IF Downtown Development Corporation (IFDDC)

Idaho Falls Downtown Development Corp. board meeting was held February 6, 2018 in the Syringa Networks Board Room (460 Park Ave) at 8:30am Attendance: Greg Crockett, Derek Christiansen, Kevin Cutler, Tom Judd, Tasha Taylor, Steve Fischbach, Antonio Meza, Kevin Josephson, Shanon Taylor, Brandi Newton, George Morrison, Dana Briggs, Lisa Farris, Brent Mclane Staff: Catherine Smith, Mala Lyon Minutes for January 9, 2018 were reviewed – Kevin C. made a motion that they be approved; Derek seconded and board approved Financial report –$9,700 (pre-expenses) from the Winterbrew event and the BID city assessment of $30,000 and Shanon motioned they be approved; Tony seconded and board approved. Catherine - Winterbrew was very successful. There are expenses for the glasses, tents, bands, sound system, the beer and we provided heaters for this event. Krisi Staten was the event coordinator and the Springbrew will be April 14th. Election of officers for 2018 – the following names were presented: Antonio Meza President Jacob Durtschi Vice President Kevin Josephson Secretary Shanon Taylor Treasurer Greg Crockett Past President Board voted and all were unanimously voted in to serve. Catherine proposed we add a Summerbrew event on the second Saturday in June and close down B Street between Park Ave and Shoup making it more of a block party. Brandi asked why not July or August? Catherine explained that we do the ‘Taste of Downtown’ in July and the ‘Rodeo kick-off party’ in August so it was best to pick June. We hope to encourage restaurant to come and sell food, encourage families to come and enjoy the music. The Cupid Pub Crawl is this coming Saturday which will include a ‘smooch’ contest with winners receiving $20 in gift certificates. Wrist bands can be pre-bought at our office and other outlets. Parking Committee was held January 25th where we looked at the financial information on moving forward to be the managing entity for all downtown parking. The committee agreed that the IFDDC should try to be in charge of parking. Downtown Project: A Street Planter boxes – We are working with city Parks and Rec and the Public Works departments to fix planter boxes starting along A Street. The clay pots at Shoup and A Street are being replaced with self-watering pot. These only have to be watered once every 3 days or so, as there is a reservoir that holds extra water. The proposed plan is to take out the planters that do not have trees, put sidewalk in and place one of the self-watering pots on that spot. The light poles will have to have a new base placed around them so they meet the sidewalk and the city will do that. We don’t want to lose the healthy trees that are growing in the other planter boxes. We can re-brick around the crumbling planter boxes that have trees. The self-watering pots are $285 each and to re-brick a planter is $1,500. The city has agreed to do the demo of the old no-tree planters and fill in the space. We would also like to add 10 self-watering pots along Broadway and Yellowstone. Brandi proposed that we do all the intersections of A Street and the 10 pots on Broadway and Yellowstone. Derek seconded the motion and the board approved. Lisa reported that there is nothing new for the 2018 grant money at this time and all the 2017 projects are moving forward. Brent from the City Community Building and Development department showed all where to find the Idaho Falls Downtown Plan online in the city website. We now use a form based code system and it is very different from the old zone codes. If you are doing a project with a building you need to meet with Brent and understand this new process. This is all based on combining all the plans and studies that have been done over the years but never implemented. Now we have a Master plan of ideas, but it will take groups like the DDC to move these projects forward. The DDC is the creative, driving force to make these projects happen in partnership with the city. We are getting a lot of requests for housing development in the downtown which is an important piece to a healthy downtown. It is recommended that we print out the Downtown Plan and know what is in it. Brent will help any developer have a pre- development meeting with every department that will be involved including the fire department to flush out any major problems before the project starts. Meeting was adjourned at 9:45am. Our next board meeting will be held March 6, 2018. Respectfully submitted by Kevin Josephson, IFDDC secretary and Mala Lyon