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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-20-12 Downtown Tax Increment Finance District (TIF) Minutes Downtown Tax Increment Finance March Board Meeting Minutes March 20, 2012 Attending: Bobby Bear, Paul Burns, Bob Hietala, Vonda Laird, Bill Stoddart, Carson Taylor, Chris Naumann Absent: Bob Lashaway Public Comments None Disclosures None Minutes ACTION: Bill Stoddart moved to approve the February minutes as presented. Bob Hietala seconded the motion. All voted in favor. Financial Report Chris presented the financial report. Chris noted that there was no financial activity since the February Financial Report. There were no questions from the board regarding finances. Program Director's Report None provided Executive Director's Report Technical Assistance Program Update NO CHANGES...As you can see from the chart below, 13 Planning Grants or Fagade Grants have been awarded so far this year. The total committed funds for these projects total $79,450 of the $125,000 budget. 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 Fagade grants are capped at $3000. Downtown Technical Assistance Program Project Name Project Address Applicant Professional Grant Type Harringtons Building 612 South Wallace Thomas Winston Intrinsik Planning Owenhouse Building 26 East Main Larry Bowman Focus Planning Owenhouse Building 26 East Main Larry Bowman Focus Fagade 136 West Main 136 West Main Jeff MacPherson Intrinsik Planning Avant Courier 1 East Main Brigette Tuller Focus Planning Avant Courier 1 East Main Brigette Tuller Focus Facade 33 South Tracy Bldg 33 South Tracy Bright Ideas Intrinsik Planning 122 West Main 122 East Main Stewberg Inc Intrinsik Planning RMRG-Homepage 201 East Main Haj Javad Intrinsik Planning CIVIC Depot 626 East Main Library Foundation Intrinsik Planning 18 Miles to the Border 131 West Main Joe Billion Focus Planning Baxter Cellar 105 105 West Main David Loseff Intrinsik Planning Klare Building 234 East Babcock Morris Klare Intrinsik Planning HUD-EDI Sidewalk/Alley Update I have been working with the City to use the remaining HUD-EDI Downtown Explosion funds to improve the sidewalks and alley surrounding the "blast block". This will involve implementing the side street streetscape design along North Rouse and North Bozeman from Main Street to the alley. The City rebid this project after the first round of proposals came in higher than the engineers estimate last fall. They received four very competitive bids that came in below the engineer's estimate and well within the budget. The City will be awarding the project in the coming weeks. The contract will include stipulations that 1) the work will not begin until Monday, May 7 so as not to conflict with MSU Commencement weekend; and 2) the work must be completed by Friday, June 29 prior to the 4t" of July. Subsequently, the City Streets Department will mill and resurface the alley at some point in August or September. Park(ing) Project Update On Tuesday, March 6t" the Downtown Partnership hosted a public presentation of the proposed design alternatives to improve the public parking lot and adjacent section of Bozeman Creek at the corner of South Rouse Avenue and East Babcock Street. About 25 individuals attended the presentation. The consulting team consisting of Intrinsik Architecture, TD&H Engineering, Confluence, and Design 5, presented the project background material documenting the existing conditions, issues, and challenges. They proposed three design alternatives providing varying amounts and configurations of parking in relation to creek improvements. All of the project documents have been posted to the Downtown Partnership website. I have publicized the posting of the documents and solicited additional public comment via a press release, our e-mail Iistserve, and social media outlets. The public comment period closes April 2, 2012. Carnegie Parking Lot RFQ The City released the RFQ for parties interested in developing a hotel at the Carnegie Parking Lot site. The deadline for SOQs is Friday, April 13 2012. The City is establishing an evaluation committee of the following representatives: Cyndy Andrus City Commissioner Bobby Bear Downtown TIF Board Paul Burns City Parking Manager Ben Lloyd Bozeman Parking Commission Tim McHarg City Planning Director Anna Rosenberry City Finance Director ??? Downtown BID Board The committee will evaluate all complete submittals by Friday, May 11 2012. Discussion and Decision Items Technical Assistance Grant Application Chris asked for the Board's direction on a recently submitted TAG application from Dave Brekke for the Wild Joe's Coffee Shop building. Chris explained that the City Building Department was requiring the owners make a variety of code compliant modifications including: installing fire separation between ground floor coffee shop and upstairs residences; improving second exit; adding second bathroom. The applicant was looking for a planning gran to prepare for making these improvements. Chris expressed that this was similar to the grant on South Tracy that focused on code compliance and therefore would like the board to weigh in. Bill Stoddart said he thinks significant code compliance issues are applicable because if such improvements are not made then spaces could