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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-15-19 Downtown URD MinutesDowntown Urban Renewal District Board Meeting Minutes January 15, 2019 Attending: Bobby Bear, Bob Hietala, Cory Lawrence, Tony Renslow, Kate Wiggins, Jeff Krauss, Chris Naumann Absent: Bill Stoddart Public Comment: Allison Totten, Comma Q, was present to “learn more about the downtown plan and the URD board”. Minutes ACTION: Bob Hietala moved to approve the October and November minutes as presented. Bobby Bear seconded the motion. All voted in favor. Financial Report Chris presented FY2019 finances as of January 15, 2019. He outlined the previous month’s expenses as follows: $28,325 for 3rd quarter DBP management fee; $20,000 transfer to DBP for NBPP project; Technical Assistance grant of $7,500 for 240 East Mendenhall; and $1,707 for Soroptomist and $1,878 lamp maintenance and repairs. The board had no questions regarding the finance report. Executive Director’s Report None provided Discussion and Decision Items Downtown Plan Funding Request (related documents attached below) Chris reviewed the request from Agency Landscape + Planning for additional services and fees He touched on the main justifications in his memo including: timeline increasing from original 7 months to over 10 months; considerable additional time spent responding to NCOD and Comm Plan; and significant additional time needed to interact with City of Bozeman staff and engage in more robust public outreach. Chris reiterated that he feels the additional $25,000 of funding to complete the Plan and processes is well warranted. Bob noted that we spent $80k in 2009 for a 45-page plan and the current draft exceeds 150 pages which we should not expect to cost only $80k as originally contracted. Cory acknowledged that although the contract was for a fixed fee and timeline, 3 additional months of work is significant and that the quality of their work has far exceeded all expectations. Bobby added that this plan is downtown’s 10-year work plan, our guiding document for the next decade, and there for it is imperative that we make the necessary investment in the best plan possible. Regarding the additional funding Chris said he had secured $5,000 from the City Community Development Department and was going to request $5,000 from the Downtown BID board. Therefore, the ask of the URD Board is for $15,000. ACTION: Cory Lawrence moved to approve additional funding for the Downtown Plan not to exceed $20,000. Tony Renslow seconded the motion. All voted in favor. Downtown Plan Annotated Framework Review Chris presented an overview of the Annotated Framework concentrating of the five major themes, ten guiding principles, and major implementation recommendations. THE HEART OF A THRIVING BOZEMAN • Create connections within Downtown and among the surrounding districts. • Manage and regulate parking to ensure appropriate access and balanced supply. MORE THAN MAIN STREET • Reinforce Downtown as the city center, through new and existing buildings of urban density, considerable height and a diverse mix of uses. • Protect the character of the Main Street Historic District and enhance the residential neighborhoods through context-sensitive development. WALKABLE AND ACCESSIBLE • Use streets, sidewalks and alleys as a safe and comfortable multi-modal network. • Expand transit and bicycle access and facilities to link Downtown to other employment, residential, and commercial districts. WELCOMING TO EVERYONE • Foster a place that is welcoming and inclusive of all ages, incomes, abilities, and backgrounds with a mix of uses and accessible places. • Design new buildings for sustainability, durability and design excellence. CONNECTED TO NATURE AND CULTURE • Ensure Downtown open spaces foster gathering, recreation, flexibility, programming and local identity. • Highlight nature whenever possible, strengthening amenities that are unique to Bozeman. The boards comments included: 1. Emphasize that nearby districts (Midtown, N7th, Cannery, NE) are also mixed-use commercial districts. 2. Highlight downtown as a regional commercial, tourism, and retail trade center 3. Add recent Urban3 tax value analysis to demonstrate downtown’s ROI 4. Stress importance of simplified parking code requirements Meeting was adjourned at 1:05 pm MEMO January 11, 2019 TO: Downtown BID and URD Boards FR: Chris Naumann RE: Agency Additional Services and Fees Request For the reasons outlined below, I am requesting that the URD and BID Boards consider allocating additional funding to the Downtown Bozeman Improvement Plan. The Agency team has more than exceeded my expectations as has the demands of the project. It became apparent to me this fall that the team was investing more time and effort than contracted to do. I met with Brie Hensold from Agency at the end of October to have an honest conversation about the project, contract and compensation. She said that her team willingly entered into the project knowing it would require more of their services than the $80,000 contract would cover. When further pressed, she also admitted that they had grossly underestimated extent of the discrepancy. I asked Brie to provide me with a supplemental fee proposal that would fairly cover the shortfall and be more commensurate of their work. The attached Agency additional services and fee proposal breaks out the various components totaling $25,000. Below are the factors that drove the project well beyond the original scope and timeline. It is my professional position that the additional fee is warranted not only for the circumstances outlined below but also due to the exceptional job the team has done with public engagement and the extremely high quality of their work product. For comparison, the 2009 Downtown Plan cost $80,000. Accounting for inflation, in today’s dollars that same investment would cost in excess of $93,000. Along those same lines, the 2009 Plan was 45 pages in length, whereas the draft 2019 Plan is 130 pages with an additional 30 pages of appendices. The RFP for the 2019 Plan outlined a 4-month process (for $80,000). The subsequent contract with Agency is based upon a 7-month timeline (for $80,000). With the tentative date