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HomeMy WebLinkAboutWeekly Newsletter Date: June 11, 2010 To: Mayor & City Council From: Mark A. Rohloff, City Manager WEEKLY NEWSLETTER Subject: PIONEER OWNER STILL OPTIMISTIC ABOUT SITE, BUT MARKET IS NOT 1.: Community Development Director Allen Davis and I had an oppportunity to meet with Decades Property owner Jeff Kierlieber on Thursday. Decades Property is the owner of the former Pioneer Inn. We had a lengthy discussion in which Mr. Kierlieber gave us the history of the site from his perspective, and discussed the South Shore Redevelopment plans, of which he remains very supportive. We briefed Mr. Kierlieber on recent developments along the riverfront, including riverwalk projects that are upcoming, Marion Road commercial and senior housing development, and the recent acquisition of the Miles Kimball building. Mr. Kierlieber was aware of recent media reports surrounding the interest in the status of the Pioneer property, specifically the Council's interest in getting an appraisal for the property. Mr. Kierlieber inquired as to what the city would do should it acquire the property. He suggested that if the city were to acquire the property, the city would remain in the same dilemma that he is in right now in that the market will not support the construction of a resort-quality hotel at this location, at this time. He shared with us that the "time share" and "condo/hotel" concepts were no longer viable, specifically in Oshkosh. He continues to support the concept of building a resort- quality hotel at the Pioneer site, flanked by an updated marina to the south, and a series of town homes to the northwest. All of these items have been identified in the South Shore Redevelopment Plan. Mr. Kierlieber indicated that he is open to accepting ideas and offers from people who may be interested in acquiring a portion or all of the Pioneer site. However, he sees great potential in this property, and sees no need to sell it at a loss. In addition to the purchase price, he has invested several hundred thousand dollars that went toward seeking a final settlement with the DNR on what could be done on this site. He does not have any interest in losing that investment. He firmly believes that once the market recovers, he will be able to build a high quality development on this site. Unfortunately, with the credit markets being as tight as they are, and the low demand for high-end resort facilities in this area, the timing is simply not right to develop at this location. He reiterated that he would certainly be willing to entertain offers should someone have an idea. His final statement to me in this regard was that nobody would love to do something more than he would with the site, but unfortunately, the market is simply not there. Weekly Newsletter June 11, 2010 Page 2 In my closing discussion with Mr. Kierlieber, I asked if the city could have permission to access his site for purposes of conducting the appraisal. He said that he needed to consult with his attorney on this matter, as he was not familiar with the implications of permitting this. He is going to be out of the country for approximately three weeks, but he indicated that he would have his attorney contact us with an answer about accessing his property for purposes of conducting an appraisal. In the meantime, we can certainly proceed with an appraisal, although it would be more challenging to do so without access to the property. Finally, I indicated that we have received periodic complaints about the condition of the Pioneer property. He told us that we were free to contact the local manager of the marina and bring issues to his attention, and that he would ask him to cooperate with us in making sure the property was receiving an appropriate amount of maintenance. If you have any questions regarding any of these matters, please feel free to contact me. STRATEGIC PLAN UPDATE: 2.Department Heads met this week to begin putting the final touches on a strategic plan document that will be forwarded to the Council. As you may recall, when Council and staff last met on this issue, the joint group had taken the list of strategic directions and narrowed them down to six priority goals for 2010. As a reminder, the priority goals were as follows: 1) Improve public knowledge and understanding of city operations; 2) Improve storm water management and street conditions; 3) Improve processes for business retention and development; 4) Develop performance measures that demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of city services; 5) Create a public/private partnership to foster grass roots neighborhood organizations; and 6) Develop long term preservation, maintenance, and improvement strategies for community assets. Staff is in the process of linking these goals with th existing department plans. We plan to make a presentation at the July 13 Council Meeting to introduce the final draft and get Council feedback. From that point, the Council would have one more month to provide other input, with formal adoption scheduled for the meeting of August 9, 2010. If you have any questions regarding the efforts toward completing the strategic plan, please contact me or Assistant City Manager/Director of Administrative Services John Fitzpatrick. FUND FOR MUSEUM CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT 3.: Following the recent Oshkosh Northwestern report about the status of expansion plans at the Museum, Museum Director Brad Larson indicated that he has received a variety of calls from the public, indicating their interest in providing support to a capital campaign. You may recall that the article indicated that given the current state of the economy, fundraising for facilities such as a public museum were not as strong as in the past. For that reason, the Museum has put on hold any plans for expansion. With the interest generated by the announcement that the plans were on hold, Museum Director Larson has indicated that it may be appropriate to have a vehicle for fundraising for future Museum expansion, even if the fundraising effort takes place over an extended period of time. For this reason, Mr. Larson is working with the Oshkosh Area Community Foundation to establish a fund at the Community Foundation for capital fundraising for the Museum. The initial donations will slowly trickle in, but having a fund in place at the Foundation provides a vehicle for people to direct funds should they wish to donate to the Museum's future capital plans. I indicated to Mr. Larson that I saw no problem with establishing such a fund. If you have any questions or concerns about the establishment of this fund, please contact Museum Director Brad Larson. Weekly Newsletter June 11, 2010 Page 3 OSHKOSH CORPORATION UPDATE 4.: Although I have been receiving several inquiries from Council Members and the media, I have no additional update to provide you with the Oshkosh Corporation Development Assistance Grant (DAG). We are simply going through different drafts of possible TIF support documents. At this time, I do not have a specific date of when we will be coming to Council for your consideration of the DAG. However, I wanted to provide you with an update to keep you apprised that we are still working on this issue on a regular basis. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. BOARD/COMMISSION SURVEY 5.: Please find enclosed the letter and survey that went out this week to all members of the city's boards, commissions, committees and authorities. Although we did not specify when the surveys should be returned, I'm assuming that most will return them to my office either by mail, or in person when their board/commission meets during the next month. We hope to have most surveys returned within a month, and we will then have our IT Department compile the results. If you have any questions concerning this survey, please feel free to contact me. DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS & UPDATES 6.: Other items I'm enclosing with today's th Newsletter include the notice of a Special Meeting of the Council on Tuesday, June 15, at 4:45 p.m., to consider a special Class B license for the Oshkosh Yacht Club. Insofar as minutes are st concerned, I'm enclosing the minutes of the June 1 Plan Commission meeting, and the minutes of th the May 18 Downtown BID Board meeting. The last item I'm enclosing is the latest FOCUS newsletter, from the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, which features an article on legislative politics. th UPCOMING MEETINGS 7.: Meetings I have scheduled for the week of June 14 include the th following: At 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday, June 15, I will be attending the ribbon cutting for Morton Pharmacy in the Marion Road Project area. At 9:00 a.m. that day, I will be going on a boat tour of the lake and riverfront areas of the city that was rescheduled from a couple of weeks ago. I will be joined on that boat by Community Development Director Davis, Parks Director Maurer, and our new Parks Operations Manager, Chad Dallman. As a reminder, the Plan Commission and Council will be holding their joint meeting on Tuesday, at 5:00 p.m., to discuss the city's Comprehensive Plan. For the remainder of the week, I will be attending the annual Wisconsin City/County Management Association conference in Sturgeon Bay from Wednesday through Friday. Due to my absence, there will be no Newsletter published next week. Jackie will provide the Council with general information in a packet for distribution. MAR/jdc