be vacated which would constitute "blight". Bobby Bear agreed that while such projects do not add square footage or result in substantial new investment, they are critical to keeping downtown occupied and vital. Chris added that the applicant estimates that the total investment of approximately $100,000.00. The board decided to award a planning grant to Dave Brekke. The applicant also submitted for a facade grant intended on designing a more active alley/second entrance fagade. Chris said he was excited about the fagade grant as it was the first to focus on an alley fagade which aligns with the Downtown Improvement Plan's objective to enhance the alleys and encourage more customer use. Chris said he would like the board to approve this as the first alley fagade grant. Paul Burns said that perhaps a fagade alley improvement project would inspire other property owners to consider the same. The board decided to award a fagade grant to Dave Brekke. Downtown Hotel Incentive Program Chris informed that board that he had a conversation regarding the hotel incentive with a hospitality developer considering a major hotel in downtown. The developer's question was whether or not the TIF Board would award more than one incentive. He went on to give the example of the recently announced news to convert the Armory into a boutique hotel. He said it was very possible that a 40-60 room hotel would not provide exactly what the Downtown Plan called for in a hotel. Such a small hotel would be priced high by Bozeman's standards and due to limited square footage unlikely include a desirable amount of conference space. If the incentive was awarded to a boutique hotel, then there would be no incentive for a much larger, more affordable, complete hotel development. He concluded that in this example the TIF would have incentivized the "wrong" hotel just because it was built first. Chris reminded that board that they had discussed in the past the potential to incentivize more than one hotel. The board discussed this situation acknowledging two key factors: 1) the TIF does have the reserves to award two incentives; and 2) downtown/Bozeman could very well support two very different hotels—one high priced boutique hotel with limited ancillary facilities and one mid- range priced hotel with a full complement of conference facilities. The board recognized that the current program does not accommodate two awards. They instructed Chris to develop a revised program for FY2013 that would give the board the ability to award two incentives should the right situation arise. Live-Safety Infrastructure Program At the February meeting, Chris informed the board that downtown could face a serious barrier to redevelopment of side street properties due to the lack of sufficient dedicated fire lines (DFL). Last month, the board agreed that Chris should research the issue and options to provide assistance. They asked him to specifically look into the following questions: What would be the average cost of installing a dedicated fire line into a building from the main line? How much building square footage does one fire line service? Is there a map or list of buildings that do have fire lines versus those that do not? What have other downtowns done to address this issue? Chris presented his research into these issues and questions. First, the estimated cost to install a 4" DFL is $10,000 to $20,000. Second, each DFL has the capacity to sprinkler approximately 40,000 square feet. Chris said he obtained a map from the 2001 Main Street Streetscape Project that documents 37 DFL were installed at that time. Lastly, Chris presented a summary of the program implemented by the Missoula Redevelopment Agency, "The Life-Safety Code Compliance Program". Chris said he would be proposing to fund $75,000 to $100,000 in the FY2013 budget for a DFL Assistance Program. He said that if such program was offered with a $1 to $1 match required of the property owner, the program could fund 7 to 12 installations over the course of the year. The board said they would look forward to the proposal. FY2013 Budget Preparation Chris presented a draft FY2013 budget juxtaposed against the FY12 Approved Budget and FY12 Year End Projections. Chris noted as starting cash balance and new revenues totaling $1.98 million. He noted the Partnership Management fees should remain at $95,600. The rest of the draft expenses include: Street Improvement $77,000; Parking Structure $434,000; Explosion Impact Fees $100,000; Code Compliance Program $75,000; and Planning $529,000. Bobby pointed out that the FY13 Hotel Incentive budget was only for $100,000 yet the board had asked Chris plan on being in a position to award two which would equal $200,000. Bob Hietala suggested that during the next budget discussion the board consider why some of the grant programs were not being utilized, in particular the Streetscape and Housing programs. Calendar Items Chris reminded the board of the following calendar items: Downtown Roundtable with Gubernatorial Candidate Rich Hill 11:30am to 1 :OOpm Wednesday, April 4 2012 Downtown Partnership Board Room COB Advisory Board Required Ethics Training 12:30 to 2:00 pm Tuesday, April 10, 2012 City Commission Room—City Hall With no further new or old business to discuss, Bobby adjourned the meeting.