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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCorona del Mar BID Minutes 12/03/2015 1 Minutes of the Corona del Mar Business Improvement District Board Meeting December 3, 2015 City of Newport Beach City Hall Corona del Mar Conference Room, 1st Floor, Bay E 100 Civic Center Drive, Newport Beach, CA I. Call to Order Chairman Svalstad called the meeting to order at 7:34am. II. Roll Call Chairman Svalstad called the roll, and everyone in the room introduced themselves. Board Members Present: Chairman Svalstad, Vice Chairman Laidlaw, Treasurer Dawson, Secretary Prause; Director Walker; Director Kianipur, Director Lim. BID Consultants: Linda Leonhard, BID Marketing Consultant and Administrative Services (Corona del Mar Chamber of Commerce) Guests: David Webb, Public Works Director; Tony Bryan, Public Works, Mary Locey, Public Information / Management Analyst; Leonie Mulvihill, Assistant City Attorney III. Public Comments on Agenda Items None. IV. Approval of Minutes MOTION: Director Walker made a motion to approve the October 22, 2015 Board Minutes. Treasurer Dawson seconded the motion. The motion carried by the following roll call vote: Ayes: Svalstad, Dawson, Walker, Laidlaw, Lim, Kianipur, Prause V. Current Business a. City Council Report: The new Mayor will be appointed on Tuesday, December 8, 2015. The pocket park has opened. From December 24, 2015 – January 1, 2016, the City will shut down. b. Proposed Amendments to Newspaper Racks and Stands (NBMC Chapter 5.70): Assistant City Attorney Ms. Mulvihill reported that the new ordinance will remove all the free standing news racks and replace them in particular centralized locations on double decker pedestals. The purpose for doing so will be to alleviate congestion, the interference with the public’s use of the right of way and visual blight. The ordinance only regulates news racks in the public right of way and not news racks on private property. Of note, one concern that may be brought up by the new central news rack pedestals is that they create visibility concerns to businesses. Thus, it may make more sense to place some of these on side streets. Director Walker stated that the suggested pedestal location in front of The Bungalow restaurant likely is not feasible because the new Gateway Project anticipates placing a wall in the same location. In addition to the above benefits, the City staff also feels that these new news racks would alleviate the maintenance 2 issue with the current racks. There is currently no provision permitting advertising on the pedestals in the proposed ordinance, but this is a policy issue that can be brought before City Council. MOTION: Vice Chairman Laidlaw made a motion to move the draft ordinance to City Council for approval. Director Walker seconded the motion. The motion carried by the following roll call vote: Ayes: Svalstad, Dawson, Walker, Laidlaw, Lim, Kianipur, Prause Following the motion, it was determined that BID guidelines for the news racks would need to be determined prior to the ordinance coming before City Council. Director Kianipur agreed to get together with Mr. Ron Yeo to draft the guidelines as soon as possible so that the ordinance could be taken to City Council by Spring 2016. c. Nomination of Board Member to Fill Unscheduled Vacancy Ms. Adrienne Brandes, who had submitted an application for the BID Board, was not present. MOTION: Director Walker made a motion to postpone the nomination until the next meeting of the Board. Director Kianipur seconded the motion. The motion carried by the following roll call vote: Ayes: Svalstad, Dawson, Walker, Laidlaw, Lim, Kianipur, Prause d. BID Project Updates i. Parking Management Plan (Walker/Laidlaw): Director Walker reported that at the next Board meeting the Parking Management Committee would like to bring up an exact plan to be presented to the City Council for approval. Since the last report, they had held several committee meetings and met with several City Council members. They had decided upon a two-phase and two-prong approach. The goal of the BID is to strengthen the health of the businesses in the district by widening the business uses and thereby facilitating healthy business conditions. 1. The first prong, Phase 1 of the plan is to create more parking, generate parking revenue, establish a parking revenue district, and use all revenue generated (presumably through meters) directly toward improving parking. Phase 2 is to expand existing parking lots and build new parking lots. Once the revenue stream is generated, you can issue bonds against it. In addition, the Parking Committee would like to work with City Planning to see if there are ways to collect other fees, such as development fees, to set aside to improve parking within the Business District. 