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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-22-13 Downtown Business Improvement District (BID) Minutes/ Downtown Business Improvement District Board Meeting Minutes May 22, 2013 Attending: Eric Bowman, Dan Himsworth, Steve Stinson, Eric Sutherland, Buck Taylor, Chris Naumann Absent: Mike Basile, Ileana Indreland Public Comments None Disclosures None Minutes ACTION: Eric Bowman moved to approve the March minutes as presented. Buck Taylor seconded the motion. All voted in favor. Finance Report Chris presented the Finance report reviewing the revenues and expenditures to date. He noted that all of the expenses were as anticipated and budgeted. He reminded the board that the “Flower Sponsorships” income would be coming in June and be reflected on the next finance report. The Board had no further questions regarding the finances. Executive Director’s Report Maintenance Program Update We are transitioning between winter and summer maintenance staffing. We currently have one “full-time” (30-35 hours/week) employee working. The other two summer employees will be starting after Memorial Day weekend. Below are the FY2013 year-to-date maintenance statistics with the comparable time period from FY2012. As the numbers show we are seeing a decrease in the amount of trash collected and a decline in the number of graffiti tags removed. FY2012 to date FY2013 to date Difference       Trash Emptied 2731 2211 -520       Graffiti Removed 70 52 -18   Flower Basket Program Update The baskets will be installed Tuesday, June 4th and/or Wednesday the 5th. The program will be exactly the same as last year. We will have 230 baskets (162x18” and 68x14”). Wagner will prune twice over the course of the season. We will water 7 days a week and fertilize 5 days a week. Downtown Construction Updates Northwestern Energy is closing West Babcock between Grand and Willson to install a new gas shut-off valve and replace the service lines running north and south. This block of Babcock will be restricted to one lane or closed until June 26th. City of Bozeman has closed North Rouse between Main Street and Mendenhall to install a new water service to old City Hall. Project should be completed Tuesday, May 21st (yesterday) and the road reopened no later than Wednesday, May 22nd (today). Gallatin Lodge is working on their foundation along North Bozeman. They will be replacing the sidewalk following the foundation work. The parking lanes have been eliminated along North Bozeman between Main and Mendenhall. Two-way traffic will be maintained except for a few short periods. The project is scheduled to be completed in late June. Previous notes: The Mendenhall Underground Utility project will start during the second half of May 2013 and will last 90 days or less. The project will extend from Broadway to 7th Avenues and involve the installation of new water and sewer lines. Only two or three blocks will be under construction at any given time. The contract stipulates that Mendenhall must be open to through traffic during all downtown events during the period of construction. Downtown Parking Updates / / Discussion and Decision Items FY2014 Work Plan and Budget Chris presented the work plan and budget for fiscal year 2014 as follows: BID Mission Statement The BID is an organization of downtown property owners who through thoughtful, pro-active collaboration and partnership with local government, business owners, residents and citizens strive to create a shared vision and voice for the community of downtown Bozeman. The BID will commit resources, identify, plan and act on short-term and long-term initiatives otherwise unavailable to individual owners. The BID has a goal of ensuring the long-term preservation and vitality of the city’s underlying economic, cultural, social and environmental assets and the BID will work together to keep our downtown a safe, beautiful and vibrant place. BID Assessment Programs The following programs are funded by the special assessments collected from property owners within the Business Improvement District. The BID assessment for FY2014 will be $120,000.00 for the fifth consecutive year. The BID also received approximately $13,000 in additional revenue from sponsorships and interest earnings. Downtown Bozeman Partnership ($67,000) The BID is a member of the Downtown Bozeman Partnership. The BID contributes to the administration of the Downtown Partnership office located at 222 East Main Street. The Partnership also manages all the payroll expenses associated with the BID Director and Operations Manager. Summer Flowers ($18,600) The BID purchases, installs and maintains (which includes watering 7 days a week) 230 hanging baskets of Super-Petunias. These flower baskets are hung throughout downtown from June through September