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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-06-03 Business and Economic Development Committee Minutes � � BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE June 3,2009 � Minutes Councilors: Chair Hawes, Blanchette, Bronson, D'Errico, Palmer, Stone and ' Wheeler StafF Barrett, McKay,Nakowicz,Bolduc, Heitmann Others: Brian Ames (President of BCC Board); David Hughes- Epstein ' Commercial Real Estate; Jerry Livengood - Bangor Gas; and Fred Marshalt - Plymouth Engineering 1. PUBLIC HEARING ' Regarding a Substantial Amendment to the City of Bangor 2008 Community Development Annual Action Plan pursuant to the American Recovery and Reinvestment � Act of 2009—the amount of funds and the intended use of these additional funds Asst. C.D. Director, Kaleena Nakowicz,reviewed the subject item stating that the ' City's substantial amendment must be submitted/postmarked to the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development by June 5, 2009. If accepted,the City of Bangor will receive an additional$278,574 to be used in neighborhood infrastructure projects,energy � efficient projects and eligible administrative costs. $165,000 of the CDBG-R funds will be allocated to resurfacing sidewalks in income eligible neighborhoods such as French, Center, Pine, Essex,Lazkin,High and�hio Streets. $100,000 of the CDBG-R funds will ' be allocated for retrofitting street lights with high-use energy efficient light buibs. These funds will be grouped with an Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG)of$161,700 to further the objective of energy independence for the City of � Bangor. The streets to be focused on are: Harlow,Franklin, Washington, Hancock, State,Oak, South,Front, Union, Main, Broad and Water Streets; also Maine Ave., Illinois Ave. and Griffin Road. Once the work is complete,it will result in a 60%energy � savings for the City. 'The remainder of the CDBG-R funds totaling$13,574 will be used for program administration of related costs to the CDBG-R funding. Councilor Bronson pointed out that the last two streets listed for sidewalk resurfacing need to be corrected to � read: High Street `Union to N. High St:'and High Street `N. High to Hammond St.'. Also, Barrett asked Nakowicz to include on the retrofits Front Street and the waterfront. A motion was made by Councilor Stone and seconded by Councilor Bronson to ' approve this item (with corrections as pointed out by Councilor Bronson) for submission to the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development. So voted. 2. Review of Bangor Center Corporation Program&Budget and Annual Renewal of ' Downtown Special Assessment District Rod McKay reviewed this item for the committee stating this will be the 21 S`year ' of the Bangor Center Corporation District- it is a special assessment district established by the City Council for the downtown area. This area includes the downtown core area ' and the waterfront properties that belong to the City of Bangor that aze ready for development. The Special Assessment proposed is the same as it has been for several ' ' ' ' years now— a rate of 51 cents per thousand dollars of evaluation plus a 2 cent adjustment ' factor for an overlay to provide for any taaces that aren't paid or any changes in assessments that may take place that will affect the budget. Two public hearings are required by the City Council at its June 8,2009 meeting - the first one is for the adoption � of the program and budget,and the second public hearing,prior to,to establish the assessments,on the properties involved. The budget this year,raised through the district assessment, will be$54,456. Due primarily that since the first of this year there has not , been staff to support the district,there's a total of$90,239 in available funds. As praposed, the development program budget is substantially the same as in past years. Some of the costs it supports are downtown activities such as police bike patrols; events ' such as the Outdoor Market and the Summer Concert series as well as downtown promotions throughout the year. The Bangor Center Corporation (BCC)contracts with the City to provide staffing services. The major change in the budget this year is that ' BCC has agreed to provide the City with a reimbursement of up to$30,000 for staffing. The process is that the City imposes a special assessment,collects the special assessment and makes those funds available through a contract with the BCC which carries out tlYe development program for the year. The BCC holds bi-monthly meetings; issues are ' discussed at that level. Anything that requires the implementation or adoption of the City Council is referred to the BED Committee and then the full City Council. ' Brian