Downtown Development Commission

Downtown Development Commission February 21, 2013 Craig Erezuma; Lisa Ellis; Ben Cahill; Mark Fabyanski; Larry Jasen; Eric Range; Mike Kopas; Wayne Lajewski; Carla Brady; Steve Whitehorn, Maureen Byrne The meeting was called to order at 7:10. Public Meeting Act read. Minutes from the January meeting were introduced. Lisa Ellis moved and Ben Cahill seconded. Mike Kopas and Maureen Byrne abstained. Treasurer’s Report was submitted by Brad Cramer. Magnets and bags are selling well. Councilman Landrigan and Mayor Conley are at a budget meeting, and cannot make a report. Planning Board – last two board meetings have been cancelled. Walgreen’s is coming back for additional signage; lots of applications, but none complete enough to warrant a board meeting. Discussion on GVR. BOE has sent out requests for proposals. Drew will have an application before the planning board in the next month for a research facility. During the first week of February, Madison had a leadership meeting for all borough commissions and committees. It covered the legal basics, concerns about sunshine laws and email communications. The borough has opted to provide any commissioner with a rosenet email address to cover communication issues. If anyone wants a rosenet email, let Laura know and she will set it up. Additionally, you can open a separate gmail account for commission business. Laura will get a rosenet account for the DDC. Foundation Report; grant requests will be finalized tonight and voted on. A motion to accept the grant applications was made by Mike Kopas, and seconded by Craig Erezuma. Craig brought up that we can’t take out more than a third of the Foundation balance. Can’t lower it by a net third, but if we bring in revenue, it’s the difference between the balance and the amount used. Unanimous approval Sign and Façade (See Discussion below) University Relations Carla showed the video that her students made for their leadership conference. She went to community leaders and business people in Madison to create a video aimed at getting Drew students involved in the Madison community. PIC Steve Whitehorn gave a report on Merchant of the Month. We need more plaques. It will cost approximately $500-$600 per year. We’ve been paying for a half year of plaques. Should we continue? It’s a great way to support local businesses, good publicity for the DDC, and merchants like it. Steve moved we appropriate up to $350. Larry seconded. The award is being given to Chamber and non Chamber businesses. Unanimous approval for funding future Merchant of the Month plaques. Otherwise, PIC has a meeting scheduled for February 26th at the Nautilus. Taste of Madison: Planning for the Taste is underway. Sponsorships are coming in, as are silent auction and gift auction items. The next meeting of the Taste committee is Friday, March 8th. MayDay: Sending out sponsorship information. The T-Shirt competition is going to get underway soon. Expecting a banner year for volunteers, should have a meeting soon. There will be a party again this year. Find The Next Great Madison Business Program in Eagle and Patch: Grass roots program to get people to focus residents on trying to get successful businesses in their orbit to consider coming to Madison to fill some of the vacancies in town. Last time we were at this level of vacancies was winter 2008-9, which might just be the life cycle of a business. Mike Kopas said that what’s important is the length of time of the vacancy, not the fact that the space is vacant; so far, turn over is pretty quick. Craig has a lead on a bakery and Maureen has a lead on an Italian store. Magnets – over $300 in three weeks! Arts Program – Craig reported that they have met with MACA to publicize it to the artists. As far as the poles, Craig has a second mock up underway; the new arms will allow us to adjust the tension. The hardware will fit on the round poles, and are less expensive than the earlier version. It will cost approximately $70 apiece with another 90 for shipping. We are on target to launch by May Day. Craig estimated it will cost no more than $3000. Craig made a motion for $3000 to buy the supplies for the brackets and mounting. Eric reminded the commission that we are laying out initial costs; when we sell the art, the first $100 will go back to DDC and the remaining balance will be split 60% to artist, then 20% to Maca and 20% to DDC. MACA seems confident they can get 20 pieces of art for the 10 poles (art work on each side with a visual element that advertises DDC and MACA at the bottom. Lisa seconded the motion. Moved unanimously. Farmers Market Barbara Hughes Proposal is to hold the market from June 13 to Oct. 17th, entirely on GVR. Barbara proposed changing the time to 1-6; there are lots of people there early (lunch) at GVR, not so much train business. The problem with the location is there is less visibility, so we need to publicize it more; we can handle the same number of vendors as at the Waverly Place spot. Trying to brand Thursday as a day to go “Downtown” Looking for businesses to offer specials on Thursday, and advertise it as a package. Need a brand name for that. Would like to have more community organizations present at the market. Take advantage of the museum lawn. Budget for the Farmer’s Market, based on the last two years, is a net profit of about $4500. Decision made on basis of ease of setting up; not taking away any parking from downtown merchants. A survey went out to downtown merchants, and they were split pretty evenly between Waverly and GVR as far as merchants were concerned. Overwhelmingly wanted it downtown. Vendors experienced a decrease in the GVR location, but if we publicize it, and drive business to it, people will find it. Craig said we could put a large sign on the street (similar to one used by marathons) 3M applies it and it lasts 6-8 months Can pull it up once it’s done. Need to figure out from whom to get permission, and the right location. Can also send out a NIXLE each week. We are getting a shed to store the cones and other material. Hoping that the town will pick up the cost of the shed. With the free concerts, the Green Fair, and the Farmers Market, we’re beginning to brand the GVR space as a gathering space for the community. When we moved to GVR, the merchants at that part of town experienced a bump in sales. Returning the parking spaces takes the parking issue off the table. Mike opined that we have more flexibility at GVR (parking). Eric said that if we wanted to add an extra hour in July at August at GVR, we could. Barbara said on Waverly the crowds come early, with a lull, then a later crowd, but on GVR it was more an early crowd. Steve motioned we accept the proposal as set out by Barbara Hughes Larry Jasen seconded. One Nay, two abstentions. Discussion on Sign and Façade Committee. Sign and Façade is becoming known as a regulatory heavy, zoning committee. Need to clarify role of sign and façade committee. Right now, it is mandatory review, voluntary compliance. Mike spoke to the committee’s recommendations to the Planning Board, which would make it legal testimony. Steve offered that sign and façade doesn’t have the authority to interpret the zoning ordinance. The other piece of sign and façade business is that while the committee is called sign and façade, the ordinance only applies to signs. Craig has done tremendous work on developing facades (CVS, 7 Waverly). Does it make sense to ask the Borough to extend the committee’s prevue to include advising on facades? Craig said that it’s been helpful to the planning board to point out some discrepancies. The reviews that are given are honest, and fairly given. Suggestions have been fair and time sensitive. Sign and Façade has served an important function in controlling the “look” of Madison. Craig offered that we need to formalize the presentations to Sign and Façade. Consistency is key. Enforcement needs to take place. New Business: none Public Comment: none Meeting adjourned at 8:50