2014-06-18 Economic Development Commission MinutesCITY OF EDMONDS
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION
June 18, 2014
The Citizens Economic Development Committee meeting was called to order at 6:02 p.m. by Chair
Witenberg in the Brackett Room, 121 5th Avenue North, Edmonds.
COMMISSIONERS PRESENT
Bruce Witenberg, Chair
Kevin Garrett, Vice Chair
John Dewhirst
Roger Hertrich (arrived 6:07 p.m.)
Debbie Matteson
Doug Purcell
John Rubenkonig
Gail Sarvis
Michael Schindler
Rich Senderoff
Darlene Stern
Douglas Swartz
COMMISSIONERS ABSENT
Darrol Haug
Nicole Hughes
Nathan Proudfoot
Teresa Wippel
1. OPENING REMARKS
PLANNING BOARD LIAISON
Phil Lovell
ELECTED OFFICIALS PRESENT
Councilmember Kristiana Johnson
STAFF PRESENT
Frances Chapin, Arts & Culture Program Mgr.
Jeannie Dines, Recorder
PUBLIC PRESENT
Ron Wambolt
Don Hall
Chair Witenberg introduced Mike Schindler who was appointed by Councilmember Mesaros.
Commissioner Schindler described his background and his interest in the EDC.
2. AMENDMENTS TO AGENDA
Chair Witenberg amended the agenda to add a report from Commissioner Stern regarding her meeting
with the Edmonds Center for the Arts under Item 8.
3. APPROVAL OF MAY 21, 2014 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION MINUTES
COMMISSIONER DEWHIRST MOVED, SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER PURCELL, TO
APPROVE THE MAY 21, 2014 EDC MINUTES. MOTON CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.
(Commissioner Hertrich was not present for the vote.)
4. UPDATE ON MAY 28, 2014 PLANNING BOARD PUBLIC HEARING ON WESTGATE AND
JUNE 11, 2014 PLANNING BOARD RECOMMENDATION TO CITY COUNCIL
Planning Commissioner Liaison Phil Lovell said at their last meeting, the Planning Board voted 4-0-2,
(two board members absent and two new board members abstained) to forward the proposed amendments
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to the City Council with a recommendation for approval. He reviewed the Planning Board's
recommendation:
1. Amend the Comprehensive Plan to introduce the concept of mixed commercial in Westgate and
the concept of formed based zoning
2. Amend ECDC 16.110 to create the Westgate Mixed Use (WMU) Zone and amend ECDC 22.110
to add design guidelines for Westgate (form based code)
3. Amend the Zoning Map to change the current designation in Westgate from BN and CG-EW to
WMU.
He relayed the three major topics discussed by the Planning Board's and that had a great deal of public
input during past three years:
1. Walkability/traffic issues: busy intersection, State highway that the City has no jurisdiction over,
WSDOT not having any plans to make any changes to SR-104 and it being a major route to the
ferry. A 2013 traffic study done on the Westgate plan found the addition of multi -family
residential did not create enough additional trips to warrant any changes.
2. Building Heights: the Planning Board's recommendation lowered the maximum allowable
building height from 5 stories to 4 stories and above 3 stories is only allowed if the building
includes elements from a list of incentives in the design standards.
3. New zoning designation allows mixed use; multi -family residential above first floor commercial.
The existing zoning allows single family residential. The zone currently allows amusement
establishments with a Conditional Use Permit (CUP).
Discussion followed regarding the hybrid formed based code, including amusement establishments as an
incentive, height bonus score sheet, creating flexibility to allow additional housing opportunities in
Westgate, the EDC sub group's white paper regarding this topic, commending the Planning Board for
taking on a complex topic with a great deal of input from the public and officials, basis of the opposition
to mixed use, building heights under the Planning Board recommendation, concern with development that
occurred recently on Edmonds Way, timeline for the City Council consideration, and a request to alert the
EDC to the City Council's process. Mr. Lovell advised all documents are available on the City's website
as attachments to the June 11, 2014 Planning Board agenda.
Chair Witenberg advised the extended agenda states the Comprehensive Plan amendment and Westgate
Plan is scheduled on the Council's July 22 work session. Councilmember Johnson anticipated there will
be a lengthy review process at the Council level.
