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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutesDOWNTOWN OSHKOSH BID BOARD MINUTES August 18, 2015 1 PRESENT: David Sparr, Megan Lang, Jim Stapel, Kay Bahr, David Krumplitsch, Sandy Prunty, Andy Ratchman, James Evans EXCUSED: Chanda Anderson, Kris Larson, Vicky Schroeder, Marlo Ambas STAFF: Cassie Daniels – BID Manager, Jeffrey Nau – Associate Planner OTHERS: Jim Collins – City of Oshkosh Transportation Department Director I - CALL TO ORDER Chair Sparr called the meeting to order at 8:03am and a quorum was declared present. II – APPROVE MINUTES OF JULY 21, 2015 MEETING There was no discussion on this item. Megan Lang moved to approve the minutes of the July 21, 2015 meeting as presented. Sandy Prunty seconded the motion which passed unanimously. III – POLICING/TRAFFIC/PARKING/ENFORCEMENT ISSUES No one from the Oshkosh Police Department was present. Mr. Nau reported Sergeant Kroening was unavailable to attend the meeting. There was no discussion on this item. IV – MONTHLY FINANCIAL REPORT There was no discussion on this item. Sandy Prunty moved to approve the monthly financial report as presented. James Evans seconded the motion which passed unanimously. V – BID MANAGER AND SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS BID Manager Daniels presented a summary of her activities over the past month as outlined in her report included in the BID packet. Highlights include: • Downtown visit to Wausau. Ms. Daniels commented that Wausau’s downtown is one of the nicest she has visited and passed around photos. Ms. Daniels noted that some storefronts have posters with information of available commercial spaces and list of benefits of being located in the BID. Ms. Prunty commented that is a great idea. Ms. Daniels responded she will be looking into doing something similar for Oshkosh. • 42 businesses are participating with the revamped Gift Card Program. Ms. Lang inquired if there have been any problems so far. Ms. Daniels responded there have not been any major issues so far. Ms. Lang asked if there is a way to track usage. Ms. Daniels responded she can prepare monthly reports. DOWNTOWN OSHKOSH BID BOARD MINUTES August 18, 2015 2 • Preparing material for this week’s 2016 Budget Committee meeting. • Continuing to update the Downtown Website. • Hired an intern that will be helping with videos of Downtown for social media and helping to change the message board at Opera House Square. • Marketing Consortium o Attending Special Events meetings for the Chalk Walk o Have been attending meetings for the Holiday events. • Beautification o Beautification Committee did not meet last month. o Candeo Creative is working on holiday and winter banner designs. o There has been a lot of theft of flowers from the flower pots, especially by the Convention Center. Jim Collins said the City may have video footage of that area. • There have been no Retention Grant or Recruitment Grant application submissions. Ms. Daniels stated she has been sending out promotional materials for the Retention Grant Program. • Attended Wisconsin Main Street and Connect Communities Seminar. • Attending Special Events meetings. • Attended Parking Study Kickoff meeting. • Appeared on WOSH with Rob Kleman and Zach Pawlosk with Candeo Creative. • Met with Blue Door Consulting for 2016 Downtown Directory design. Ms. Prunty asked BID Manager Daniels if she has been keeping a log of what is good and what is bad with her downtown visits. Ms. Daniels responded she is and has been taking a lot of photos. Ms. Lang commented she liked the poster concept from Wausau promoting the BID and listing available retail spaces. VI – APPROVE RESOLUTION OPPOSING SENATE BILL 203 – SPECIALLY ASSESSING A MIXED-USE PROPERTY IN A BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT Mr. Nau referred to the proposed bill and resolution included in the BID packet. Mr. Nau informed the Board that State Senator Stroebel of Milwaukee introduced this bill and added that he is a property owner of a mixed- use property in a BID located in Milwaukee. Mr. Nau said the bill, as written, would exempt residential and tax-exempt portions of mixed-use buildings from BID assessments. Mr. Nau stated the bill was sent to the City Assessor’s office for evaluation and commented that determining a percent value of what is commercial versus residential/exempt would be very difficult as each mixed-use property is unique and share several components of the building and property. He added that this would be overly burdensome as there are currently 39 mixed- use properties in the BID and each one would have to be reevaluated on an annual basis. Mr. Nau stated this bill would reduce the ability of how a BID can assess themselves. He commented on how the Downtown Oshkosh BID recently modified their assessment policy due to concerns from key players which he felt was how these issues should be addressed – locally. Mr. Nau then went over the resolution opposing the proposed bill. If approved by the Board, it would be passed on to the Common Council for approval, and then sent to the State Legislature. Mr. Stapel agreed with the wording of the resolution except he would have like to see wording stating the bill would take away local control. Mr. Sparr stated he reviewed it with