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03-05-1998 • C ��(�.pVZC� CITY OF EDGEWATER ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT BOARD REGULAR MEETING March 5, 1998 6:00 P.M. CALL TO ORDER: Chairman John Moore called to order a regular meeting of the Economic Development Board at 6:13 p.m., Thursday, March 5, 1998 in the Community Center. ROLL CALL: Members present were Chairman John Moore, Thomas Alcorn, Adelaide Carter, Daniel Lewis, Theresa David, and Nancy Ridner. Also present were Kevin Grace, City Manager; Lynne Plaskett; Acting Director of Community Development; Joe Martin and Dick Jones, former Board members; and Liz McBride, Board Coordinator. John Browning was absent. Gigi Bennington and Lawrence Holler were excused. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The minutes for February 5, 1998, were presented to the Board for approval. Ms. Carter moved to approve the minutes as presented, seconded by Mr. Alcorn. Motion CARRIED 6 -0. NEW BUSINESS: 1. Discuss Plan of Action for 1998 -99 a. With Kevin Grace, City Manager b. With Lynne Plaskett, Acting Director of Community Development Chairman Moore was pleased Mr. Grace and Ms. Plaskett could both attend the meeting. He informed them the Board discussed setting short term goals at the last EDB meeting. The Chairman said the Board decided to confer with them to find out what was expected of the EDB, and how the EDB could help them. City Manager Kevin Grace presented some of his thoughts. He referred to Seminole County's creation of an Economic Development Task Force. He said it took the Task Force about a y ear and a half to develop an Economic Development Action Plan. Mr. Grace said the program identified about 75 to 100 different actions, from smaller problems (e.g. permitting process) to the larger issues (e.g. economic incentive program). . \r .../ Economic Development Board March 5, 1998 Page -2- New Business: The Cit Manager felt the EDB should first develop an "action plan ". He referenced items identified in the EDB's 1995 Program of Work, and felt the list was a good starting place. Mr. Grace said an action plan was more than just identifing what needed to be done. He said it should indicate when it needed to be done and who's going to do it. He said the EDB would not be performing all the items identified, but some issues would be handled b staff, Cit Council, the Chamber of Commerce, and perhaps Da Beach Communit College. Mr. Grace said the needed to talk about why there is a need for an Economic Development Program, what the EDB goals are, and what the Board is tr to accomplish. He asked if the point was to expand the non - residential tax base. All answered, exactl The percentage of residential verses non - residential tax base in Edgewater was mentioned as being sixt /fort The Cit Manager said he had spoken to Council about goals related to ecomonic development. He said one item was an annexation plan. He said there were man different utilit service area maps that showed the cit service area, but no master plan. Mr. Grace said he was working with staff on a plan of the Cit ultimate boundaries, which would be presented to Council at a future time. If the were in agreement, Mr. Grace said he and staff could determine specific stradgies for the south and west areas, and how to go about getting those properties into the Cit He said b obtaining more non - residential propert the Cit would be in a better marketing position. Mr. Grace felt the Florida Inland Navigational Distrist (FIND) project was the top priorit issue currentl being worked on. He said the Cit had applied for an Economic Development Administration (EDA) Grant. He said FIND had committed about $1 million, which was half of what is needed to put in roads, drainage, and sewers on the 90 acre industrial park. Mr. Grace felt when all the infrastructure was in place, the Cit could market the area. He said the Cit was addressing some concerns raised b the EDA. The Cit Manager said another item related to economic development was the beautification issue. He understood there had been numerious dicusssions on the subject, but no action taken. Mr. Grace said Council was supportive, as long as he could find the mone He spoke of signature entrance feature projects on the north and south ends of US 1. He said the Cit could have it professionall designed and installed, and with signage incorporated into it. He felt this could be done within the next y ear. He felt this improvement would help the Cit gain some creditabilit with the public and the business communit Mr. Grace said the business communit could then be approached with the idea of them adopting medians in between, to finance the landscaping. The Cit Manager said he would help the EDB work with staff to develop a detailed economic development plan that could be presented for Council approval. He reiterated, to identify how things were going to be done, who was going to do them, and if mone was involved, where would it come from. Mr. Grace said he and Ms. Plaskett were willing to devote their time to get this accomplished over the next few months. \✓ Nue • Economic Development Board March 5, 1998 Page -3- New Business: Standardization of codes among surrounding cities were touched on. Lynne Plaskett, Acting Director of Communit Development, explained the proposed uniform building code. The Cit Manager felt the permitting