IF Downtown Development Corporation (IFDDC)

Idaho Falls Downtown Development Board Meeting held October 4, 2022, at 9:00am in the Arts Council conference room. Those in attendance: Kevin Cutler, Tasha Taylor, Chip Langerak, Brandi Newton, Kevin Josephson & Rain, Shanon Taylor, Jake Durtschi, Greg Crockett, Katelyn Long, Councilman Jim Francis, Steve Hunt – Chamber of Commerce Staff – Catherine Smith, Juan Hernandez and Mala Lyon Minutes of the September 13, 2022, meeting reviewed; Kevin Cutler motioned to accept, Kevin Josephson seconded; Board approved. Financial Report – Brandi – we have a negative accounts payable as some pay in advance for parking permits; Our income from events are ‘mission’ based and parking is ‘practical’; budget for beautification and maintenance is funded by these; Greg said it would be nice to see a separate report on parking income to see a positive. Brandi explained that we could show that 38% of Catherine’s administrative time is spent on parking and so we can take parking money to pay that portion of her salary. Greg wants a long view where we create an account that shows cash reserves that is being saved for the building of a parking garage in the future. Jake said any the reserve account could also pay for parking lot maintenance and equipment replacement. Having the best experience downtown is our goal not just profitability. Jake motioned the financial report be approved and Greg seconded. Board approved. Catherine – FallBrew will be held Nov 5th in the Broadway Plaza from 12 – 5:00pm. We will need volunteers. Oktoberfest was very successful, and we sold about $12,000 in drink in 6 hours. The crowd was well behaved, and we had no problems. We have done commemorative glasses in the past and decided to try a ‘boot’ drinking glass this time, but they didn’t go over well. They were hard to fill and hard to drink from. We did silicone glasses for SummerBrew and they were a big hit. An event on the street is very hard to manage and set up. We were on high alert because of the discussion about closing the road. We wanted to follow all the rules and policies. Our security from Infinity Security called the IFPD and asked about alcohol moving between the street and bar. IFPD gave Infinity Security the OK for alcohol to move back and forth between the street and bars. This is against Idaho alcohol beverage control’s state law. Catherine will follow-up with ABC for clarification. Feedback from the bars was very positive. Pie Hole Pizza said they set a record in sales and Eve & Ivy stayed open and people did go in and shopped. Next on street event will be St Paddy’s Day. Ladies Shopping Days was last weekend. We gave out 100 shopping bags very quickly both days. Even after we ran out of bags people were still happy to get the coupon passport books. Tasha said she brought some friends with her, and they all loved it. Seemed to have lots of people downtown that had not been here in a long time, and they were pleasantly surprised and what is available. It is an expensive event costing $7,000 to put on but it feels worth every penny to bring new people downtown. We are moving the Tree Lighting to the Saturday before Thanksgiving – Nov. 19th. We have wanted to include the Mayor and City Council, but most are out of town for the holiday and then the city of Ammon has done their light parade that same weekend, so it has been hard to make it feel right. We are going to move it to the Broadway Plaza as we have outgrown the Civitan Plaza with cars going by and people standing in the street. We will keep the smaller potted Christmas tree forest in the Civitan Plaza and have the tall Veteran Memorial tree in the Broadway Plaza with the ice-skating rink. Kevin Call will drive his firetruck to bring in Santa, the Mayor and City Council as the horse drawn trolley cannot go on Broadway. We have asked Jeff Roper to be dressed as the Grinch and be in the crowd. We are organizing a Holiday Winter Market to be held on the Saturdays before Christmas. Having it every Saturday is getting some push back from some of the merchants as they don’t want customers taken away from them. We will see how many vendors are willing to come and how often. Jake - we had a good meeting with the Mayor a few weeks ago. Still having conversations with businesses about parking. Met with Chesbro’s and had a good conversation. We are not trying to convince them just making sure they have all the correct information and why this is a good plan. We are meeting with the County Commissioners and want to be transparent in our plan. Downtown is a walking area and how we manage parking needs to reflect that. We will be on the agenda for the City Council work session on Nov 7th at 3:00pm. We would like as many board members as possible to come. We will present the zone parking plan as we have zone 2 & 3 in place, now it is time to implement Zone 1 paid parking. Being able to park and pay for the time you need gives you the flexibility to do dinner and a movie. Then use the app to add more time if needed. Greg asked if we have seen any difference in parking with the election office now moved in? Not yet. They do have about 50 parking space underground. We are looking to install more lights across the streets and in the alleys. Working with Lisa to see if leftover CDBG funds can be used. The lights we added to the parking lots are motion activated so they are not on all the time. If we can put lights in the alleys for safety, we want them on all the time. Councilman Jim Francis told us of 3 new ordinances - #1 all public parks and spaces will be closed from 11:00pm to 5:00am. There has been a problem with people camping out in the shelters and vandalism happens during that time frame which is a big expense. This will give the police the right to help them find a safe location to sleep thru the “Find Help Idaho”. The approach will be how can we help you? We do have resources they just might not be enough to meet all the needs. #2 noise ordinance – quiet hours from 11:00pm to 6:00am this will include fireworks and other loud disturbances. The police will have a way to measure sound decibels. #3 stop aggressive panhandling – we are not a small city any more and so we are looking at taking action now to head off problems. We can’t wait until it is out of hand. Meeting adjourned at 10:09am The next board meeting will be held November 8, 2022 Respectfully submitted - Jill Hansen, secretary and Mala Lyon