2. The second prong is to reduce the parking requirement by giving a credit to businesses for on-street parking. It is possible to reduce current parking requirements, or rather off-set them by existing street parking, by approximately 25% or more. Other possibilities are in- lieu parking fees. Once a parking management district is set up, a business could pay an in- lieu fee to reduce their parking requirement. Further, it is recommended that the City revise the Zoning Code to permit restaurants to use a shared valet to reduce their parking requirement. Another option to reduce parking requirements is off-siting employee parking. Finally, the City is pushing the implementation of parking meters in Corona del Mar. However, the residents are very opposed to it. One comment noted that the BID pushing parking meters could delay the process of making any parking changes to the Business District for an indefinite amount of time. It may be more achievable to change the parking requirements than to get meters. On a final note, it was mentioned that the 3 residents may only consider meters if they are concurrently given residential permits to allow them relatively free parking. The Parking Committee was going to follow up with Scott Palmer and Keith Curry regarding bonding. ii. Marguerite & PCH Project (Svalstad): Chairman Svalstad reported that the City approved the contract to proceed with the work the BID approved. The architect has signed the contract and is waiting for the City to counter-sign to proceed. iii. Tree Well Maintenance (Laidlaw): It was reported that a number of tree wells need to be updated. The current proposal is to upgrade thirty-three (33) of the worst-case planters moving toward feather grass with a pink-hue color tone. In West Newport, on Balboa Blvd, the City went to the feather grass approach, and it seems to be reasonable. Pinnacle Landscape Company also proposed fencing around the tree wells. MOTION: Treasurer Dawson made a motion to move $3,500 from the contingency account to cover the additional tree well landscaping. Secretary Prause seconded the motion. The motion carried by the following roll call vote: Ayes: Svalstad, Dawson, Walker, Laidlaw, Lim, Kianipur, Prause e. Financial Report: It was reported that we are about $16,000 off our assessment goal for the whole year. Chairman Svalstad and Ms. Leonhard met with the City about paying via credit card, and it cannot be done for assessments for the BID at this time. It is in the Master Plan for the City for the next two years but not currently feasible. MOTION: Treasurer Dawson made a motion to receive and file the financial report for October 2015 and November 2015. Secretary Prause seconded the motion. The motion carried by the following roll call vote: Ayes: Svalstad, Dawson, Walker, Laidlaw, Lim, Kianipur, Prause f. BID Website Development (Leonhard) Ms. Leonhard reported that she had a website development proposal from Rhino WebGroup and recommended the City enter into an agreement for the services. The price to develop a WordPress website for the BID would be $5,000, plus a hosting fee of $39 per month. Ms. Leonhard reported that the City would like to enter a five-year agreement to lock in hosting at a price of $2,340. She stated that the City recommended we approve their contract not to exceed $9,000 including 5 years of hosting and also maintenance costs. Of note, the BID has $10,000 in its budget for its website. MOTION: Secretary Prause made a motion to approve the contract with Rhino WebGroup for creation of the BID’s website, including hosting and maintenance for five years, not to exceed $9,000. Director Lim seconded the motion. The motion carried by the following roll call vote: Ayes: Svalstad, Dawson, Walker, Laidlaw, Lim, Kianipur, Prause g. Administration & Marketing Report (Leonhard) i. Results of the 2015 membership survey – great comments returned but only twenty-six (26) businesses participated 4 ii. Beautification award nomination – MOTION: Director Lim made a motion to nominate House of Fitness for the upcoming Beautification Award. Director Kianipur seconded. The motion carried by the following roll call vote: Ayes: Svalstad, Dawson, Laidlaw, Walker, Lim, Kianipur, Prause Director Laidlaw left the meeting at 9:08am. iii. Holiday ad campaign – Campaign is going well and on schedule. iv. Speak-Up Newport Mayor’s Dinner cooperative table sponsorship. Ms. Leonhard reported that the Annual Mayor’s dinner is on February 4th and asked if the BID would like to have presence through a cooperative table sponsorship with the CdM Chamber. The Cost to the BID would be $600.00. Both parties would then be sponsors. MOTION: Director Kiainipur made a motion to sponsor ½ the table for the upcoming Speak-Up Newport Mayor’s Dinner in the amount of $600. Director Lim seconded the motion. The motion carried by the following roll call vote: Ayes: Svalstad, Dawson, Walker, Lim, Kianipur, Prause h. CdM Chamber Report (Leonhard) Ms. Leonhard reported that the Christmas Walk is Sunday, December 6, 2015. VI. Corona del Mar BID Announcements or Matters which Members Would Like Placed on a Future Agenda for Discussion or Action or Report (Non-Discussion Items) None. VII. Public Comments on Non-Agenda Items None. VIII. Next Meeting The next BID meeting is scheduled for January 28, 2016. IX. Adjournment MOTION: Director Walker made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Secretary Prause seconded the Motion. The motion carried by the following roll call vote: Ayes: Svalstad, Dawson, Walker, Lim, Kianipur, Prause The meeting adjourned at 9:20am.