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Home My WebLink About1996-02-07 Community and Economic Development Committee Minutes ! � COMMUNTTY & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE Wedra.esday, February 7, 1996 @ 5 : Q0 PM MINUTES COMMITTEE PRESENT: Councilor Chris Popper, Chair Councilor Gerard Bal.dacci Councilor Charle� Sullivan COUNC I Z�{3RS PRE�SENT: Councilor Pa� Blanchet�.e Councilar Marshall Frankel STAFF PRE�ENT: Edward A. Barre�t, City Manager Rodney G. McKay, Acting Director of C&E� Jahn Lord, P1.anning Officer Jim Ring, City En.gineer Dan Wellington, Code En�orcemen� O��icer • OTHERS PRESENT: Roxanne �aucier, BDN Rep. Lisa Lumbra Dary1. Rhodes, Narthern Conserva�ory of Musi.c The meeting was called ta order by Chair Popper at 5 : 05 PM. Agenda Item #1 - Northern Con�ervatory of Music Daryl Rhodes of the Northern ConServatory of Mu�ic presented his capital campaign strategy which he proposes to be announced on June 30, 1996 . (The campaign is upon approval of its busines� plan by the Ci�y. } The campaign is aimed at raising the required capital, a� required per the devel.oper agreement with the Ci�y af Bangor, in order to build The Maine School For The Arts/The Maine High School For The Arts to be located in the Freese� building in downtawn Bangor. He stated tha� S�ate Representative L,isa Lumbra will be presen�.ing this plan and its goal� to Governar King (at his reques�} on Thursday, Feb. 8th at 3 :30 PM. There is also a bill * before the Maine legisl.ature (No.LR 2991) which is requesting they recagnize The Maine Schoal For The Arts as a Bangor schoal . . 2/ Daryl stated that he intends on having 2 grant writers do an aggressive grant writing campaign of at least 30 grants (possibly 40) to national, state and regional foundations . A full-time development director will oversee this . He ' d like to have an office for these people at City Hall as he feels it would give potential clients and their families a positive impression of the partnership between the City and the Conservatory, as well as lending credibility in obtaining the grants . A letter of endorsement from the University of Maine is forthcoming -- they have expressed to Daryl that they' re very interested in having the School of Arts as a theatre system for them. Daryl will also be contacting national corporations and private citizens who give financial gifts to such projects . He will also be contacting local businesses for either cash donations or product/labor donations in lieu of . If, however, help from the outside community does not materialize, he will seriously consider terminating the campaign as he feels it ' s not appropriate to • expect the Bangor community to fund it entirely. Another segment of the school ' s campaign is to have a screenplay written as a foundation for a major motion picture to be filmed primarily in and around Bangor as well as 3 other locations within the state. The intent of this strategy is that by including talented Maine children and high school students it will attract future students of the proposed Arts School/High School for the Arts . He would like to make an announcement of this on March lst . He 'd like a delegation of support for this announcement which includes Representative John Baldacci, Bangor Mayor Marshall Frankel, Pete Daigle (President of Greater Bangor Chamber of Commerce) and Rod McKay, Director of Community & Economic Development . Daryl also proposes to attract national media, magazines, tv and radio to the project . A motion was made and seconded to further discuss this proposal before the full City Council, possibly a workshop forum. So voted. � � 3/ Aaenda Item #2 - Proposed Sign Ordinance Amendment - Neighborhood Service District (NSD) and Downtown Development District (DDD) John Lord, Planning Officer, presented 3 items regarding amendments to the sign ordinance as follows : 1) liberalize the downtown development district directory sign provision by changing the definition of a directory sign so that it not required to have 4 or more businesses within a single building; if there is only one business within the building you may have a small pedestrian scale freestanding sign. The size relates to the size of the building - average sign size is 8-12 feet high; 2) Neighborhood Service District - need for small, free-standing signs to identify businesses within a residential area. Maximum height is 15 feet by 40 sq. ft . ; 3) need for directory signs to be shared by several businesses in areas off the main arterials. These are smaller in size - 50 foot height limit by 50 sq. ft . -- each