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Home My WebLink About01-21-14 Downtown Tax Increment Finance District (TIF) Minutes / Downtown Tax Increment Finance Board Meeting Minutes January 21, 2014 Attending: Bobby Bear, Shannon Haish, Bob Hietala, Scott Lee, Bill Stoddart, Carson Taylor, Chris Naumann Absent: Vonda Laird, Bob Lashaway Public Comments None Disclosures None Minutes ACTION: Bill Stoddart moved to approve the November and December minutes as presented. Bob Hietala seconded the motion. All voted in favor. Financial Report Chris presented the financial report which included expenses for Partnership management fee, recycling receptacle purchase, streetlamp base purchase, and four Technical Assistance grant payments. There was no further discussion regarding finances. Executive Director’s Report Technical Assistance Program Update The chart below lists the 8 remaining grants from FY2013 that have not been completed. No grants have been issued in FY2014, therefore $0 of the $100,000 budget has been allocated. 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 Façade grants are capped at $3000. Grants listed in bold have been completed as the applicant has submitted all materials and been reimbursed (4 of 8 projects). FY2014 Downtown Technical Assistance Program Project Name Project Address Applicant Professional Grant Type SWN Creekside 317 East Mendenhall Susan Neubauer Weirich & Greenspace Facade Block G--North 25 East Lamme Block M, LLC Intrinsik Planning Block G--South 25 East Mendenhall Block M, LLC Intrinsik Planning Bozeman Spirits 121 West Main Jim Harris Locati Planning Thrive Office 404 E Babcock Scott Dehlendorf Intrinsik Planning Osborn Block 229 East Main Chris Pope Intrinsik Planning Imperial Inn 122 West Main Eric Nelson ThinkTank Planning 101 E Mendenhall 101 E Mendenhall Big Sky Beverage Intrinsik Planning Street Hardware Update The 10 single stream recycling receptacles were installed December 20th. I think they stand out nicely and thus far have received considerable use. The COB Solid Waste Department has provided two downtown recycling collection dumpsters for us to use. The streetlamp replacement bases also arrived, but not before the early snows. The BID maintenance staff will install them this spring. / MDC Report The Montana Downtown Coalition, of which I am president, is formally incorporating as a 501c4. The primary purpose of the Coalition is to host the annual Montana Downtown Conference which will be held in Helena on September 24-26, 2014. The Coalition is also considering collaborating with the Sonoran Institute on a report that would quantify the value of Montana’s downtowns and Main Streets. The report would include Joe Mincozzi’s taxable value per acre analysis that he has done for the downtowns in Bozeman, Billings, Missoula, Great Falls and Helena. The report would also detail the values of downtown Urban Renewal and Tax Increment Districts across the state. Downtown Parking Update The graph on the back of this page shows an increase in both garage use and revenue for December. Entries and revenue were up 17% and 7% over December 2012. Entries and revenue for 2013 were up 13% and 11% respectively over 2012. / / Dear TIF Board, Hola from Cuenca Ecuador! I'll miss the meeting, but will consume una cerveza por ustedes. --Bob Lashaway / Discussion and Decision Items Bridger Park Garage Maintenance Funding MOU Chris informed the board of the need to finalize a new memorandum of understanding pledging the TIF’s interest income to the long-term maintenance fund for the parking garage. Chris said that the budget reflects this commitment but it had not been ratified in writing. Chris distributed copies of the revised MOU pledging the funding each year until June 20, 2016. The board found two grammatical corrections and supported Chairperson Bobby Bear signing the corrected document. B3 Project Updates Chris provided updates on the three “B3 Projects”: 3D Model—Chris said he has met with several downtown architects and identified the buildings they have already modeled in conjunction with their client’s projects. Chris indicated that Intrinsik has modeled over 60% of the downtown core. He will be working with them to model the remaining 40%. Phase 2 will then focus on modeling the areas outside the core. Historic Inventory—Chris said he released an RFP to update downtown’s historic inventory. He expects to have a consultant selected in early March. Zone Map Amendment—Chris informed the board that he will be releasing an RFP to complete a ZMA rezoning several areas in or adjacent to the current B3 boundary. Other Discussion Bob Hietala asked if Chris had any ideas about what role if any the TIF could play in attracting and/or retaining high tech sector businesses downtown. The board expressed interest in creatively incentivizing high-tech employers to choose downtown. Shannon said she knows of at least one growing tech company that would like to move downtown. Chris said he would research what other TIFs and URDs have done to attract the high-tech sector. At 1:10pm Bobby adjourned the meeting.