Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-25-14 Downtown Tax Increment Finance District (TIF) Minutes/ Downtown Tax Increment Finance Board Meeting Minutes March 25, 2014 Attending: Bob Hietala, Bob Lashaway, Scott Lee, Bill Stoddart, Chris Naumann Absent: Bobby Bear, Shannon Haish, Vonda Laird Public Comments None Disclosures None Minutes February minutes will be approved at the April meeting. Financial Report Chris presented the financial report which included no new expenses. The report did itemize several new income balances including: TIF revenues of $427,000; State Entitlement Share of $22,718; and interest income of $7090. Executive Director’s Report Technical Assistance Program Update The first chart below lists the 3 remaining grants from FY2013 that have not been completed. The second chart lists the 3 grants awarded in FY2014. 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. FY2013 Downtown Technical Assistance Program  Project Name Project Address Applicant Professional Grant Type  SWN Creekside 317 East Mendenhall Susan Neubauer Weirich & Greenspace Facade  Bozeman Spirits 121 West Main Jim Harris Locati Planning  Osborn Block 229 East Main Chris Pope Intrinsik Planning  FY2014 Downtown Technical Assistance Program  Project Name Project Address Applicant Professional Grant Type  34 North Bozeman 34 North Bozeman Big Sky Beverage Intrinsik Planning  Masonic Temple 14 South Tracy Masonic Temple CTA Planning  Masonic Temple 14 South Tracy Masonic Temple CTA Facade   DURT Project Update Craig Woolard, City Public Works Director, and I presented the options for a bike lane along Mendenhall at the February meeting of the Bike Advisory Board. We outlined that the Bozeman Transportation Plan’s recommendation to remove the south parking lane and install a one-way bike lane was not feasible as downtown would lose over 90 parking spaces. We demonstrated while it would be possible to reduce lane widths and squeeze in a bike with the existing parking lanes, it would be really tight. The Bike Advisory Board discussed the options further at their next meeting and submitted a written report supporting bike sharrows and other signage rather than the installation of a bike lane. I am currently working with the Public Works Department to finalize the striping plan for this summer’s mill and overlay project. Downtown Parking Update The graphs on the back show a continued increase in both garage use and revenue for February. Entries and revenue were up 24% and 33% over February 2013. Therefore year-to-date entries and revenue for 2014 are up 21% and 20% respectively over 2013. / / Discussion and Decision Items Bylaw Revisions Chris reminded the board that he had sent a heavily revised copy of the TIF bylaws to the board a week prior. He said that he first typed the original set of bylaws into a Word document as no digital copy previously existed. Next he said in inserted the provisions required by the City Clerk and Attorney. In some cases these mandated previsions represented new language while in many cases they were more robust versions of similar provisions that previously existed in the original TIF bylaws. Chris said that these revisions are being implemented by all of the City’s Citizen Advisory Boards. Bob asked if these changes were in essence legal boilerplate revisions to ensure consistency and adequacy. Chris said that was exactly correct. Chris did have a few points to seek direction on from the board. The first was the fact that nowhere in the bylaws is the “Tax Increment Finance Board” referenced. The board recommended adding the sentence “The IDB Board is commonly known as the “Tax Increment Finance Board”” in the beginning of Article V. Chris also pointed out that contrary to the bylaws no contract exists between the City of Bozeman and the Downtown Bozeman Partnership outlining the program administration by a private organization. Chris said he will consult with Anna Rosenberry and Greg Sullivan about this issue. ACTION: Bob Lashaway moved to adopt the revised bylaws with the final changes as discussed and noted. Bob Hietala seconded the motion. All voted in favor. Truck Route Research Project Chris presented a scope of work prepared by the Western Transportation Institute to qualify and quantify the semi-truck traffic on Main Street through downtown. Chris said he engaged WTI to do the research in preparation to propose modification to the Nation Truck Route Registry. The scope of work is included below. The board agreed that securing revision to the registry and thus reducing through-truck traffic downtown will require presenting data rather than only anecdotal reasons. ACTION: Bob Lashaway moved to approve expenditures not to exceed $20,000 for the completion of the “Bozeman Main Street Commercial Truck Route Modification Project” as proposed by WTI. Bill Stoddart seconded the motion. All voted in favor. Hotel Incentive Program Chris presented the following overview of the Hotel Incentive Program as it relates to the Block G Hotel. BACKGROUND COB estimated impact fees for theoretical downtown hotel ($15m, 100 rooms, meeting and restaurant space) to be approximately $280,000. From this estimate we established the Hotel Incentive Program to pay up to $100,000 as a one-to-one match to offset those impact fees. SITUATION The City of Bozeman completed the final impact fee calculations for the Block G Hotel and they total $85,000. The large discrepancy from the theoretical estimate was mostly due to the credits given for the existing water and sewer services at the Kenyon Noble site. The close proximity to the garage also reduced the transportation impact fees. DISCUSSION The intent was to incentivize a major hotel with $100,000. Do we just pay half of the $85k in impact fees…$42.5k? Or can/should the TIF provide the intended $100k incentive for in this case is a $13.7m hotel development? If the program is modified equal consideration must be given to the other incentive grantee—the Etha Hotel. The TIF Board and City Commission approved budget and work plan to “spend” $200k on hotel development incentives. OPTIONS No. 1: Uphold the literal interpretation of the Hotel Incentive Program and reimburse the Block G Hotel $43.5k of the $85k in impact fees. No. 2: Amend the incentive program by removing the one-to-one match provision. The revision could stipulate that the incentive will reimburse the developer for hotel-related impact fees covering the actual impact fee amount or $100k whichever is less. In the case of the Block G Hotel the incentive reimbursed would be $85k. This