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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCEDC Minutes 2007-04-04 RegularCommunity and Economic Development Committee Minutes April 4, 2007 Notice is hereby given of a meeting of the Community and Economic Development Committee to be held Wednesday, April 4, 2007, at 8 a.m., in the second floor conference room of City Hall, 910 S. Friendswood, Texas, regarding the items of business in accordance with the agenda listed below. 1. Call to Order. Kirk Lippert, Vice Chair, called the meeting to order at 8:10 a.m. 2. Roll Call. The following people were present: Vice Chair Kirk Lippert, Claude McEwen, Pauline Moore, Hilmar Zeissig, Jon Olansen, Jackie Hutto —Griffin Marketing, Janet Stoney — Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership, Carol Jones — Friendswood Chamber of Commerce, Marcus Rives — P&Z Liaison and City Council candidate, Laura Ewing — City Council Liaison, Michelle Cruz Arnold — CCISD representative (arrived at 8:29 a.m.). Karen Capps and Bo McDaniel were present from the City of Friendswood. Guests: Andy Rivera -Pearland Chamber of Commerce and Friendswood City Council candidate, Janis Lowe (arrived 8:24 a.m.), Colleen O'Brien -Friendswood Reporter News (arrived 8:48 a.m.) The following people were absent: Jamie Ballard - Chair, Karin Massicott, Bill Provenzano, Ed Sebesta, Jim Reinhartsen - BAHEP, and Don Gartman - Galveston Economic Alliance. 3. Approval of March 21, 2007 minutes. Hilmar Zeissig moved and Jon Olansen seconded to approve the minutes as read. The motion passed unanimously. 4. Discussion and possible action regarding the following Action Item reports; A. Strategic Planning Items to discuss feedback from newly established businesses and feedback/reasons from businesses who did not locate in Friendswood Jon Olansen would also like to visit businesses along with Bill Provenzano. They have not had time to meet to make plans. B. Community Outreach Action Items concerning business retention survev and visits Karen Capps said that she met with a local business person who is also a developer that needs to expand their office. The business retention form was not completed on this visit, but they had an important conversation on their potential expansion. C. Finance Action Items Karen Capps, Bo McDaniel, and Roger Roecker met with Jason Murasko and Ted Cummings at UHCL. UHCL requested appraisal district data from 1990 to present. It has taken several weeks to compile that data, and it has been submitted to UHCL. They are still gathering information. Hilmar Zeissig would like for members of the class to attend one of our meetings to make a presentation. A discussion followed on a timeline and the mechanics of setting up a meeting. The most pertinent information deals with tax rolls and land usage. Bo McDaniel felt that UHCL may have been reluctant to do the whole thing. This may be more in line with a tune up. Hilmar Zeissig stated that CEDC and City Council need to evaluate the data after UHCL reviews it. Jon Olansen raised the issue of a timeline for the update to be complete. 5. Reports: A. Planning and Zoning Karen needs more members to sign up to attend P & Z meetings. Marcus Rives gave a report on the P & Z meeting. Sunmeadow made a presentation and both P & Z and Council disapproved the provisions brought to them. Tony Banfield is moving forward with his office development. Tony Buzbee presented his plans. Karen Capps explained that Council approved the change of building heights from 35 to 40 feet, which helped a local business expand and is part of the Banfield downtown development that is now underway. Jon Olansen discussed the item on down zoning property pertaining to Charles Anders' project. B. Liaisons Council: Laura Ewing spoke about recent decisions before Council. Chamber: Carol Jones announced that the annual appreciation member luncheon will be held at the Rotary Pavillion. April 21 FIG (Friendswood is Great) Festival will feature the Auto Show, Heritage Day, and Spring Sparkle. There were five fig factories in Friendswood. There is a monument in Stevenson Park about Bammel Jelly which had a big plant in Alvin. They used Satsuma oranges and strawberries from Froberg's and figs from Friendswood. Janet Stoney announced that the HESS Club will host a function and the 12 member cities have been invited. It will have fewer speakers and more networking so that developers can visit the City's booth. It will be April 25 from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., at 5430 Westheimer. May 3 there will be a golf tournament at Baywood Golf Club. BAHEP recently hosted a political protocol meeting and will also have a membership meeting today in LaPorte at Sylvan Beach Pavilion. April 17 