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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-21-11 Downtown Tax Increment Finance District (TIF) Minutes Downtown Tax Increment Finance June Board Meeting Minutes June 21, 2011 Attending: Paul Burns, Bob Hietala, Vonda Laird, Bob Lashaway, Cyndy Andrus, Chris Naumann Absent: Bobby Bear, Bill Stoddart, Public Comments None Disclosures None Minutes ACTION: Bob Lashaway moved to approve the May minutes as presented. Bob Hietala seconded the motion. All voted in favor. Financial Report Chris presented the financial report. There was anticipated year-end income including the balance of the increment ($410,130) and the second half of the entitlement share ($17,310). The TIF also received $3000 from the sale of benches to the Library Foundation. Regarding expenses, Chris said there were about $16,500 in streetscape furniture purchases and park maintenance. The yearend payment of to the parking garage long-term maintenance fund was posted, $9,131 (which equals the year's interest earnings). Also, the $51,000 commitment to the Downtown Enhancement Fund was made per the board's instruction at the May meeting. Program Director's Report None provided Executive Director's Report Technical Assistance Program Update As you can see from the chart below, I have awarded 15 Planning Grants and 7 Facade Grant totaling $125,000 of the $125,000 budget, leaving a remainder of$0. Downtown Technical Assistance Program Project Name Project Address Applicant Professional Grant Type Gallatin Building 44 East Main Street Community Food Co-op Intrinsik Planning Downtowner Building 31-37 South Willson Downtowner Group LLC Focus Planning Odd Fellows Building 221-223 East Main City Center Commerce ThinkTank Planning The Willson Hotel Armory E. Mendenhall The Catellus Group LLC Slade Beal Planning Cateye Cafe Building 23 North Tracy Ave Christine & Kevin Huyser Intrinsik Planning Old City Hall Facade 411 East Main Steve Kleimer CTA Facade Osborn Block 229-233 East Main Chris Pope Intrinsik Planning Bon Ton Building 42 West Main Mike Basile Focus Planning St Paul Rail Building 608 East Main Empire Building Materials ThinkTank Planning South Wallace Site 218 South Wallace Shannon Roberts Intrinsik Planning Bzn Cr Family Health 316 East Babcock Sarah Bronsky ThinkTank Planning Bon Ton Facade 42 West Main Mike Basile Focus Facade Downtowner Facade 31-37 South Willson Mike Grant Focus Facade Klare Building Facade 234 East Babcock Morris Klare ThinkTank Facade Bozeman Armory 24 West Mendenhall Thomas Nygard Bechtle Planning East Willson School 404 West Main BSD7 Comma Q Planning Rialto Theater 8 West Main SRO Live Cikan Planning Baxter Parking Garage 126 West Mendenhall Baxter Main LLC Intrinsik Planning Baxter Sign Renovation 105 West Main Baxter HOA Intrinsik Facade Harrington Facade 407 West Main Harrington's Inc ThinkTank Facade General Willson Facade 101 East Main Delaney& Company Bitnar Facade BG Elevator 712 East Mendenhall Pisces Properties Intrinsik Planning Carnegie Lot Update On June 13th, the City Commission determined by a unanimous 5-0 vote that the Carnegie Parking Lot was no longer needed to conduct the business of the City. They determined that there was in the public interest to pursue a higher and better use for the property. They directed COB staff to draft an RFP soliciting proposals for the sale of the property for the development of a hotel. I anticipate staff will present the draft RFP to the Commission in August. TIF Board Terms Bobby Bear's current term expires on June 30, 2011. She has submitted an application to the City Clerk for an additional term. Thanks, Bobby, for your YEARS of service on the TIF Board. Discussion and Decision Items FY2012 Final TIF Budget The board directed Chris to make several adjustments to the FY2012 Budget as was discussed at the May meeting. Chris presented the revised FY2012 Budget highlighting the modification which included adding an expense line item of$100,000 for the Hotel Incentive Program and adding an expense line item of$10,000 for the contribution to the parking garage long-term maintenance fund. The board discussed that no other changes were necessary and the budget seemed ready to be formally adopted. ACTION: Bob Lashaway moved to formally adopt the FY2012 Downtown TIF Budget as presented. Vonda Laird seconded the motion. All voted in favor and Vonda presented a proxy vote in favor from Bobby Bear. Technical Assistance Grant Program Chris reminded the board that they had previously discussed making some modifications to the FY2012 Technical Assistance Grant Program. The changes included: 1) the grant amount paid would be on a one-to-one basis matching the investment made by the applicant not to exceed $7500; and 2) a stipulation that the submitted grant materials would be come publicly available if the applicant sold the property following the completion of the grant. The board agreed that these were both good changes moving forward. Bob Hietala asked if we should award less money per grant in order to award a larger number of grants. He said this came to mind because we had issued the maximum amount of grants/grant dollars in FY2011. Chris noted that the very last available grant was awarded in the final weeks of the fiscal year and therefore he felt that the dollar amounts were right on target. Bob Lashaway observed that the variety of grants seemed to indicate that the program was "casting a wide net"—small projects to larger projects...Main Street properties and off-Main properties...technical grants and facade grants. He indicated he liked the variety. Vonda Laird added that even though we have only seen a few grant projects actually built out that it only takes a handful to yield taxable value increases in excess of the total grant dollars invested. Financial Support for Public Art Chris informed the board that he would like them to consider funding the public art initiatives in the downtown area. He indicated that he believes public art is an important type of downtown infrastructure that adds an unique layer to the downtown streetscape above and beyond the typical furniture. Chris indicated that if the board was interested in considering funding for public art projects, he would bring a more formal proposal to them at the next meeting. The board encouraged Chris to do just that. Phased Approach to the DURT Chris shared with the board that he felt a phased approach to designing the Downtown Urban Route Transformation project would be beneficial. He explained that there was very little political will and even less public funding to proceed with a large-scale and expenses "study to end all studies". He indicated that there would be common improvement elements to any traffic alternative such as new streetscapes and traffic calming elements. He said a small investment in some graphic renderings would show the community what such improvements would look like which would greatly facilitate the discussion. The board asked Chris to bring more information for their consideration at the next meeting. With no further new or old business to discuss, Vonda adjourned the meeting.