5. STRATEGIC ACTION PLAN UPDATE
Chair Witenberg reported Cynthia Berne, the City's Strategic Action Plan Consultant, is scheduled to
give a presentation to the City Council next week. Her presentation will be posted online and available via
the video of the Council meeting. Ms. Berne is in the information gathering mode, working with the leads
in the plan on various action items. Ms. Berne will begin developing an implementation work plan next
quarter.
Councilmember Johnson reported Planning Board Member Phil Lovell and she are members of the
Strategic Plan Working Group. Ms. Berne has posted the notes from Working Group's meetings online.
Her presentation will be a quarterly update and to inform the citizens that the strategic plan is alive and
moving forward, to explain what has been accomplished so far and what will happen next. Arts & Culture
Program Manager Frances Chapin reported there are 86 action items in the plan; Ms. Berne has identified
76 leads, 5 unconfirmed leads and 5 items without primary leads. She explained 4 action items have been
completed, 42 have been started or are in motion and 44 have not been started. She encouraged board
members to watch the Council presentation and/or review the report in Council's agenda packet.
6. TOURISM AND VISITORS SUB GROUP UPDATE
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a. Update on Year -Round Farmers Market
Commissioner Rubenkonig advised the Edmonds Historical Museum is discussing whether to extend the
market later in the year.
b. Presentation & Discussion of Report: Maximizing Tourism Competitiveness Using
Demand Factors
Commissioner Swartz reported this is the result of work he did for the Tourism Sub Group. Edmonds, like
all communities, wants to maximize its ability to attract tourists. In the literature this is referred to as
"destination competitiveness." The benefits of tourism include increased tax revenues, tourism related
jobs and even new local business creation. However, the City has a limited budget, raising the question,
how does Edmonds optimize its limited tourism budget to maximize its designation competitiveness?
Commissioner Swartz explained the original goal of this work was to find a quantitative formula that
would predict the total economic benefit of a given tourism activity:
Total economic impact = # full day visits * average spending per day visitor + # overnight stays
average spending per overnight stay ($) * multiplier.
Much research has been done on average spending per day visitor and average spending per overnight
stay. He provided the following numbers for Edmonds, advising there are a lot of studies that would allow
the numbers to be further refined:
Category
Overnight
Full Da
Hotel/Motel
93
0
Restaurant/Bars
35
18
Groceries/Takeout
10
6
Gasoline
12
12
Admissions/Fees
9
9
Clothing
11
7
Souvenirs
19
21
Total
$189
$73
The multiplier captures the indirect effects of visitor spending:
• Type 1 multiplier: Firms that supply goods and services to tourism -related firms
• Type 2 multiplier: Household spending of income earned from visitor spending
The formula as developed so far, economic impact = (#full day visits * $73 + #overnight stays *$189)
1.7, is useful for calculating the economic impact of events where we have estimated number of visitors:
• Classic Car Show
0 10,000 visitors
0 95% day visitors (average %2 day stay)
o Economic impact $441,250
• Edmonds in Bloom
0 400 visitors
0 90% day visitors (average 3/4 day stay)
o Econ impact $27,270
He noted the formula cannot be used to predict the economic impact of fixture events without a way to
predict attendance. He found it difficult to identify other communities that are very similar to Edmonds
(population of about 40,000, waterfront community or high level of natural attraction and 30 minutes
from a major population center (650,000):
• Santa Fe New Mexico
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o Population 69,000
0 62 miles from Albuquerque (556,000)
o High level natural beauty
o Visitors bureau lists 71 hotels and total hotel bookings are more than 1 million nights/year
Commissioner Swartz concluded Santa Fe could not really be compared to Edmonds. Interestingly, Santa
Fe is implementing some of the same things Edmonds has talked about; they have a new year round
farmers market with its own dedicated building. Santa Fe also built a business incubator in 2007:
• Revenues for client companies and affiliates have exceeded $100 million.
• Payroll generated has been in excess of $40 million.
• Client companies and graduates have created 700+ direct new jobs — the majority of which are
above minimum wage and/or high paying jobs.
• On average, approximately 50-75% of investment funding each year to Incubator clients comes
from out of state.