business entitled to only 10 square . feet . These signs are similar to the commercial industrial park signs; those wanting them have to pay for and maintain them; the City allows whether they' re in or outside of the right-of-way. This is the first reading on this item. Aaenda Item #3 - Proposed Correction to Table V-1 of the Land Development Code Dan Wellington, Code Enforcement Officer, stated that Council Order 93-59 amends the setback for accessory structures and is part of the Land Development Code (LDC) . However, by error, it was not carried into the tables which are part of the LDC. Therefore, the proposed correction is necessary to prevent confusion for those who frequently refer to the tables such as realtors and builders . This is the first reading on this item. . . � �� . 4/ Aaenda Item #4 - Upcoming Condemnations of 51 Seventh Street, 66 Curve Street and 58 Parker Street Dan Wellington reviewed for Committee the schedule of upcoming condemnations on the above stated properties . These will be heard at the Feb. 12th City Council meeting as public hearings . At the public hearings, presentations of concerns of the City' s code enforcement, fire and engineering depts . as well as the C.D. housing rehabilitation staff will be heard on the potential hazards of these properties . If Council agrees with Staff ' s recommendations to condemn these properties, the owners then have 30 days to demolish the buildings . If the owners do not do so, the City has two options which are 1) come forward and request funds to tear down the buildings in this fiscal year (FY) ; or 2) wait and fund them in the City budget for 96-97 FY or through the C.D. program for FY 96-97 . . Dan stated that the properties in questions have been vacant for sometime -- 51 Seventh Street (owner has no objections to property being demolished) ; 66 Curve Street (owner has not resided there for past 5 years) ; 58 Parker Street (vacant for 20 years) . None of the lots are large enough to sell for development so, after the demolition takes place, the City will notify abutters to see if they' d be interested in the parcels . Aaenda Item #5 - Proposed Downtown Bangor Development Loan Fund Rod McKay reviewed this item for the Committee. He stated that the Bangor Center Corp. (BCC) , formally known as Bangor Center Management Corp. , has for several months been in the process of developing a loan pool program for downtown retail/service businesses . After several meetings between the local banks, BCC Officers, and City Staff, the strategy has been changed from a loan pool concept to that of having local banks commit funds in excess of $1 million to be loaned to downtown businesses . These loans can be used for expansion or businesses wishing to relocate into the downtown area. The term would be � for up to 10 years, at Wall Street prime interest using the banks underwriting criteria. The City' s role would be to fill the gap _ � . � 5/ if the bank' s funds were not sufficient whereby the applicant can then apply to the City under their Business Development Loan Fund. Any loan requests that the City receives will come before the C&ED Committee for approval . Councilor Popper inquired as to the interest rate the City will be loaning money at . Rod replied that it will be negotiated depending on the ability of each project to repay. Councilor Baldacci asked if the banks are obligated to abide by the Community Reinvestment Act . Rod replied that it was part of policy; they also have to file an annual report on how the monies from the Community Reinvestment Act are spent . Rod stated the loan program will be advertised on a monthly basis; the BCC will be funding the lst ad and the banks will take turns each month thereafter. . Other Business 1) Rod McKay updated the Committee on waterfront parking amendments stating that after the last C&ED meeting, Gary Jewell (Parking Supervisor) checked with all employers and employees on the waterfront area in question to see if they had any objections with changing the 2 hour parking to 4 hour parking. The area goes from the SeaDog Restaurant to the Bangor Landing parking lot on down to the parallel spaces . Also, 5 metered spaces under the Chamberlain Bridge will be changed to permit spaces . This is acceptable to all parties concerned. 2) Councilor Popper mentioned that there are two Parking Committee meetings coming up at Fifth Street School -- Thursday, February 8th at 7 : 30 PM, re : Parker Street and Thursday, February 15th at 7 : 00 PM, re : Carroll Street . With no further business at hand, the meeting was adjourned at 6 : 00 PM. . rp