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Home My WebLink About01-15-20 BID MinutesDowntown Business Improvement District Board Meeting Minutes January 15, 2020 Attending: Jolee Barry, Eric Bowman, Ileana Indreland, Erik Nelson, Susan Neubauer, Emily Cope, Chris Naumann, Chris Mehl Absent: Mike Basile, Eric Sutherland Public Comments: Mike Hope began by saying he owns the Rockin’ R Bar building and will not sign the petition to renew the BID. The BID board is different than the DBA and URD boards because it is represented by downtown property owners. He said that downtown property owners need better advocacy and transparency from the BID board. He said he has spent around $20,000 of his own money towards attorney fees to fight “ideas and projects of the downtown organizations”. He serves on the MDOT board and said that is the only way he found out about any progress on making Main Street three lanes. He said he thinks the BID should operate independently from the DBA and URD. Ashley Ogle spoke representing the Element Hotel and the parking lot behind it. She said she agrees with all of Mike Hope’s comments and that she is not signing the petition to renew the BID. Dick Harte (25 W Main St.) said he is not signing the petition to renew the BID because there is not enough communication from the BID and no representation from the board. He said he is not on the internet a lot to track down time/location of the monthly board meetings but admitted he was at fault for not staying informed about the happenings of the BID. He wants the whole community to work together with the city to find solutions to parking. Amy McDonald presented a letter written by David Loseff (owner of the Baxter) and provided a copy to every person at the meeting. He said that downtown and its property owners need to have effective oversight of policy issues affecting downtown properties and that the BID should fill that role to keep property owners informed and advocate for them. He has come together with other downtown property owners and hire legal counsel to address downtown parking issues. He stated the BID has not been transparent to downtown property owners about any updates regarding converting Main Street to three lanes. The letter ended with David stating he will not be signing the petition to renew the BID. Minutes November minutes will be considered for approval in February’s meeting. Finance Report Finance Report was provided but not discussed. Executive Directors Report Executive Directors Report was provided but not discussed. Maintenance Program Update Currently we have one part-time general maintenance employee (Mike Grant), one weekend general maintenance employee and one part-time garage maintenance employee (Trish). Below are the maintenance statistics comparing the year-to-date figures from this year (FY20) to the corresponding stats from last year (FY19). FY2019 Y-T-D FY2020 Y-T-D Total Ave/mnth Total Ave/mnth Difference Trash Emptied 1303 217 1472 245 +169 Recycling Emptied 301 50 334 56 +33 Graffiti Removed 116 19 156 26 +40 Building Project Updates • Armory Hotel Substantial completion scheduled for January 31, 2019 and opening in April 2020. • Black & Olive Apartments construction was completed December 2019. Commercial tenant unknown. • Osborne Building (233 East Main) 4-story mixed use building with 2 floors of restaurant use and 2 floors of offices. Construction began October 2018. See https://www.theosbornebozeman.com/ • “OSM” Building 5 story mixed use building proposed on southwest corner of Babcock and Wallace—construction began Spring 2019 • One 11 Lofts (corner of North Willson and West Lamme) 50-unit apartment building with 53 parking spaces. Construction began spring 2019. • Merin Condos (on North Bozeman across from Dave’s Sushi) 28 units of owner-occupied housing. In Final Site Plan review. Demolition of the site was recently completed. • Village Downtown 30 new residential condo units and 9 single-family lots are under review by the City • AC Hotel (5 East Mendenhall) 6 story 140 room full-service hotel. In development review. • East End Flats (240 East Mendenhall) 6-story mixed use project. In development review. • Veranda Apartments (111 South Church) proposed new construction of 6 units. New Businesses Update • Good Food Company—229 East Main—restaurant to open in Osborne Building • Blackbird Kitchen—140 East Main—formerly C. Moose—expansion to open early 2020 • Red Sugar Dim Sum—33 West Main—formerly Bisl—to open in January 2020 • TBD—113 East Main—formerly Corx—possible renovations underway • Elevate—307 East Main—formerly Bagels Etc—new food concept associated with Bar IX • Barefoot—131 West Main—formerly Shirtworks—new owners of same concept • TBD—33 South Willson—formerly Delicious Bakery • TBD—19 South Willson—formerly Barely & Vine • Barely & Vine—TBA—relocating to new space downtown • TBD—544 East Main—formerly Heeb’s • TBD—2 East Main—former Miller’s Jewelry location • TBD—9 East Main—formerly Sassy Sisters Planning Updates In this section, I will provide update about several ongoing City planning processes. Community Plan (City Growth Policy) Update Consultants: Logan Simpson (Ft. Collins) Update: