Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-03-18 Economic Development Committee Minutes_ Town of Reading i" + Meeting Minutes Board - Committee - Commission - Council: Economic Development Committee Date: 2015 -03 -18 Building: Reading Town Hall Address: 16 Lowell Street Purpose: General Business Attendees: Members - Present: Karl Weld George Rio Maria Higgins Meghan Young - Tafoya Members - Not Present: Time: 7:00 PM Location: Berger Room Sandra Popaja Jack Russell Jessie Wilson, Community Development Administrator Others Present: Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Jessie Wilson Topics of Discussion: Call to Order: There being a quorum the Chair called the meeting to order at 7:05 PM. �;4_CLIVLD `.'is CLARK iNG, M� SS. Ri i5 N 2U P 2: 02 Approval Of EDC Minutes 2/4/2015 The EDC reviewed minutes of February 4, 2015 and made one minor edit. Ms. Young - Tafoya made a motion to approve the revised minutes from 2/4/2015. Ms. Higgins seconded and the motion carried 3 -0 -0. Building Facade and Signage Improvement Program — Program overview Ms. Wilson told the EDC she had been working with Ms. Young - Tafoya on the update of the 2015 BFSI Program Description. Ms. Wilson felt it was worthwhile to review the process again, as she felt that the BFSI Committee meeting adds process to the program. The issue is that Applicants have to follow a certain permitting process, which includes a voluntary Development Review Team (DRT) with Town Staff. Then, if required, the Applicant may also need to go before the CPDC. If the Applicant were then required to go before the BFSI Committee for a grant, Ms. Wilson felt that it seems like meeting overkill. However, Ms. Wilson wanted to review again with the EDC to make a final determination. Mr. Weld replied that he believed it was initially created to weed out applicants since the Application process had a strict opening and closing period. Ms. Young - Tafoya said that she Page 1 1 agreed and as was discussed in the last EDC meeting, since the process has changed it may not be necessary to have the BFSI Committee meeting anymore but the underlying reason that they opted to keep it in was that it had provided an Applicant with design options before the Applicant went before a governing board. Ms. Wilson added that if the goal was to get feedback from representatives from CPDC and the Board of Selectmen early on, the EDC could invite those representatives to their regularly scheduled meeting when the BFSI Application is under review. The EDC continued to review the Program language and agreed to eliminate the BFSI Committee meeting, but include language such that Applicants may be required to meet with the EDC to provide more information about their project. Ms. Higgins made a motion to approve the BFSI Program description as amended. Ms. Young - Tafoya seconded and the motion carried 4 -0 -0. Healthy Changes Pilates Application Ms. Wilson summarized the proposal from Healthy Changes Pilates. The Application includes a request for funding for a new blade sign and wall sign. Ms. Wilson told the EDC that the wall sign was moved from the former location to this new location and the Applicant is seeking funding for those costs. Ms. Wilson expressed concern for this Application and stated that the Applicant insisted she request the additional funding for her wall sign. The EDC reviewed the Application and invoice. Unfortunately, the invoice did not break down the costs from the blade sign and wall sign so it was difficult to determine how much was spent on the blade sign. The EDC agreed that the blade sign was well designed and needed some more details on what the costs associated with the blade sign before they could make an award determination. Ms. Wilson will follow -up with the Applicant to get a breakdown of the costs. Comically Speaking Application Ms. Wilson said that the owner of Comically Speaking submitted an Application to the Building Department for a new sign. Ms. Wilson told the EDC that the Applicant needed a new sign as the existing sign was damaged in the blizzard. The new sign design was much different than the current sign and she told the Applicant he would need to go back to CPDC for a new Certificate of Appropriateness. Rather than go through the CPDC, he decided not to change the sign and applied for a new permit based on the same design. Ms. Wilson told the EDC she worked with the owner throughout the process and reminded him that his window signs were not in compliance with the bylaw and that the Building Inspector would want those addressed before he issued the permit. He seemed very frustrated with this but agreed to take care of the window signs. While out on a site visit to verify the window signs have been addressed, Ms. Wilson met the owner and mentioned the BFSI Program and suggested he apply. Since he has experienced some hardship with the sign, along with the tough winter, she said he may have a good case for a grant. The EDC reviewed the Application. They agreed that is was unfortunate his sign was damaged during the storm. The cost of the replacement sign was approximately $3,000 and he has requested 50 %. The Application did not include a copy of the invoice but Ms. Wilson said they need to submit the invoice when they apply for reimbursement. Ms. Higgins made a motion to approve up to 50% of the cost of the all sign for Comically Speaking. Ms. Young - Tafoya seconded and the motion carried 4 -0 -0. Business Guide Development Ms. Wilson provided an update on the status of the Business Guide. She said that she had been working with Ms. Young - Tafoya and Ms. Popaja on the guide over the past