Old Webster Business District Advisory Commission

Old Webster Special Business District Advisory Commission MEETING MINUTES APPROVED MEETING DATE: Tuesday, July 27, 2021 LOCATION: Zoom CALLED TO ORDER: 8:03 AM MEETING ADJOURNED: 8:35 AM NEXT MEETING: Tuesday, August 24, 2021 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 Swederska X David Franklin, Council Liaison X Eric Peterson, City Liaison X Also, in attendance: Catherine Baumann – James Carlton State Farm Insurance Mara Perry – Director of Planning and Development, City of Webster Groves Fran Sudekum – Administrative Support APPROVAL OF MINUTES Motion to approve the June minutes was made by Joe Rath, seconded by Gary Schoenberger, and unanimously approved. VISITOR COMMENTS James Carlton State Farm Insurance Anniversary Celebration Catherin Baumann has submitted a special activities permit to celebrate their ten-year anniversary on Saturday, October 23rd from 1:00 to 5:00 PM in the private parking lot behind their office at 34 North Gore, in Old Webster. The owner of the private lot is also their landlord and has given them permission to use the lot for the event. They plan to have food trucks and a live band. No street closures will need to be made and attendees will utilize unused parking in the private lot and the public parking lot. Commission Members had no objections to this special activities permit. 1 of 4 OLD BUSINESS Old Webster Jazz & Blues Festival Planning for the festival continues to move forward. The organizers are still soliciting sponsorships as costs for everything have gone up. They will need volunteers for the event. The City has offered to post the Jazz Festival’s volunteer recruitment link on the City platform. The Festival takes place on September 18th. NEW BUSINESS Old Webster’s TIF (Tax Incremental Financing) Commission Nominee The City is establishing a TIF Commission in relation to redevelopment proposal project for N. Old Webster now titled Douglas Hill as it is likely the project will come to the City and ask for TIF. As a Taxing District, Old Webster has the opportunity to nominate an individual to sit on the TIF Commission. Eric Peterson shared the TIF Commission website page that is on the City’s website. There are thirteen taxing districts that designate 12 members to the TIF Commission; St. Louis County will seat 6 individuals, the City of Webster Groves will seat 3 individuals, and the Webster Groves School District and Special School District will seat 2 individuals. The remaining seat is appointed by the “relevant” remaining taxing districts, of which Old Webster is one. City Council does not appoint or have any input into who the remaining relevant districts choose to seat on the Commission. Since the proposed redevelopment is in Old Webster, Mr. Peterson wanted to make sure the Old Webster Commission was aware of opportunity to seat an individual. If more than one person is nominated by the relevant districts, a discussion would need to take place to determine who to seat. Ron Clipp asked Commission Members if they had anyone they wish to nominate. It could be someone on the Commission or outside of the Commission. Mr. Clipp stated it perhaps should be someone that is a property owner or business owner in Old Webster, or someone with TIF-related expertise; someone that “would go to bat for Old Webster.” Mark Hinkle stated that he has already applied for one of the City Council seats, but he would gladly accept the nomination from Old Webster if they chose to nominate him. Ron Clipp voted to nominate Mark Hinkle and asked if any of the Commission Members had objections. Joe Rath and Tim Delanty both agreed with Mr. Clipp and said yes. Gary Schoenberger and Margaret Stevens did not object. Micki Hansel, Bill Newhouse, and Stacie Swederska were not present. On-Street Parking Tim Delanty put forth an issue with business owners parking on the street in front of businesses all day long. Now that things are picking back up and more customers are in person and looking to park on the street, could we have the traffic officer focus monitoring the situation and start enforcing the time limits. 2 of 4 BDC UPDATE Tim Delanty shared with Commission Members a potential Webster-wide scavenger hunt the BDC is in the early stages of formulating and inquired whether in general would Old Webster be interested in such an endeavor and possibly contributing some funding for such a project. More details will be provided; Mr. Delanty was just looking for a general interest level from the Commission. Commission Members did not shoot down the idea but would need more concrete information before making any kind of commitments. CITY UPDATE • Eurotrash, an interior design firm, is going into the former dry-cleaning business next to Dewey’s Pizza in Old Webster. • Code amendment changes in C and D Commercial Districts to allow multi-family as a permitted use as long as it meets a specific set of regulations and does not require a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) has moved to City Council. • Play Daze is looking for a new space in the Zeta Dell business neighborhood, their request was held open at Plan Commission due to drop-off traffic questions and lack of parking. • A new public hearing will be before the Plan Commission from a used car lot on Watson that wants to also do some repair work at their location. • Douglas Hill CUP (a.k.a. N. Old Webster Proposed Redevelopment) continues to the next the Plan Commission. Information from the past two hearing is available on the City’s website. • DD Mau Vietnamese Eatery and Le Macaron in Old Webster are open. • Zushi and Wingstop restaurants in Yorkshire Plaza are finishing their construction work. • Construction permits have been issued for the new Urgent Care at Big Bend and Laclede Station road. • Proposition #1 will be on the August ballot. Information and answers to citizen questions is available on the City website. A No vote keeps the changes to the A4 residential code to be able to do 2-family housing in place and a Yes votes overturns them. • Hixson Middle School is moving forward quickly trying to get finished in time for when school starts. In addition the safety and ADA issues in other various Webster Groves School District schools continued. • The first phase of the new firehouse, the new living quarters, is finished and the project is moving to the second phase which will demolish the existing firehouse. • Masks are required for all in-person activity taking place at City Hall. • Board and Commission in-person meetings are returning; a Zoom option will also be available. 3 of 4 • TIF Commission – City Council will take up TIF nominations and determine who to seat on the TIF Commission. It is expected the first TIF Commission meeting will be on August 18. It is important to start the process now as Missouri state law regarding TIF in a flood plain in St. Louis County changes on January 1, 2022. After January 1, TIF in a flood plain will no longer be allowed. Parts of the Douglas Hill proposed redevelopment project is in a flood plain. • The Municipal Court will return to in-person court the evening of August 11th. • Eric Peterson is now the staff liaison for the Old Webster Special Business District Advisory Commission as well as the Old Orchard, Crossroads, and the Business Development Commissions. Mara Perry will still be available to the Commissions as needed. Mr. Peterson has worked in economic development in the past in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin and Flagstaff, Arizona. Mr. Peterson is eager to work with the Commission not only on attraction issues and bring people into Old Webster to utilize and make purchases from your businesses, but also on how such things as the Douglas Hill project affect the nature and character of the Old Webster community as well as the ability to capitalize and monetize an economy that moves money and supports our business entities. He is here to help. Next Meeting Tuesday, August 24, 2021, at 8:00 AM in person at City Hall 2nd Floor Conference Room and also available via Zoom. 4 of 4