University North Park Business Improvement District Advisory Board Meeting

UNIVERSITY NORTH PARK BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT ADVISORY BOARD MINUTES July 12, 2019 The University North Park Business Improvement District Advisory Board met at 10:00 a.m. in the Noble Room at the Embassy Suites Hotel & Conference Center on the 12th day of July, 2019, and notice and agenda of the meeting were posted in the Municipal Building at 201 West Gray Street 48 hours prior to the beginning of the meeting. PRESENT: Austin Goodwin Jeff Webb Mandy Haws Matt Clouse Mike Thompson Rex Amsler ABSENT: Dan Quinn Bill Nemeth Guy Patton Jennifer Alexander STAFF PRESENT: Jud Foster, Director of Parks and Recreation Jason Olsen, Recreation Superintendent Anthony Francisco, Director of Finance Kathryn Walker, Interim City Attorney Sarah Encinias, Legal Admin Tech 1. APPROVAL OF THE NOVEMBER 30, 2018, MEETING MINUTES. After review, motion was made by Rex Amsler and seconded by Mike Thompson to accept the Minutes from the November 30, 2018, meeting as submitted. The vote was unanimous to accept the Minutes as submitted. 2. UPDATE ON LEGACY PARK EVENTS AND RESERVATIONS. Jason Olson provided members with a list of activities booked at Legacy Park for this year so far. There are ten in total and they’ve had better attendance than last year, probably because last year’s events were held on Thursday nights but this year they went to Friday nights. Bienvenutis regularly sets up a tent to sell drinks and people tend to gather in this area. Mr. Olsen said Norman Regional Health System donated $2,500 and is the main sponsor of the events. The Cheers and Beers beer festival raises the most money and is being planned again this year. Another large event being planned again is the Norman Philharmonic but their main sponsor (Red Rock) dropped out so they’re looking for sponsors to pay their orchestra costs for this year. They were by far the largest concert last year and Mr. Olsen would like to keep them as an annual event. The goal is to raise a total of $8,000-9,000 per year and Mr. Olson requested help to get the word out that more sponsors are needed. 3. UPDATE ON LEGACY PARK MAINTENANCE ISSUES. UNP BID Advisory Board July 12, 2019 Page 2 of 5 Jud Foster said most of the fountain work was done, including LED lights were repaired and/or replaced. He is waiting on two solenoid valves to be specially built and shipped so they can be placed on the large water cannons. Everything is working with the exception of a couple of the cannons. Mr. Foster said work on the rust on the railing will be deferred to a later time. Some rust spots are noticeable but most of it isn’t too bad. The last item on his To-Do list was to replace some of the individual lights that are out on the poles throughout the park. Occasionally a whole bank of lights will go out but that’s usually caused by a breaker switch and the remedy to this is just to switch the breaker back on. A total of about $25,000 worth of landscaping has been completed, including refreshed flowers, bedding and plants. Pitzer’s Lawn Care is the contracted maintenance company mowing the area and they will add fresh mulch in the next week or so. This will complete the landscaping. The restrooms are cleaned twice a day with no complaints received from users regarding their upkeep and the two year purchasing program for seasonal lighting has been completed. Also, Matt Hendron has left to fill the position of Parks and Recreation Director for the City of Broken Arrow and interviews are being conducted for his replacement. 4. UPDATE ON FYE20 BID BUDGET. Kathryn Walker plans on completing next year’s assessments soon. The TIF contribution that will be assessed and collected this fiscal year and used for expenditures next year fiscal year, TIF will be contributing $50,000 and the assessments will be spread out for all of the property owners for their contribution of $150,000. The Fiscal Year runs July through June. Typically she tries to get the assessments done in the summer to be billed the following November. For the most recent fiscal year, the TIF was assessed at $75,000 which is in the account, and property owners contributed $125,000, which has been received. Ms. Walker will file liens again this year for non-payers, which are primarily smaller businesses (typically franchise owners). A year from now there should be about $233,000 remaining in the account. The Tecumseh Entrance has not been designed yet because everything has been on hold due to ongoing negotiations related to ending the TIF, however there is still a desire by the property owners to have the entrance completed. The size will be smaller than the Robinson Street Entrance because of the amount of land available. 5. UPDATE ON PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO UNIVERSITY NORTH PARK TAX INCREMENT FINANCE DISTRICT PROJECT PLAN. Ms. Walker said for about the last several years, City Council has encountered general fund shortfalls in the out years shown in the budget and the TIF has become a part of the discussion of how to address those shortfalls. Last August, Anthony Francisco presented several options to Council on how to address these shortfalls and what could be done with the TIF. Council ultimately asked staff to try to negotiate with the other developers (UNP and UTC) to see how the UNP BID Advisory Board July 12, 2019 Page 3 of 5 funds on hand by the end of this last fiscal year could those be spread across the projects in a way that is agreeable with everyone in the increment area. Ms. Walker asked members to refer to their packets for the memo that explains the option Council chose, the Resolution requesting staff to convene the Statutory TIF Committee to review proposed project plan amendments, and the term sheet. She said there will be about $17 million on hand based on both the sales tax thru June 30th and property tax which has been assessed but not billed yet for completed construction through December 2018. The remaining traffic and road improvements are external to the development but will support the area as well as benefit traffic that doesn’t drive down 24th Avenue. A little over $5 million was allocated for these improvements, including the area of Robinson, Interstate Drive and Crossroads