at 4 p.m., will be the Houston Commercial Expo. Cities can have information at the BAHEP booth. CCISD Michelle Cruz Arnold from CCISD announced that there will be a bond election on May 12. C. Marketing Jackie Hutto with Griffin Marketing stated they have put a hold on some of the marketing until May. Griffin is working on a newspaper clip booklet for the BAHEP commercial broker event. Jackie distributed last month's marketing report as well as this month's which also included articles of interest. Karen Capps stated that the economic development e- newsletter will be later in April and they will feature Banfield and Buzbee's projects. Claude McEwen asked if Friendswood has a plan for landscaping businesses. He has noticed that there is not a unified landscaping plan. Carol Jones stated that it is only with newer businesses. He noted that there are dumpsters visible. Karen Capps stated that some of the businesses were built prior to the City adopting landscaping and screening requirements. Karen Capps mentioned that the panhandle area along FM 2351 has lacked infrastructure and was annexed into the City later. Across the street they have water and sewer available and are constructing buildings, but since this area is outside the City limits, Friendswood regulations do not apply. Karen Capps also stated that the CAB has a beautification grant that can help businesses comply with current landscaping, signage, etc. Bo McDaniel stated there are ways to get this done: voluntary approach and involuntary. Most of these are voluntary in which individuals want to spruce up their business. Others may not want to be influenced by incentives so they need the regulations and stronger nonconforming plans. However, there is a strong property rights feeling locally and in the state. Janet Stoney suggested sharing the CAB grant information with business owners at the business retention visits. Laura Ewing stated the Community Appearance Board is working on beautifying the area: medians, banners, poles. D. City Staff Bo McDaniel reported that out of the Sunmeadow issue is a request to finance their development. Equal outcome vs. equal opportunity will be a policy issue. It is a comprehensive plan and a bureaucratic one so the process will be slow, but we are going to work on it soon. It is advisable for the City to develop a policy and process to put this into place. Karen Capps will send the CEDC members McDaniel's proposed policy guidelines from his research. E. Proiect Status Update 1. West Ranch: no report. 2. The Falls at Friendswood: the developer will come in at the end of April and is still working with prospects. The Council did approve the hotel study by a vote of 4:3. An hotelier is interested in this site to possibly build a 175 to 225 room full -service hotel with 35,000 to 45,000 of meeting space. The survey will determine what the Friendswood area market can support in terms of meeting space. The study will take 4 to 7 weeks before we get information back. We should have a report by the middle of June. There are three companies that are well known for conducting hotel studies. The company we will use is based out of Richardson and Houston, so they are very familiar with the area, and come highly recommended. Kirk Lippert stated that the reputation of the company is such that the lenders will accept the study from any of the three companies. Karen Capps said that there are two large hoteliers that are very interested in Friendswood. The business traveler typically has a larger expense budget than a tourist traveler since most of their expenses are reimbursable, however, the business person comes in for several days for a meeting, but a family may stay a couple of days to a week. 3. Medical clinic prospect and the land development site: has an issue that must be addressed to move forward. There is no infrastructure at the site, which is near Autumn Creek. Either the City or the medical clinic could pay for the infrastructure, but neither has the money. There are 120 acres that can be planned for a medical/business/office campus in Friendswood with frontage as retail. The developer's plan regarding the amount of land to be absorbed as medical and other uses is not firmed up yet. 4. Panhandle: McDaniel has asked Capps to get the information on who is desiring to build and the amount of revenues, cost of extension of Blackhawk road extension, infrastructure, etc. She gets calls weekly to get sewer to the panhandle. The major landowner is the 120 acres located at the corner of FM 2351 and Beamer owned by Dan Rucker. She will have the information pulled together fairly soon. 5. Downtown: Capps distributed copies of Buzbee's proposed plan. Buzbee's presentation to P&Z conformed to the new downtown zone and the