corporation/Downtown Bangor Partnership. Brian Ames, President of the Downtown Bangor Partnership, reviewed the program and proposed budget that are made up of revenues from the Special Assessment this year plus the carryover from last year. He also reviewed this past year's accomplishments/plans for the upcoming year stating that the mission of the Downtown Bangor Partnership(DBP) is to improve property values in downtown by promoting, but not producing, marketing activities by rebranding through marketing the overall benefits of the downtown, encouraging retention/ growth of commercial, residential and cultural life. Brian concluded by saying the budget is a very reasonable one and the DBP Board asks for the Committee's agreement and consideration of this request. A motion was made by Councilor Nealley to move staff recommendation to full City Council to Adopt the Development Program and Financial Plan for the Bangor Center Development District(aka Downtown Bangor Partnership); seconded by Councilor Gratwick. So voted. 2. Update on Citizens Communication Initiative Debbie Cyr gave an update on the City's new email/text alert system stating that the email service is working well for the weekly meeting notices and that it is time to expand the options available to our citizens based on specific areas of interest. A draft survey has been drafted that will be posted on the City's website home page to determine what specific areas subscribers are interested in. It is anticipated that the survey will be available for a 10-14 day period; final results will be implemented thereafter. Councilor Gratwick suggested that a category of`Volunteer' be added to the Survey under"Areas of Interest". He added that there are various areas for volunteers such as Marshals for Parades, Assisting in grade school classrooms, for cleanup of streams, etc. Chair Weston added that once a year we also have volunteer opportunities on City committees and boards as well as City Council petitions. 3. Video Production Internship Kaleena Harrington reviewed this item stating that a summer intern, Joe Giordano, from the New England School of Communications (NESCOM)at Husson University, will be producing several videos for the City's access channel during the months of June and July. This partnership has allowed the use of their high quality, high definition cameras that will provide high-quality videos. The scope of work that Joe will be doing for the access channel has been reviewed by Debbie Cyr. Some of the areas to be covered are: the City's Recycling Program; Health and Community Services; downtown video w/Shirar Patterson; Bangor Waterfront; Historic/Preservation tour and tips; Code Enforcement on code violations and permitting process; Bangor Trails and City Forest, Parks and Recreation services; Human Resources and City Clerk services; Assessing Department and Treasury Department services. Joe has also taken photos of current development in Bangor. With Committee's approval, it is suggested that an `interactive video' with the Council also be done. It's hoped to have a review of the videos for those interested from the City in order to make suggestions/comments before his internship ends. Councilor Nealley suggested that the Welcome To Bangor items include City staff at every level and through every department so that it is representative whether it is police, fire department, etc. Councilor Gratwick added that there should be something on the BAT public transportation and on alternative transportation particularly bike routes that will tie in to the Bangor Trails video. Also, have something about the arts consortium downtown. 4. Parking Garage Discount for Downtown Business Owners Asst. City Solicitor Paul Nicklas reviewed this item stating that this issue originally came up in a City Gov't. Ops meeting suggesting that downtown business owners should receive a discount on the regular rate at the Pickering Square Parking Garage. Currently, downtown residents receive a discount, as do purchasers of over ten parking spaces. The parking rate at the Garage is $57 per month, $27 on the roof. He added that The Downtown Parking Advisory Committee feels that if business owners were given a discount it would create a situation that the majority of those parking in the lot would be discounted, at which point it might just make sense to lower the general cost there. As the parking garage already does not run in the black, they weren't sure this would make a lot of sense. The one thing they did suggest was getting out more information to businesses on these discounts over the next few months then we will be able to see whether those have any effect. There are several discounts which can apply and some parkers have grouped together in order to make these discounts available to them. There's also been an increase in the waiver fee to $15. Councilor Gratwick(as a member of the Downtown Parking Advisory Committee)added that the intent is to make sure there's a place for visitors and shoppers to have a place to park and secondly to make the downtown business friendly as well for those who work in the downtown. The parking committee feels that so far there's an unpublicized but very well recognized pattern where we do give major discounts from 5% - 50% off depending on where people want to park. At the parking garage there are approximately 240 people taking advantage of the discounts. The conclusion is that this information should go back to the Downtown Bangor Partnership in order that they give us more feedback of what will be more meaningful for them. It is hoped to get feedback in 3-4 months and then come back to look at it again. Councilor Nealley stated that he's not confident that we need to overly change the existing policy for this purpose, but he is open-minded to it. Chair Weston added that the origin of this particular conversation came from a workshop in regards to budget conversations with the police chief and this was one of the topics that came out of that. The other topics were the boot fee conversation and the repeat offender fine. He inquired if there is a way to encourage those that typically use the retail spaces in downtown for their regular parking shift on a daily basis to be encouraged to park elsewhere if it was incentivized. 