issue was extremel important to a prospect. He said the Cit of Edgewater doesn't have an image of being a business friendl government, and that needed to be changed. Ms. Plaskett said changes had been made to expidite the site plan and permitting process. She said other changes had been made and more would follow upon the Cit Manager's approval. Mr. Alcom asked if the Cit had an economic incentives to offer. He also asked if someone from the EDB or staff could take that prospect through the lab Mr. Grace agreed that the Cit did need to designate a person to take them through the process. As far as incentives, Mr. Grace hoped some recommendations would come out of the Economic Development Action Plan. He referred to Seminole Count incentive program, that the didn't just give mone awa the wanted a return on their investment. He said the Cit of Edgewater should approach it the same wa He continued discussing how Seminole Count handled incentives. Mr. Grace said the EDB needed to decide what kind of things the were interested in giving incentives to, and what t of jobs need to be created. Building a spec building at the FIND project location was discussed. Mr. Alcorn said the problem Edgewater had, is there are no existing large buildings. Mr. Grace said if an had someone interested in coming to Edgewater, he wanted to be contacted to see what could be worked out. Dick Jones, former EDB member, said the Board is still discussing the same things, and there needs to be some sort of beautification for the Cit to start attracting people in the first place. He felt the Board needed to take all the planning documents that had been submitted to Council in the past, and put them together to find an integrated plan. Mr. Jones said he was frustrated while on the Board, at getting information from the Chamber and Volusia Count Business Development Corporation (VCBDC), on incoming businesses. Mr. Alcorn said he was the current chairman of the Southeast Volusia Economic Development Board and member of VCBDC, and that he would make the information available to the EDB. Mr. Grace said, as the Board creates its action plan, the needed to talk about what t of role the should pla and he would give the Board his thoughts on it. Generall on a da -to -da basis, he felt the VCBDC, Chamber, and staff would have to carr the brunt of the load. Mr. Grace said here was a definite role for the EDB in establishing polic providing direction to the Council and reviewing the Board's action plan. Confidentialit of prospects was discussed. Ms. Plaskett said a monthl report of site plan applications would be provided to the Board. Ms. Plaskett reminded the Board, the current Council ran on an economic development platform. She said this was probabl the best opportunit the EDB had ever had to work with Council to reall start moving forward. Now Economic Development Board March 5, 1998 Page -4- New Business: Joe Martin, former EDB member, said the Board needed to concentrate on the "overall plan ". Mr. Grace pointed out, until y ou had a product to market, y ou don't market. Mr. Alcorn asked if it should be suggested to Council that the Cit needed to have speculative buildings. Mr. Grace said before talking about putting up buildings, infrastructure to the land needed to be discussed. He said development follows infrastructure. Mr. Alcorn expressed his anno with the Cit for the length of time it took staff to approve the placement of a securit trailer on a particular site. Ms. Plaskett pointed out, Mr. Grace believes in the "common sense approach" to codes, and to work with people to reach a common objective. Mr. Grace said y ou can't write a code which will address ever issue that is ever going to come up, therefore, y ou will have to interpret things. He believed the Cit had been ver ridged in the past. Ms. David observed, in the past is seemed the Cit didn't want growth. Mr. Grace said the new Council wants growth, and felt the Cit had a lot going for it. The Cit Manager referred to the FIND project, and expressed his hope that the Cit would be successful in getting the project off the ground. He said if the EDA grant is not approved, the Cit would need to find some wa to continue forward. Mr. Alcorn mentioned the Cit Manager should be invited to the Southeast Volusia Economic Development Committee meetings, and he would see that Mr. Grace received the agendas. He said this was a Chamber organization, and its concerns were with all of Southeast Volusia Count Mr. Alcorn reported that the Governors Fishing Cup would be held in New Sm /Edgewater area the weekend after Labor Da hosted b the Chamber. He said there would be about 200 reporters and about 250 manufacturers present for the event. Mr. Alcorn said this was a good opportunit to get people here. Ms. Plaskett said a visionar item discussed while she was on the Count Council, was the fact that Edgewater did not take advantage of its natural resources. She said there was an economic development potential to do something wonderful to promote the cit natural resources. Ms. Plaskett used as an example, annexing the prestressed concrete site and developing a marine industrial park. Mr. Alcorn asked what the EDB could do. Ms. Plaskett reiterated what Mr. Grace had said, that staff was looking at a boundar area for future annexation. She said once established and approved, the EDB could look at the areas and come