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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCEDC Minutes 2011-03-02 RegularFriendswood Community and Economic Development Committee Meeting Minutes March 2, 2011 The Friendswood Community and Economic Development Committee met on Wednesday, March 2, 2011, at 8:30 a.m., in the second floor conference room of City Hall, 910 S. Friendswood Drive, Friendswood, Texas, with the following members present: Chair Skip Evans, Vice Chair Pauline Moore, Brett Banfield, Mark Conrad, Kirk Lippert, Jeremy Magnuson, and Dr. Hilmar Zeissig. Liaisons present were Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership Executive Director of Special Projects Dan Seal, Friendswood Chamber of Commerce President Carol Jones, and Planning and Zoning Commissioner Jim Gibson. Also present were Chris Brown of Big Splash Web Design and Jeff Newpher of the Friendswood Journal. Staff member present was Karen Capps. Absent from the meeting were Cody Owen and Bill Provenzano. 1. Call to Order. The meeting was called to order at 8:32 with a quorum present. 2. Roll Call. Roll call was made. 3. Approval of Minutes. Kirk Lippert made a motion to approve the January 5, 2011 meeting minutes and the February 2, 2011 meeting notes. The motion was seconded by Mark Conrad and it passed unanimously in the committee. 4. Discussion and possible action, but not limited to the Community and Economic Development Committee's 2010-11 goals and action items. Karen Capps introduced Chris Brown of Big Splash Web Design to discuss marketing projects. Karen Capps provided Chris with a current economic development marketing plan. Chris discussed the idea of surveying businesses through the Chamber membership. The committee would like to move forward with this. Chris will revamp the look of some of the existing marketing materials and thought it would be a good idea to send out the quarterly e- news to Friendswood residents in addition to the 1,000 brokers, developers, and prospects that currently receive it. To accommodate those who do not want to receive the e-news, Capps said that we could send the e-news the first time through group builder and let residents know that if they want to continue receiving it, they need to sign up for it online. Chris also suggested that the Friendswood Chamber email the e-news to their members. Chris suggested that the message of the next billboard should target business attraction to Friendswood rather than just the Live Here Work Here billboard. 5. Reports: Liaisons Friendswood Chamber of Commerce Carol Jones reported the State of the City will be held on March 3 and there are 196 persons registered for the event at The Green Event Center. The Chamber is getting ready for the Fig Festival/Car Show that will be held on April 16. Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership Dan Seal reported that fifty-five persons traveled to Austin two weeks ago. They met with sixty state representatives regarding education, NASA, sales tax reform, and Ellington Field. NASA just had its final launch from Discovery. It is unknown what NASA's new budget will look like and it may be like starting over again. Next week, BAHEP members including City Councilmember Deirdre Brown will travel to Washington, D.C. to educate and inform about the importance of space exploration. Embry Riddle's visit to Houston was postponed until April. Planning and Zoning Jim Gibson said that it has been slow for P&Z and they did not meet in February. City Staff Karen Capps reported that the next HOA meeting will be held on Saturday, April 9. Skip Evans, Mark Conrad, Hilmar Zeissig, and Brett Banfield volunteered to attend. She also reported on a City Council -Staff retreat that was held in which alternative revenue sources were discussed. Also reported was that Dollar Tree was building at the Captain's corner Shopping Center where CVS/Eckerd's was located. The Live Here Work Here story will feature Dwight Potter, Potter's Liquor Store. 6. Discussion and possible action regarding the City's business target market list. The committee finished their review of updating the business target market list and will schedule a work session with City Council to discuss the updated list. 7. Discussion and possible action regarding the City's tax abatement policy. The committee reviewed the existing tax abatement policy. After their review, Brett Banfield made a motion to recommend that City Council approve the existing tax abatement policy as written for another two-year period. The motion was seconded by Dr. Hilmar Zeissig and the motion passed unanimously in the committee. 8. Adiournment. The meeting was adjourned at 10:10 am.