Old Webster Business District Advisory Commission

Old Webster Special Business District Advisory Commission MEETING MINUTES APPROVED MEETING DATE: Tuesday, April 26 2016, 2016 LOCATION: City Hall CALLED TO ORDER: 8:06 AM MEETING ADJOURNED: 9:33 AM NEXT MEETING: Tuesday, May 24, 2016 NAME PRESENT ABSENT Ron Clipp, Chair X Amanda Payne, Vice Chair X Chris Hite X Joe Rath X Keli Richards X Stacie Swederska. X Morry Cole X Mark Hinkle X Tim Delanty X Gerry Welch, Council Liaison X Mara Perry, City Liaison X Also in attendance: Greg Gebhart – Sustainability Commission Karen Beck – Public Works Fran Sudekum – Administrative Support APPROVAL OF MINUTES Motion to approve March minutes was made by Stacie Swederska, seconded by Keli Richards, unanimously approved. OLD BUSINESS  Unified Trash Contract – Greg Gebhart of the Sustainability Commission shared with the Commission information they learned when pursuing recycling options in all the business districts. Various options and needs could be worked out in pursuit of a unified commercial trash contract for the District. There are some economies of scale that could be attractive for all involved. Several questions from both the businesses and the contractor would need to be looked at to develop a working plan. The Commission would like to invite the three main commercial trash haulers in to discuss options; one at a time. Karen Beck offered to reach out to those vendors and invite them to a meeting. Mara Perry will touch base with Karen on scheduling.  District Information Kiosk – Stacie Swederska shared with the Commission a hand out with pictures of different types of existing information kiosks. After going thru the handout, the Commission determined they like different aspects of several of the examples. Ultimately, there could be more than one kiosk in the District, but initially the Commission will focus on one and its location will be in what is referred to as the “Concrete Park” at the entrance to the parking deck off Lockwood. Stacie will reach  out to Alan Nehring of Nehring Design to see if he’d be interested in talking with the Commission about potential design options for a kiosk; while being cognizant of his professional time and expertise. There is funding available in the budget for the kiosk; a $2,000 purchase order held over from last year out of the advertising budget and there is $2,500 in this year’s budget. If necessary, funding could be pulled from reserves as well.  Sidewalk Sub-Committee – Amanda Payne shared a handout of multiple sidewalk projects as examples of possible sidewalk options. A sidewalk project in the District could be accomplished in phases; a good starting place would be to start with the areas currently affected by tree roots that need attention. The Commission favored the example of the sidewalk project that was done at the Bloomington, IN courthouse. Amanda will contact Paul Verheyen, Director of Public Works, and get his input on the courthouse example as a possible option for the District.  Business/Landlord Survey Sub-Committee: Keli Richards and Tim Delanty put forth the merits of surveying business owners and landlords in the district to identify and quantify pros and cons of doing business in the District. They felt getting input down on paper and available to all was better than allowing hearsay to be a source of information. The Commission felt the next step would be to identify and review possible survey questions at the next meeting. Sub-Committee members were identified as Keli Richards, Tim Delanty, and Stacie Swederska. BDC UPDATE  The BDC is discussing using Insight PR St. Louis to produce a monthly push out of happenings in Webster Groves. If Commission members have any activity they’d like to see included, send it to Fran Sudekum and she will get it Insight. The BDC is also looking at producing a city-wide brochure that covers shopping and dining in Webster Groves to take advantage of all the people that come into Webster Groves for events, such as the Webster University Community Music School and Chess Tournaments, as well as performances at The Rep and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, etc. CITY UPDATE  There are 16 residential houses under construction in Webster Groves.  Llewellyn’s Pub is adding a cover to their patio.  Delve MIY is opening in Old Webster.  Jimmy John’s is opening in Yorkshire Plaza.  All three gas stations in Webster Groves are now open.  Edgewood is getting ready to start their construction project next month.  The site plan for the Webster University parking garage has been approved.  There is a CUP in the initial stages for a day care center off of Laclede Station Road.  There is a CUP in the works to address parking off of Kirkham. APRIL AGENDA ITEMS  Unified Trash Contract: Invite One Commercial Trash Vendor  Information Kiosk: Invite Alan Nehring of Nehring Design  Sidewalk Projects: Feedback from Paul Verheyen  Business/Landlord Survey Sub-Committee: Survey Questions ADJOURNED Meeting adjourned at 9:33 AM. NEXT MEETING The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, May 24, 2016 at 8:00 AM – City Hall.