Mr. Nau and was satisfied with the wording as-is. Mr. Stapel said he would like to see the resolution passed onto the state from both the Common Council and the BID. DOWNTOWN OSHKOSH BID BOARD MINUTES August 18, 2015 3 Jim Stapel motioned for approval of the resolution opposing State Senate Bill 203 and that it is forwarded to the Oshkosh Common Council for approval as well as the State Legislature from the Downtown Oshkosh Business Improvement District. James Evans seconded the motion which passed unanimously. VII - W.E.D.C. WORKSHOP ON MAIN STREET AND CONNECT COMMUNITIES - DISCUSSION Ms. Prunty informed the Board that she attended the workshop and noted that Mayor Steve Cummings, and Council Member Steve Herman, Cassie Daniels, Darryn Burich, Kelly Nieforth and Jeffrey Nau were in attendance. She added that the Goals of the Main Street Program are very complimentary to what the BID has already done and this could be a means to include outliers like N. Main Street north of Parkway Avenue, S. Main Street and Oregon into a program. Also, she said the Connect Community program could be well suited to the west side of the City. She suggested that areas outside of the BID could pay a fee to receive the benefits of being in the program in lieu of an assessment. Ms. Prunty stated she spoke with Mr. Burich to determine what the next step would be. He said the next step would be to get the major players together to gain support and move forward to plan and begin the application process. Mr. Nau stated that the BID far exceeds the requirements of becoming a Wisconsin Main Street; a budget of $75,000 and a paid staff person is required. Ms. Daniels added there would need to be discussions on how additional funding would be generated and what the Main Street boundary would be. Ms. Prunty stated she was going to contact the City of Beloit’s BID as they have a joint BID/Main Street program to see how their revenue is generated through assessments and fees for non-BID properties. Ms. Lang asked if W.E.D.C. contacted the BID about this program. Ms. Daniels replied affirmatively. Ms. Lang stated she likes the concept but feels there is too much going on right now with the parking study, downtown study and preparing the BID budget for 2016 and felt this should be tabled for a few months. Ms. Prunty added that W.E.D.C. offered to come back to the BID to discuss further if needed. VIII – CITY OF OSHKOSH DOWNTOWN PARKING STUDY UPDATE Mr. Nau informed the Board that the City’s Consultant, Walker, Inc. hosted a kick-off meeting last week to go over the planning process for the parking study. Jim Collins added Walker was in town to do a parking inventory and met with key downtown players to discuss parking needs and concerns. Mr. Collins added they will be back in town to meet with focus groups and gather more data. In January Walker will present their results and recommendations to the Common Council. Mr. Collins added the study should also provide guidance on how to finance the downtown parking. Mr. Collins informed the Board that he is working on the Transportation Department Budget which historically included a contribution from the BID. Since the parking study will not be complete until January, he asked the Board to consider a payment similar to last year’s $5,000 contribution to the parking study and $15,000 towards parking. Mr. Collins went over some of the preliminary thoughts on what could be done with downtown parking including marketing that there is ample parking downtown, or if there is a need for additional parking, how to finance a possible parking ramp. Thirdly, Mr. Collins stated they could look into market- driven pricing which would increase fees for more desirable spaces. Mr. Stapel asked if the market-driven pricing would be for customer or long-term parking. Mr. Collins responded they would look at both of those components. DOWNTOWN OSHKOSH BID BOARD MINUTES August 18, 2015 4 Ms. Prunty stated she was intrigued that Walker may be able to increase capacity simply by restriping the existing lots. IX – CITY OF OSHKOSH CENTRAL CITY REINVESTMENT STRATEGY UPDATE Mr. Nau informed the Board that the City has selected Houseal Lavigne from Chicago to prepare the City’s Downtown Reinvestment Strategy. Work on the plan is to begin soon and Mr. Nau stated he may ask for members of the BID Board to serve on focus groups as part of the planning process. Chair Sparr asked what this plan will include. Mr. Nau responded this will be an update and expansion to the 2000 Downtown Action Plan which has more or less been implemented. He added the plan will focus more on economic activities, and redevelopment opportunities in a broader area both north and south of the Fox River. X – IDENTIFICATION OF AGENDA ITEMS FOR THE SEPTEMBER 15, 2015 MEETING Mr. Nau stated he was contacted by Zagster, a company that sets up bike sharing programs in communities. Mr. Sparr added he was also contacted and suggested setting up a video conference with them to discuss at an upcoming meeting. Mr. Nau responded the City should have that ability at City Hall. XI – ADJOURNMENT With there being no further business, Jim Stapel moved for the meeting to be adjourned at 8:44am. Megan Lang seconded the motion which passed unanimously. Respectfully Submitted, Jeffrey Nau Associate Planner