Old Orchard Business District Advisory Commission

Old Orchard Special Business District Advisory Commission MEETING MINUTES APPROVED MEETING DATE: Tuesday, August 14, 2018 LOCATION: City Hall CALLED TO ORDER: 8:04AM MEETING ADJOURNED: 8:45 AM NEXT MEETING: Tuesday, September 11, 2018 NAME PRESENT ABSENT Joe Fichter, Chair X Angel Venegoni X Claire Winkler X Mary Jane Armstrong X Holland Saltsman X Robert Weber X John Barr X Steve Zielinski X Vacancy Bud Bellomo, Council Liaison X Mara Perry, City Liaison X Also in attendance: Pam Bliss – Council Member, City of Webster Groves Detective Fred Bell – WGPD Community Engagement Officer Fran Sudekum – Administrative Support APPROVAL OF MINUTES Motion to approve the June minutes as was made by Holland Saltsman, seconded by Angel Venegoni, motion was unanimously approved. VISITOR COMMENTS Detective Fred Bell is Webster Groves’ new Community Engagement Officer. He is attending commission meetings to learn, observe, and meet business owners. He can be part of projects and/or be present at functions. SUMMER BANNER DESIGN Mara Perry handed out the new summer banner design the Old Webster Commission has decided on. The design ties in with the new winter design, keeping the streetscape graphic and replacing the snowflakes with fireworks. Old Webster discussed, but hasn’t formally voted on whether their banners will say Old Webster or Webster Groves. The chair of the Old Webster Commission had planned to attend Old Orchard’s July meeting to hear Old Orchard’s perspective on banner wording, but Old Orchard’s July meeting was cancelled due to a lack of a quorum. Both districts agree it is a good idea to use the same design. Old Orchard decided to use Webster Groves instead of Old Orchard on theirs as they did with the winter banners. Old Webster is also looking to do new banners for Spring and/or Fall. Old Orchard currently only has Summer and Winter, but may consider adding Spring and Fall when Old Webster puts together a new design for those seasons as well. STREETSCAPE UPDATE Work with the engineers continues; we may be able to move more poles and wires than originally thought. GAZEBO SERIES UPDATE The series was well attended. However, sponsorship was down this year and things were close on funding. They will break even, but we need to rethink how to attract more sponsorship is done for next year. CVC NEIGHBORHOOD PARTNER MEMBERSHIP We have 22 CVC memberships this time around; memberships were up in the Old Orchard District this year. Information on how businesses can share their content with the Explore St. Louis page will be shared. ROOFTOP LIGHTING Commission Members will help contact property owners to secure their agreement to participate in the 50/50 Rooftop Lighting Project. Mara Perry will provide an estimate of the cost involved for each building and the agreement letter. Stribe Electric will do the work and will accomplish as much as the weather will allow and agreement letters have been secured. NEW BUSINESS Trick Or Treating in Webster Groves – Commission Members decided to participate in the event. Holland Saltsman volunteered to be a pick-up location for participating businesses to pick up their event poster. Mara Perry can update the map. Fran Sudekum is available to help with the event this year. An event on Facebook will be created. The Old Webster Trade Association will create the graphics and will have the posters produced and pay for them. The event is from 3 to 5PM on Saturday, October 27th. Webster Holiday Cookie Walk – Commission Members decided to also participate in the event. Holland Saltsman volunteered to be a pick-up location for participating businesses to pick up their event poster. The event has grown so large that retails sales cannot take place during it because of the crowds so it has been moved from a Saturday to Sunday. Fran Sudekum is available to help with the event this year. An event on Facebook will be created. The Old Webster Trade Association will create the graphics and will have the posters produced, the Old Orchard District will pay for them. The event is from 11AM to 2PM on Sunday, December 9th. BDC UPDATE The BDC did not have a meeting in July. They will continue discussions on their strategic planning proposal of goals and objectives and clarify who is responsible and how to measure results. Once the who and the how is clarified, the information will be shared with all businesses. It’s important that each business district is represented at the BDC. Mary Jane Armstrong stated that she no longer will be able to be that representative. Joe Fichter and Claire Winkler may possibly attend the August 23rd BDC meeting. CITY UPDATE • New businesses in Webster have received good press; Frisco Barroom, Balkan Treat Box, Firenza Pizza. • A different proposed project for the former Gerber Chapel location is expected; it will be for a different mixed used. • Tuxedo Park STL Bed & Breakfast Inn has received good feedback. • The Webster Groves Bookshop is open in Old Webster. • Code amendment changes will go before City Council in September. • The Ridge House Apartments (former YMCA location) is moving forward. The Lawsuit is still ongoing. • City Council will re-hear the CUP for the brewery going in at the former Auto Beauty location. They have reorganized project and the design has changed. There will be no commercial space and the rooftop will not have events. A parking plan will still need to be provided as part of the project. • At the state level wireless companies now have permission to put anything they want on poles in the right- of-way or put up their own poles. In order to maintain control of their right-of-ways, cities are zoning their right-of-ways to residential which allows them to get permits, control visibility, height, and what is looks like visually, etc. The City Council will hear all three readings on August 21st to rezone the right-of-ways in Webster Groves to single-family residential. This will not impact right-of-ways that has commercial on both sides. It only impacts those already in areas zoned residential or used as residential, i.e. apartments. It will not allow anyone to build in the right-of-way; it protects the right of way. NEXT MEETING Tuesday, September 11, 2018 at 8:00 AM – City Hall. ADJOURNED Meeting adjourned at 8:45 AM