Loading...
01/03/2018 CLEARWATER DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT BOARD MEETING January 3, 2018—5:30 PM — City Hall — Council Chambers Members Present: Paris Morfopoulos Chairman Stu Sjouwerman Member Thomas Wright Member Caitlein Jammo Member Lina Teixeira Member Ray Cassano Member Venkat "Vincent" Devineni Member Also Present: Bill Jonson Ex-officio Member/Councilmember Doreen Caudell Ex-officio Member/Councilmember (arrived 5:32) Micah Maxwell Asst. City Manager/Interim CRA Director Denise Sanderson Economic Development Director (arrived 5:40) Anne Fogarty France Board Administrator 1. Chairman Morfopoulos called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. asking the board and Ex-officio members to introduce themselves. 2. Oath of Office—Anne Fogarty France, Board Administrator, administered the oath of office to Mr. Cassano and Mr. Devineni. Chairman Morfopoulos welcomed the new members. 3. Election of Officers — Chairman Morfopoulos advised that the Board selects a Chairman, Vice- Chairman, and Treasurer at the first meeting of each year. a. Chairman — Member Wright moved to appoint Paris Morfopoulos as Chairman. No additional nominations were made. The motion was duly seconded and upon roll call, the vote was: Ayes: Member Morfopoulos, Member Sjouwerman, Member Wright, Member Jammo, Member Teixeira, Member Cassano, and Member Devineni. Nays: None. Motion carried. b. Vice-Chairman — Member Wright moved to appoint Stu Sjouwerman as Vice-Chairman. No additional nominations were made. The motion was duly seconded and upon roll call, the vote was: Ayes: Member Morfopoulos, Member Sjouwerman, Member Wright, Member Jammo, Member Teixeira, Member Cassano, and Member Devineni. Nays: None. Motion carried. c. Treasurer— Member Wright moved to appoint Caitlein Jammo as Treasurer. No additional nominations were made. The motion was duly seconded and upon roll call, the vote was: Downtown Development Board Meeting—January 3, 2018 1 Ayes: Member Morfopoulos, Member Sjouwerman, Member Wright, Member Jammo, Member Teixeira, Member Cassano, and Member Devineni. Nays: None. Motion carried. 4. Citizens Comments--Items not on the agenda Jack Mortimer, 331 Cleveland Street, addressed the Board. He had concerns that the new Downtown Redevelopment Plan does not address the use of technology as it relates to smart cities. He said the City needs to be sure it is heading in the right direction and now is the time to do this since they have rewritten the code. He said there are many apps available to assist with parking issues and other things. He said there are sensors available that can direct people to open parking spaces. Driverless cars are already here, and Uber has already ordered 24,000 of them. Large parking lots are a thing of the past. He said the City is already behind the times. He cited several articles that have been written on this subject—one from The San Francisco Chronicle and one from Huffington Post. Chairman Morfopoulos thanked him for his input. 5. Approve the Minutes from the December 6, 2017, Meeting Ex-officio Member Jonson advised the Chairman that there was a correction to the minutes on page 3 under his comments. It should read "live active storefronts" with removal of the word "the." Member Wright moved to approve the minutes from the December 6, 2017, meeting as amended. The motion was duly seconded and upon roll call, the vote was: Ayes: Member Morfopoulos, Member Sjouwerman, Member Wright, Member Jammo, Member Teixeira, Member Cassano, and Member Devineni. Nays: None. Motion carried. 6. Adopt November 2017 Financial Statement for Filing Member Wright moved to adopt the November 2017 Financial Statement for filing. The motion was duly seconded and upon roll call, the vote was: Ayes: Member Morfopoulos, Member Sjouwerman, Member Wright, Member Jammo, Member Teixeira, Member Cassano, and Member Devineni. Nays: None. Motion carried. 