few months and they are basing the template off of Dedham's guide. She went through the draft that has been worked on thus far, noting that the idea is to guide Applicants through the Page 1 2 permitting process based on what they intend to offer. Ms. Young - Tafoya added that currently there is still work to be done to determine how much information is the right information to be of useful for an Applicant. She also said that as part of some work with the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), Planning Staff is working on some 'streamlined permitting' efforts including the creation of a Project Intake Form. The idea behind the Project Intake Form or Scoping Form is that Applicants could be given the form as they start to think about their project. Ms. Wilson said numerous times Staff spends time at the counter with Applicants trying to understand their proposal to gain an idea on what the permitting path may be. There are many "if this, than that" discussion without a strong understanding of the project scope, it can be difficult for Staff to provide any guidance of permitting. Ms. Wilson said that the Project Intake Form will be designed to ask the Applicant key questions to get an idea on what their proposal is. This could be handed out at the Counter and emailed back to our Building Department Clerk who could then schedule an initial meeting with key Staff. It would be a step before a DRT, and only pertinent Staff would be involved in the meeting. Ms. Wilson said that this Project Intake Form could be used in conjunction with the Business Guide. In addition to the Project Intake Form, MAPC is also going to create a flow chart of high level permitting so that Applicants at the counter could get an overall picture of the permitting process. EDC members asked if they could review the Project Intake Form and Ms. Wilson said that it was currently being worked on by staff but would forward to the EDC when it was completed. Ms. Young - Tafoya asked about the funding for this project. Ms. Wilson replied that it is part of the Reading 2020 project, but it is coming out of the Community Services Budget. Ms. Wilson also told the EDC that MAPC would be willing to take the Business Guide, once we are done with it, and add graphics and make it visually appealing. EDC members asked whether MAPC would be able to brand the guide for Reading, and Ms. Wilson did not know if that would be possible. Mr. Weld offered his services to do the graphics. Ms. Wilson said that the graphics and branding for the guide should match the Project Intake Form and other permitting materials. However, that may be a larger discussion that may involve the Board of Selectmen. Mr. Weld said he could start on the graphics for the Business Guide. Ms. Wilson said she could email him the latest copy. Ms. Wilson said she still needs to follow up with the Health Department and Permitting in that she thinks it needs to be a little more detailed than what was provided. Economic Develoument Action Plan Ms. Wilson provided an update on the Economic Development Action Plan noting that the first public forum is on April 1st at the Senior Center. Cultural Connection Ms. Wilson said that the working group, calling themselves the Cultural Connections Reading is continuing to meet. They are working on partnering with the Garden Club for their May 16th Annual Plant Sale. She said they began to discuss a logo at the last meeting and Mr. Weld said he has been working with them on that. The EDC was curious if there were any other names considered for the group instead of Cultural Connections Reading as it sounds very similar to the Cultural Council. Ms. Wilson said there were a few suggestions mentioned at the last meeting, but there was not much discussion. She told the EDC that this group eventually wants to be a larger, more formal organization, but they are in their infancy right now. It was agreed that a Town -wide calendar is something that the town could benefit from. Ms. Wilson agreed. Mr. Weld also agreed, but said it is difficult for one group to coordinate a bunch of other groups and still operate their own organization. Ms. Wilson said that the next meeting is on March 26th at Town Hall and they will be finalizing details of the Garden Club event. Page 1 3 EDC Strate Ms. Wilson said this was included on the agenda as the EDC is scheduled for a sunset provision decision by June 30, 2015. Ms. Young - Tafoya said that the EDC has been through a sunset provision before and that the EDC should discuss their future plans and seek options on next steps. Ms. Young - Tafoya was concerned that the Town had not informed, nor reminded the EDC of this sunset though other Committees were informed and already in discussion about their thoughts on sunsetting. Ms. Young - Tafoya then reviewed public documents with the EDC. In a January meeting of the BOS the Town Manager stated that some B /C /C were 'overrated' when there are groups of citizens who are willing to do the same thing. The Town Manager also suggested that the BOS "take a hard look at all of the B /C /C because we get more effective work out of daytime government when we don't have to go to night time government." She also cited minutes from a November 2013 EDC meeting when the Town Manager, suggested they consider becoming a private organization. Ms. Young - Tafoya stated that the EDC has done some great work in the past as has been acknowledged by prior BOS and she is in the process of creating a spreadsheet of all the grants and projects they have undertaken to date to share with the BOS during the upcoming sunset discussion. The spreadsheet will