up with an idea of a land use. Chairman Moore felt the Board covered a great deal at the meeting. He said he would like to talk about the EDB budget at the next meeting, and outline a plan of action. The Cit Manager said he and Ms. Plaskett would be willing to come to the next EDB meeting if the Board wanted to talk about formulating an action plan. Nue .00 Economic Development Board March 5, 1998 Page -5- New Business: Ms. Plaskett suggested one thing the Board could immediatel do, would be to get friends, business associates, the Chamber, and themselves to telephone or write in support of the FIND project. Mr. Grace said he would suppl the Board with names, and said Congressman John Mica was also helping in his support of the project. Mr. Grace explained the application process, and suggested writing the letters within the next week or two. He said the unemplo statistics was an item hurting their changes for the grant. He said the official statistics were based on the 1990 census, and at that time Edgewater was about 70% of the unemplo rate of the count and is assumed to still be at the same ratio. Calculation of the unemplo rate was discussed. Mr. Grace reiterated, he would plan on coming to the next EDB meeting. He said he and Ms. Plaskett would discuss some ideas to suggest to the Board. Ms. Plaskett said she would plan to come to all the EDB meetings. Mr. Grace thanked the Board, on behalf of the Council and himself, for all their time and effort spent for the good of the Cit Mr. Lewis reiterated, how much did the Council want the EDB to lead or how much to follow. Ms. Plaskett said the Board could alwa have a joint workshop with the Council. The Cit Manager said the EDB needed to identif what the Board thought it should be doing. He said the Council needed a plan telling them what needed to be focused on. Because of the constant turn-over in Board members, Mr. Lewis felt the were continuall starting over. He addressed former members Martin and Jones, and said an contribution to help the EDB progress would be deepl appreciated. Mr. Lewis asked where the Board stood on registering its own web site, and wh it was taking so long. Ms. Carter affirmed, the Board did approve to request its own domain. Mr. Grace said he would check with Jack Corder, Director of Parks and Recreation for an answer. Chairman Moore thanked Mr. Grace and Ms. Plaskett for attending the meeting, and said hopefull next month the could get down to more specifics. Mr. Grace said it would probabl take several months to complete the action plan. CONTINUED BUSINESS: 1. Certification of Recognition to Joe Martin Chairman Moore informed Mr. Martin, the Board approved asking Council to award him, and to officiall thank him, for all his economic development efforts on behalf of the Cit The Board Coordinator said, tentativel the award would be presented to him at the April 2, 1998 Council meeting. She said she would notif him of the exact date. Mr. Martin said he would make plans to attend, and expressed his appreciation to the Board. He hoped the members realized the were serving on the Board at a ver good time, and had a great opportunity to get things accomplished. Mr. Martin told the Board to call on him if the ever needed to "pick his brain ". • Economic Development Board March 5, 1998 Page -6- CHAIRMAN AND BOARD MEMBERS REPORTS: New Business Welcome Committee -- Chairman Moore apologized for not personally contacting new businesses on his list, but he did reach a few by telephone. He said one business was surprised to hear from a Cit organization. The Chairman asked the Board if they had time, to call or stop b the new businesses listed on the Januar and Februar report. Chairman Moore said he would get with Mr. Lewis and Mr. Holler in March to plan their visits to businesses. Concerning a complaint filed b the EDB about trucks being parked on Indian River Boulevard, next to the Chevron station by I -95, a written response from the Code Enforcement Officer and police officer Mark Stone was distributed. The findings by both were that there was no code violation. Mr. Lewis reported on the United Methodist Church craft sale's success, and the increase in number of exhibitors over last year. Chairman Moore informed the Board an acknowledgment receipt for the EDB's entry in the awards competition was received. Ms. Carter said she attended the last regular meeting of the Beautification and Tree Committee and a recent workshop. She said Indian River Boulevard and the City entrance ways were discussed at the workshop. Ms. Carter indicated designs for the signage was in the works. Mr. Lewis told the Board he had been tinkering with some ideas, in the form of a brochure, on promoting the FIND project. He could produce full color proofs if needed. Mr. Lewis asked if the EDB ever received the original materials used to produce the latest City brochure. The Board Coordinator informed Mr. Lewis that she had Jilot retain them so Edgewater Landing could use them to produce 3,000 brochures at their expense. She said she would call representative Sean Sullivan to request the originals. ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business to come before the Board, a motion was made and approved to adjourn. The meeting adjourned at 8:08 p.m. Minutes respectfull submitted b Elizabeth J. McBride, Board Coordinator Economic Development Board c: \edb \minute, \030598.reg