7. Status of Downtown Plan Update—Ella Crandall, Senior Planner, and Gina Clayton, Assistant Director—Planning & Development Services Department provided a presentation to the Board regarding the update to the Downtown Redevelopment Plan. The current plan that was adopted in 2004 is divided into four chapters. The first three chapters are being amended at this time however, Chapter 4 will be updated by the CRA and the plan will be amended later this year. Downtown Development Board Meeting—January 3, 2018 2 The new plan divides Downtown Clearwater into five districts instead of the current six. They are the Downtown Core District, the Downtown Gateway District, the Old Bay District, the South Gateway District, and the Prospect Lake District which combines the old Town Lake Residential District with the Town Lake Business Park District. Michael Delk, Planning & Development Director, stated that the City hired HDR to redraft the downtown code and this plan is like the U.S. 19 plan. They tried to eliminate the processes that were an impediment to development and there are lower thresholds for approval. They have moved more towards a form-based approach and will be more user friendly. Members asked what tools were in place to educate everyone on the new guidelines and processes to which Mr. Delk said information will be available on the City's website. Ex-officio Member Caudell advised the board to go to the city's website and click on the hyperlink to the U.S. 19 plan to review that document. A question was asked regarding the amount of interest in putting "bed & breakfasts" in the downtown area since the changes would allow for them. Ms. Crandall advised that there was some interest and Planning wanted to ensure they covered this use to allow for it in the future. Members questioned the timeframe for implementation of these changes. The first three chapters should be ready by April and Chapter 4 must be presented to the County by the end of October or early November. Ordinance 9103-18 will go before the Community Development Board on 1/9/18, the CRA on 1/16/18, and the City Council for first reading on 1/18/18 and second reading on 2/1/18. Once the City Council approves the changes, they must submit to Pinellas County for approval. Members asked if there was a date for demolition of the Harborview Center and were advised that the City has been in discussion with the engineering firm Stantec, to ensure the stability of the bluff once the building is removed. The report will probably be received in the April/May timeframe. Discussion ensued about parking as concerns were raised that the City needs to look toward the future as far as technology is concerned. Technology firms are hiring more employees with limited parking. Mr. Delk advised that the City is getting ready to do a parking study. He said the City does need to look at what technology can do, and we may need to look to the CRA for future funding. Further discussion ensued concerning the parking situation and one of the issues is how people coming to the downtown find out about the available parking. It was noted that the City is working with Merje, the city's consultant for the wayfinding initiative. Ex-officio Councilmember Jonson stated that this has been held up with DOT permitting. Chairman Morfopoulos commented on the large effort that went in to making these changes. He asked that the City come back to the Board for input as it moves forward with these changes. 8. DDB Orientation—Board Attorney Elise Winters, provided an orientation to members. She reviewed the Sunshine Law, Public Records Law and voting conflicts. She advised members to send any questions to Ms. Fogarty France and she will provide a written reply. 9. Post Event Report for First Six Months & Request for Additional Funding—Open Air Art Party and Art Bazaar—Jennie Pearl addressed the Board regarding her open-air art party and bazaar. Ms. Pearl advised the Board that she has had some issues with holding her events in Station Square Park. Her October event was moved to Coachman Park in conjunction with an event with House of Beers. November's event had a low attendance. The December event was held in conjunction Downtown Development Board Meeting—January 3, 2018 3 with Miracle on Cleveland Street and was held in the intersection of Osceola and Cleveland Streets rather than in the park. She coordinated with Ruth Eckerd Hall and provided space to them for their Tell an Elf promotion with 875 children participating. There was a conflict with the January event which Ms. Pearl was going to cancel but she has received funding and noted that everything was set for the January 6 event. Ms. Pearl stated that these events are costing her money even with the funding from the DDB. She said the CRA was reimbursing her for the music up until the time Mr. Taylor left. She advised the Board that she would like to increase her request to $2,000 per event. Ms. Pearl was just advised this past week that there is also a conflict with the date for the March event. She said she submitted her permit for her 12 events to Parks & Recreation before the first event. Members questioned why Parks & Recreation is scheduling other events for the same time her events are