Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCEDC Minutes 2014-08-06 RegularFriendswood Community and Economic Development Committee Meeting Minutes August 6, 2014 The Friendswood Community and Economic Development Committee met on Wednesday, August 6, 2014 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 Pauline Moore, Brett Banfield, Mark Conrad, Bill Provenzano, and Dr. Hilmar Zeissig. Liaisons present were City Councilmember Carl Gustafson, Dan Seal of the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership, and Bix Rathburn of the Galveston County Economic Alliance. Absent from the meeting were Tony Annan, Skip Evans, Jeremy Magnuson, and Marcus Perry. Staff member present was Karen Capps. 1. Call to Order. The meeting was called to order at 8:35 a.m. by Chair Pauline Moore with a quorum present. 2. Roll Call. Roll call was made. 3. Approval of Minutes. A motion was made by Bill Provenzano to approve the July 9, 2014 meeting minutes. The motion was seconded by Mark Conrad and it passed unanimously in the committee. 4. Discussion and possible action regarding the development of policies pertaining to economic development. The committee discussed reorganizing its efforts in order to work on the economic development policies for City Council. Staff will resend the current economic development strategic plan and marketing plan to the committee. Pauline, Bill, Brett, Mark, and Karen will meet next week to review and move forward with drafting policies. 5. Reports: City Staff Karen Capps gave an update on the status of the Whitcomb property informing the committee of a DRC scheduled for today. She also reported the 12th annual broker event will be held on October 16. There was discussion about how to get more attendees to the event. There was also a report regarding City Council's action on non -conforming structures. Karen reported that the demographics in Friendswood changed since the prior year. The average household income and net worth grew substantially. Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership Dan Seal gave a status report on the Ike Dike. The City of Friendswood just approved a resolution in support of the coastal barrier concept for storm surge protection and joins other cities in the region in support of storm surge protection for Galveston County. Dan also reported that NASA-JSC is working to bring an annual space conference to Houston. The first event would occur in Houston in 2015 which will help position the region's future in the space industry since there has been a lot of commercialization in the last decade. BAHEP will host a broker event on October 29 at the Hess Club in Houston. City Council Carl Gustafson encouraged the committee to continue working on the economic development policies for City Council. Galveston County Economic Alliance Bix Rathburn reported on the status of a Galveston County plan for economic development. The county has set aside funds to hire an economic developer as a new staff person. The large multi- billion dollar project that was recently announced which mentioned Texas City as a finalist for site selection consideration, is moving forward. The Galveston County SBDC has 140 active projects and is looking to have a satellite office in League City or Friendswood. 6. Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 9:57 a.m.