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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCEDC Minutes 2008-11-19 RegularFriendswood Community and Economic Development Committee Minutes November 19, 2008 The Friendswood Community and Economic Development Committee met on Wednesday, November 19, 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, Vice Chair Brett Banfield, Claude McEwen, Pauline Moore, Troy Waters, and Dr. Hilmar Zeissig. Liaisons present were Friendswood Chamber of Commerce President Carol Jones, Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership representative Dan Seal, Friendswood Independent School District Superintendent Trish Hanks, Friendswood ISD liaison Dr. Rebecca Hillenburg, and Griffin Integrated Marketing representative Deanna Wilke. Staff member present were Karen Capps and Roger Roecker. Absent from the meeting were Kirk Lippert, Cody Owen, and Bill Provenzano. 1. Call to Order. The meeting was called to order at 8:06 with a quorum present. 2. Roll Call. Roll call was made. Claude McEwen announced his resignation from the committee. 3. Approval of Minutes. Hilmar Zeissig made a motion to approve the October 8, 2008 meeting minutes. The motion was seconded by Claude McEwen and it passed unanimously in the committee. 4. Consideration and possible action regarding the Community and Economic Development Committee's mission statement After discussion and several revisions to the mission statement, Brett Banfield made a motion to recommend a CEDC mission statement. Troy Waters seconded the motion and it passed unanimously in the committee. The approved mission statement is as follows: Friendswood, Texas has grown from a small bedroom community with exceptional family values to one of the "Best Places to Live" in the United States, according to Money magazine and CNN/Money. Uniquely, while we have grown, we have been able to keep our values: enhanced quality of life, small town feel, first-class schools and beautiful parks. The mission of the Friendswood Community and Economic Development Committee is to build on these core community values by strategically planning the growth of our city. Mission Statement: The CEDC will actively recruit and retain quality businesses to diversify Friendswood's tax base. Our purpose is to aid, guide, and direct the growth of Friendswood to maximize the economic potential, secure and enhance our quality of life, and produce a bright future. By successfully upholding this mission, we will ease the burden of taxes on residential property owners and ensure Friendswood will continue to be a great place to live and work. 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. Business Recruitment, Billboard advertising Deanna Wilke presented three billboard design concepts for the "Live Here Work Here" campaign. Hilmar Zeissig made a motion to approve billboard concept #2. The motion was seconded by Claude McEwen. The motion failed with 2 members voting for the motion (Zeissig, McEwen) and 4 against (Ballard, Banfield, Moore, Waters). Chair Ballard made a motion to approve billboard concept #1 with the wording of concept#3. The motion was seconded by Brett Banfield. The motion passed 5-1 (Zeissig opposed). B Business retention and expansion, Business visit Troy Waters and Karen Capps reported on a business visit to C.L. Davis and Company and also toured the new Friendswood Medical Wellness building. C. Retail business, ICSC Tradeshow Karen Capps reported on the International Council of Shopping Centers Texas Deal Making Conference and tradeshow she attended on October 29-31. There were some good retail leads from the tradeshow and booth. Retail lead sheets were sent out to many of the Friendswood brokers and shopping center owners. There was good feedback on the Retail Opportunity Analysis Report that was provided at the booth and also available online. D. Incentives The committee agreed that more work needs to be done on the draft tax abatement policy. The committee suggested that the City Attorney finalize the policy. 6. Reports: A. Planning and Zoning P&Z was not present. B. Liaisons Dan Seal of BAHEP reported an inbound journalist familiarization tour that was conducted November 12-14, 2008. In an effort to promote Houston's aerospace industry, BAHEP and the Greater Houston Partnership hosted 5 members of the aerospace trade media and select international journalists so they could see how the aerospace industry is a driving factor in our economy. Specific emphasis was placed on how Johnson Space Center stimulates job growth in the region, how the aerospace industry further diversifies our economy, and how technology transfer activities are making life better here on Earth. BAHEP is hopeful that these writers will create positive stories about the Bay Area Houston region in future publications. A key part of the fam tour took place on 11/13 in BAHEP's conference when they hosted an informal lunch for the writers which focused on the leadership role that women have achieved in the ranks of local aerospace management. The women leaders who attended included Linda Moorehead, president & CEO, Blackhawk Management Corporation; Debbie Kropp, president, MRI Technologies; Bobbie Jessie, president, JES Tech; Midge Davis, vice president, Barrios Technologies; and Ann Mulder, Friendswood ISD, who is the head of their Career & Technology area. Each of these leading women provided an `elongated basic introduction' and related a little about their background and the focus of their respective company or organization. Ms. Mulder did a wonderful job in representing Friendswood schools and in describing the excellent job Friendswood is doing in educating students in the science, technology, engineering, and math curriculums and in preparing them for careers in the aerospace industry and in other technical vocations! She highlighted Friendswood's involvement in Project "Lead the Way" and was a tremendous addition to the panel and an excellent opportunity to showcase the Bay Area Houston region to an influential outside audience! Trish Hanks reported on the status of FISD bond projects. The new Junior High will soon be awarded. The new Junior High campus will have a capacity of 1,800 students to handle projected build -out of the community. The High School will go out for bid in mid December with construction starting approximately in March 2009 with completion by 2010. It will have a new library, expanded cafeteria, and a competition gymnasium may be built with the natatorium. The old Junior High campus will be converted to an early childhood center. The bond package approved by Friendswood voters included a new Junior High costing $40 million, renovations and additions to the High School $26 million and the natatorium $6.5 million. Carol Jones reported that approximately 5,000 to 6,000 persons attended in Halloween in the Park in a short two hour time span from 6 to 8 pm. She also reported that the 2008-9 Leadership Friendswood Class is underway with twelve persons in the class. C. Marketing Deanna Wilke reported on work completed and in progress which include work on the billboard campaign. Creative design for the billboard, searching for appropriate stock photography, securing the website address livehereworkhere.com, and billboard placement were completed. She is also working on the 4th quarter e-news that should be ready for distribution by mid December. D. City Staff Karen Capps reported that she has received two inquiries about a local option election for the sale of alcoholic beverages in restaurants and beer/wine in grocery stores for the dry area of the city. The special use permit to allow events to be held at the Manning house on FM 528 was approved by Council. Council also approved the rezoning of approximately 4.62 acres from single-family to business park zone on FM 2351. Ms. Capps also reported on several meetings with prospects including a proposed shopping center on FM 528. E. Project Status Karen Capps reported that Park Plaza should break ground the first week in December. There is a grand opening for Dr. Baden and Memorial Hermann Imaging on December 9 and the CEDC is invited. Staff is working with TXDOT to see if the future downtown drainage project could be taken into account in order to allow HomeTown Center to move forward instead of detaining on site. 7. Adiournment. The meeting was adjourned at 10:21 am.