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2021-09-15 Economic Development Commission MinutesCITY OF EDMONDS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION MEETING September 15, 2021 COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Nicole Hughes, Chair Darrol Haug Jay Hoag Kevin Harris, Vice Chair Scott Merrick Carrie Hulbert Keith Hamilton Kevin Smith Charlie Lieu Evan Sittauer, Student -Rep COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: LIAISONS PRESENT: Vivian Olson, Councilmember, ex-officio Bruce Faires, Port Commissioner, ex-officio Greg Urban, Edmonds Chamber, ex-officio LIAISONS ABSENT: Roger Pence, Planning Board, ex-officio GUESTS: Will Chen Brook Roberts STAFF PRESENT: Patrick Doherty, Director Megan Luttrell, Program Coordinator Economic Development Commission meeting conducted via ZOOM and called to order by Nicole Hughes at 6:01 p.m. Call to Order and Land Acknowledgement 1. Roll Call and recognition of absences: 2. Approval of Agenda: Jay moved to approve the agenda; Charlie seconded; motion passed. 3. Approval of August 18, 2021 Meeting Summary: Bruce indicated that in August minutes it was stated that the North Marina Walkway project is underway, it is not and needs to be corrected. With this change, Jay moved to approve; Darrol seconded; motion passed. 4. Audience Comments: Will Chen shared that there was a fire this past weekend at the Hwy 99 business center Plum Tree Plaza. 14 businesses were affected by the fire. Greg shared the Edmonds Chamber of Commerce WISH Fund will donate $1,000 to three of the businesses that were most significantly damaged. They will fundraise in hopes of raising additional funds to help the remaining 11 businesses. Every business sustained damage. The businesses where the fire began sustained the most significant damage. All the businesses are currently closed. The first check will be presented tomorrow, and Greg is hopeful this will kickstart fundraising. 5. Discussion — Commission Check -in and Progress Review: Nicole shared that the Council presentation will be on September 28th. For tonight's discussion she would like to focus on what's working well with the Commission and areas that could use some improvement. Is the structure of the meetings effective? How are the Committee meetings working? Carrie shared that she feels it's hard to ideate through the Zoom format. Kevin Smith likes the breakout rooms and thought it was effective in the September 2020 retreat. It was Meeting Summary Economic Development Commission September 15, 2021 Page 1 easier to brainstorm in that format. Charlie finds it challenging to not have a roadmap of how ideas go from conception through execution. Kevin Smith suggests a dashboard to track the progress of what the Commission is actively working on. Kevin Harris explained that different projects require different kinds of brainstorm and/or process to work through. He likes the idea of a progress dashboard. Carrie suggests moving forward with the neighborhood branding and signage. The idea has support and could move forward but is not clear what the next steps are. Nicole suggested assigning stages to the idea pipeline items to give a better understanding of where projects are at. She suggested a 4-step approach. Bruce suggests moving away from process and assign goals and really focus on near term goals. Kevin S. agrees that goals would be helpful to guide the Commission, maybe quarterly or annually. Scott agrees that goals are good. If something is going to go to Council, we need metrics, if there isn't any metrics it really shouldn't move forward. Nicole shifted the discussion to committee structures/meetings. Kevin Harris shared that the committees he participates in meet regularly, at a regularly scheduled time and they stick to the time allotted. They turn notes around quickly from their meetings. This structure has been working well for his groups. Nicole asked if it's time to shake up the committees. Evan agrees it's time and suggests a Google Doc to do this. Carrie asked if this needs to be a formal process or maybe people move whenever they're ready. Kevin S. likes keeping it open throughout the year with an annual formal process. Scott likes the idea of being able to visit a committee, but he concerned about losing continuity and momentum if people are moving through committees too often, with that thought he thinks an annual reorganization would be best. If you want to consider visiting committees, you need to be aware to not create a quorum. Nicole asked each committee group to discuss whether they would like to reassign committee groups. Nicole also mentioned that she is the Chair and has been Chair for over a year now, she will add it to the next agenda to discuss if anyone else is interested in serving as Chair. Darrol suggested discussing priorities prior to committee assignments. Bruce suggests changing the agenda format to have the discussion item be a committee as a whole. He further suggests identifying top priorities. Charlie agrees that priorities are important but not sure that the priority focus is working well. Scott suggests applying business SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time -Bound) to the commission goals. Kevin H. clarifies that it might be more effective to focus on newer ideas or issues and measure it against criteria as a whole and decide if they need to go to a committee or the entire group. Nicole will add the pipeline as a discussion item to assign ideas to committees or drop the idea from the pipeline. Darrol asked in the chat about whether commissioners have enough time to commit to the regular meeting and the committee meetings. What is the time commitment expectation for the commissioners? Nicole explained that the expectation is that you show up for the regular monthly meeting, if you volunteer for a committee, great but it's not a requirement. Darrol feels that the group as a whole is a great group of people we can learn from and the committees are challenging to coordinate and commit Meeting Summary Economic Development Commission September 15, 2021 Page 2 to. Nicole clarifies that Darrol is suggesting moving the committee work back into the whole commission meeting. Kevin Smith likes the idea of flexibility especially when commissioners are experiencing particularly busy times. Darrol further clarified that the commission is an idea group to give recommendations to the Mayor and Council. Nicole asks Committees to get together one last time and let her know projects that need to be worked on still. 