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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCEDC Minutes 2008-07-02 RegularFriendswood Community and Economic Development Committee Minutes July 2, 2008 The Friendswood Community and Economic Development Committee met on Wednesday, July 2, 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: Brett Banfield, Claude McEwen, Bill Provenzano, Cody Owen and Hilmar Zeissig. Liaisons present were City Council liaison Andy Rivera, Friendswood ISD Superintendent Trish Hanks, Friendswood ISD representative Dr. Rebecca Hillenburg, Friendswood Chamber President Carol Jones, Griffin Integrated Marketing representative Deanna Wilke, and Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership representative Dan Seal. Also present were City Councilmember Bill Holbert and Friendswood Reporter News reporter Colleen O'Brien. Staff member present was Karen Capps. Absent from the meeting were Jamie Ballard, Kirk Lippert, Pauline Moore, and Troy Waters. 1. Call to Order. Bill Provenzano served as Acting Chair of the committee and called the meeting to order at 8:09 with a quorum present. 2. Roll Call. Roll call was made. 3. Approval of Minutes. Brett Banfield made a motion to approve the June 11 and June 16, 2008 meeting minutes. The motion was seconded by Cody Owen and it passed unanimously in the committee. 4. Elect Chair and Vice Chair. Brett Banfield made a motion to nominate Jamie Ballard to serve as Chair of the committee. The motion was seconded by Hilmar Zeissig and it passed unanimously in the committee. Claude McEwen made a motion to nominate Brett Banfield to serve as Vice Chair of the committee. The motion was seconded by Hilmar Zeissig and it passed unanimously in the committee. 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 — Staff will ask Jamie Ballard to email both the existing and the new proposed mission statements prior to next month's meeting. B. Business recruitment — Brett Banfield is working on a new corporate relocation incentive program aimed at providing financial incentives to companies based on the number of jobs that would be relocated to Friendswood. He stated that as a developer, many of the clients and contacts he has spoken with are looking at relocating closer to home due to the worsening economy and increased cost of fuel. C. Business retention and expansion — Karen Capps reported that several lists were sent to Troy Waters to review and determine which businesses to visit. D. Retail business — Karen Capps reported that she has ordered a new Retail Opportunity Analysis Report for the market area that should be available for review prior to next month's meeting. E. Incentives - It was reported that City Council unanimously approved the downtown incentives on June 16 which included the Neighborhood Empowerment Zone and Chapter 380 amendments. 6. Discussion and possible action regarding possible amendments to the City's tax abatement program. The committee continued their discussion from last month regarding tax abatement and the need to adopt a new policy. Dan Seal offered to provide a presentation at next month's meeting regarding tax abatement. The CEDC would like to receive recommendations from the Incentives subcommittee next month to recommend and forward to City Council. 7. Reports: A. Planning and Zoning — No report. B. Liaisons — FISD Superintendent Trish Hanks reported on the progress of their bond program. The Junior High's plans were recently approved by FISD's board. Improvements to the High School will hopefully improve traffic and drainage. Ms. Hanks also said that they are expecting every FISD school to receive an exemplary rating this year. Carol Jones reported that she is working on the July 0' event and truck raffle. Dan Seal reported on three businesses that recently announced expansion plans. BAHEP was involved in all three which were business retention and expansions. The companies are Hoyer Corporation, Oceaneering Corporation, and Lockheed Martin. Mayor Pro Tem Andy Rivera reported that Mike Barker will be the new CEDC liaison and Bill Holbert will be the alternate liaison. CEDC members thanked him for his continued support and service to the committee. C. Marketing Deanna Wilke provided a marketing report. Ms. Wilke proposed new municipal channel slides for review by the committee. The committee asked for the slides to be emailed for feedback and comments. Letters were drafted for the Mayor's signature to send to downtown property and business owners informing them of the new downtown development incentives that were approved. The e-newsletter was finalized and sent out. It was reported that Karen Capps was interviewed by the Houston Business Journal regarding the new downtown incentives. Plans are underway regarding this year's broker/developer day that will be held on October 16, 2008. D. City Staff Karen Capps reported that the City's website was updated with information regarding the new downtown incentives. There was good feedback from prospects resulting from the distribution of the recent e-news. There is continued interest from prospects that need professional office space. E. Project Status updates - No report 8. Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 9:40 am.