on the historic lamp posts. This program grows each year as additional historic street lamps are installed downtown. Holiday Lighting ($3,500) The BID installs the following holiday lighting downtown: 1) lighted garland on each historic lamp post along Main Street; 2) lights on the large conifer trees in Soroptimist Park; 3) garland wreaths at the Rouse, Church, Wallace, and Grand intersections; and 4) the infamous holiday “spider” decoration above the downtown intersections. Maintenance Program ($31,200) The BID hires two full-time maintenance employees in addition to a part-time maintenance employee for the summer months. Primary tasks performed by the BID maintenance staff includes garbage collection, flower watering, tree watering, Soroptomist Park upkeep, installation of the light pole banners, maintenance of pedestrian benches, graffiti removal, and limited snow removal. The BID maintenance staff removed 2626 bags of garbage in the past year. Graffiti Removal Program ($1000) The BID comprehensive graffiti removal program is in its third year of operation. Since 2009, this program has removed 1292 graffiti tags. The BID maintenance staff removes tags from public property and works with property owners to clean private buildings of graffiti. The BID will continue to actively remove new tags as quickly as possible considering immediate removal has proven to be the most effective deterrent. Downtown Banners ($3,000) The BID purchases, installs and maintains the downtown light pole banners. Seasonally the BID installs banners for MSU, Bogert Farmers Market, Bridger Bowl, Moonlight Basin, Big Sky Resort, Sweet Pea and Hatch. Tree Replacement ($3,000) The BID replaces trees that have died in the downtown district. In coordination with the City Forestry Division, dead trees are removed and then replaced by a local nursery. Smaller newly planted trees are susceptible due to physical damage and insufficient water. The BID replaces between 2 and 6 trees a year. Downtown Marketing ($2,500) The BID contributes to the general marketing of downtown Bozeman. These funds are made available to the Downtown Partnership which places advertisements in ten to twelve local, regional and state-wide publications. Downtown Business Improvement District FY2014 Assessment Budget / ACTION: Dan Himsworth moved to approve the FY2014 Work Plan and Budget as presented to be submitted to the City Commission for final adoption. Eric Sutherland seconded the motion. All voted in favor. KERBspace Project Chris presented a proposal for a potential study of on-street parking along Main Street that would involve remote sensors developed by a local company called KERBspace: The Bozeman Parking Commission and the Downtown Bozeman Partnership have approached KERBspace regarding the collection of on-street parking data. The 2010 and 2012 Downtown Parking Studies focus primarily on the utilization of the public parking lots and Bridger Park Garage. The studies provide very limited data regarding the use of downtown’s most valuable parking: on-street. KERBspace, a Bozeman company founded by Bozeman native Bill Clem, is developing a sophisticated computerized system that allows cities to dynamically manage parking inventory. KERBspace gathers and collates a significant amount of on-street parking data using proprietary sensors that monitor a parking space and detect when an object occupies the space. KERBspace has offered to demonstrate their ability to gather, store and provide useful, actionable parking data by in-stalling a pilot program in downtown Bozeman. The pilot program would include: • Install 8-12 Sensor packages downtown in locations select-ed by the Parking Commission for a 3-4 month period. • Provide KERBsmart Dashboard with data feeds including: • In / Out times • Dwell times • Occupancy map • Vehicle size • Turnover rates KERBspace would provide a comprehensive report on find-ings and analytics at close of study period, including data stream collected during peak seasonal time of year for under-standing of the highest demand scenarios. Sensors are housed in a discrete 6”x10” black box, mounted at the top of existing streetlamps and plugged into the GFI outlet. The boxes would be clearly marked with the BPC’s Blue P logo and the KERBspace logo. The board agreed that this would be very valuable data to compliment the previous parking studies. Chris said the TIF Board also concurred that this would be a worthwhile project. Bar Owner Letter Chris provided the board with copies of a letter received from nine downtown liquor license holders expressing their concerns with the recent COB approved COA and CUP for Big Sky Distillery. The letter requests that they be consulted regarding any future projects involving Montana liquor licenses. With no further new or old business, the meeting was adjourned.