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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCEDC Minutes 2003-01-08 RegularCommunity and Economic Development Committee Minutes January 8, 2003 The Community and Economic Development Committee met on Wednesday, January 8, 2003, in the second floor conference room of City Hall, at 8 a.m. with the following members present: Chair Gregory Crinion, Tony Banfield, Sr., Kevin Candee, James Gerland, Brent Goswick, Gary Harris, and Zekie McVeigh. Also present were Council member liaison Tracy Goza, Chamber of Commerce President Carol Jones, and Planning and Zoning liaison Bob Bertrand. Staff members present were Ron Cox, Karen Capps and Mike Hodge. Absent from the meeting were Maurice Estlinbaum, Andy Massicott, and Jim Reinhartsen. Call to Order. Chair Crinion called the meeting to order at 8:06 a.m. with a quorum present. 2. Approval of Minutes. Gary Harris made a motion to approve the minutes of the meeting of December 4, 2002. Kevin Candee seconded the motion, and it carried unanimously. 3. Consideration and possible action rej!ardinj! an incentive application for Project 2003-1. The committee discussed a grant incentive application referred to as Project 2003-1, which proposes a discount general merchandise — dollar store business that would lease and occupy the vacant Crafts, Etc. building. The dollar store prospect would employ 10 to 15 persons. The committee reviewed the economic impact analysis for the Project and discussed how the project would benefit the city by adding new business personal property, inventory, and sales tax as additional revenues. The committee also cited that the Project would rehabilitate an empty building that has been vacant for more than six years. The building is located at a highly visible corner that is part of the Main Street area and is a prime commercial intersection of the city. It was also discussed that general merchandise type of retail was determined to be a target market for the City from the Market Study conducted in July 2002. After further review and discussion, Greg Crinion made a motion to recommend to City Council that a $30,000 grant incentive be approved for Project 2003-1, and that disbursement of the grant funds be made to the business upon issuance of their certificate of occupancy permit. Furthermore, as a requirement in the incentive guidelines, the business must become a member of the Friendswood Chamber of Commerce. Kevin Candee seconded the motion and it carried unanimously in the committee. 4. Reports. A. Projects 1. Proiect 2002-1 The project's representative stated that architectural and engineering plans were ready in November, but it was later discovered that the land site needed platting. They are now ready to file platting and the commercial site plan concurrently. 2. Proiect 2002-2 The business anticipates moving into the former Food Lion building by the end of January 31, 2003. City staff previously provided comments back to the business's representative regarding the company's build -out plans concerning issues on fire exits, etc. Staff is waiting for the company to resubmit their revised plans. 3. Proiect 2002-3 Project is pending corporate approval of site. A visit by the corporate office has been delayed twice, but is now scheduled for the week of January 20. B. Budget. Karen Capps provided a report on the budget for incentive funds available. She explained that although the CEDC has approved funds for two projects, ($15,000 for Project 2002-3 and $30,000 for Project 2003-1) until the projects are ready to move forward to City Council's agenda for consideration, the unallocated balance in the budget is still $120,000. C. Development Process Steering Committee. Tony Banfield reported that the DPS committee is fine-tuning the work previously done by the ad hoc Development Review Committee. The DPS has reviewed the platting process and is currently reviewing the City's process for commercial development and plans to compare it to the process in other nearby communities. 5. Discussion and possible action regarding impact fees on commercial development activity. Mike Hodge was present and provided information to the committee on how impact fees are charged and assessed. He stated that cities are not required to charge impact fees. Impact fees, which are sometimes called capital recovery fees, are essentially a mechanism that recaptures funds incurred for trunk lines, water tanks and treatment plants that are designed and constructed ahead of time in order to plan for the future growth of the city. These costs are from the improvements made and are later recovered by assessing the impact fee to new users of the system. He explained that the City bases the fees on acreage size and by zoning. There was discussion in the committee regarding how to charge impact fees to encourage economic development and that it may be better to assess them by usage instead of by acreage size. A motion was made by Greg Crinion to request City staff to explore options of recalculating impact fees to encourage economic development and to discuss these concerns and possibilities with the City's consultant regarding these options. Kevin Candee seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. These options will be further reviewed and discussed with the CEDC when more information becomes available. 6. Discussion and possible action regarding the proposed tree ordinance. Bob Bertrand gave an overview regarding the proposed tree ordinance and how it compares to the current one. He stated that the Planning and Zoning (P&Z) Commission's intent is to protect and preserve historic trees in the city and avoid cutting down trees when unnecessary. He further explained the goals of the P&Z in the tree ordinance are to 1) provide protection for trees through the use of a tree permit, 2) require adequate tree surveys to identify trees needing protection, and 3) require adequate tree protection on site during construction. There was committee discussion regarding the ordinance. The CEDC requested that this subject be further discussed at the February CEDC meeting. 7. Adiournment. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:50 a.m.