Redevelopment Agency

NORWICH REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY MEETING MINUTES Monday September 23, 2013 5:00 P.M. MEMBERS PRESENT Marge Blizard Anthony Jacobs Mark Kulos Sofee Noblick Robert Buckley Leland Loose Thomas Sullivan MEMBERS ABSENT Timothy Smith James Quarto OTHERS PRESENT Gary Evans, Community Development Director Jason Vincent, NCDC (arrived at 5:40 pm) 1 Call to order – Marge Blizard called the meeting to order at 5:10 P.M. 2. Determination of Quorum It was determined a quorum was present. 3. Minutes of the August 26, 2013 meeting. There was a motion by Thomas Sullivan, seconded by Sofee Noblick, to adopt the August 26, 2016 minutes. There were 2 corrections. Upon a motion of Sofee Noblick, seconded by Thomas Sullivan, it was unanimously voted to accept the August 26, 2013 meeting minutes as corrected, with Leland Loose abstaining. 4. Correspondence None. 5. Unfinished Business a) Status of EPA Assessment Grant Application The EPA has not released information as of yet. We have been looking for funding crossover. There is trouble with dates. School’s open. Marge Blizard brings up the need for engaged partners for the grant application. We had letters of support before but they were just “good idea” letters. We need some community groups that want to do something with what we create from the grant. Gary Evans adds we need a mix of youth, adults, neighborhoods, etc. Current letters didn’t show future usability. We could do something to target areas. Do an environmental cleanup. Marge Blizard says maybe we can talk to the Church, the impact of the mills and brownfields in their community. Norwich RDA Minutes September 23, 2013 Page 2 Gary Evans adds that maybe the Clergy and their members can help cleanup or business that are in tune with us and get them involved with the cleanup too. Progressive programming can be used to measure to see if we are teaching the public well. We can strengthen awareness. He also wonders how we can show indirect impacts. Marge Blizard agrees. The public needs education of what is around their neighborhood and what we are doing. Gary Evans mentions we could do a survey. Ask what they want to see in the future. Get the community behind this beforehand. Marge Blizard asks if we should ask something like “if we cleanup this site, what amenities would you like to see here”. We would have to include zoning information for the property in question. Mark Kulos asks if maybe we can get the business or Church groups to put together the survey. Marge Blizard believes we can get several groups involved in this. In terms of environmental justice, we are removing dangerous buildings. The idea of a survey for public residents and business owners. It could maybe be posted through the website. Gary Evans states that if it is put on the website they would have to self-certify their area. Mark Kulos asks if in the assessment grant we specify an end use. Marge Blizard replies that we should even though it may change or be a long time to completion. Tom Sullivan proposed an end use of a Small Business Entrepreneurial Development Office. Marge Blizard asks if we should put together the survey. Should we draft it and get it reviewed? The reply rate would probably be higher if the surveys came from their own groups. Also, if the grant deadline is when we think it is do we have time to do a survey and include it with the grant application? Leland Loose asks shouldn’t we tell them (those taking the survey) our goal. We have to have an end use for the grant application. Gary Evans states he is a fan of “plan then implement”. Is there a goal you have in mind? Marge Blizard asks if the POCD is complete and implemented. Norwich RDA Minutes September 23, 2013 Page 3 Sofee Noblick replies that she believes it is done but not implemented yet. Marge Blizard believes it makes sense to use those goals as a target. We can ask “if Ponemah Mills is cleaned up, what would you like to see there”. Tom Sullivan adds that we could give 4 options and ask what their choice would be. If we leave it open ended the responses will be too diverse to narrow down. Leland Loose mentions Health Care delivery. There are many this side of town. Why not put one in Greenville, Taftville. He also prefers “what do you think about this” instead of “what would you like to see”. Sofee Noblick states we also want to be in line with the RDA idea, we are interested in job creation. Gary Evans adds the RDA develops City targets. Here’s where we’re going. Does it fit with your plan. Marge Blizard states If we take something timely it might be appropriate to say medical care delivery. Gary Evans states even if it’s 2 years to get the property, you’ve created a market. Leland Loose an imaging center would be better. It could be staged development. Tom Sullivan states that it will probably be an