6. Project Committee Updates a. Neighborhood Districts & Business Zones: They did not meet this month. Nicole listed priorities for this group as neighborhood branding and Hwy 99 City services. b. Edmonds Business Booster Portal: Kevin H. shared that they've received a draft update from the consultant. Scott, Carrie, and Kevin reviewed it and provided the consultant with some changes and they're waiting for them to be completed. Patrick and Kevin participated in a webinar on how to start a small business. Information was basic but was good for people who don't know how to start a business. Kevin shared that Patrick sent out a SBDC (Small Business Development Center) article about Kelnero and how they're growing their business. c. Waterfront Zone Opportunities: Nicole shared this groups priorities are expanding business opportunities in the Waterfront Zone and connecting other business districts to the Waterfront Zone. Some ideas include rental a -bikes to connect folks from the waterfront to other areas in the City; tour boat lines stopping at the Port.; commuter ferry following the theme of non-traditional ways of getting people to the City. Carrie shared the idea of recreation opportunities at the waterfront like kayak or paddle board rentals. Scott emphasized the idea of branding throughout Edmonds would be good for a bigger discussion. Darrol mentioned with BNSF announcement of the double track there could be some significant changes at the waterfront, making this a good discussions for the larger group. Carrie is meeting with Waterfront Center to discuss business opportunities. d. Parking and Shuttle: Darrol had hoped to meet with Patrick and Nicole this past month but it didn't happen. Nicole would still like to meet. Nicole asked if a parking garage should still be on the list. Darrol said yes but it won't happen without support. Charlie asked if we're still giving the City the recommendation to do a parking study and Darrol explained it's not the right time. f. Data and Communication: Nicole shared they did not meet. Charlie is curious how this committee stands as the committees shift to an ad hoc structure. Perhaps this committee doesn't shift away from a standing committee. 7. City Update: Patrick shared that Walkable Main Street ended Labor Day Weekend. We will be reviewing tax revenue to determine the impact on the businesses. The revenue from June showed an increase from 2020 and also an increase from 2019. The only category that was still showing a decrease is eating and drinking. The information is only available by month. The Uptown Market was a success. Patrick feels like it would be more successful to hold it more frequently in the future. Charlie feels like the market would be more successful if there were more vendors. Patrick shared that having it on Thursday was challenging with competing markets and it takes time to get momentum and build the vendor following. The Hwy 99 merchants meeting is meeting once a month. We're doing a community renewal process although it's moving slower than expected. The Mayor and staff are still showing interest in getting City services up to Hwy 99. ERPF grants are moving forward for all programs other than the infrastructure. The business grant Meeting Summary Economic Development Commission September 15, 2021 Page 3 criteria was extremely tight and we received 20 applicants. We will likely go back out for another round of grants and relax the criteria. We did send out postcards in 5 languages to spread the word on business grant opportunity. The Creative District advertising is getting a lot of attention. Patrick is getting 1-2 inquiries a week from different creative businesses. Business fair is coming up and solicited for sponsorship. Holiday planning has started. 8. Liaison Updates (5 minutes per liaison) a. Vivian Olson (City Council) shared that she's been spending time focusing on areas in the City that have less focus in preparation for Development Services Director interviews. She is planning to meet with Planning to discuss areas of Edmonds where businesses want to move into, but they don't have sidewalks or aren't developed for business. She mentioned that the deadline for the business grants might have been too tight. Title 6, in Edmonds City Code will need to be updated as it doesn't mention the plastic ban. b. Bruce Faires (Port of Edmonds) shared that it's budget season at the Port. Still waiting to hear how the conversation between Patrick and the American Tour Line goes; the Port will support it the tour boats coming into town. c. Greg Urban (Chamber of Commerce) shared it's been a busy summer. 41h of July, golf tournament, sandcastle comp. Taste 21 only raised about 25% of what the Taste would typically earn. The car show was this last weekend. Weather was challenging but the event went well. Oktoberfest is cancelled. The WISH fund will hopefully get some attention. He's entertaining the idea of trying to get a Guinness record for the most scientists for the Halloween event downtown. They're planning to do the Tree lighting every night at 5pm again, like last year, as it received positive feedback. 9. Roundtable Discussion: Kevin Smith nothing. Darrol nothing. Bruce nothing. Charlie great meeting. Carrie great meeting. Evan nothing. Scott nothing. Jay Mariners lost today. Keith nothing. Adjourn at 8:17 p.m. Next regular meeting: October 20, 2021, 6 PM location Zoom Meeting Summary Economic Development Commission September 15, 2021 Page 4