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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCEDC Minutes 2007-06-06 RegularCommunity and Economic Development Committee Minutes June 6, 2007 The Friendswood Community and Economic Development Committee met on Wednesday, June 6, 2007, at 8 a.m., in the second floor conference room of City Hall, 910 S. Friendswood Drive, Friendswood, Texas, with the following members present; Chair, Jamie Ballard, Kirk Lippert, Claude McEwen, Jon Olansen, Bill Provenzano, Ed Sebesta and Dr. Hilmar Zeissig. Also present were Friendswood Chamber President Carol Jones, Griffin Marketing representative Wendy Slaton, Galveston County Economic Alliance President Don Gartman, and City Council Member Andy Rivera. Staff members present were Karen Capps and Bo McDaniel. Absent from the meeting were Pauline Moore, Laura Ewing, Trish Hanks, Jim Reinhartsen, and Michelle Cruz Arnold. 1. Call to Order. The meeting was called to order at 8:10 a.m., with a quorum present. 2. Roll Call. Roll call was made. 3. Approval of Minutes. Hilmar Zeissig moved to approve the May 2, 2007 meeting minutes. The motion was seconded by Jon Olansen and passed unanimously by the committee. 4. Consideration and possible action regarding an incentive application for Proiect 2007-1. There was discussion regarding the committee's ability to hold an executive session in order to discuss and review an incentive application received by a business, and possibly recommend to City Council a financial incentive to the business prospect. City Manager, Bo McDaniel, confirmed with the City Attorney that the committee would be able to discuss this item in executive session, so no further discussion or action was made on this item. A separate meeting agenda will be posted at a later date for consideration of the incentive application. In the near future, the committee would also like to review the structure of the economic development program including incentives and funding. 5. Discussion and possible action regarding the following Action Item reports; including, but not limited to: A. Update on UH-Clear Lake's work on Vision 2020 Karen Capps reported that she would meet with the City's GIS contract representatives in the afternoon to discuss the ability to create the information needed to update Vision 2020. The UHCL has most of the historical information for tax rates, population, and appraisal roll data. The GIS representative is now trying to sort out the data received from Harris County and Galveston County Appraisal Districts in order to identify how much land is currently zoned commercial, residential, and is exempt. Current land use and how much land is developed and undeveloped will also be determined from this data. This information should be ready within the next two weeks. B. Discussion on goals and Chair report to City Council The committee held a work session with City Council in January which postponed their annual report. There was consensus by the committee to not have a report at this time. The committee would like to focus on accomplishing their goals prior to a report. 6. Reports: A. Planning and Zoning Claude McEwen reported on the two P&Z meetings he attended. The May 3, 2007 meeting was very short and at that meeting P&Z approved the new downtown zoning district. The second meeting was regarding a joint public hearing on the Manning property and that item was tabled. B. Liaisons Andy Rivera made a report on behalf of City Council Member Laura Ewing. The Citizens for Space Exploration trip with BAHEP was excellent. Council Member Ewing was attached to the Ohio delegation and met with Senators and about fifteen representatives. The message for funding the space exploration was well received. Over 150 people from 26 states visited over 300 Congressional leaders. There were several representatives from Friendswood including Mayor Pro Tern Chris Peden, his daughter Brittany Peden, John and Sophia LeCour, and a student from Friendswood High School. Council Member Rivera also reported that Friendswood City Secretary, Deloris McKenzie received the Quill Award from the International Institute of Municipal Clerks. Ms. McKenzie was bestowed the award recently at the annual IIMC conference in New Orleans from among 10,000 other members. Carol Jones, President of the Friendswood Chamber reported that their new city map is being finalized and their monthly luncheon will be held on Thursday, June 7, 2007. Don Gartman of the Galveston County Economic Alliance reported on their countywide economic development strategy and program which is primarily focused on business retention of the petrochemical industries. Mr. Gartman also reported on activities by GCEA's Small Business Development Center (SBDC) which handled over 114 clients, $5 million in loans, and created 45 new jobs for the county. GCEA recently held an economic development legislative summit that was attended by Karen Capps, where President of the Texas Economic Development Council, Mr. Carlton Schwaab, and Fred Welch, Pearland EDC and Chair of TEDC's sales tax committee, spoke about the recent legislative session and decisions that were made relating to economic development. C. Marketing Wendy Slaton of Griffin Marketing reported that the quarterly e-newsletter's content and format is being finalized. The e-newsletter is emailed to over 650 Houston area brokers, developers, and business prospects. Griffin Marketing presented a budget and timeline to Karen Capps regarding items and advertising to promote the October ICSC tradeshow booth in San Antonio, and the October annual broker event. D. City Staff No report E. Project Status updates Ms. Capps reported that the drainage plan for the Falls at Friendswood project is being updated. She also reported that the medical clinic prospect she has worked with for two years may locate outside the city limits due to the cost to extend infrastructure to the site desired in Friendswood. It was explained that the approximate cost to extend infrastructure for this single project was estimated at $3 million and the value of this project is $12 million on ten acres of land. The landowner wants to master plan the 120 acre tract and have prospective users for the entire development prior to designing and paying for costs to extend infrastructure. 7. Adiournment. The meeting was adjourned at 10 a.m.