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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002-11-19 Business and Economic Development Committee Minutes � BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE TUESDAY, November 19, 2002 � Meeting Minutes Councilors Attending: Frank Farrington, Gerry Palmer, John Rohman, David Nealley, Michael Crowley Staff Attending: Ed Barrett, Jonathan Daniels, Mike Dyer, Steve Bolduc, Rod McKay, Jim Ring, Kate Weber Others Attending: Doug Clendenning Meeting convened at 5:00 p.m. 1. Consent Agenda — Lease of office space located at 39 Florida Avenue to Teen Challenge of Maine. Inc. The lease would be for one year with premises utilized for administrative functions associated with the organization. � Rohman would like to remove this item from the consent agenda. He questioned the difference between incubator space and leasing out space to a tenant. Bolduc, of Community and Economic Development, said this is a market rate, not an incubator rate. Rohman wanted to know how we difFerentiate between incubator and market rate. Bolduc said we have a building that we call the incubator, in which we accept only new businesses and price it in a manner that supports their development through the first year of operation. The other properties, unless special circumstances exist, are operated as market rates. Crowley wanted to know if this was zoned properly for drug counseling, and have we as a City tried to direct certain types of serviees with behavioral and drug rehabilitation issues to certain areas, and steer them away from others. Is this an appropriate use of incubator space and site location near the airport? Barrett said that this is for administrative office functions only, and is not a treatment location. If they tried to provide treatment, it would not be permitted in the airport zone. Crowley verified that there would be no client interaction at this site. Bolduc said that is correct, clinical functions would take place at another site. � The item was approved by the committee. � 2. Bangor International Airport Report a. October Passenger Statistics. Hupp reported that monthly passengers in October 2002 grew 2.7% over October 2001, taking into account the tragic events of September 11tn The truly significant fact is that capacity declined 11.9%, however passengers increased. Which means that our yields are increasing, therefore, airlines are charging higher rates for their tickets. Nealley said that the new ad campaign should be effective. b. Pre-Clearance Briefing. Hupp said that pre-clearance relates to transient passengers between Bangor and Canada. There are two types of pre-clearance, one is a general pre-clearance, which allows people in Canada to pre-clear all passengers into the United States, and a Canadian pre-clearance, which would allow them to pre-clear only Canadian passengers into the United States. Currently we have been opposed to having Halifax ofFer any type � of pre-clearance, because it could be a threat and possibly jeopardize our position as an international gateway to the U.S. This is complicated by the fact that there are two types, and Halifax ofFicials say that they are only interested in Canadian originating passenger pre-clearance. If we were to endorse Halifax's application for Canadian originating pre- clearance, it would facilitate trans-border flights and trade between to the two regions, however, if we endorse that then there is the potential that we could receive the international pre-clearance down the road. Halifax is aggressively pursuing this option, and we wanted to bring this before the council for their review and position decision. Daniels noted that Halifax and the U.S. government are pushing this issue regardless of our position. Rohman asked whom the application goes to for this, to which Hupp replied that it goes to the federal government, and they would make Halifax the U.S. point of entry. The U.S. government would stafF immigration, customs and agriculture in Canada. Rohman asked if this clearance was common only with Canada, or if we have this agreement with Mexico. Hupp said that she was only aware of the Canadian pre-clearance. Nealley wanted to know the cost implication if we had a problem with • someone who had cleared customs. Hupp said that the clearance is for � federal agency clearance, not security clearance, and the responsibilities lie with those agencies. The requirement to have in advance the names of passengers on every flight in Bangor, before landing, is costly, and puts us at a competitive disadvantage with Canada, because they do not require this. Nealley wanted to know the probability of this going through without the blessing of the City of Bangor. Hupp said that they have not yet been successful, however, they have some regulatory issues to comply with, before they can apply for this. Nealley wanted to know how this affects our trade issues. Daniels said that it could help our trade if Halifax receives our blessing for the pre-clearance, however what is going to stop them from clearing U.S. destination flights so that Bangor is not needed as a stop. Crowley wanted to know who sets policy with the airport regarding this. Hupp said that ultimately council has the authority to set policy. Crowley asked if the financial disadvantage is due to creation of federal policy in the United States versus Canada. Hupp said that if they get pre-clearance in Halifax, we would not necessarily lose this ability in Bangor. The competitive disadvantages are regulatory. � Crowley asked if we were to have more exclusive access to this pre- clearance, does this bring some residual economic opportunities. Hupp replied that yes it does. He asked how in tune the congressional delegation was on this issue for Bangor, Maine. Hupp said the senators have fought adamantly on our behalf in the past. Farrington asked if we have the same type of pre-clearance going from U.S. to Canada. He wanted to know why we should change it now, and what chance do we have of prevailing. Hupp replied that it would not be reciprocal pre-clearance. Hupp said that the industry has changed quite a bit over the last 10 years, and Bangor had much more traffic than it does today. Today we have to compete for international traffic. It is not a forgone conclusion that Halifax is going to get this. Daniels has alluded that the U.S. Consulate General is going after