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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCEDC Minutes 2008-05-07 RegularFriendswood Community and Economic Development Committee Minutes May 7, 2008 The Friendswood Community and Economic Development Committee met on Wednesday, May 7, 2008, at 8:00 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, Brett Banfield, Claude McEwen, Pauline Moore, and Dr. Hilmar Zeissig. Liaisons present were City Council liaison Andy Rivera, Planning and Zoning Chair Jim Gibson, Friendswood Chamber of Commerce President Carol Jones, Griffin Integrated Marketing representative Deanna Wilke, Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership representative Dan Seal, and Galveston County Economic Alliance President Don Gartman. Staff members present were Karen Capps and Roger Rocker. Absent from the meeting were Kirk Lippert and Bill Provenzano. 1. Call to Order. The meeting was called to order at 8:06 a.m. with a quorum present. 2. Roll Call. Roll call was made. 3. Approval of Minutes. Hilmar Zeissig made a motion to approve the March 5, March 24, March 31, 2008 meeting minutes. The motion was seconded by Claude McEwen and passed unanimously in the committee. Changes were made to the April 9, 2008 meeting minutes. Hilmar Zeissig made a motion to approve the amended meeting minutes of April 9, 2008. Claude McEwen seconded the motion and it passed unanimously in the committee. 4. Discussion and possible action regarding the annual report from CEDC Chair to City Council. No action was taken on this item. Chair Ballard reported that he will provide an annual report to the City Council on June 2, 2008. 5. Discussion and possible action, but not limited to the following goals and action items to be included in the Community and Economic Development Committee's 2008-09 strategic plan. A. Mission statement — Chair Ballard stated that he had done some work on reviewing the current mission statement and is incorporating words suggested at the retreat. B. Business recruitment — No report. C. Business retention and expansion — No report. D. Retail business — Karen Capps reported that she attended a seminar conducted by Insight Research Corporation and her name was drawn to receive a free retail market analysis report. The report will be useful to the taskforce. E. Incentives - Jamie Ballard reported that he met with Brett Banfield and Karen Capps to discuss and draft a proposal for incentives for the downtown area which is an item for discussion and consideration on the agenda. 6. Discussion and possible action regarding economic incentives for downtown. The committee discussed designating the downtown area a neighborhood empowerment zone (NEZ) which is permitted under Chapter 378 of the local government code. A draft resolution proposing the creation of the NEZ was reviewed and discussed. The NEZ would allow that all City -related development fees within the zone be waived that are related to construction and development within the zone including zoning, platting, site plan review, building, plumbing, mechanical, electrical, gas permits, and water and wastewater impact fees for the purpose of encouraging development and redevelopment of the downtown area. The committee also discussed the City's existing Chapter 380 municipal grant program and tax abatement policy. The following recommendations were made by the committee: 1. A motion was made by Jamie Ballard and seconded by Hilmar Zeissig recommending that City Council designate the downtown district as Neighborhood Empowerment Zone #1. CEDC recommends that any future geographical changes to the downtown district be included in Neighborhood Empowerment Zone # 1. It passed unanimously in the committee. 2. Jamie Ballard made a motion and it was seconded by Claude McEwen to recommend the Downtown District be expanded to include the area along FM 518 to Coward's Creek. The motion passed unanimously in the committee. 3. Hilmar Zeissig made a motion and it was seconded by Brett Banfield to recommend changes to the City's existing Chapter 380 policy as drafted. It passed unanimously in the committee. (The proposed changes to the Chapter 380 policy include under Section III., adding a new qualifying category for downtown projects to allow a lower minimum investment of $250,000. for downtown projects, and amending Section IV., to expand the current policy's allowable uses of grant funds, to add that grant funds may also be expended on the following improvements: H. Downtown zone improvements — paved sidewalks, facades, street lighting, signage, benches.) Karen Capps reported that a work session is planned with City Council on June 2 to discuss these recommendations. The committee will discuss possible amendments to the tax abatement policy at next month's meeting. Karen Capps stated that City Council will need to readopt the City's tax abatement policy with or without any changes. Once a tax abatement policy is adopted, it cannot be amended for a period of two years, but should be readopted every two years. 5. Reports: A. Planning and Zoning — Jim Gibson reported that P&Z has been working on streamlining the ordinance approval process when there are zoning changes. P&Z has reviewed the zoning ordinance and asks for any comments or recommended changes before June 10. P&Z had a work session with City Council regarding off premise signs to be allowed in business/office parks and to allow additional signage for commercial developments over 40,000 sq. ft. B. Liaisons — Dr. Hillenburg reported on current school bond projects stating that next Tuesday night, FISD's board of trustees will review the final plans for the new Junior High. Preliminary approval was granted for the High School's expansion plans. Dan Seal reported that Council members Andy Rivera and Leslie Reid will participate in the Citizens for Space Exploration trip which is scheduled for May 19-22. There are about 150 travelers going to Washington, D.C. to advocate the need for the space program and over 300 meetings are scheduled with senators, representatives, and groups. Carol Jones reported on a successful Fig Festival event and is now gearing up for the July 4 program. The next chamber monthly luncheon will be held on June 5 at the First Baptist Church. Don Gartman reported on a small business that was assisted by the Galveston County Small Business Development Center in obtaining an SBA loan. The minority -owned business named HWPB Enterprise is a welding and metal fabrication company located in Hitchcock. HWPB was named "the Houston National small business exporter of the year" by the SBA. C. Marketing Deanna Wilke provided a marketing report. There were several articles that ran about Friendswood. Karen Capps was interviewed by the Texas Real Estate Business and an article ran in their April 2008 magazine. Karen Capps completed an interview and submitted supporting materials for an article that will run in the May 2008 Texas Rising publication which is issued by the State Comptroller's Office. Other articles ran about Jacob White's green building several newspapers. Griffin will work on the next e- newsletter and update the municipal channel slides to include information about CEDC goals, grants that were approved, and the neighborhood empowerment zone, if approved. Karen Capps will update the website to include the neighborhood empowerment zone, if approved. Creating business testimonials to place on the website was also suggested. D. City Staff Karen Capps reported that several hotels were looking at Friendswood. She met with one hotelier that is looking for property and another came in to a DRC. Ms. Capps received a free copy of a fiscal impact analysis program called Fast Trakker from Insight Research Corporation which could help better analyze economic development projects. E. Project Status updates Ms. Capps reported that the developer who owns the Whitcomb property contacted her and indicated that they may still develop the mixed -use project. The developer stated that he had several office users interested in the project and some retail. 6. Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 10:04 am.