• Of the total number of companies served since 1997, over 80% of graduates are still in business,
or have merged or been sold to existing companies, 5 years after graduation
He also considered Boulder, Colorado. It has a population of 101,000 and is 30 minutes from Denver with
a population of 650,000. However, many of the largest events in Boulder are sports related because it has
a large number of Olympic class athletes living and training there.
Not finding an ideal "sister city," he considered more qualitative ideas about what would have the
maximum economic impact. Tourism is "an experience delivered by a destination to its visitors." This
means it is that the total experience of visiting Edmonds, not just the event attended, that has a major
influence on whether visitors return and, just as important, talk to their friends and family about the event.
Therefore the focus has to be on more than just the event.
A large number of studies agree on the 8 most important competitiveness attributes:
1. Physical geography and climate
2. Culture and history
3. Tourism superstructure (hotels, restaurants, etc.)
4. Safety and security
5. Broad range of activities including entertainment
6. Cost/value delivered
7. Accessibility
8. Positioning, branding, image and public awareness
He provided Edmonds' score for each attribute:
Attribute
Relative value
Edmonds
Physical Geography and Climate
10
5
Positioning
9
3.5
Culture and History
8
3
Tourism superstructure
8
2.5
Safety and Security
8
5
Range of activities
6
4
Cost/Value Delivered
6
4.5
Ease of Access
5
5
Overall Score
241.5/300
He provided published data from a large survey regarding the single most important reason a tourist visits
a destination:
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Decision Factor
Percentage
Friends/family recommendation
38%
Work renowned must -see destination
32%
Info on web
22%
Special offer/cheap deal
15%
Geographically close destination
14%
Travel agency recommendation
8%
Magazine/Newspaper Article
6%
Movie Produced in or About Destination
5%
Conventional Advertising — Television/Print
5%
Heard about on TV News
2%
Mr. Swartz commented on visitor spending: the average overnight visitor spends 2.5 x the average day
visitor. He provided a graph showing foreign visitors spend more per day than American visitors. He
summarized how to combine this diverse information to help optimize tourism budgeting activities:
• Allocate tourism dollars to directly improve those categories where Edmonds is not in top 25%
o Tourism Superstructure
■ Difficult to develop hotel as requires partnership
■ Promote Edmonds as air B&B
o Culture and History
o Positioning, branding, image and public awareness
• Allocate tourism dollars to strengthen already successful activities primarily through social media
activities:
o Arts Festival (75,000 — 100,000)
o Taste of Edmonds (75,000 — 100,000)
o Farmers Market (32,000)
o Waterfront Festival (25,000 — 30,000)
o July 4th parade (10,000 — 15,000)
o Classic Car Show (10,000)
Promote smaller existing activities that
significantly:
o Edmonds in Bloom (300 — 500)
o Puget Sound Birdfest (500)
o Artist Studio Tour (400)
o Writers Conference (250-300)
If the focus is completely on new
complement Edmonds strengths:
o Arts community
o Waterfront
o Safe and secure destination
o Accessibility
complement Edmonds strengths and could grow
activities (longer term investment), focus on activities that
Recommend against new activities in areas where Edmonds is not strong or lacks necessary
infrastructure support:
o Sports events (no local population of work class athletes and not enough hotel rooms)
o Music festivals (not enough hotel rooms)
Mr. Swartz summarized:
Activity
Attendance
Waterfront Visits
270,000 — 350,000
Sunset Ave Visits
80,000 — 120,000
Arts Festival
75,000 — 100,000
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Taste of Edmonds
75,000 — 100,000
Farmers Market
32,000
Waterfront Festival
25,000 — 30,000
Classic Car Show
10,000
Edmonds Trick or Treat
5,000
Smaller Events
3,500
Total
575,000-750,000
Commissioner Swartz responded to questions and discussion ensued regarding who we are trying to
attract to Edmonds, what makes Edmonds unique, ferry traffic congestion as a deterrent, identifying
tourism resources, overnight stays at B&Bs, medical tourism and the need for hotels close to Swedish -
Edmonds Hospital, potential for a hotel at 220`h & Hwy 99, adding to existing events, and things the City
could do such as improving sidewalks, adding benches and canopies, etc.
