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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTIF Minutes 10-15/ Downtown Tax Increment Finance Board Meeting Minutes October 27, 2015 Attending: Bobby Bear, Vonda Laird, Bob Lashaway, Bill Stoddart, Carson Taylor, Chris Naumann Absent: Bob Hietala, Shannon Haish Public Comments: None Disclosure: None Minutes ACTION: Vonda Laird moved to approve the August and September minutes as presented. Bob Lashaway seconded the motion. All voted in favor. Financial Report Chris presented the finance report as of October 20, 2015. The most recent expenses included: $25,000 for second quarter DBP management fee; $80,604 payment to G25 Holdings, LLC for the Element’s Hotel Incentive grant $11,371 to Design 9 for fiber network design; and $10,700 to TD&H for the continuing streetscape engineering. The board had no other questions regarding the finance report. Executive Director’s Report Technical Assistance Program Update One grant has been awarded in FY2016—shown at the bottom of the chart. The chart also lists uncompleted grants that were awarded in FY2015. Keep in mind that the committed grant amounts are only tentative since the actual reimbursement amount will be determined as a one to one match upon completion of the grant work. As a reminder, the Planning grants have a $7500 cap and the Façade grants are capped at $3000. Bold listings indicate completed. / Building Project Updates— 5 West Building (northwest corner of Mendenhall and Tracy) Construction began on Friday October 2nd with the demolition of the old Opportunity Bank building. Block M Residences (on Lamme between Black & Tracy) Construction of Phase 2—8 additional units—should be completed Fall of 2015. Dutton Building (131 West Main--corner of Grand and Main) Completed and occupied. Etha Hotel (old Armory building) is planning to begin construction in November. The encroachment permit for the site was completed and signed several weeks ago. Therefore the project has all the entitlements and permits needed to begin construction. Element Hotel (at old Kenyon Noble site) Opened September 22nd! Willson Residences (old East Willson School) being redeveloped into 18 residential units with underground parking. Partial completion scheduled for Summer 2016. TIF-COB PSA Update As required by the TIF bylaws, I entered into a Professional Services Agreement with the City for the “administration and management of the Downtown Urban Renewal District by the Downtown Bozeman Partnership”. The PSA was signed by me, Chris Kukulski and Greg Sullivan. GVLT Burke Park Bridge Update GVLT partnered with the Artemis Institute to design the Burke bridge (see printout). They are finalizing several stream permits in preparation to begin construction October 27th. A dedication ceremony is tentatively scheduled for late November or early December. GVLT has asked how the TIF Board would like to be acknowledged in the formal recognition of donors: Downtown TIF District or Downtown Bozeman Partnership ? Parking Updates Bridger Park Garage LED Lighting Below is an update provided by Natalie Meyer, the City’s Sustainability Manager: Here are the preliminary energy results from the Parking Garage LED retrofit. Thus far, the lights are performing better than promised. Our four reference months really include the shoulder season, which tends to be an intermediate period of lighting electricity use in the Parking Garage. We will have a much more accurate picture of the savings after a few months of winter. I first checked current usage compared to last year only. We were falling a bit short on the electricity demand reduction. To be fair, I went back to the baseline utility data that McKinstry used, which included three years of utility data from 2010-2013. Based on these reference years, the LEDs are exceeding expectations.     Electricity Consumption Elect ricity Demand   kWh kWh ($) kW kW ($)  Annual Energy Pre-Retrofit* 274,987 $        19,324 510 $            4,614  Annual Energy Post-Retrofit** 120,480 $          9,454 288 $             2,678  Projected Annual Savings 154,507 $        12,125 222 $            2,065  McKinstry's Annual Savings Guarantee 129,439 $          9,912 181 $            1,678  Monthly Reduction 12,876 $          1,010 19 $                172  Percent Reduction 56% 51% 44% 42%        *Based on 3-year average of historic data     **Estimated based on 4-months of post-retrofit data      Discussion and Decision Items Library Parking Lot Funding Request The board discussed the request from the Bozeman Library for funding to support the proposed parking lot pedestrian safety improvements. Several board members said they do not support funding this project. One board member asked the others to consider partial funding for the four raised crosswalks. Another member suggested that they table the discussion until Bob Hietala has a chance to offer his thoughts. No actions was taken and Chris will include the continuation of this discussion on November agenda. Urban Renewal Plan Amendment Options—ACTION Chris presented the proposed text amendments to the Downtown Urban Renewal Plan as follows: Amendment #1 Added to “Intent and Purpose” section of the “Guiding Principles & Implementation Actions” Chapter (page 5) “This plan shall be further detailed, refined, prioritized and implemented by future downtown improvement plans which will outline specific programs and projects consistent with the Urban Renewal Plan.” Amendment #2 A new implementation action added to the following Guiding Principles: Principle 1: Strengthen Downtown's Economic Vitality Principle 3: Improve the Safety. Security and Health of the District Principle 5: Encourage Downtown Diversity Principle 7: Downtown Shall Become More User Friendly “Partner in a community telecommunications networks as crucial infrastructure necessary for next generation connectivity and business development.” Amendment #3 A new implementation action added to all nine Guiding Principles: “Adopt updates to the downtown improvement plan outlining specific programs and projects to further refine, prioritize and implement the urban renewal plan.” Bob Lashaway suggested deleting the “a” in the implementation action: “Partner in a community telecommunications networks…”. ACTION: Bob Lashaway moved to approve the Downtown Urban Renewal Plan amendment language as presented with the one recommended edit. Bill Stoddart seconded the motion. All voted in favor. Christmas Decoration Anchor Repairs Chris informed the board that he commissioned a structural analysis of the downtown intersection cable anchor systems by Kerin & Associates. A similar analysis was performed in 2003. The current analysis indicated that 6 anchors are in need of repairs prior to the installation of the holiday decorations this year. The remaining 10 anchors also need various repairs that can be performed in 2016. Chris indicated that the analysis cost approximately $11,000. The cost estimate for the 6 anchors is between $6000 and $10,000. ACTION: Bob Lashaway moved to approve the payment of the downtown intersection cable anchor structural analysis plus the recommended repairs to the six anchors not to exceed $12,000. Vonda Laird seconded the motion. All voted in favor. Food Truck Regulatory Framework Chris updated that last month the three downtown boards responded to the proposed food truck regulations. The DBA board feels the regulations as presented are reasonable. The BID thought the regulations need to be more restrictive. The TIF board concluded that the regulations are too restrictive. Chris is consulting again with the boards to choose between two options: the regulations as proposed (allowed on local streets in block faces that do not contain a restaurant) OR limiting food trucks to be located adjacent to Soroptomist Park or North Black public parking lot. Vonda Laird and Bob Lashaway expressed that they do not think this issue is within the purview of the TIF board and therefore defer to the BID and DBA boards. Carson Taylor said another option would be for the Community Development staff to bring both options before the City Commission and they would provide direction. Bench Memorial Plaque Chris informed the board that he received a request to place a memorial plaque on a downtown bench. Bob Lashaway noted that his experience with memorial elements at MSU has proved very challenging. Bobby Bear added that while the TIF Board purchases the downtown benches it is not in the board’s purview to dedicate any as memorials. Bill Stoddart mentioned that the Bozeman Library Foundation has a memorial bench program and perhaps Chris could respond the request by recommending the person contact Paula Beswick at the foundation. The board agreed that the request should be denied.