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2017-04-19 Economic Development Commission MinutesCITY OF EDMONDS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION April 19, 2017 COMMISSIONERS PRESENT Jamie Reece, Chair Darrol Haug Matthew Waldron Mary Monroe, Vice -Chair Stephen Clifton Nicole Hughes by phone Michael Schindler George Bennett Aseem Prakash Greg Urban, Edmonds Chamber, ex officio Bruce Faires, Port Commissioner, ex-officio Neil Tibbott, Councilmember, ex officio COMMISSIONERS ABSENT Nathan Monroe, Planning Board, ex officio GUESTS: Bob McChesney, Port of Edmonds STAFF PRESENT Patrick Doherty, Econ. Dev & Comm. Serv. Dir. Cindi Cruz, Program Coordinator 1. Economic Development Commission meeting called to order by Chair Reece at 6:00 p.m. 2. Approval of Agenda: Approved as submitted. 3. Approval of 03/15/17 EDC Minutes: Mary moved to approve minutes as written, Stephen seconded; motion passed. 4. Audience Comments No comments. 5. Presentation & Discussion with Bob McChesney, Port of Edmonds: Director McChesney discussed Port activities and how they relate to economic development. What a Port can do that Cities cannot do. The Port is basically a collection of capital assets managed by Port commission and administration. Entity is created by state statute. A Port can issue bonds, take on debt, and can tax their citizens within the district. Economic development programs are a port's mission. Not county wide but boundaries include a portion of Edmonds and Woodway. Map attached to handout and aerial photos show the boundary. Income is invested back into Port. The commissioners are very disciplined in fiscal management and do not want to add to citizen tax burden. Bruce Faires: discussed history and what the structure is based on state law. Business development can be uniquely done by Ports; for instance, there is an example in the middle of state not near water but created water treatment plant to attract farm producers. The Port of Edmonds was established in 1948. The boundaries include the Town of Woodway as well as a portion of Edmonds. A Port cannot build parks, cannot build residential, they must find developer to lease property and they in turn can develop residential opportunities. Residential can come out of redevelopment also. Economic impact on community surrounding port is always an important factor in Port decisions. Bob: The Port can buy and sell property and can condemn. The Port is always concerned about environmental issues and how their decisions affect the environment. The Port is cautious about competing with private sector, Partnerships are the goal with city, private developer, etc., and how those partnerships can create opportunities that benefit economic development. That was the goal with the Harbor Square redevelopment. The Port of Bellingham has done good job with partnership with City. But partnerships have to be viable and good for the community before the Port will participate. Edmonds is different in there is virtually no industry such as mills and manufacturing on the water when comparing to Everett, Bellingham, etc. The Approved Meeting Summary Economic Development Commission April 19, 2017 Page 1 Port of Edmonds was just notified they have received grant to work on tourism promotion and partnered with City. PSE whale watching brings people to town the first year was 5,000 passengers, last year was 11,000, this year 18,000 are anticipated, and they plan to have a boat that's twice as big next year for tours. Discussion: How to add to economic viability in community - several ideas were part of brainstorming session with commissioners suggesting potential projects that could be partnerships with the Port. There are space constraints that would inhibit some projects within the Port property and by a commission philosophy; all projects that the Port undertakes should be self- supporting therefore not requiring an increase in the tax rate for residents within the district. A Port can issue General Obligation (GO) bonds by leveraging taxing capacity and can be done without a vote of the people. This action must be supported by rational argument that it benefits the public. Redeveloping at Harbor Square could be inhibited by the increase in buffer for the Edmonds Marsh. 