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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2003-10-21 Business and Economic Development Committee Minutes � BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE TUESDAY, October 21, 2003 Meeting Minutes Councilors Attending: John Rohman, Frank Farrington, Gerry Palmer, Michael Crowley Staff Attending: Jonathan Daniels, Ed Barrett, Norm Heitmann, T.J. Martzial, Stan Moses Others Attending: D'Errico, Gagnon, Bouchard, Moores, Jordan, Torres The meeting convened at 5:00 p.m. 1. Consent Agenda a. Residential Rehabilitation Deferred Payment Loan; Christine M. Chambrello, 25 Nelson Street. b. Residential Rehabilitation Loan; Ronald & Paula Rideout, 289 Elm Street. • c. Residential Rehabilitation Deferred Payment Loan; Barbara Neville, 97 Fifth Street. d. Residential Rehabilitation Deferred Payment Loan; Delmont Richards, Lot 32 Pray's Mobile Home Park. e. Extension of Tentative Developer Status — Penview Associates. f. Extension of Tentative Developer Status — Robert E. Baldacci, Jr. Rohman noted that there was a request to remove items a and d from the consent agenda for a couple of minor adjustments. The Committee approved the consent agenda with the exception of items a and d, which will be addresses at a later time. Martzial said that in item 1 of his October 17�' memo, 25 Nelson St., the contract has changed from $4,771 to $5,808. Item 4, Pray's Mobile Home Park has changed from $1,400 to $1,580. The Committee approved items a and d as amended. 2. Bangor Water District Request for City Property. Heitmann said that the Bangor Water District had requested to lease a portion of City owned land around the water tower, and to lease a portion of the tower to � Unicel. He said that if the Water District and Unicel come to an agreement, then they would need additional land to accommodate a 12'x 24' building that Unicel would need. The Water District is willing to pay the City one-half of the rental � income it receives from Unicel. The Water District is asking for six 10-year lease extensions in addition to a 40-year lease. Farrington wanted to know if this agreement also locked in the revenue received. Heitmann said that we would always get half of the revenue that the Water District receives from Unicel. The Committee approved the Council Order to the full Council. 3. Residential Rehabilitation Loan Application. 18 Highland Lane. Martizial briefed the Committee on this request to rehabilitate a condemned single family house at 18 Highland Lane. The request is for $46,776. He noted that staff recommends demolishing the property.rather than spending this amount to refurbish it. Palmer said that this area has been before other Committees with regards to the parking on this street, and agrees with stafF recommendation. The Committee approved staff recommendation to deny the loan. 4. Waterworks Development Agreement. Rohman noted that he had a conflict of interest on this project, as his firm is the � architect. Martzial said that Doug Bouchard, Executive Director of the Shaw House. Martzial said that the development agreement between the City and Shaw House Development Inc. needs to be amended due to the appeal by Maine Central Railroad of the DOT decision on the railroad crossing. Martzial said that the dates used in requiring evidence of construction contracts and private lender financing commitments be extended one year, and the project completion date be extended to December 31, 2005. Bouchard discussed the various obstacles that they had overcome on the project. He said that the City has been wonderful in helping to deal with issues. He said • that everything is a go so far, and that they are waiting on the results of the appeal by Maine Central Railroad. Farrington wanted to know the remedial steps to be taken to solve this problem. Bouchard said that perhaps Mr. Heitmann would know better the process. Heitmann said that currently pending is an appeal filed by the railroad of the DOT decision. He said that DOT is obviously on our side of the issue since they approved the pole crossing. Depending on how fast the court wants to act it should be about 6-8 months. The City has applied for intervening status with no objections from the railroad or Shaw House. This will enable the City to participate in the proceedings. . i. � The Committee voted to send this request to the full Council for approval. 5. Proposed Penquis CAP Housing Development. Martzial noted that earlier this year, Penquis C.A.P. had presented a residential development proposal to develop a 16 unit affordable family housing project on Griffin Road. Since then Penquis has secured financing and a letter of support. Staff has determined that CDBG funds can be used for this project. Martzial said that stafF recommends entering into a development agreement with Penquis C.A.P. Stephen Moores, Director of Development at Penquis C.A.P., briefed the Committee on a market study of the project, and requested financial assistance to fill a gap of $130,000. Farrington clarified that this request would come from block grant funds and not City money. Martzial confirmed that these funds would come from federal HUD funds. Farrington wanted to know how we could justify the return of real estate taxes to Penquis C.A.P. Martzial said that this parcel is assessed at $16,000, with $400 per year in taxes. If this project goes forward the projection of taxes is • $16,000 per year, and if we return $10,000 per year to the developer for debt service, then we will still receive a net of$6,000 per year in taxes on this parcel. Palmer noted that this is exactly the kind of housing that we need in our community. The Committee voted to approve this request and send it to full Council. 