Ames, President of the BCC Boazd, reviewed the work done by BCC over the past year as well as their program mission for the coming budget year. BCC's focus for the coming year will be to improve property values in the downtown as well as , marketing of the downtown;to improve the overall appearance and desirability of being in the downtown,and retail shopping azeas. There will be less focus on events and activities,and more focus on direct person-to-person contacts as well as usage of other � marketing opportunities such as email and other internet based type of communication. Further, BCC is looking to partner with the Bangor Region Chamber of Commerce and the Bangor Convention&Visitors Bureau in an effort to get them to be more involved ' with promoting and sponsoring events so that BCC can spend their time on core activities such as marketing the downtown. Brian asked the Committee for their support of acquiring administrative support to promote BCC's activities. ' Brief discussion continued between councilors and staff as to the duties that this position requires and the salary/benefit package. City Manager Barrett stated that this position exists outside of the City's general fund so it will not affect the City's tax rate. ' Funding for this position comes from BCC,#he Parking fund,and Community Development. Councilor D'Errico asked if the downtown district boundary has been changed to ' include any of the new development on the lower end of Main Street. McKay replied that the only change since the originat program was adopted has been to include the riverfront area that has been acquired by the City and the only thing included in the ' district was the undeveloped City property along the waterfront. The City core previously extended down to Railroad Street but didn't go beyond there. If the development sites that the City expects to be developed in the district now,the people ' developing those sites will do so with the knowledge that there will be a special assessment. The other privately owned properties down through that azea are not included. The BCC earlier this year discussed expanding the district boundary, but then � ' , ' decided to reconsider it again in 2010. McKay added that the district is different then the Tax Increment Financing District(TIF). The district does not include as much; the TIF ' district includes all of the land and property owned by Hollywood Slots, Bass Park and commercially zoned property along the northside of Main Street. As the waterfront and Bass Park and new arena start coming on-line it is hoped that this will be one cohesive ' ' downtown development area, so it may make sense ta extend the assessment district to provide for supporting the activities, events and other amenities that will take place in that downtown district. ' Councilor Blanchette inquired as to why the security portion of the budget has _ been decreased. McKay replied that BCC funds the bicycle patrol in the downtown and that the police dept.chaxged less this past year then the$10,000 originally budgeted; for , that reason,this year's funding is less. This year's budget(as in past years) also includes the special private security in the parking garage(through Republic Parking)and Pickering Square(this is split 3 ways—The Bus,the Pazking fund and BCC). If the effort ' is expanded,then more funds will be budgeted. David Hughes, stated that as a Bangor resident and member of the Advisory Pazking Committee for approximately 5 years,he has worked with both of the City's , prior BCC liaison staff persons(Sally Bates& Sally Bilancia). He added that this position definitely needs to be filled;he supports the hiring of a new staff person. A motion was made by Councilor Stone and seconded by Councilor Palmer to , make a recommendation to the full City Council that the BCC Program& Budget be approved as presented. So voted. � 3. Bangor Gas Presentation of Site Concept PIan for a Lot in Maine Business Enterprise ' Park Steve Bolduc,Economic Dev. Officer,reviewed this item stating that Bangor Gas , is proposing a service center for this location. The item has come before the Council before. There is an approved Council Order to sell Lot 14A in the Maine Business Enterprise Park(MBEP)to Bangor Gas; no further action has been taken on this matter. ' At this time, Bangor Gas would like to introduce a proposal for adjacent Lot 15A that they have an interest in. At the request of City Manager Barrett, Steve proceeded to go over the various lots that have been discussed with Bangor Gas. Barrett added that with � regard to Lot 1 SA the Committee had previously had concerns with selling this lot because of its proximity to General Aviation and the storage yard that's associated with what Bangor Gas is proposing. David Hughes of Epstein Commercial Real Estate, ' representing Bangor Gas,reviewed the reasons why Bangor Gas is interested in Lot 15A. It provides the visibility that is important to Bangor Gas; its location to BIA gives it an identity in Bangor as part of the City structure and infrastructure;the access to Lot 15A ' from the Interstate to Route 2 to surface streets as well as the airport is extremely ath�active. It's also on the Bangor natural gas existing pipeline and there's room for some modest expansion on this lot. Fred Marshall,an engineer representing Bangor Gas, stated ' that the proposed center will have a showroom and office(approx. 