Old Webster Business District Advisory Commission

Old Webster Special Business District Advisory Commission MEETING MINUTES APPROVED MEETING DATE: Tuesday, November 23, 2021 LOCATION: City Hall & Zoom CALLED TO ORDER: 8:01 AM MEETING ADJOURNED: 9:08 AM NEXT MEETING: Tuesday, January 25, 2022 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: Fran Sudekum – Administrative Support APPROVAL OF MINUTES A motion to approve the October minutes was made by Joe Rath, seconded Bill Newhouse, and unanimously approved. EVENT FEEDBACK • Trick or Treating in Webster Groves – The Trick or Treating event is organized and put on by the Old Webster Trade Association and is held jointly with the Old Orchard Business District. The 2021 event was very well attended throughout the entire District from one end to the other; many participating businesses ran out of candy, “it was crazy busy.” • Old Webster Holiday Open House – The Holiday Open House event is organized and put on by the Old Webster Trade Association. The 2021 event was very successful with steady attendance all day long, It was an attendance record-setting day; stores were overflowing. o There was a large number of families in attendance. o The outdoor Santa Station saw a steady stream of kids all day long and they didn’t seem to mind they weren’t actually sitting on Santa’s lap. o The Info Booth saw a large number of folks new to Webster Groves and/or first- timers at the event; the booth ran out of candy canes. 1 of 5  o The business and property owners in the District were very appreciative of the work the Public Works and Parks Departments did in cleaning up the area and getting all the holiday decorations up in time for the event. o Ideas/Questions to ponder for future events: ▪ Divine ways to draw attendees from the core of the District out to the ends of the District. ▪ Do we want to consider possible day-of street closures of some type to provide more of a pedestrian mall during the event? If we look at routing/re- routing, signage, access, mobility, publicizing changes for the day, etc. a plan to close streets/parts of streets/lanes/etc. just during the event could be accomplished. OLD BUSINESS • Rooftop Lighting Update – Supplies to install lights on the rooftop of Olive + Oak have been received. Streib will contact Mark Hinkle to schedule the installation. Supplies to do maintenance and repairs have also been received; Streib will access what’s needed when in the District doing the new install at Olive + Oak. Gary inquired about the process to get rooftop lights for his location; Ron Clipp ran thru the 50/5- rooftop lighting process for Gary. It would help tie in the east of the District to also get Schnarr’s Hardware committed to adding rooftop lights to their property. • Holiday Lighting in Additional Trees Update – Public Works ordered 1,000 holiday lights for trees in front of Dan Warner’s properties at 52 West Lockwood and 23 North Gore; 500 lights each, they should be in next week. • 2nd Floor Holiday Window Candles Plan – We did not collect the window candles after the last holiday season, so in theory everyone should still have them. We will send out an email message to ask everyone to put them in their windows now for this year’s holiday season. We will also let them know we have a few extra for any that can’t find theirs; not too many though. • District Kiosk – The type of kiosk, i.e. static vs. digital etc. and who would be responsible for keeping it up to date has yet to be determined. Stacie Swederska is pursuing pricing options; no report yet. Further discussion will take place at a future meeting. Current pedestrian signs need updating as well; blank slates have already been secured for new businesses that wish to be added (there is a fee). NEW BUSINESS • Budget Discussion – Eric Peterson shared documents relating to the District’s budget and reviewed the various budget categories, revenue sources, expenses, and transfer outs (see Appendix A). Commission Members should come prepared to the next meeting with possible needs. Eric will put together a draft budget for the next meeting. A short discussion on needs included such items as: o Some of the lampposts need repair work. o A plan to add an electrical outlets to some of the posts needs to be made to determine what the cost would be and where the responsibility for the usage would reside. o The benches on the Concrete Park* need to be replaced. o The steps near the Concrete Park need repair. *The Concrete Park is the area at the entrance to the Lockwood entrance to the parking deck next to McCaughen & Bur. 2 of 5 BDC UPDATE • The Business Roundtable was held on November 18th with a good mix business owners, licensed professional trades people, Commission Members, and City Council; 25 attendees. Good input was received from tabletop conversations around five different questions. A business survey will be put together resulting for that input and will be sent out in January. The questions were: 1. What are the good things that happened to your business as result of the pandemic? What are the bad things? 2. What is the #1 challenge facing your business in the next year and why? 3. What challenges, roadblocks, or issues do you face from the City’s regulations or funding? (i.e. permits, ordinances, bureaucracy, etc.) 4. What is needed to help your business and those surrounding you increase profitability and/or scale up? 5. Laying aside federal rules, what kind of program do you want to see the City fund from the ARP that would benefit you and your business? • Balancing Act which is budgeting software will be made available to everyone to help decide how we want to spend the federal ARP money. CITY UPDATE • The following businesses have opened: o Book Book Go and Euro Trash (Old Webster) o Wingstop and Zushi Sushi (Yorkshire Plaza) o Betty's Books (Old Orchard). • Additionally in Old Orchard, Amy's Cake Pop Shop is expanding o Union Studio has moved a couple of doors west o Fourth and Home will move into Union Studio’s vacated location o Webster Arts is moving into the DeSoto Building next to Betty's Books. • Union Bagel is still under construction in Crossroads. • Total Access Urgent Care is under construction at Big Bend and Laclede Station Road. • The property owners of 55 West Moody in Old Webster have requested to rezone the property to Planned Commercial for a multi-family/commercial development. The Planning Commission has approved the request and it moves forward to City Council. • Plan Commission is working on updating the tree preservation ordinance and landscape ordinance amendments. • The Green Space Commission is planning to expand their Trees of Distinction Program. • The TIF Commission meets today and will vote. If the Commission were to vote no or tie, it will take five of the seven City Council Members to approve the TIF. If the Commission votes yes, then it takes four; a majority. NEXT MEETING • Tuesday, January 25, 2022, at 8:00 AM 3 of 5 APPENDIX A 4 of 5 5 of 5