option would ensure we are incentivizing hotel developments to the level intended (or perhaps less) while still meeting our requirement to only pay the “public portion of a private project”. After some discussion, the members of the board agreed that the intent, reflected by the approved work plan and budget, was to provide a $100k incentive for the development of a downtown hotel. ACTION: Bob Lashaway moved to amend the Hotel Incentive Program to stipulate that the incentive will reimburse the developer for hotel-related impact fees covering the actual impact fee amount or $100k whichever is less. Bob Hietala seconded the motion. All voted in favor. At 12:45pm Bill adjourned the meeting. Bozeman Main Street Commercial Truck Route Modification Project A Project Proposed for the Downtown Bozeman Partnership Scope Prepared by Natalie Villwock-Witte, Ph.D., P.E. Research Engineer David Kack Program Manager: Mobility and Public Transportation Western Transportation Institute Montana State University PO Box 174250 Bozeman, MT 59717-4250 March 18, 2014 Introduction The purpose of this document is to provide the Downtown Bozeman Partnership with a scope of work related to concerns regarding commercial truck travel on Main Street (US 191), through downtown Bozeman. The tasks outlined in this document reflect those which discussions with the Downtown Bozeman Partnership have indicated are necessary and required. These tasks represent a study for a specific area of downtown Bozeman, which is intended to provide the Partnership with information regarding truck use in said area. PROJECT TASKS To accomplish the objectives of this research, four primary tasks will be completed. The following sections discuss all project tasks in detail. Task 1: Project Management The purpose of this task is to provide overall management for the project. This includes tracking both the progress of the work and the budget expended to date and conveying this information to the sponsor on a regular basis. This task also includes meetings and discussions – in person or by phone - with the sponsor to review and guide the work as needed. Task 2: Literature Review This will focus on two aspects: past experience and regulations. This task will try to identify other cities that have similar concerns and their approaches to identifying alternative satisfying situations to all parties. It will also investigate the current regulations regarding identifications of truck routes. Task 3: Data Collection This task includes the bulk of the work. There are three subtasks proposed for this task. Subtask 3.1: While there is a perception of heavy use of US 191 by commercial trucks, this perception needs to be validated. Furthermore, the magnitude of use also needs to be determined. Therefore, trailers equipped with video cameras will be set out concurrently at two locations: just west of the I-90 and Main Street interchange, and near the 19th Avenue and Main Street intersection. The video will focus on commercial trucks traveling on Main Street to determine if they travel the entire corridor. If they do, it will be assumed that they continue on to the US 191/SR 85 intersection (Four Corners). The cameras will record video for approximately two weeks, starting approximately three weeks from when the contract is finalized. In addition to determining if the commercial truck travels the entire corridor, this information will also identify the peak periods during which commercial trucks traverse Main Street. Dependent upon visibility, there is a possibility that information regarding the origin of the license plates on the commercial trucks can be determined. This will help to identify if these vehicles are running inter-state routes, or intra-state routes. To collect all of the aforementioned data, in addition to deploying the trailers, the video will have to be reviewed and data extracted manually. Subtask 3.2: Three alternative routes have been proposed with the intention of reducing the volume of commercial trucks on Main Street. This task will use probe vehicles to obtain an estimate of time travels for alternative routes. The times during which the probe vehicles are to be driven will be chosen based on the greatest volume of commercial vehicles observed in Subtask 3.1. The four routes that will be compared include: 1) I-90 (Main Street interchange) to US 191/SR85 (Four Corners), 2) I-90 to N. 7th Street to Four Corners, 3) I-90 to N. 19th Avenue to Four Corners, and 4) I-90 to SR85 (Jackrabbit Lane) to Four Corners. Ideally, all four routes will be driven at the same time; however, modifications to this approach may be necessary based on available staff. This task will focus on factors along the route such as time (speed limits); number of traffic lights (starting and stopping) and safety (e.g., parking lanes on the side of the street, traffic levels, etc.). The speed and starting/stopping along the four routes will be used to calculate potential fuel consumption and emissions along the routes, as well. For evaluation purposes, all four routes (the current Main Street route and the three alternative routes) will use the same origin (approximately mile marker 310 on I-90 just east of Bozeman) and destination (Four Corners intersection). Subtask 3.3: A better understanding regarding how a particular route is selected by the trucking company and/or drivers is necessary. Motor Carriers of Montana or a similar group will be approached to determine how trucking companies and/or individual truck drivers select a route. Is the route chosen based on using a tool like Google Maps? What is the influence of choosing a route based on the weight of the commercial vehicle? How often do they update their routes? This information will be useful in determining how alternative routes to the Main Street/US 191 route may be implemented. Task 4: Final Report The final report will summarize the findings of the work, including the methodologies employed, the calculations made, the results obtained, and any findings and recommendations that emerge during the course of the project. Three hard/paper copies of the report will be provided along with an electronic (PDF) copy of the final report. Staff from WTI will also be available to present the findings of the project at up to three meetings. PROJECT BUDGET The budget reflects the cost of all tasks outlined during the course of this proposal. Every effort has been made to minimize costs as appropriate. The budget for the project is $19,995.09 as shown below. However, WTI will only invoice for the actual costs incurred. /