include grants and funding and she feels their work has a need and purpose for the Town. Mr. Weld expressed concern that the EDC has not been included in many of the projects handled by Staff recently and that many of the meetings on current projects have been held during the day making it improbable for all EDC members to attend. Ms. Higgins agreed that the EDC has done some valuable work in the past and that they continue to be a valuable asset. She said that the perspective of outside groups of citizens can be helpful. Ms. Young - Tafoya agreed with Mr. Weld's points. Mr. Weld expressed concern that the EDC has not been included in the development of the plan and that it is not an economic development plan, but a priority plan. He would like to focus on issues that will bring businesses to Town. Ms. Higgins did feel that there are some State priorities being focused on in the Economic Development Plan, such as the housing element. She also added that the State Plans did not always coincide with the Plans of Communities. Mr. Weld agreed and also asked where the idea for medical uses came into play. Ms. Wilson said those ideas came out of the Priority Mapping project which was done a few years ago. The EDC was invited to participate in that process. Mr. Rio said that he believes the EDC has done a lot of work since they were created. But if the Town has no desire to continue the EDC, than maybe it should not be continued. He is amazed by all the grants and projects that have been completed. He noted the work on the sign bylaw as one of the most challenging, but he felt as one of the most valuable efforts from the EDC. He also mentioned there is an alignment of Town desire to have an EDC. Ms. Young- Tafoya expressed concern with the push for daytime government and was curious why the Board of Selectmen is not questioning that push when Town government decisions are made night. She also expressed concern that the Town Manager would inform the Chamber of Commerce about his recommendation not to include flowers watering as part of the budget, and didn't let the EDC know of this recommendation too. She reminded the EDC that Town Meeting ultimately has the decision on whether watering of the flowers is part of the budget, not the Town Manager. As for the sunset, she does think it's ironic that Page 1 4 the Town is completing an Economic Development Plan, but considering to eliminating the EDC. Ms. Wilson said that the idea behind more use of daytime government is so that the permitting process is handled more smoothly. For example, the use of administrative approval for Minor Site Plan Review is a good way to streamline permitting when there has been determined to be no impact. Another good example is how the Nonconforming Section of the bylaw was just updated to allow the Building Inspector to issue permits for certain alterations where he was not allowed to do so prior to the update. Mr. Weld again stated he believes that the Economic Development Plan is a priority plan and the input from the public is going to be for those targeted areas. He expressed concern with that method in that the plan should focus on more than just those areas. Ms. Wilson replied that those areas are the primary commercial /industrial areas in Town. Ms. Young - Tafoya said that she has always been committed to the Master Plan's focus on the downtown and still believes that the need is there, but does think that the other priority areas have merit. Overall she believes the EDC has not been recently been included in projects, including the update to the Zoning Bylaw by the ZAC where documents were not shared or updated on the website. She asked whether members of the EDC felt the work should continue. Mr. Weld replied that he does not think the EDC should, as long as long as they are not included in various projects. Ms. Higgins asked whether there was still a role for the EDC. Mr. Rio questioned whether the EDC's mission needs to be revaluated. There was frustration from the EDC in that the BOS liaison has not been involved as well as a lack of acknowledgement regarding the pending sunset. Mr. Weld said it would have been courteous for a reminder of the sunset. For next steps, the EDC agreed that it would be good to meet with the Town Manager and their BOS liaison. Ms. Wilson said she could coordinate dates and times to schedule the meeting. Other Ms. Young - Tafoya was sent an email from Ms. Sheila Clarke (former EDC member) from the flower vendor. Ms. Young - Tafoya changed the contact information to the Ms. Wilson and the EDC discussed the invoice for the 2015 streetscape flowers. Ms. Young - Tafoya made a motion to approve $4,425 for the 2015 streetscape flowers. Mr. Rio seconded and the motion carried 4 -0 -0. Ms. Young - Tafoya reported that the Chamber of Commerce had contacted her to let the EDC know that some of the holiday bows needed to be replaced as some were damaged this year with the storm. Ms. Young - Tafoya contacted the vendor and obtained a quote for 10 replacement bows for $310 and changed the contact invoice information to Ms. Wilson Ms. Young - Tafoya made a motion to approve $310 for 10 replacement bows. Mr. Weld seconded and the motion carried 4 -0 -0. During the spending discussion, EDC members realized that there were still pending requests for BFSI project and ongoing projects. Ms. Wilson suggested that if the BOS does elect to sunset the EDC that the EDC might ask for permission to extend the Committee until the end of the year to complete their projects and funding. Adiournment Mr. Rio moved to adjourn at 9:15112M. Ms. Higgins seconded and the motion carried 4 -0 -0. Page 1 5