for the City Commission to adopt the Plan in mid-April, the project will last over 10 months. Although acknowledged in the RFP and contract, the Agency team has spent considerably more time than anticipated addressing issues related with the other City planning processes. Consideration of the NCOD Guidelines, the Community Plan and Housing Needs Assessment has required significant attention. Another aspect that has proved more demanding than expected is the elevated level of City of Bozeman involvement. Considering the pressures and sensitivities around Bozeman’s growth, the City staff and administration have placed additional demands on the consulting team in the form of meetings, communications, documentation, and schedule delays. Similarly, the understandable expectation of a higher degree of public engagement has resulted in more thought, time and effort than originally planned. In conclusion, the dynamics around the growth our community is grappling with are exponentially more complex than they were 10 years ago. Correspondingly the scope and scale of the downtown planning process has been considerably more involved. Thankfully the Agency team has risen to the occasion rather than limiting their efforts based on the shortcomings of the original contract. Therefore, I respectfully request the Downtown Plan funding partners to approve the supplemental consulting fees outlined below. Original Expenses $80,000 Agency Team Consulting Fee $10,000 Administration Expenses (facilities, marketing, printing) $90,000 Total Project Expenses Original Funding $50,000 Urban Renewal District for Consulting Fee $10,000 Urban Renewal District for Administration Expenses $20,000 Business Improvement District for Consulting Fee $10,000 City Community Development Department for Consulting Fee $90,000 Total Funding Requested Additional Expenses $25,000 Agency Fee for additional time and services Proposed Additional Funding $15,000 Urban Renewal District $ 5,000 Business Improvement District $ 5,000 City Community Development District $25,000 Total Additional Funding Thank you for taking the time to consider this request and review the documents prior to our meetings on January 15 and 16, 2019. Please contact me with any questions. Attachments: • 2019 DBIP PSA Additional Services Amendment • Agency Additional Services Agreement FIRST AMENDMENT TO PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENT This first amendment to the Professional Services Agreement for the update of the Downtown Bozeman Improvement Plan dated June 15, 2018 (the “Agreement”) is made and entered into January 18, 2019, by and between the Downtown Bozeman Partnership, a limited liability corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of Montana, with a mailing address of 222 East Main Street #302, Bozeman, MT 59715, hereinafter referred to as “Partnership,” and, Agency Landscape + Planning with a mailing address of 45 Lawn Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, hereinafter referred to as “Design Professional.” In consideration of the mutual covenants and agreements herein contained, the receipt and sufficiency whereof being hereby acknowledged, the parties hereto agree to amend the Agreement as follows: 1. Extension of Term/Effective. Section 2 of the Agreement is extended and will terminate upon completion of the work included in the Additional Services Agreement of Exhibit A but no later than April 31, 2019. 2. Payment. Section 4 of the Agreement is amended to include the amount specified in the Additional Services Agreement of Exhibit A. 3. Agreement still valid. All remaining terms and provisions of the Agreement remain valid. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties hereto have executed this instrument the day and year first above written. DOWNTOWN BOZEMAN PARTNERSHIP AGENCY LANDSCAPE + PLANNING By By Chris Naumann, Executive Director Brie Hensold, Principal Mr. Chris Naumann Executive Director Downtown Bozeman Partnership 222 East Main #302 Bozeman MT 59715 December 3, 2018 Subject: Additional Services Agreement Dear Chris: This letter is to summarize additional services provided by Agency Landscape + Planning to Downtown Bozeman Partnership between November 1, 2018 and April 31, 2019 on the Downtown Bozeman Master Plan. The original scope of services for the master plan, dated June 13, 2018, included work and an established schedule through the end of October 2018. Likewise, the needs of the project and client team have expanded to include greater integration and coordination with other ongoing projects and teams, additional visits, and more detailed work to examine relationships and implications between the scale of growth Downtown and in nearby neighborhoods. These additional services are provided on behest of the client to cover work associated with a schedule extension. These include: • Ongoing participation in client and subconsultant calls, and project management correspondence due to schedule extension. This is assumed to be include regular emails as well as weekly calls through the end of January and monthly February through April - $6,500 • Additional review cycle and associated revisions to the master plan by various stakeholders and staff - $5,600 • Additional content development, greater level of detail, and coordination with other ongoing planning efforts (including the Community Plan, NCOD, and Housing Needs Assessment), city staff and consultant teams to align the DBIP Update with the complexity of current planning processes - $10,500 • One-person, one-day trip to present the final master plan by Brie Hensold or Gina Ford - $2,400 (labor plus expenses, which are estimated for billing at cost) The total for these services, inclusive of labor and expenses is $25,000. If desired, additional person-trips can be added for a per diem cost of $1,500-2,500 per person, depending on the representative and the cost of expenses at the time. Expenses (costs for travel, reproduction, postage, messenger, telephone, etc.) are included at cost with no mark-up. Please indicate your agreement to the foregoing Proposal by signing two copies and returning the copy to Agency Landscape + Planning, LLC. Very truly yours, Brie Hensold Agency Landscape + Planning, LLC