scheduled. Ms. Fogarty-France will research this and find out why Ms. Pearl keeps getting moved. A lengthy discussion ensued concerning whether Station Square Park is the best venue for her events and whether or not the Board wants to continue funding them. Upon direct questioning, Ms. Pearl stated she does not want to continue these events in Station Square Park. She does not think there is enough visibility there. When asked what the reasons were that the event is not work she replied that she is not permitted to put banners at each end of the street and feels people don't know the art bazaar is being held in the park. She noted that the stigma of Scientology was hurting the event and she has been thinking of working with the church. She also feels she has had little involvement from the merchants. At the conclusion of the discussion, it was suggested that Ms. Pearl not hold her February and March events and come back to the Board with another proposal. Member Wright moved to suspend the funding for the February and March events pending Ms. Pearl coming back to the Board with another proposal. The motion was duly seconded and upon roll call, the vote was: Ayes: Member Morfopoulos, Member Sjouwerman, Member Wright, Member Jammo, Member Teixeira, Member Cassano, and Member Devineni. Nays: None. Motion carried. 10. Chairman's Report Chairman Morfopoulos advised the Board that upcoming events are listed on the City's website. He thanked all the members and appreciates their volunteering. 11. Final Comments Member Cassano stated he has lived in Clearwater for 35 years and wants Clearwater to become a vital place to live and work. Member Teixeira welcomed the new members and said she is excited about 2018. Downtown Development Board Meeting—January 3, 2018 4 Member Wright asked Mr. Mortimer to send the websites for the articles he referenced to Ms. Fogarty France so she could share them with the Board. He asked when the new CRA Director was starting and was advised that Amanda Thompson will start on February 5th and she will be present at the February 7th meeting. He also felt that the Board should acknowledge Dennis Bosi's years of service on the Board in some manner and will bring this up at the next meeting. He also welcomed the new members. Member Sjouwerman welcomed the new members and told them this Board can do great things. Member Jammo welcomed the new members. Member Devineni said he moved here in 2017. This is the first time he has been able to live, work, eat, and exercise all within a few blocks. This is a new way of living, and he would like more activities in downtown Clearwater and wants to do his part to make it great. Ex-officio Member Jonson said the Board needs to raise awareness to speed things along. It was a year ago that they were given the first presentation on the new redevelopment plan and he doesn't think the Board expected it would have to wait a year to hear something else. He advised that staff would appreciate the Board's interest. He noted he had a problem with the new plan not cross- referencing between the plan and the ULI report. He thinks there may be some things missing; and, when this comes before the Council, he plans to ask for a cross-reference. He felt that we needed to make sure we include all the property owner issues. He asked the City Manager to reclaim the parking spaces between the MSB parking garage and SunTrust parking garage as a short-term solution to providing more public parking. He noted that the ULI report referenced keeping downtown clean and encouraged everyone to do their part to keep it clean and beautiful by maintaining their buildings. If they see a problem with something that they can't take care of, they should report it, so it can be handled. Micah Maxwell, Assistant City Manager and Interim CRA Director, said that as far as Chapter 4 of the Redevelopment Code is concerned, staff wants to get that done as soon as possible. Ms. Thompson will have the support of a consultant to get it completed in a timely manner. Chairman Morfopoulos advised the new members that if there are terms they are unfamiliar with, such as ULI, they should ask Ms. Fogarty France and she will get the definitions to them. Mr. Sjouwerman asked if Mr. Delk could clarify what he meant by a"form-based approach." He also asked about some of the terms such as FAR which was not well-defined. He would like clarification of these terms in writing. Ms. Fogarty France will forward the presentation to the Board. 12.The meeting was adjourned at 7:45 p.m. Downtown Development Board Meeting—January 3, 2018 5