6. Subgroup Reports: Subgroups on Standby (10 minutes) a. Highway 99 —.nothing to report b. Signs —Council has adopted proposed changes, DEMA and BID are in agreement with changes. How to provide commercial wayfinding signage for businesses off main streets in Edmonds is still being discussed. Internal group will be meeting tomorrow to set parameters for signage. The focus will be discretion and avoid visual clutter. c. Parking — City Council has adopted some of the parking recommendations. Staff will monitor and see how these things have improved parking availability in downtown Edmonds. The PD has received 53 applicants for thel/2 time position in parking enforcement. Two animal control officers spend 25-35% of their time on parking enforcement. Within the next 6 weeks parking enforcement should be up to full time but at a minimum'/2-1/3 time. The City staff will be placing parking tick marks at 20' intervals for a pilot project to increase parking efficiency. These efforts will be assessed and potentially there will be some other parking fixes to consider after seeing how these work. d. Five -Corners — George reported money has been set aside for feasibility study no report at this time. e. Future Priorities — George reported on robust discussion see attachment for notes. Items for subgroup topics include: affordable housing, Firdale development, arts community projects such as music/concerts in park venues or festivals, civic facilities locations, Suggestions for further information gathering and discussion: Have Shane Hope present at an EDC meeting to discuss affordable housing definitions and methods to work with developers to advance affordable housing. This could be done to fully understand the ideas of affordable housing, low-income housing and other ideas for less expensive housing. The EDC can help with educating the public on these definitions and the opportunities of this type of development in Edmonds. Westgate development is the first area in Edmonds that will be using new incentives to reduce costs of development that support lower price housing. What is the economic development proposition related to affordable housing? Mixed -use development first floor retail 3 levels of housing above. When you open up affordability you encourage living, working, in the community this opens up diversity of population and affordability to provide working opportunities. Playing live music can infringe on copy write laws. Individual restaurants and bars and other venues including the city who want to host live music pay a fee to the musical organization that supervises copyrights. In order to advance the arts through music it is Approved Minutes Economic Development Commission April 19, 2017 Page 2 suggested we find ways to have sections of town designated as venues and copyright fees would cover all locations in the area. They could include indoor and outdoor location. An example of this is Everett's Fisherman Music Festival. Firdale Village has been rezoned and it would be beneficial for the EDC to have an update possibly from Shane as to the components of the rezone and begin to understand and work on how to get this development potential jump started. The downtown civic center (city hall and public safety complex) occupies a prime set of property in downtown. In light of the need to jumpstart economic development on Hwy 99 and 5 Corners the EDC should look at feasibility of moving civic facilities to these or other locations, freeing up prime, downtown property. City hall for example could be converted to a hotel and the other civic center properties could be used for parking and other amenities to support Civic field. Darrol moved to set up committees to work on the above items. These would include: 1. Affordable Housing, 2. Engaging the Port, and 3.Arts enhancements. Stephen seconded. During discussion Jamie proposed an amendment to move the collaboration with the Port into the Development Feasibility subcommittee. Stephen moved to amend the motion for committees to include the Port as an economic development partner and that effort would be included in the Development Feasibility subgroup. Stephen seconded and amendment passed. Darrol amended the original motion to add a committee to evaluate moving civic facilities to another site and reuse of current location. Stephen seconded the amendment. Jamie was concerned that we would have too many subcommittees but it was pointed out that the existing committees are either complete or at a standstill awaiting further developments. All motions passed and three committees were approved. Affordable Housing, Arts Enhancement, Move Civic Facilities. The Port engagement activity will be folded into the Development Feasibility subcommittee. Jamie asked that commissioners email their preferred committee assignments Question was asked if members of public other people could join subgroups, answer is no due to OPMA concerns about meeting. f. Development Feasibility —(Update on progress and upcoming objectives.) Information will be gathered and meet soon. 7. Old Business: 2016-2017 EDC Summary Report: Jamie gave report to City Council (CC) last night. Question raised at CC meeting regarding outreach to public to include general and socially, ethnic diverse groups within Edmonds. An example would be outreach to the International District. The EDC is encouraged by the CC to explore economic opportunities for the city representing increasingly diverse populations, including more outreach through diverse media. 