Southtown Corridor Improvement Authority - Regular Meeting

Southtown Corridor Improvement Authority 400 Franklin Street SE Minutes Packet Grand Rapids, MI 49507 February 16, 2022 @ 11:00 AM ICCF Community Center PRESENT: Helen Harp, Jonathan Farman, Darel Ross, Kristian Grant, Reuben Ramos, Commissioner Senita Lenear OTHERS PRESENT: Bill DeLong, Verah Narh-Kamara, Carlos Calderon, Richard App, John France (Sip Coffee & Cocktails) I. Call to Order - Informational Meeting as required by Act 57 of 2018 The informational meeting was called to order at 11:04 am by Vice-chair, Kristin Grant. II. FY2021 Annual Financial Report Verah Narh-Kamara presented the report. 1. Public Comment on Annual Financial Report None. 2. Adjournment - Informational Meeting The informational meeting was adjourned at 11:07 am. III. Call to Order - Regular Meeting The regular meeting was called to order at 11:08 am. IV. Public Comment on Agenda Items None. V. Minutes Approval 1. Approval of Minutes from January 19, 2022. No corrections were noted. Motion to approve minutes from January 19, 2022. Generated 2/24/2022 02:07 PM Southtown Corridor Improvement Authority Meeting Full Page 2 February 16, 2022 RESULT: ACCEPTED [UNANIMOUS] MOVER: Kristian Grant, Vice-Chair SECONDER: Jonathan Farman, Member YEAS: Harp, Farman, Ross, Grant, Ramos, Lenear ABSENT: Isaac Norris, William (Bill) DeJong VI. Action Items 1. Request to Recommend a Development Area Liquor License – Sip Coffee & Cocktails Jonathan Farman and his business partner at Sip Coffee and Cocktails presented their request to the board and went ahead to provide a quick overview of the project. Motion to recommend Sip Partners LLC to City Commission for a development support license. RESULT: RECOMMENDED TO CITY COMMISSION [5 TO 0] MOVER: Kristian Grant, Vice-Chair SECONDER: Ruben Ramos, Member YEAS: Harp, Ross, Grant, Ramos, Lenear ABSENT: Isaac Norris, William (Bill) DeJong RECUSED: Jonathan Farman 2. Facade Improvement Program Guidelines Update Miss Verah presented this item to the board for approval. She explained to the board that this is the additional language that is being added to the facade guidelines. Commissioner Senita Lenear would like to see the entire guideline with this new language instead of what was presented. Kristian Grant believes the guidelines conversation may require a lot more input from the board and should result in much clearer outcomes. Perhaps, it could be included as a line item on the next agenda. Commissioner Lenear would like the old guidelines, the guidelines with proposed changes done two months ago, and the guideline with the recent changes, all three documents, with red lines of proposed changes sent to the board before the next meeting. There were conversations about the cap for applications. Is it a lifetime cap, yearly cap, and how many applications per property? Helen Harp noted that there should be a cap on properties. A project should receive at most two applications per property, one per year so that the funds can extend to other businesses. Commissioner Lenear would like to see a scope of Southtown facade applications to measure how the facade funds are being distributed. The board would also like to see a summary of what other CIAs are doing with their facade program. Richard App noted that with their 49507 projects, some of those buildings may require maintenance and that should be covered by the facade programs so those businesses Generated 2/24/2022 02:07 PM Southtown Corridor Improvement Authority Meeting Full Page 3 February 16, 2022 can qualify for grants to maintain those buildings. He is concerned some of those murals may come off in a few years if not properly maintained. Kristian Grant is concerned facade applicants who do not own their buildings will be making the improvements at their own detriments because those improvements could increase their rents eventually. The board discussed the possibility of including some language to the effect. The board would also like to see, for all the applications received for Southtown, how many are from building owners and tenants. Motion to postpone discussion on façade improvement program guidelines until additional information is received by the board. RESULT: TABLED [UNANIMOUS] MOVER: Darel Ross, Secretary SECONDER: Ruben Ramos, Member YEAS: Harp, Farman, Ross, Grant, Ramos, Lenear ABSENT: Isaac Norris, William (Bill) DeJong 3. Southtown Facade Improvement Program