Boulevard, Tecumseh at Flood to 24th, and Tecumseh at Interstate Drive going east and west. There is a remaining BID contribution from TIF funds of $75,000 and the $175,000 allocation for the parking lot at Legacy Park. In the Development Agreement for Legacy Park, there were some funds for public art and enhanced landscaping that have not been spent to date. Per the Norman Forward Sales Tax ordinance, there is a percentage dedicated for each project for public art so that will be used for the art in the area instead of TIF funds. Originally a little over $3 million was left in funds to be set aside for economic development but this could be brought down to $1.45 million because UNP agreed to purchase 30 acres from NEDC for property north of Rock Creek Road that was being marketed by NEDC as a corporate center office park. NEDC had a hard time getting this area developed because there isn’t a shortage of land for office space. There is a shortage in industrial land and this area includes 6 lots, one of which is owned by Immunomycologics. The funds left will be used as incentives to help get the lots sold, if needed. Also in the original plans, there was to be a conference center combined with a cultural facility. JQH ultimately decided to build a conference center within their hotel and this relieved the City from the cost of having to purchase or manage it. The Project Plan was therefore amended, leaving over $8.75 million for the cultural facility. After much debate and consideration on its placement, it was decided that the cultural facility funds would be reduced to around $5 million and would would become recreation facility funds –used to supplement construction and purchase land for two Norman Forward projects - the indoor aquatics facility and the multi-sport facility. Additionally, there is an offset to the anticipated NPS contribution to the aquatic center because the property tax portion of the increment would end early under this proposal. This offset would lessen the negative impact on NPS’s budget. The hardest piece to resolve was the Lifestyle Center. The recession hit before buildings were built but this was fortunate as it would’ve left the area with empty buildings. Developers were assured funds remain available to earn as incentives but the standards used to receive them have been raised from the original project plan. This is to help encourage development that was originally envisioned. This also recognizes the retail environment in general has changed, so incentive standards now require a higher sales per square foot, a land purchase agreement or a three year minimum lease agreement, and other items. UNP BID Advisory Board July 12, 2019 Page 4 of 5 Work is being conducted to try to narrow down exactly how much money will be available after collections. The City remains committed to making the required contributions to the BID through the contracted 10-year term. At the end of the term, it will be up to the property owners to decide if they want to petition the City to continue contributions or they can convert to a Property Owners Association. Project Plan amendments must first go to the Statutory Review Committee. This hasn’t happened yet because of member unavailability during the summer season but it is hoped to have the review completed by the end of August. Once the Review Committee completes its review, the amendments will go to the Planning Commission and then to City Council for two public hearings and adoption of the ordinance. 6. TOPICS FOR FUTURE DISCUSSION. Jeff Webb asked to be brought up to speed as to why the parking lot was being built in Legacy Park and Mr. Foster explained parking has become a major issue during events. Visitors dislike having to park at nearby businesses and then walk to events. Also, the closest parking is at Redrock Canyon Grill and the owner has complained because this leaves no parking for their patrons. Mr. Olsen also mentioned there is a lack of handicapped parking nearby. Ms. Walker acknowledged this and said the issue has been brought up by the UNP TIF Development Oversight Committee. Mandy Haws also said she has seen parking problems when she has attended larger events at the park. Mr. Webb asked about how the parking lot bid increased from $175,000 to $275,000. Ms. Walker said the first estimate was from around 2014 -2015, was based on a different design and location but that these options were no longer viable. Also, the amount was an internal estimate based on a very preliminary sketch. Mr. Foster said the new plan includes about 30 parking spaces but he will see if some of the work can be done in-house to help reduce costs. He said two bids were received and a meeting has been set up with the lowest bidder and engineer next Wednesday to see if the cost can be brought down. Mr. Foster continued by saying about $120,000 was previously appropriated for ongoing work (improvements to the fountain, replacing lights) and work was planned for the railings and other items but priorities may need to be shifted in order to have enough money to complete the parking lot. Mr. Foster said the new parking lot should be under construction by the next BID Board meeting. Although the final cost won’t be known until next week, he asked members if they were amicable to deferring railing maintenance to a time when additional funding can be made available. Jud will provide further updates at future meetings. Ms. Haws asked what would happen if the final bid is more than what the BID Board authorized and Mr. Foster said money would have to be requested from the capital fund. Anthony Francisco said further action from this board would be necessary only if more funds are needed for the lot above what is authorized by this board. Ms. Haws motioned to approve an additional allocation of $100,000 for the lot and the motion was seconded by Mike Thompson. A vote was taken with the following members voting yes: Mike UNP BID Advisory Board July 12, 2019 Page 5 of 5 Thompson, Matt Clouse, Mandy Haws, Austin Goodwin. Rex Amsler voted no (due to the cost stated within the bid) and Jeff Webb did not vote. The motion passed by majority vote. 7. MISCELLANEOUS DISCUSSION. Ms. Walker said the next meeting date was set for November 1, 2019, at 10:00 am. The meeting was adjourned at 10:50 a.m.