this, however Hupp said she was not sure how much weight he has as compared to our U.S. delegation. A lot will depend on our position and how much money we want to put into this issue. Rohman asked Hupp to explain the money issue. Hupp said that we have an attorney in Washington that lobbies for us, and this is one option for • us. � . Palmer said that we do not know if the Department of State supports this, and this is something to get clarified. If this was approved in Halifax, this would be stafFed by U.S. customs stafF, and all of their residuals would go to Canada. Palmer said that BIA needs to be in the forefront when this country and Cuba begin trading. Nealley expressed his concern with future international trade. The Congressional delegation should be able to assist in this situation. In light of how important BIA is in the economic hub of the area, we should do what we can to protect the Airport. Farrington wanted to know the reason for our Washington counsel's opposition to this. Hupp said her opinion is that one of our greatest assets is our geographic location as being the entry point into the U.S. If we allow Halifax to have pre-clearance, then we are giving up our status as the first entry point into the U.S. Crowley said that to move this along and to support the resolve of the Congressional delegation, and to support BIA, he moved to support the objection of this pre-clearance status for Halifax due to the economic • impact. Palmer seconded the motion. He stated that Congressman-Elect Michaud would be very helpful in this process. Hupp commented that Halifax would be actively lobbying against this resolve. Crowley said that a resolve would clearly outline the reasons why we have this position. The committee approved the resolve to full council. c. Runway Construction Update. Hupp said that phase one is complete, and we are nearing the end of phase two, and we are three weeks ahead of schedule and on budget. 3. Update on Auditorium Replacement Siting Analysis. Barrett said that portions of this document are to be discussed in executive session. Daniels said that we have been working with HOK and CS&L to come up with some locations, so that we can move forward with a financing package. They have whittled the sites down to nine or ten. The categories utilized for the evaluation and the weight assigned to each include Urban Design 28%, Transportation 20%, Site Factors 36%, Cost 12%, and Timing 4%. The sites were broken into three basic locations: Bass Park, Waterfront, and Downtown. • StafF including Dyer, McKay, Ring and Weber, met to discuss the options that � were presented, and determined that a Downtown location as well as Bass Park warrant further discussion. The analysis by HOK gives a strong indication that a Downtown location is favored. CS&L proposed an arena of 6,500-7,500 seats, developed around an ice sheet, 10 private suites (no club seats), a convention center of approximately 20,000 square feet of ballroom, multipurpose clear span flat floor space, and approximately 7,500 square feet of sub-divisible, breakout meeting space. The current Bangor Auditorium and Civic Center has the following configuration Auditorium: 3,200-5,800 seats, Civic Center: 12,000 sq. ft. of"ballroom/multipurpose space"with no breakout space. Rohman asked what our goal was tonight. Daniels said the goal was to update the committee on the process. Very soon we will be working with HOK, which they are working on preliminary design schematics for the top 2-3 sites that we come up with. Crowley wondered if the committee should offer a recommendation as a group in the interest of moving this along. Daniels said that we could do that and perhaps take action after the executive session. Barrett said it would be helpful if we could get specific questions to ask of the consultant. It would also be useful to get specific guidance for site selection. � Palmer supports Crowley's comments to land this in a general area. If downtown is a prime location, then this is something that the public is not mentally prepared for, due to the lack of parking, and this is an opportunity for us to help the public with the advantages of a downtown location. Farrington expressed that the public has a concern with the parking in the downtown area as well. Barrett said that the only things we can discuss in the executive session are the specific sites that are privately owned. Nealley stated that most events are held at night and on the weekends, so that there should be plenty of available parking. He suggested that we give a rough up or down to the sites to reduce the number to 2-3. Crowley offered a compromise and moved that we accept HOK's recommendation as guidance in our decision making process. Rohman said that this is a great way to move, and that their sites 1, 2 and 3 are all in the downtown area. Palmer seconded the motion. Nealley wanted to clarify the selection process of the top sites. � � Palmer commented that we paid HOK a lot of money, and we shouid utilize this guideline for future discussion. Rohman said that we are going to focus on the top 3 locations. Farrington said that we should necessarily abdicate our ability to come back to any of these sites. Nealley said that the fourth option was the site that he was most intrigued with. Crowley said that the motion was intended to accept HOK's recommendation so that we can move forward, and was not meant to discount the other sites. Everyone including stafF and council has had the opportunity to participate in the discussion so far. Farrington seconded Crowley's motion. Palmer said that he is supporting the motion. The committee approved moving forward to consider the top 3 sites recommended by HOK. Palmer asked if Daniels could discuss the parking issues for a downtown site. Daniels said that as has been mentioned and discussed, parking is of definite importance. StafF provided HOK with available downtown parking, public and � private. HOK said that going out 2,400 feet in a circle, we have 4,000 spots available, for an after hour event. The issues are the Basketball events and convention events that typically take place during the day. Palmer noted that during the National Folk Festival, we could have utilized the available downtown parking more. The committee went into executive session. 4. Executive Session — Discussion regarding possible land acquisition for replacement of the Bangor Auditorium. �