8. New Business: Communication, Momentum & Stakeholder Feedback — Mary discussed communication with each other (commission) difficulty getting subgroup members together, feedback creates effectiveness. Try to think of strategies to use e-mail without creating meeting issues. Utilize Skype for meetings. Urged to use phone to set up subgroup meetings. Send messages on private e-mail to check City e-mails. Define deliverables in EDC meeting for subgroups and report on deliverables. Approved Minutes Economic Development Commission April 19, 2017 Page 3 Small Business Forum — Patrick discussed Home Based Business workshop held on 3/22 regarding speakers, planning to have a similar workshop the 3rd week of June for small businesses. Forum will be no longer than 1.5 -2 hours. Chamber and BID will be co-sponsors and speakers will include representatives from the Department of Revenue, small business association, social media, and an insurance resource. 9. Roundtable Discussion (Council, Commissioners, City, Liaisons: Jamie stated that Bartell's development at Westgate will be phased in and the existing Bartell's and strip mall will remain at this time. Patrick shared new tourism brochure that had just been printed, French travel writers coming to Edmonds on Sunday, April 23; they will arrive 8:30 am. for coffee then tour CAM, whale watch on PSE, and have lunch at Arnie's hosted by the Port. Stephen mentioned new bakery at Perrinville. Bruce expressed that the Port wants to develop east side of Admiral Way to entice another boat dealer to move to Port, Waterfront Festival will be more water oriented education and less festival, and the Port combined with City and Chamber and received a grant from Port of Seattle to advertise Edmonds. Greg stated the Chamber is encouraging Edmonds businesses to come to Taste etc., and their desire to bring Edmonds back to Edmonds for the Taste; happy hours on third Tuesday of month for networking. Neil — there will be a CC representative for affordable housing alliance. Matt thanked Jamie for presenting the EDC report to CC. Mary — Open house on Hwy 99 incentives, etc., redevelopment forum of new subarea on Hwy 99. Patrick mentioned Nathan's e-mail regarding PB issues upcoming hearing on townhome code amendment to make townhomes in Edmonds legally allowed. 10. Ideas for May Agenda: Housing affordability. Tourism presentation. Darrol would like to invite a developer to come in (Doug Spee) and have him answer questions on economics of building square footage and rent cost per square foot, barriers to development, role of residential versus business only in buildings, how to improve relationships between City and development community, should be able to provide some good input. Mary would like to see role of tourism as economic driver and what is being done regionally that affects Edmonds. Patrick advised that on May 16, the day before next meeting Amy Spain will provide the Snohomish County Tourism Bureau report to CC. Shane Hope to talk about affordable housing. Arts and music festivals. George would like to hear from Swedish and future plans for hospital district. Aseem asked about hotel either downtown or at hospital, Patrick addressed need for hotels around medical entities. 11. Adjourned at 8:09 p.m. Next regular meeting: May 17, 2017, 6 PM Approved Minutes Economic Development Commission April 19, 2017 Page 4 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION FUTURE PRIORITES SUBGROUP 4/13/17 DISCUSSION NOTES EDC Members present: George Bennett Stephen Clifton Darrol Haug Nicole Hughes Observations and comments: Proposed next subgroup topics from the EDC Future Priorities matrix: • Explore ways to provide more affordable housing (we would hope to have a presentation in May from Shane about the City's Housing Strategy, as well as from the Alliance for Housing Affordability that would help kick-start this subgroup's focus). • Collaborate with Port of Edmonds as development partner (we hope to have Bob McChesney next Wednesday and that could help kick-start this subgroup). • Develop a creative community vision focusing on "arts community" etc • Civic Facilities — analyze potential for economic development opportunities associated with relocation of key city facilities by both freeing up existing buildings/land in key locations and/or energizing locations that need new infusion of development, activity and employees On -going subgroup: • Development feasibility subgroup — included in their mission is to study the potential development feasibility of various key vacant and/or underdeveloped sites around Edmonds, hopefully leading to identification of barriers, including potential code barriers Approved Minutes Economic Development Commission April 19, 2017 Page 5