Old Webster Business District Advisory Commission

Old Webster Special Business District Advisory Commission MEETING MINUTES APPROVED MEETING DATE: Tuesday, September 24, 2019 LOCATION: City Hall CALLED TO ORDER: 8:03 AM MEETING ADJOURNED: 8:48 AM NEXT MEETING: Tuesday, October 22, 2019 NAME PRESENT ABSENT Ron Clipp, Chair X Joe Rath X Mark Hinkle X Tim Delanty X Micki Hansel X Gary Schoenberger X Margaret Stevens X Bill Newhouse X Stacie Swderska X Emerson Smith, Council Liaison X Mara Perry, City Liaison X Also, in attendance: Police Officer Ahmar Rasool – WGPD Traffic Unit Fran Sudekum – Administrative Support APPROVAL OF MINUTES Motion to approve the August minutes was made by Joe Rath, seconded by Tim Delanty, and unanimously approved. EVENTS • Jazz & Blues Festival Feedback – Crowds were large this year, in fact, it may have been one of the largest crowds ever. Next year will be the 20 th year for the event. Joe Rath will retire as Chair of the event after next year. • Holiday Events are on the calendar and in process: 1. Trick or Treating in Webster Groves; Saturday, October 26th, from 3 to 5 PM, both Old Webster and Old Orchard participate. 2. Old Webster Holiday Open House, Sunday, November 10th, 10AM to 4PM 3. Webster Holiday Cookie Walk; both Old Webster and Old Orchard participate Page 1 of 3 BDC UPDATE • Holiday Decorations – The BDC is encouraging businesses to decorate and light up their windows during the holiday season to bring that full feeling and spirit of the season to the business areas and thus encouraging patronage. As part of that effort, they suggested businesses on upper floors put a Williamsburg candle in their windows. If those candles were provided to them by the District, a successful decorating endeavor would result. o Tim Delanty did a cursory count of windows on the upper floors of buildings in the District and came up with approximately 150 windows. He did an online search for the candles and found it would cost approximately $1,500 to purchase them for the District. Mara Perry would like to check with the company that is supplying the District’ rooftop lights to see if she can get a better price. All in attendance agreed putting candles in the upper-floor windows is a good idea. MOTION: Tim Delanty made a motion to purchase battery-operated Williamsburgh- style candles for the upper-floor windows in the District at a cost of no more than $1,500. Bill Newhouse seconded the motion and it was unanimously approved. OLD BUSINESS • Fall and Spring District Banners – Designed were previously approved by the Commission, artwork needs to be finalized to address the change in the background color. NEW BUSINESS • Plants, Trees, Trash Cans – Commission members had general discussion to acquire positive or negative feedback about the general landscaping items in the District. People love the trees and all the plants; they are a positive part of the look and feel of the District. One potential maintenance item: replace broken trash cans, if that needs to occur, coordination with the other business districts should be to help offset the high cost of shipping involved. • Street Repair Post-Water Main Break – Missouri American Water did not repair Lockwood well in the area near the Reliable Life Building following a water main break; it is not level now and not safe. Mara will put in a work order with Public Works to check it out and see what needs to be done. • Valet Parking – Mark Hinkle has been looking into valet parking for his Brew Pub location and is thinking there could be a District-wide application for a centrally located valet parking. Commission members thought the idea was very creative. Mark will present more information at the next meeting. Page 2 of 3 • Special Activities Permit – The Women’s Creative has submitted a Special Activities Permit to conduct an event in the Reliable Life south parking lot on Thursday, October 24th from 4 to 10PM (set up to take down). They plan to have live music, a couple of food trucks, and numerous vendors. The theme and name of the event is Cozy; A Community Market (Cozy, as in all things in the fall season that give a cozy feeling.) Commission Members saw no problems with the event. CITY UPDATE • Chase Bank at the former Massage Envy location has fallen thru. However, the second floor at that location does have a new tenant. • A new women’s clothing business is going in on Brentwood Boulevard. • A potential violin studio may be going in on Chamberlain. • Interior construction continues at the Brew Pub location (a.k.a. former Auto Beauty location). They will need to close Lockwood for a day in October to accommodate a construction crane. Quorum lost at 8:48 AM. Next Meeting Tuesday, October 22, 2019 from 8:00 AM at City Hall. Page 3 of 3