approved Main Street Implementation Plan. Capps stated Buzbee's downtown mixed -use project will truly be a vertical mixed -use development. There will be 8 lofts upstairs with retail and office on the first two floors. It is almost 60,000 square feet. This will be in the location of the pawn shop and medical arts building. It is in front of the museum. The land site is 3 acres and is one of the largest properties located in the downtown area. Banfield has broken ground behind the old McDonald's on Shadowbend at Laurel. Banfield Office Park is 6,000 square feet with another 12,000 square feet for Novolink, a business owned by Friendswood resident, Byron Allen. Novolink has 30 employees and will move from their current location at Huntington Office Park (also in downtown) to make room for their business. Other businesses currently located in the Huntington Office Park development will absorb the office space vacated by Banfield Properties and Novolink. Hilmar Zeissig asked for an overview of downtown. Capps provided several handouts on the downtown project. A task force began meeting in 1999. An independent citizen survey was conducted at the cost of $15,000 with Texas New Mexico Power paying $5,000 of that amount. The survey gauged citizens' perception of the downtown area. The citizens were not really critical of downtown but they did want some revisions to the appearance. The feedback was that most people frequented the Library, Post Office or bank but did not really stay and spend time in downtown. When asked what the citizens wanted in downtown, the survey reported a desire for a walkable area to do shopping. They love the parks and family oriented atmosphere. The number one interest was restaurants, commercial areas, and a central gathering place or focal point for downtown. The downtown area is dry. Zeissig: Sugar Land downtown was at the sugar mill and they moved their downtown to Sugar Land Town Center. Maybe call downtown something different. McEwen stated that he believes Banfield and Buzbee's plans will do a lot to revitalize the area. Capps stated that Sugar Land was different since they needed new facilities like a City Hall that could be incorporated into their new town center concept. Sugar Land now has to address the blight left behind from abandoning the sugar mill site. In the case of Friendswood, there are important city facilities, historic sites, and businesses located in downtown that Sugar Land did not have. The citizen survey asked that the City take charge of redeveloping downtown. The task force engaged PageSoutherlandPage to develop a conceptual plan. They interviewed stakeholders, conducted open meetings, etc., and after the conceptual plan was developed there was an implementation plan that took nine months to develop. What are the steps to accomplish the task? PSP and Bill Peil (helped redevelop Memorial City Mall) and others worked on the proposal. The downtown committee had several names and many people. In September 2004, the Council adopted the Main Street Implementation Plan. When the discussion moved to having the City set up a separate entity with its own budget to promote and market downtown development, the concept was not accepted by City Council. At the same time, P&Z and the downtown committee have worked on downtown zoning since 2005. Developing and funding mixed -use projects are more difficult. The planning and implementation plans are moving forward due to work by Buzbee and Banfield. Most cities market their downtown area with a sales tax or hotel tax revenues, which we do not have. McDaniel asked about the downtown rezoning and the timeline. He asked about funding support and rezoning plans. He wanted to know if the plans were brought forward with successful models and things to avoid. Capps stated the biggest issue was assembling land. Many were worried that the city would try to invoke eminent domain. Many of the concerns and issues have been handled by two developers stepping in. McDaniel stated that a way to get land is through aggressive rezoning. A second way is that a developer moves in. Right now we have looser regulations. This allows individuals to come in and develop. Then, as the real estate becomes more expensive, the free enterprise system takes place. Existing businesses will either redevelop and/or sell to a new large developer. Capps stated there are several other prospects at other locations around town. Most prospects are for office space development. One potential business is completing the municipal grant application for a medical/office space development. Carol Jones showed the official poster for FIG Fest, with Figgy the official mascot. 6. Adiournment. Jon moved and Claude seconded to adjourn. Motion passed unanimously at 9:40 a.m.