6. Discussion on Development Agreement Between Merrill Merchants Bank and the City of Bangor on the Proposed Redevelopment of the Penobscot Theater Company Building. 7ohn Rohman noted that he had a conflict of interest and sat out for this item and the next agenda item. Heitmann said that this involves the acquisition and renovation of the Penobscot Theatre building at 183 Main Street by Merrill Bank. This is a $1.25 million project which would provide for a 100% TIF for 20 years for the renovations. Deborah )ordan, Executive Vice President of Merrill Bank, discussed the details of the proposed renovations. Crowley expressed the similarities between this project and the Waterworks project in preserving historical buildings. Crowley �- said that we are not losing dollars in tax revenues. � The Committee approved the proposed development agreement to full Council. 7. Discussion on Penobscot Theatre Company's CDBG Application. Stan Moses said that the Theatre is asking for a loan of $155,000 to carry out the first phase of a long-term project that will correct life safety code issues and improve handicap accessibility. Mark Torres of Penobscot Theatre discussed the specific improvements. Crowley wanted to know if this plan included an elevator. Torres said that this funding would be enough to cover the sprinkler system and alarm only. Crowley commented that this structure should play an important part of the development and use of downtown. He noted that the building needs some extensive work to restore it to its originally designed stellar structure. Palmer said that it was very appropriate for the City to try to save this historic building. Moses said that he has encouraged Torres to think of future applications for funding for handicap accessibility improvements. Moses said that Torres was interested in more than a loan from the City. Torres said that the Theatre has great financial need and is at limited staff. He would like to put their financial house in order without compromising programs and reserves. He noted that the � funds from the sale of the smaller theater building will go into a reserve account, and the Theatre is hoping to eliminate additional debt to start rebuilding their equity. Moses said that HUD allows us to provide assistance in the forms of grants. Crowley wanted to know why this was not presented in the form of a grant request and not a loan. Farrington said that a grant request afFects the budget. Moses said that the Committee often receives loan application requests that are handled as deferred loans, and we do not have a grant program in our housing rehab program. He said that depending on the need of the client, we would process a loan application as a deferred loan, however it takes the Council's approval to do so. Palmer wanted to know when this could happen, • and Moses said that it could happen at any time in the process. Daniels said that he recommends that this request should move along as a loan package with a request for a grant to be made at a later date if desired. Crowley said that he would feel more comfortable with this recommendation. The Committee voted to approve the loan and refer it to the full Council. . ;;, � 8. Discussion on City Application for the Municipal Investment Trust Fund Program through the Department of Economic and Community Development. Daniels said that there is $10 million available in funds for projects across the state. The program works through Community and Economic Development and we have been preparing to submit an application for two projects by November 1�. Each application can only be granted up to $500,000. Priority one is the bulkhead, floating docks and water's edge, and priority two would be the realignment of Cedar Street. Moses discussed the reason for the bulkhead project being priority one is the fact that we will be having a large ship coming into the waterfront next summer. Moses said that the City needs to come up with $1.3 million to match the $500,000 grant. He discussed the existing funds available. Moses discussed the Cedar Street renovation project. He said that the City has the possibility of receiving 80% funding for this project through BACTS. The Committee voted to approve the applications. Crowley asked about the renaming of the Waterfront and Front and Railroad Streets. Barrett said that he has a lengthy list of suggestions for renaming these areas. He suggested sending this list to the Council for their review and � recommendations. The Committee briefly discussed that a representative from Halifax Airport will attend the next meeting. The meeting adjourned at 6:19 p.m. �