Old Webster Business District Advisory Commission

Old Webster Special Business District Advisory Commission MEETING MINUTES APPROVED MEETING DATE: Tuesday, November 29, 2022 LOCATION: City Hall & Zoom CALLED TO ORDER: 8:00 AM MEETING ADJOURNED: 9:19 AM NEXT MEETING: Tuesday, January 24, 2023 NAME PRESENT ABSENT Ron Clipp, Chair X Joe Rath X Tim Delanty X Margaret Stevens X Bill Newhouse X Stacie Swederska X Dan Warner X Karen Drexler X David Smith X Emerson Smith, Council Liaison X Eric Peterson, City Liaison X Also, in attendance: Frank and Laura Romano – The Parkmoor Drive In Police Chief Dale Curtis – Webster Groves Police Department Officer Ahmar Rasool – WGPD Traffic Unit Fran Sudekum – Administrative Support Approval of Minutes A motion to approve the October minutes was made by Karen Drexler, seconded by Joe Rath, and was unanimously approved. OLD BUSINESS District Security and Traffic Police Chief Dale Curtis shared with Commission Members that the Police Department has been understaffed for the last several months which negatively impacted their ability to enforce traffic restrictions as resources had to be pulled from the Traffic Unit and put on the Patrol Unit. Recruiting new officers for open positions within the Police Department is a challenge in the current environment. They now have however, successfully hired 5 officers and are fully staffed. This allows Officer Rasool to return to his traffic duties. Historically, public safety in the business districts have not been an issue, but recently there have been some car thefts and after-hours burglaries. This appears to be occurring in all the neighboring communities. A fully-staffed Patrol Unit is constantly patrolling all areas of the City. To address the car thefts, Chief Curtis stated businesses could help by educating their employees and customers to lock their parked cars and not leave them running while in businesses as 80% of car break-ins and thefts are from unlocked cars, over half which the keys are in the cars. Chief Curtis also asked to let his department know of any specific issues that come up that need to be addressed. 1 of 4 Commission Members are also concerned about pedestrian safety as many vehicles are speeding thru the District. Now that the Traffic Unit is fully staffed, monitoring traffic flow and speed is back on the table; Officer Rasool will target the areas of Lockwood identified as trouble spots by Commission Members. The Public Works Department is in the process of making sure all the lampposts in the District are burning at full power to help increase visibility at night. Parking • On-Street Parking Request – Frank and Laura Romano, owners of The Parkmoor Drive In, stated that 25% of their business is curbside carry-out orders. The Romano’s have requested the existing 15-minute on-street parking spot in front of the business to the west of them be moved 4 spots east next to the small break of parking which is adjacent to the front door of their business. This would improve the flow of customer traffic in that area. This would require an ordinance change. City staff recommends making the change. Commission Members agreed with the change. • Moody Employee Parking Lot – The City has negotiated a perpetual lease with the Webster Groves Presbyterian Church to continue using their Moody parking lot as a District Employee Parking Lot for the annual cost of $8,000; 50% of which would come out of the District’s budget. • Impact Parking Fee Idea – Discussion continued on the feasibility of a parking impact fee associated with business licenses to offset the cost of leasing the employee parking lots. There are many directions the design of such a program could take; number of employees, ownership of private lots, purchase of parking permits, etc. • Employee Parking – City staff is sending out another email message to businesses reminding business owners to ensure employees park in the employee parking lots and not take up spots on the street or in the public parking areas which are for customers and patrons. Infrastructure • Decorative Rooftop Lighting – City staff is in conversations with the property owners of 79 North Gore and 220 W Lockwood; they are interested in the decorative lighting and are waiting on cost estimates. Staff has not heard back from the other property owner previously discussed (34 North Gore, 75 W. Lockwood). • Decorative Lights in Trees – Lights have been added to the tree next to San Jose Mexican Restaurant and the Old Firehouse Building. • Decorative Sign Replacement – There are 34 customized decorative 2-hour Old Webster parking signs. Almost all need to be replaced. It is estimated it would cost $8K to $9K to replace them all. That cost would come out of the District budget. Public Works could create a non-decorative sign using the existing round holder for approximately $5K. A third option would be to replace them with the standard generic signs which would come 2 of 4  out of the City general fund. Discussion ensued of concerns for maintaining the branding of Old Webster and its uniqueness vs. budget concerns. A suggestion was made to break their replacement in multiple fiscal years vs. in one year. All Commission Members except one, strongly want to maintain the Old Webster branding of the signs. The generic signs are totally off the table for consideration. The design would need new graphic software as the old software is not viable. Members would like to pursue local graphic design talent to work up the new design software. The total number of signs needed could be higher if additional streets that currently don’t have them are added to the list, i.e. Allen Avenue, W Moody Avenue, and streets north of the railroad tracks. City staff will pursue quotes. • District Bench Replacement – Many of the wood-composite District benches need to be replaced. City staff could rebuild 6 benches salvaging parts from existing benches, leaving 6 new to be ordered. New benches would cost $1,200 each. Metal benches matching those currently used in City parks cost $1,000 and have a quick turn-around time. City staff recommends going with the metal benches; currently the other business districts are going with metal benches. Stacie Swederska commented the metal benches match the new trash cans. Some Commission Members felt the style of the wood- composite benches is more traditional. MOTION: Joe Rath made a motion to stay with the wood-composite style benches. Dan Warner second the motion. The motion carried; 5 yea and 2 nay. • District Bench Memorial Program –There was discussion to revive the Bench Memorial Program used in the past to help offset the cost of benches. Participants would pay a to- be-determined percentage of the cost of the bench and receive a memorial plates adhered to the bench in return. Existing memorial plates will be saved and re-used when a bench is replaced. • Parks Department Services – The Parks Department inventory of the services they provide to the District will be available at the January meeting. Events Holiday Open House Feedback – The Holiday Open House was a big success. The District had consistently good-sized crowds all day. “One of the best we’ve ever had.” The sun was out so the cold weather was actually a plus as it helped get people in the mood for the season. “It was a beautiful day.” “We were packed all day.” “The promotions worked.” NEW BUSINESS Commission Report to City Council City Council has asked each board and commission Chair to share their top 3 goals at a work session. They are looking for strategic goals and priorities. Discussion ensured about identifying and narrowing down goals knowing that the budget doesn’t allow to accomplish all the things that Commission would like to pursue. Initial thoughts discussed revolve around beautification and maintenance, drawing people into the District with events, and expenses. Ron Clipp is looking for input from Commission Members. 3 of 4 UPDATES Business Development Commission (BDC) Update The BDC discussed holiday promotions, such as TV spots on KMOV, KPLR, KSDK, etc. The QR Code Window Cling idea received mixed reviews. There was concern about the destination of the code. Use of the GIS mapping system currently established has received no hits and patrons are not familiar with it. Something would need to be built; what would that be, what resources would it take, and how much would that cost. Stacie Swederska would like to attend a BDC meeting and share her vision for the QR Code idea. NEXT MEETING – Tuesday, January 24, 2023 at 8:00 AM Adjournment – Meeting adjourned at 9:19 AM. 4 of 4