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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007-04-18 Business and Economic Development Committee Minutes � � BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE Aprii 18, 2007 Minutes � Council Attendees: Farrington, Palmer, Blanchette, Stone, Greene, D'Errico, Hawes StafF Attendees: McKay, Barrett, Bolduc, Heitmann � Others: )ustice Warren Silver, Stevenson, others � CONSENT AGENDA Responding to Farrington, Bolduc said that both Kataddin and NCR are current tenants � of City property. Kataddin is a lead wire manufacturer and uses their space for storage. NCR Corporation uses a small office space for a trans-shipment station. Responding to Palmer, Bolduc said Kataddin's lease is $3.00/sq. ft. and NCR is approximately$11.50/sq. f�. Blanchette � asked if cost of living adjustments are applied to the leases. Bolduc said that NCR's lease increase by 2%this year. Kataddin's remained the same because the space is extraneous. They are not the main lessee of the building. They have a one-year lease with a 30-day � dismissal should the main tenant need the space. The main tenant is Hallowell International. Blanchette questioned why Kataddin's rent doesn't increase. Bolduc feels for the space being leased that $3/sq. fit. is a good rate. McKay said it is a temporary lease. It is a temporary way � to reduce some of the City's costs until Hallowell requires the entire building, which is in the near future. A!I other leases have escalating clauses for rental rates. Blanchette didn't agree with the rental rate. A motion was made and seconded to approve the Consent Agenda. � 1. Kataddin Precision Components, LLC Lease Extension — 110 Hildreth Street 2. NCR Corporation Lease Extension — 39 Florida Avenue � REGULAR AGENDA � 3. Review of the Maine Governmental Facilities Authority Exchange Street Court House Facility--Compliance with the Design Standards/Guidelines of the Report of the Task Force to Enhance Bangor's Future Architectural Character accepted and adopted by � Council Order 06-229 Silver, an Associate Justice for the Maine Supreme Court, provided background for the project. Months ago, the County negotiated an agreement with the City of Bangor Lot B-13. � Working with the City Manager and staff, who were extremely helpful, an agreement was reached for the Court System to purchase the lot for a 90,000 square foot facility. The plan has been developed over the past eighteen months. The most important thing in the mind.of the � planners is security. Silver chairs the court planning team and it is composed of all elements of the court system. In addition, there is an advisory board made up of outside members � including Sally Bates of the City staff. The project budget was established a few years ago and costs have increased daily. Silver introduced representatives of the project's architectural firm from Boston, members of the WBRC firm, and Court staff inembers. He again expressed the � importance of the building's security. Silver stated that the purpose of today's meeting is to obtain Committee approval of the building's outside design and its placement on the lot. It needs to meet the City's architectural � �' � standards. He said that the court system would like to issue bonds for the project by the end of i May, which presents a tight timeline. It is important to be in downtown Bangor. Josiah Stevenson spoke about the design of the building along with a power point � presentation. The building will be oriented toward Hancock and Exchange, towards the City. There will be a pedestrian overpass to the parking garage, and an underground parking area. � The building will be aligned with the Bank of America property. It is pedestrian oriented at street level. There is one public secured entrance. There will be 61 parking spaces on site. He spoke of using cast stone as part of the design process. The court rooms will be on the upper � two floors. One-percent of the base bid cost of the building will be dedicated for art, inside or outside. Silver suggested that Sally Bates be involved. Stevenson spoke about the sustainable design of the building. As much as possible, local materials and local products are being used. � Hawes asked if the same arch view will be in the back as what is in the front. Silver said yes. Palmer asked if there is a sense of how the cost for the project is working out in terms of a square foot cost. Responding to Palmer, a light shade of red brick will be used. He is concerned about the main entrance being cold in the winter months. Stevenson mentioned the � use of a canopy. In response to Palmer, Silver talked about the security of the underground parking, which will provide 47 spaces. Parking has been an enormous issue around the building. There will be two gates to go through in order to get into the parking facility. There � also will be security personnel. The court will lease from the city the parking area behind the building. Responding to Palmer, Silver said the original building plans were for a larger building of 140,000 sq. ft. Due to costs, it has been downsized to 90,000 sq. ft. The District Attorney's � Office requires about 10,000 sq. ft., which would require an additional floor and the money is not available. Regarding underground parking, Silver confirmed for Blanchette that the spaces are for employees only. Blanchette talked about making Hancock Street one-way up to � Broadway to alleviate traffic issues in terms of security with vehicles approaching the building. Mike Cote from State Security has been very involved with security issues. Blanchette asked questions about proposed lighting. Silver said it is a work in progress and it is not completely � finished. He will be working with City staff on lighting and signage. Stone spoke about the building's appearance and constraints due to security reasons. Stevenson spoke about cost restraints. The building will be a simple structure linking with Bangor's architecture. Farrington � : _ spoke about the possibility of a future fourth floor, the location of the mezzanine, parking, and the budget constraints with the exterior plans for the building. He suggested the 1% for art could be used to offset exterior design. Responding to Farrington, Silver said that the court � building would not be able to accommodate parking after hours. For special events (Folk Festival, etc.), they will work with the City. D'Errico asked about the mechanical screening planned for the roof. Palmer asked about bollard posts in the ped way from the parking � garage. Palmer asked how the Court System would feel if the City placed a new arena in the area. Stevenson said it has been discussed. He praised the City stafF(McKay, Bates, Barrett, Heitmann, Ring) for their assistance. Speaking for the Court System, Stevenson said they do � not want that to happen for security and space reasons. But, if it does take place, the Court System will live with it. Responding to Palmer, Stevenson said there is capability for a helicopter to land in their parking area, not on the rooftop. Blanchette asked Silver for an example of a court facility and arena in the same area. Silver said that Portland is talking of � potentially the same situation. Discussion turned to possible flooding in the area and ways to handle it. Blanchette said there needs to be a plan to relocate the 47 underground parking � spaces. Silver said that the parking garage would have mesh wire around it to allow for water to flow. Everything else is above the 500 year flood plain so it would afFect working operations. The 47 vehicles would have to use the City's parking garage. � � � � McKay said the Business and Economic Committee's charge under the agreement on this project is to review the plans to insure they comply with the guidelines and standards of the downtown development standards. Staff reviewed the plans and found that the plans conform , to all the criteria with the exception, which is appropriate signage and lighting and, which as has been pointed out, is still in progress. Staff recommends the Committee's approval. Greene asked about the 1%for art, and Silver said it approximates $270,000. Responding to Greene, � Phil , project manager, a State Statute requires the 1%to public art and is administered by the Maine Art Commission, which has five voting members. Blanchette spoke of paying tribute to Maine lawyers; i.e. portraits available through the State Library. Silver agreed. A motion was � made and seconded to approve stafF's recommendation by a vote of 7-0. The item will go to full Council. It was pointed out that the signage and lighting are still in progress, and Barrett stated it would not stand in the way of executing the agreement. Blanchette suggested that � the Committee depend on staff regarding the two outstanding issues. 4. Penquis CAP Lease Extension — 120 Venture Way � Palmer stated it has been previously concluded that he has a conflict of interest on the item and he removed himself from the discussion. McKay briefed the Committee. A motion � was made and seconded to amend the lease to increase the lease rate so that the City recovers its investment in the improvements at 3% over twenty years. The item will be referred to full Council. � 5. Review and Consideration of Bangor's Waterfront Master Plan � At the Committee's last meeting, McKay said a tour had been taken of the Bass Park barns and the Watertront. Three City Councilors and three stafF members participated. At the conclusion of the tour, the Councilors present concurred that the City should proceed with plans � to develop the parking area nearest Railroad Street and grade the two additional areas on either side of the amphitheater area for possible future parking areas. Blanchette said a citizen � had inquired about a contest mentioned last year by the City to rename the waterfront streets. � McKay recalls that street naming was discussed but doesn't recall there was a contest. It was discussed and that Council and staff at that time had decided that Front Street was appropriate for the street fronting the waterfront and that Railroad Street, because of the history, retain its � name. McKay reviewed the composite plan by combining Plan A and B. Staff would like the Committee's approval to incorporate it into the master plan. Barrett said that construction of the two interior parking areas could be postponed until the Council might decide to do so at a � future date. Otherwise, the plan would remain the same. Blanchette disagreed. The main trail through the park will accommodate service 'vehicles. At this point, there is not an adopted plan and staff would like one in order to move forward. Stone said that by grading for parking, it does allow the first phase of the project to move forward. The area will be prepared for � parking but it will have grass. Palmer said he is not happy about spending a lot of time discussing parking. He thought the discussion should focus on the park itself. Blanchette said she is not comfortable with it. It is a park on City owned land that belongs to the taxpayers but � the City would exclude a large portion of its citizens by not having accessibility to the entire park. The proposed plan does not include the entire population. Palmer doesn't feel the proposal precludes individuals with disabilities. He said there are other ways to serve the � population. Farrington agreed with the staff proposal. Hawes said the plan was presented two times for the citizens and their choices incorporated. This is the end product of those meetings and Council input. If debate continues on meeting after meeting, nothing will happen. The ball � needs to be put in motion so that citizens realize the project is not just a pipe dream. Hawes � � made the suggestion in the form of a motion to`incorporate the proposal into the master plan. � Barrett clarified that the motion should include the plan as presented. The motion was seconded and was recommended on a vote of 4-1. � 6. Executive Session - Economic Development— Negotiations for Disposition of Airport Property— BGL— 1 M.R.S.A. § 405(6)(C) � A motion was made and seconded to go mto executive session. . 7. Committee Action on Above Item � OUTCOM E?? 8. Executive Session - Economic Develo ment— Negotiations for Disposition of 113 � P Maine Avenue (Building 26) — 1 M.R.S.A. § 405(6)(C) 9. Committee Action on Above Item � OUTCOME?? 1 � 10. Executive Session - Economic Development Proposal Negotiations— 1 M.R.S.A. § 405(6)(C) � li. Committee Action on Above Item OUTCOME???? � � � � � . . � � . � � � _ _ _