5. Regulating Commercial Displays of Nudity Diane Cormier of Diva's Inc.,presented to the Committee her request to have an ordinance change to allow incorporating alcohol and nudity at her place of business in Bangor. The current ordinance allows for each but not within 500' of each other. She is requesting that the two ordinances be combined by grandfathering Diva's original license allowing alcohol. Asst. City Solicitor Paul Nicklas passed out to the Committee copies of Bangor's current ordinance along with that of the City of Portland, Maine. He reiterated that Bangor's current ordinance does not allow nudity and alcohol to co-exist in an establishment. In Portland there is one establishment that was grandfathered back in 1997 where both are allowed. Under Bangor's current ordinance, grandfathering, if Diva's were to exist as an entity that has both alcohol and nude entertainment, would not be the right term because it doesn't currently have both of those. Another element to add into this conversation is that given Bangor's zoning regulations you would not be able to add nude entertainment to Diva's at its current location. There are other parts of Bangor where an establishment could exist if the alcohol restriction in the nude entertainment ordinance was relaxed. But again, under Bangor's zoning ordinance that wouldn't exist. So if it were to exist in its current location, there would be at least one other ordinance that would have to be changed as well. Chair Weston requested to read a letter from Councilor Stone (in his absence)to the Committee. At this time, Councilor Wheeler and Councilor Blanchette asked to make their comments prior to Chair Weston reading Councilor Stone's letter. They both expressed objection to the reading of Council Stone's letter at this time for the record of this meeting as Councilors should refrain from expressing purely personal opinions during the discussion of this issue. Councilor Blanchette stated that the reasoning of her asking that this item be referred to this committee and then be forwarded onto the City Council was simply a courteous that she has seen, participated in and encourages of the Bangor City Council to offer every one that has something they want to bring before the Council to have a fair hearing. She added that as the other Councilors are not present(Councilor s Hawes, Palmer and Bronson)they didn't get a chance to present a statement. Chair Weston stated that as it was directed to him for the purpose of reading this evening. he would proceed to read Councilor Stone's letter. He further added that if any emails had been directed to him for the same purpose (but they were not) he would have read them as well. Councilor Stone's letter read —"as Council Chair if the vote were not to consider additional discussion for an ordinance change, I would encourage the Chair to bring this item to a close and not forward it to full Council for further discussion". As there were no comments from the table, Chair Weston stated that public comments would be taken at this time. Members of the public spoke to the Committee on this issue with the majority expressing their preference to not change the current ordinance to allow alcohol/nudity in the same establishment. Discussion followed amongst the Committee members and staff on issues of what would be considered abnormal nuisance calls as the business exists now; and what types of laws does Bangor have that relate to the sale of alcohol in grocery stores, hardware stores, etc. as it would relate to commercial activity. Councilor Nealley made a motion to not forward this item on to full City Council. Seconded by Councilor Gratwick to keep the current ordinance in place. Chair Weston then further asked Ms. Cormier to clearly state what exactly she is looking for tonight—an ordinance change or is it for some other request ? Ms. Cormier- I want an ordinance change; I want the regulations relaxed; I would like you to model the Portland ordinances. I feel Bangor's are too restrictive; I am asking the ordinances to be modeled after Portland's. Chair Weston, recognizing that there's a motion and a second on the table, asked for a vote. Resulting vote was 2 to I to not forward this item to the full Council. Chair Weston then added - so the Committee is not going to recommend moving forward with this item. However, I agree with Councilor Blanchette— I think that the conversation that we're having begs the respect of the full Council and, therefore, I will ask the Asst. City Solicitor to put an ordinance change request for the full Council and forward it without the support of this Committee. 6. Eastern Maine Development Corporation—Request for Community Development Loan to Fund Handicap Access Improvements to EMDC's 40 Harlow Street Property Rod McKay reviewed this item stating that EMDC is seeking financing under the City's Community Development Loan Program in order to make accessibility improvements to its 40 Harlow Street property. The building also houses the University of Maine Museum of Art open to the public. EMDC has applied for a loan in the amount of$47,264 to do improvements to the walkway entrance to the building, for installation of automatic entrance doors, a handicap ramp and repair of the pedestrian bridge leading to the entrance. Staff is recommending a loan at 3% interest with a 20-year amortization period. The source of the funds would be the federally funded Community Development Block Grant Program Business Development assistance line item, which is available to provide commercial, industrial, downtown revitalization and handicap access loans and assistance, with $86,500 in available funds. A motion was made by Councilor Nealley and seconded by Councilor Gratwick to approve the request from EMDC for a Community Development Loan to Fund Handicap Access Improvements to their 40 Harlow Street property. So voted. With respect to the following Items 7 & 8,Attorney Richard Silver, representing Chris Geaghan of the Whig& Courier,stated that he has financial information to present to the Committee for Executive Session. He apologized that it was not available sooner adding that he will leave it with Rod McKay, and instead of having any further discussion with Committee at this time remove themselves from the agenda,thus giving staff and Committee fair time to review it. He further asked that Chris Geaghan and himself be invited to the next regularly scheduled meeting of the BED Committee at which time they can give their presentation. Chair Weston asked Rod McKay if this item can he added to the next BED meeting on June 23; Rod replied that it could be. Councilor Nealley added that even though this is fairly extraordinary, but with consent from the Committee Chair,and depending on what Rod and other staff can prepare,you can actually have a one item agenda on a meeting and have a meeting prior to that if it's in the best interest to the issue. Chair Weston inquired of Attorney Richard Silver if this item is a time sensitive matter, to which Mr. Silver replied it may be and he would be happy to discuss with Rod, adding that they have a deadline with the bank, so one week is better than waiting two weeks. Chair Weston then asked Rod to proceed with this request. 7. EXECUTIVE SESSION— Economic Development—Whig & Courier 1 M.R.S.A. § 405 (6) ( C ) 8. Whig& Courier—Request for Financial Assistance No action at this time.