independent company coming in so we want to be ready for them. Robert Buckley states we have to put something down to get the guys with the moneys’ attention. Marge Blizard adds we need to be competitive enough to get the money. Leland Loose states he was very impressed in Atlanta with how many towns had several sites going. Tom Sullivan agrees, adding they are doing various size sites and industries and types. Gary Evans states we won’t be chastised for not doing what we said we would do if it doesn’t come to be. We need more on the cleanup grantEwe have to define it. We need to talk with the City Manager and find out what they are thinking. If the City is already working in an area we would want to show that on the grant application. Marge Blizard states Public Works has Shipping Street high on their list – their sewers have been prioritized. Norwich RDA Minutes September 23, 2013 Page 4 Gary Evans states that that combination helps with cleanup assessment grants. Marge Blizard states we are going to try to do a survey to find out community understanding of Brownfields and what they want to see. Public Outreach. Deadlines and guidelines have not been received yet. Sofee Noblick asks if Public Works is doing infrastructure can we use CDBG money to train our Public Works employees to do the cleanup. Gary Evans replies that employees would have to be low to moderate income. It is probably not a good use of funds. b) Council Informational November 18th Marge Blizard states that this date is not firm. The Council gets sworn in after that. Should we still do an informational? The Committee replies yes. Marge Blizard asks for volunteers to help with that. We need to put together a presentation of about 20 minutes to leave about 10 minutes for questions. Tom Sullivan and Leland Loose volunteered. Sofee Noblick reminds the committee that this needs to be an informational and not a meeting. That way the public can ask questions too. c. Activity report on RDA Booth at Norwich Area Chamber Auto Show The booth was set up Saturday & Sunday. Sofee, Mark, and Tony had a few people stop by. The Mayor stopped by with some information to hand out. He stayed an hour or so. Jason Vincent stopped by. It went pretty good. Sofee Noblick states that Gary Evans had some stress apples that helped bring in more people. She spoke with Alan Bergren since the booth is not well marked. There is no banner. We need City of Norwich banners. There were not a lot of people stopping by but good questions were asked. Marge Blizard asks if those who were at the booth can write something up and send some pictures for the blog. Mark Kulos states he will send her a power-point presentation. Marge Blizard states she almost has enough to post the blog on the city website. d. RDA Blog on the City Website Marge Blizard states she wants pictures and brief bio’s of everyone. Please send them over. Norwich RDA Minutes September 23, 2013 Page 5 6. New Business a. Inactive Members Marge Blizard states that because Tim Smith’s term is not really over we would have needed a resignation letter from him. While he served with distinction his term hasn’t expired. However, upon missing 3 consecutive meetings a member is considered removed from the committee Upon a motion of Mark Kulos, seconded by Robert Buckley, it was unanimously voted to remove Tim Smith from the committee. 7) Other Marge Blizard informs the committee that a photo documentary being done that will be displayed at Otis Library. It will open November 1st. There will be art photos of what Brownfields look like. It will deal with the area-wide plan and historic pictures. It is an art exhibit. It is not an RDA initiative but it will help. Thomas Sullivan motioned to add executive session to the agenda, seconded by Sofee Noblick, the motion passed unanimously. Thomas Sullivan motioned to go into executive session to discuss property management and executive plan, a transaction that would impact the price of the sale of that property, and further moved that Gary Evans and Jason Vincent be invited. The motion was seconded by Mark Kulos. The motion passed unanimously and the committee went into executive session at 6:07 pm. Upon a motion of Sofee Noblick, seconded by Mark Kulos, it was unanimously voted to return from executive session at 6:34 pm, at which time Committee Chair Marge Blizard stated that no votes were taken. 8) Citizen Comment Jason Vincent informs the committee that the Reid & Hughes RFP is out. They got some coverage on it. It will be on a National website tomorrow. They have had 5 unsolicited requests for the RFP, 2 of which are coming to view the site. Marge Blizard adds that it was in both papers too. 9) Adjournment Upon motions of Mark Kulos, seconded by Anthony Jacobs, it was unanimously voted to adjourn the meeting at 6:36 pm. Respectfully submitted by Christine Averna