The Planning Board has decided to spend more time revising the draft plan so the February 10th City Commission presentation will be rescheduled to a later date. https://www.bozeman.net/city-projects/bozeman-community-plan-update Community Housing Action Plan Consultants: Navigate, LLC Workforce Housing Solutions Update: The City Commission continued their review of the Community Housing Action Plan on Monday January 13, 2020. https://www.bozeman.net/city-projects/community-housing-action-plan https://www.bozeman.net/city-projects/community-housing-needs-assessment FEMA Floodplain Map Next Steps: The final draft map will be released in 2nd quarter of 2020. The City then has 180 days to amend its floodplain regulations to incorporate the new maps. The new regulatory floodplain map would become effective by the beginning of 2021. TIF Bond Refinancing The City Finance Director is refinancing the downtown URD TIF bond which is anticipated to reduce the annual debt service payment for the garage by $35,000 to $45,000. North Black Pocket Park Construction of the North Black Pocket Park in southwest corner of Black Lot public parking lot is making significant progress. The project includes three elements: new pocket park; relocated Black Lot egress; and new streetscape including sidewalk, streetlamps, and trees. Below is a basic construction schedule: • 8/19—8/21 Mobilization and site preparations • 8/21—9/11 Demo and excavation • 9/3—10/11 Concrete and electrical installation—delayed due to weather • 10/14—10/28 Hardscaping and lighting installation • 11/1—11/16 Benches and Red Chair installation • Spring 2020 Landscaping installation MDT Rouse Project Negotiations continue with Montana Department of Transportation to have downtown streetlamps installed along Rouse Avenue between Main and East Lamme Streets next summer when MDT completes the Rouse reconstruction project. MDT’s general contractor, Missouri River Construction, has agreed to contract with the URD directly for the installation of the streetlamps and related electric infrastructure. TD&H is completing the final engineering and cost estimates. Discussion and Decision Items 2020 BID Renewal Once public comment finished, Ileana wanted to disclose that she was contacted by the group that provided public comment and she met with them to provide minutes from the prior BID meeting. She also answered questions they had regarding the BID renewal process. The board discussed the points brought up during public comment regarding ways to provide more information to the downtown property owners. The downtown BID website should list the term expiration of each board member so the public knows when there will be an open seat on the board. Chris was asked by the board to send out links to the BID and URD work plan & budgets, mission statements, link to the calendar on the DBP website showing board meeting times of all boards, and a link to the City of Bozeman website calendar. The group discussed the challenges of communicating with the BID property owners as the only contact information we receive from the City of Bozeman is the owner name and mailing address on file with the Department of Revenue. The BID staff has worked to collect actual names, emails, and phone numbers of the property owners to create a database to email owners with information. Of the 416 parcels in the proposed BID boundary, there are 228 owners, and the BID staff has email addresses for 109 of them. A survey about BID programs was recently sent to the owner list serve and we received 16 responses out of 109. The board agreed that there should be more updates between the BID and URD boards, and perhaps have an annual meeting with both boards combined. Chris shared an update on the percentage of signed petitions for the BID renewal which was 43%. The board agreed to have Eric Bowman reach out to the group of property owners that provided public comment to see if they would like to meet. 2020 BID Renewal Decisions-Renewal Cost Approval Chris provided printing and postage costs to date associated with the BID renewal. He also mentioned that some additional money will be needed for the public notice mailing that will happen in the coming months. ACTION: Eric Bowman moved to approve allocating funds for costs associated with printing and postage with the BID renewal efforts, not to exceed $2,500. Susan Neubauer seconded the motion. All voted in favor. Security Fence Funding Approval Chris shared that the BID maintenance mule was vandalized in December 2019. A new ignition was purchased from Summit Motorsports to repair the mule. The mule is currently parked in a corner of the garage exposed and open to the public. A quote was received from Bridger Fence to secure the parking area for the mule and other items in storage belonging to the BID such as bike racks and the water tank. ACTION: Susan Neubauer moved to approve the quote of $2,040 for the construction of a fence in the parking garage. Erik Nelson seconded the motion. All voted in favor. The board does not typically meet in February, but the board decided to schedule a February meeting which will be held on February 19 th . Meeting was adjourned at 1:35 pm