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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-15-11 Downtown Tax Increment Finance district (TIF) Minutes 1 Downtown Tax Increment Finance November Board Meeting Minutes DoWntowN November 15, 2011 B 0 Z E M A N Attending: Bobby Bear, Paul Burns, Bob Hietala, Vonda Laird, Bob Lashaway, Bill Stoddart, Chris Naumann Absent: Cyndy Andrus Public Comments None Disclosures None Minutes ACTION: Bob Lashaway moved to approve the September and October minutes as presented. Bob Hietala seconded the motion. All voted in favor. Financial Report Chris presented the financial report. No revenues had been recorded, but Chris said he would get the year to date figures from the City Finance Department for the next report. He reported the following expenses: Furniture and Park Maintenance $50.00; Streetscape purchases $5624.00 for new lower street banner arms; Phase 3 Streetscape Engineering $7387.80; DBIP Implementation $3455.00 for Sculpture Park and DURT renderings. Chris noted that the budgeted amount for the Phase 3 Streetscape Engineering was only $5000 despite knowing that the expenses would far exceed that figure. He commented that it was a place holder figure from an early draft of the budget. He said that proposal approved by the board from TD&H Engineering quoted the project costs at $16,900.00. Bobby and Bob Lashaway said they recalled a figure north of$15,000 for the project. Bob Hietala suggested noting the discrepancy in the minutes and then correcting budget figure in the next finance report. There were no further questions from the board regarding finances. Program Director's Report None provided Executive Director's Report Technical Assistance Program Update As you can see from the chart below, three Planning Grants or Facade Grants have been awarded so far this year. The total committed funds for these projects total $43,500 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 Facade 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 Eric Naiman/Bright Ideas Intrinsik Planning The Bozeman Creek Park(ing) Project Request for Qualifications was released on August 5, 2011. Five Submittals of Qualifications were received by the September 1 s' deadline. Submitting teams were led by: Allied Engineering, Atkins North America, Intrinsik Architecture, Kerin & Associates, Sanderson Stewart. All submittals of qualification were reviewed and ranked by the selection committee consisting of the following members: • Chris Naumann, Executive Director, Downtown Partnership • Paul Burns, Parking Manager, City of Bozeman • Ron Dingman, Parks Director, City of Bozeman • Dustin Johnson, Engineer, City of Bozeman • Gary Weiner, Coordinator, Bozeman Creek Enhancement Committee The selection committee evaluated all five submittals and chose to interview the Allied and Intrinsik teams. In the end, the committee concluded that the Intrinsik team was the best selection for this multi- disciplinary project that would require a significant amount of consensus building both internally, politically and publically. The Intrinsik team includes: Intrinsik Architecture, TD&H Engineering, Confluence and Design 5 Landscaping. At least three alternatives will be ready for public presentation in January 2012. Montana Downtown Conference The Downtown Partnership hosted the annual Montana Downtown Conference October 12-14. Over 60 downtown management professionals from across the state attended. The conference consisted of 20 different sessions held at the Public Library and Baxter Hotel featuring 30 presenters. The subjects ranged from transportation funding to e-marketing; complete streets to public art; economic development to historic preservation. We received numerous comments that ours was the best of the five annual conferences held to date. Next year's conference will be held in Great Falls. Montana Downtown Coalition I continue to orchestrate the formation of the Montana Downtown Coalition. The "founding" eight downtown organizations met at the downtown conference and decided to proceed with the following official actions: formally incorporate as a 501 c6; establish a bank account at First Interstate Bank; develop a website that will serve the Montana Downtown Coalition and Conference. This year's conference netted over $1500 in profits which I pledged to be the seed money for the Coalition. Carnegie Lot RFP The City Commission finalized the Carnegie Lot RFP on September 26th, but the Mayor recommended that the Commission wait at least 6 months to publish the request to allow some more time for private owners to pursue the development of their properties. The Commission decided to postpone the decision regarding the publishing timeline until their meeting on Monday, October 241h On October 24th the City Commission decided to delay the release of the Carnegie Lot RFP further pending discussions at the January 23rd Commission meeting. This continued delay is in reaction to request from private property owners to give them time to work on potential hotel development projects. Urban Renewal Updates I have been researching the statutory procedure to revise the Downtown Urban Renewal Plan and corresponding ordinance. I have also begun to identify how to designate the Armory property an urban renewal project. I have a meeting with City Attorney Greg Sullivan on Friday, November 18th to discuss both urban renewal initiatives. Discussion and Decision Items DURT Rendering Project Chris presented the renderings for the Downtown Urban Route Transformation project prepared by Alta Planning. Chris reminded the board that the purpose was to demonstrate the streetscape improvement potential for the Mendenhall and Babcock corridors. He also noted that the scope of the renderings was limited to three blocks of Mendenhall; from Wilson to Tracy to Black to Bozeman. Using PowerPoint, Chris began with renderings documenting the current conditions. Then he showed a series of renderings depicting the addition of a streetscape similar to that found on Main Street including street trees, street lamps, bike racks and trash cans. The third set of renderings included the previous streetscape enhancements and added a single bike lane on the left side of the southern-most traffic lane. Chris mentioned that one of the advantages of maintaining the two lanes of one-way traffic is the ability to incorporate a single one-way bike lane into the existing street width. They added that this can be accomplished with a minimal loss of on-street parking. Bill Stoddart asked how many parking spaces would be lost and Chris responded that it would only be a few in the block between Tracy and Black because of the chicane. Chris pointed out that Alta had added another roadway feature that may be worth considering: pocket turning lanes...short turn lanes--just a car+ length--that let cars turning left to merge across the bike lane thus keeping the traffic flowing in the driving lane. Bob Lashaway asked if that would create conflicts with cyclists. Chris replied that such shared use lanes are very common in more progressive multi-modal communities. He added that he has used a similar configuration at Baxter and 19th both as a cyclist and motorist without incident. Bobby asked if converting the streets to two-way vehicle traffic was still an option worth considering and Chris replied that it was and Alta generated two-way renderings. Paul Burns commented that the streetscape enhancements and the addition of bike lanes completely change the appearance of the street. Bob Lashaway speculated that they improvements would most likely dramatically alter the function as well in a positive sense. The board agreed that the renderings would be extremely helpful in moving forward with transforming the one-ways. Chris concluded by saying he would arrange to present the renderings to the appropriate COB department heads shortly after the New Year. Hotel Incentive Program Draft Review Chris presented the "final draft" of the Hotel Incentive Program to the board. Bobby mentioned that she felt the board had vetted the program documents thoroughly. Bob Lashaway said he thought the section about encumbering the funds was confusing and perhaps not necessary considering that there will only be one incentive awarded to one project. Bill agreed especially since if awarded there would most likely not be similar funds in the FY13 budget. The board pointed out a few grammatical errors. Chris said he would make the corrections and remove the section regarding encumbering the funds. With those changes, the board agreed that the program documents would be ready to be publically released. New Business Chris reminded the board that they traditionally cancel the December meeting and that he would send an e-mail in early December to propose the cancellation. Bobby offered the option to take board action to go ahead cancel the meeting. ACTION: Bob Lashaway moved to cancel the regularly scheduled Downtown TIF Board Meeting in December due to a lack of action items and the busy holiday season. Bob Hietala seconded the motion. All voted in favor. With no further new or old business to discuss, Bobby adjourned the meeting.