Projects Miss Verah presented this item to the board and noted this will be Mary Malone's third facade application. Motion to approve three façade program projects for an amount not to exceed $30,000. RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS] MOVER: Darel Ross, Secretary SECONDER: Ruben Ramos, Member YEAS: Harp, Farman, Ross, Grant, Ramos, Lenear ABSENT: Isaac Norris, William (Bill) DeJong 4. Letter of Support - UMCH Development Darel Ross presented this item to the board. He explained the 900 Division project with UMCH has acquired a mixed-use license for the project. They scored very well on the card except for two areas that did not apply to their project. The project is very specific to everything that is outlined in the Area Specific Plan. Motion to approve the development support letter for the United Methodist Community House project. Generated 2/24/2022 02:07 PM Southtown Corridor Improvement Authority Meeting Full Page 4 February 16, 2022 RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS] MOVER: Senita Lenear, Commissioner SECONDER: Ruben Ramos, Member YEAS: Harp, Farman, Ross, Grant, Ramos, Lenear ABSENT: Isaac Norris, William (Bill) DeJong 5. Seymour Square Business Association Chairs The board would like to know if these funds will be coming out of the association support fund of $5,000 which was offered to each business association. Miss Harp also added that she has chairs and is willing to offer some to the association for their meetings. Motion to approve a $200 expense in chairs for the Seymour Square Business Association meetings. RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS] MOVER: Senita Lenear, Commissioner SECONDER: Helen Harp, Chair YEAS: Harp, Farman, Ross, Grant, Ramos, Lenear ABSENT: Isaac Norris, William (Bill) DeJong VII. Discussion Items 1. Facade Program Advertisement Miss Verah provided an update to the board on the Well Design contract with the Economic Development office. The contract is for all the incentive programs of the Economic Development Office and is not specific to any CIA. Miss Harp mentioned Southtown could use its marketing budget to market the facade program. The board would like to see a schedule and frequency of the advertisements. Commissioner Lenear would like to have Well Design engage with the CIA to find out how best they can support their advertising needs. VIII. Reports 1. Corridor Manager and Committees Miss Verah noted that she will be forwarding questions to Kelsey Liebenow. The committee notes were discussed among the board. Miss Grant mentioned there was a conversation in the past about putting together a schedule and reshuffling committee members. IX. Other Business 1. Eastern and Burton Parking Updates Generated 2/24/2022 02:07 PM Southtown Corridor Improvement Authority Meeting Full Page 5 February 16, 2022 Miss Grant requested an update on the Eastern and Burton parking project. She was hoping to hear some updates from the engineers involved in the project. Bill DeJong added this project will be a detriment to business owners because they will be losing a lot of parking. Carlos Calderon informed the board the designs have been finalized, funds have been allocated and the public input process has already been completed. He added that the Engineering Department was at the September design committee and made a presentation on the new design. 2. Agenda Preparation Policy Commissioner Lenear has concerns about the agenda policy and the fact that it eliminated the involvement of the board chair in the agenda preparation process. The board agrees communication between the committees and the board is not effective. Commissioner Lenear suggested action items should be moved to the end of the meeting on the agenda so follow-up items can be pointed out. 3. Green Space Project Miss Harp introduced the Green Spaces project with Carlos Calderon and would like that included on the agenda for the next meeting. The board will need to identify some locations in the business district for public green spaces. Carlos will be providing updates to the board on this project. 4. Bill DeLong’s Board Status The board wanted an update on the application process. Miss Verah told the board the process is with the clerk’s office and the economic development department will be notified of his reappointment. X. Public Comment None. XI. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 12:16 pm. Generated 2/24/2022 02:07 PM