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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-20-14 Downtown Tax Increment Finance District (TIF) Minutes/ Downtown Tax Increment Finance Board Meeting Minutes May 20, 2014 Attending: Bobby Bear, Shannon Haish, Bob Hietala, Vonda Laird, Bill Stoddart, Chris Naumann Absent: Bob Lashaway Public Comments None Disclosures None Minutes ACTION: Bob Hietala moved to approve the April minutes as presented. Vonda Laird seconded the motion. All voted in favor. Special Presentation The Future of Bogert Pool w/ Tom McNabb (MSU Community Design Center), Brett Potter (Focus Architects), and Salal Huber-McGee (Friends of Parks). Presented findings and concepts developed by MSU CDC project for redeveloping the pool at Bogert Park. Advocated building a new pool at current site in Bogert Park to preserve the neighborhood amenity. Proposed that a City comprehensive aquatics plan and corresponding bond measure should include new pool at Bogert Park. Chris said that prior to City Commission taking action to initiate the aquatics plan that this topic would be brought back to the board for further consideration. Financial Report Chris presented the financial report which included several new expenses for park maintenance; technical assistance grants; broadband plan; historic update project; and code compliance program—totaling slightly more than $47,000. The board did not have any questions about the finance report. Executive Director’s Report Technical Assistance Program Update The first chart below lists the 2 remaining grants from FY2013 that have not been completed. The second chart lists the 7 grants awarded in FY2014 totaling a $41,000 commitment of the $100,000 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 Façade grants are capped at $3000. Bold listings indicate completed. 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   FY2014 Downtown Technical Assistance Program        Project Name Project Address Applicant Professi onal 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  Lindley Park Hotel 702 East Main Renslow Group Minarik Architecture Planning  Grand & Main 136 West Main Bzn Redevelopment Thinktank Planning  Willso n Residences 404 West Main Bridger Builders Comma Q Planning  Willson Residences 404 West Main Bridger Builders Comma Q Facade   Bozeman Broadband Master Plan Progress continues on developing a Broadband Master Plan for the City of Bozeman. The City has concluded an RFP process and is in contract negotiations with Design 9, a broadband consulting firm based in Blacksburg, Virginia. The Bozeman Broadband Initiative has continued to do well acquiring funding. The Initiative recently received a $25,000 grant from the Big Sky Economic Development Trust Fund. They are waiting to find out whether we will be the recipient of an Economic Development Administration (EDA) planning grant. Community support has been so overwhelming that we believe the project will be able to move forward even in the absence of EDA funding. The funding partners include the City of Bozeman, Bozeman Deaconess Hospital, Bozeman Public Schools, Downtown Bozeman TIF, North Seventh Avenue TIF and Northwestern Energy. The master planning process is expected to take about six months. Initial stakeholder meetings will start in mid-June. The consultants will actively engage the TIF District board, Downtown Bozeman Partnership and downtown businesses to consider ways to make Downtown Bozeman gigabit capable. Downtown Parking Update The graphs below show the trends in both garage use and revenue for April. Entries and revenue were up 15% and down 5% over April 2013. Therefore year-to-date entries and revenue for 2014 are up 20% and 16% respectively over 2013. / / Discussion and Decision Items FY2015 Work Plan and Budget Chris presented the board with revised versions of the draft FY2015 work plan and budget discussion. Chris noted that he included a column with his estimates of actual expenditures in FY15. He said that since so many of the TIF programs are incentives for development, the budget was very expense “rich” in order to accommodate investments if requested by the private sector. In reality he estimates that the TIF would spend at least $600,000 less than budgeted as not all of the incentives will be taken full advantage of by developers. (see below). Bob Hietala said he like the aggressive/optimistic nature of the budget especially considering like downtown is entering what could be a significant growth cycle. Other board members added that they think the budget is comprehensive and complete. ACTION: Vonda Laird moved to adopt the FY2015 Downtown TIF Work Plan and Budget as presented. Bob Hietala seconded the motion. All voted in favor. Technical Assistance Grant Applications Chris asked the board to give him guidance on two technical assistance grant applications. First is a pair of applications—one for planning and one for façade—by the new owners of 131 West Main (location of former 18 Miles to the Border). Chris said the owners want to look at potential of building a two-story building on the front half of the property. At a later date they would consider a second floor on the northern building. The board felt it was a good investment in this property despite a similar grant 3 years ago. Second is an interesting situation at 23 West Babcock—former Montana Motor Supply building. The owner and the new tenant are splitting up the redevelopment aspects of the space. Therefore they are both interested in applying for both grants…planning and façade. The board instructed Chris to award grants to both for both as long as the total reimbursement amounts did not exceed $7500 for planning and $3000 for façade work. At 1:00pm Bobby adjourned the meeting. /