Old Webster Business District Advisory Commission

Old Webster Special Business District Advisory Commission MEETING MINUTES APPROVED MEETING DATE: Tuesday, August 28, 2018 LOCATION: City Hall CALLED TO ORDER: 8:01 AM MEETING ADJOURNED: 8:49 AM NEXT MEETING: Tuesday, September 25, 2018 NAME PRESENT ABSENT Ron Clipp, Chair X Joe Rath X Mark Hinkle X Tim Delanty X Micki Hansel X Scott Kemper X Gary Schoenberger X Margaret Stevens X Vacancy Pam Bliss, Council Liaison X Mara Perry, City Liaison X Also, in attendance: Fran Sudekum – Administrative Support APPROVAL OF MINUTES Motion to approve July minutes was made by Joe Rath, seconded by Micki Hansel, and unanimously approved. WELCOME NEW MEMBER The Commission welcomed a newly appointed member; Margaret Stevens, Ozark Theatre Building. PARKING UPDATE • Moody Lot – The four-year lease for 40 parking spots of the Webster Groves Presbyterian Church parking lot on Moody Avenue is being drafted for signatures. Work performed to the lot under the agreement will take place in November; funding will come out of general funds. • 15-Minutes Parking Spots – This project is not with the police department; Public Works will make the signs and installed them at the previously agreed to locations. • Parking Garage Repairs – Major repairs to the parking garage - project schedule: Phase I June thru July 13th, Phase II July 16th thru 20th, completion by August 10th. REVENUE UPDATE Mara Perry shared updated District revenue information with Commission members; property tax and business license revenues are up this year. In addition, revenue from financial institutions was received again this year and some delinquent tax dollars have also been received. The numbers will be confirmed and updated for next month’s meeting. DISTRICT BANNERS • Summer Banner Design – Further discussion took place on the wording for the new summer banners; Old Webster vs. Webster Groves. Old Orchard has decided to use Webster Groves instead of Old Orchard on their banners, since they don’t have Webster Groves in their name that made sense to Commission members, however, many felt using the same design for both ties the two districts together as a city and keeping the Old Webster name does not take away from that. An example of Old Ste. Charles vs. St. Charles was sited. Other Commission members felt people outside of Webster Groves don’t know the difference between Old Orchard and Old Webster. • MOTION: Tim Delanty made a motion to keep “Old Webster” as the wording on District banners,  Joe Rath seconded the motion, the motion carried with 5 in favor (Tim Delanty, Joe Rath, Scott Kemper, Miki Hansel, and Gary Schoenberger [via email] and 2 opposed (Ron Clipp and Margaret Stevens). • Spring and Fall Banners – The additional District revenues this year allows for new spring and fall banners keeping the streetscape design of the winter and summer banners and changing out the graphics in the sky, i.e. bright colors and flowers for spring and autumn colors and leaves for fall, or perhaps orange and black for fall. Tim Delanty will again get the design worked up and presented to the Commission. • Creative Community Banners – Commission Members would like to see the current very faded Creative Community banners replaced. Mara Perry believes the Arts Commission is looking into replacing them at their expense. 50/50 ROOFTOP LIGHTING PROJECT Commission members need to help complete the rooftop lighting project in the District. Property owners need to be contacted and get their agreement to allow the lights on their buildings and to pay their portion of the expense. CITY UPDATE • A new project has come in for the former Gerber Chapel location for a bank, retail, video teller machine. • A church which has been meeting at the Meade Center is looking to use a location in the strip mall across on Brentwood Boulevard (the area formerly referred to as the Kirkham Corridor). • Firenza Pizza and Ziggy’s Frozen Treats has started construction. • Balkan Treat Box is working on their permits for the former Stratton’s location. • The Tuxedo Park STL Bed and Breakfast Inn is open. • The Frisco Barroom is open. • The 80-page 12-count lawsuit against the project at the former YMCA location was dismissed by the judge with the ability to refile with only one count. It has been refiled. • A couple of Airbnb’s have been approved, one on Summit and one on Newport. • The project for the former Auto Beauty location made changes to their design with require changes to their CUP. All aspects of the project will now be inside the building with no rooftop items. There will be no retail space. The event space will be inside the building. A traffic engineer has been hired to do a parking study. • Code amendments changes and updates are before City Council. • The City Council had a goal setting session; they are well informed of the parking issues in all the business districts. JAZZ & BLUES FESTIVAL Things are coming together for the Jazz Fest. They still need volunteers on the day of the event, especially in the command center and as railroad track guards. They are trying to get groups from Webster Groves High School to help with set up and take down. Jazz Fest posters have been delivered to businesses in Old Webster. ADJOURNED Meeting adjourned at 8:49 PM. NEXT MEETING The next meeting will be held at City Hall on Tuesday, September 25, 2018 from 8:00 AM.