2,500 sq. ft.); the back section will be a wazehouse(approx. 10,000 sq.ft.). The building will have a masonry fa�ade and metal siding for the warehouse. At a previous meeting there was concern by , the Committee that the lay-down storage area,at the back of the building, would be visible to those exiting General Aviation. To alleviate this,Bangor Gas is proposing ' ' ' ' doing a 5 foot masonry retaining wall that will wrap around and then a 4-5 foot berm ' with a 6 foot level top on it,ends up being about 55 feet wide; also propose to plant(at a minimum)a double row of either firs or spruces that will give an effective screening. Due to utility constraints on Texas Ave.,they can do solid fencing in tieu of the retaining ' wall. ' Councilor Blanchette asked if the City will have language in any sale agreement to Bangor Gas to the effect that if they were to sell the property,that the City gets first ' refusal to buy it back. City Solicitor Heitmann replied"yes". Councilor Palmer asked if there would be any covenants as it relates to excessive noise at that location from flight paths. Heitmann replied that the City includes on sales ' and leases in that vicinity language whereby the buyer agrees not to complain about noise and to follow FAA regulations. Jerry Livengood of Bangor Gas added that they have taken the noise issue into consideration with the buiiding design. ' Councilor Wheeler inquired if this is the site that requires FAA approval to lease or sell. Heitmann replied"no"it is not. Wheeler—was there or was there not a tentative agreement to build on Lot 14A—that it was in principal agreed upon. McKay replied that ' the City had proposed Lot 14A to Bangor Gas and they, at one time,were favorably considering that,but their CEO asked about the lot adjacent to it, which is rectangutar in shape, and more to his preference. For that reason,this is why Lot 15A is being ' reconsidered. Councilor Palmer asked what the hours of operation will be, and what,if any noise issues from their pipe zone may be unpleasant for others in that area. Jerry ' Livengood replied that the service center is basically a pooling place for their crews, office and general administrative staff. Bangor Gas typically performs their work off-site out on streets and roads installing pipe.As far as industrial and manufacturing type of , work on-site, it will be minimai other then a loader putting sand in the back of a truck, during normal business hours from 7:30 am—5 pm;typically not on the weekends. Committee Chair Hawes had to leave for another meeting, so Councilor Stone took over Chairing the meeting. , David Hughes further stated that on Lot 14A there were proposed conditions as part of the development of that lot that included some modifications to the existing INS , zoning. The building being proposed has a significant industrial component to it;the uses that were removed from the INS zone encompassed the vast majority of industrial uses for that property. He stated he assumed that because Bangor Gas is a public utility � tha.t these uses would be allowed for a public utility,but it would leave the building and its specialized improvements of the future value of that property diminished significantly by the removal of these uses. The uses include manufacturing,compounding, ' assembling,packing,warehousing,wholesaling of goods and products, distribution when accessory to any of the uses warehousing,vehicle storage, gazages, and employee resta.urants. Those are the uses we'd like to see put back into the use for this property. ' The other uses removed are truck terminals,chemical dependency and treatment facilities and auto repair shops that we don't care if those are included. A motion was made by Councilor Palmer to go into Executive Session— ' Economic Development—Land Disposition—Maine Business Enterprise Park— 1 M.R.S.A. § 405 (6)(C). Seconded by Councilor Bronson. So voted. � ' ' ' ' 4. Executive Session—Economic Development—Land Disposition—Maine Maine Business Enterprise Park— 1 M.R.S.A. § 405 (6)(C) ' The Com.mittee did not vote to go into Executive Session. , , ' , , ' ' ' ' ' , ' ' � '