Commission suggestions included Mr. Swartz making his presentation to the Chamber, City Council,
BID, Rotary and Port; determining how Strategic Plan action items could further the suggestions in the
presentation; making the presentation available to Commissioners; adding Port and ECA activities to the
list; and the Tourism Sub Group identifying items to pursue and prioritize. Commissioners commended
Commissioner Swartz for his research and presentation. The Tourism Sub Group will further refine the
presentation. Commissioner Purcell suggested the Tourism Sub Group present the presentation for formal
adoption by the EDC.
7. BUSINESS DISTRICTS ENHANCEMENTS SUB GROUP UPDATE
Commissioner Purcell reported the sub group is preparing a white paper for review at the next EDC
meeting for EDC approval to forward to the City Council in support of the Planning Board's
recommendation regarding the Westgate Plan. The white paper will be sent to Commissioners prior to the
July meeting.
(Commissioner Purcell left the meeting at 7:32 pm.)
8. LIAISONS
a. Edmonds Center for the Arts (ECA)
Commissioner Stern reported on her meeting with ECA Executive Director Joe McIalwain regarding how
the EDC and the ECA can work together to promote economic development:
• ECA is operated by the Edmonds Public Facilities District (PFD)
• Purpose is to be an economic driver.
• 25% of attendees are from Seattle
• Only one item in City's Strategic Plan is related to the ECA
• Has its own strategic plan
• Tracks information regarding attendees
• Employs 22 people, 11 are full-time with benefits
• Has a $3 million impact on the community, $2 million from activity at the ECA
• Interested in increasing revenue to reduce borrowing from City
• Seeking an individual or corporation interested in building naming rights
• Would like help on installing signage on 1-5 directing people to Edmonds
• Hope to expand in future including a parking structure
• Mr. McIalwain interested in speaking to the EDC
• Utilizes a website to project potential financial outcomes using ideas and strategies that other
like -size cities have already implemented
• Recognizes the significant need for hotel rooms
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Commissioner Stern relayed as a result of a suggestion from Commissioner Proudfoot, My Edmonds
News will be live streaming the 4th of July parade. This will advertise the community as well as help with
future sponsorships. Commissioner Sarvis pointed out My Edmonds News TV has live broadcasts; they
are seeking sponsors and advertisers.
Ms. Chapin explained the ECA was presented from the beginning as an economic driver utilizing
economic models that illustrate how much people spend when they come to event. The goal of the 4th
Avenue Corridor project is to create an inviting mixed use corridor for pedestrians to navigate between
the ECA and downtown. A brief discussion followed regarding whether the ECA can show films, the
ECA sharing their strategic plan with the EDC, and recent successes as a result of liaison meetings.
Vice Chair Garrett encouraged Commissioner to continue liaisons activities and report to them to the
EDC, commenting liaisons are an opportunity to make connections.
9. COUNCIL LIAISONS' COMMENTS
Councilmember Johnson reported the City Attorney provided training on the Open Public Meetings Act
at the Council's May 27 meeting and will continue the training at the June 24 Council meeting. The
training is now required by WAC. She suggested commissioners watch the training online. The City is
improving its infrastructure, including replacing sewer line and waterlines as well as transportation
projects. In the last three years, the City has obtained $15 million in grants for transportation projects
including the Five Corners Roundabout, 228th connection to Mountlake Terrace Park & Ride and a new
walkway connecting Hickman Park and Sherwood Elementary. The City has issued an RFQ for two
major transportation studies: SR-104 and updating the Transportation Element of Comprehensive Plan.
10. PORT OF EDMONDS UPDATE — None
11. MISCELLANEOUS
Chair Witenberg announced Commissioners Haug, Wippel, Nathan, Nicole have excused absences.
Ms. Chapin relayed the City's Strategic Action Plan is a merit award winner in the Governor's 2014
Smart Communities Award program.
Planning Board Member Lovell reported today the Senior Center was presented a joint resolution from
the Snohomish County Executive and County Council commending the Senior Center for its service to
the community and endorsing the plan to build a new center on the waterfront.
11. AUDIENCE COMMENTS — None
12. ADJOURN
With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:01 p.m.
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