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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCorona del Mar BID Minutes 11/29/2012 1 Corona del Mar Business Improvement District Board Meeting Minutes November 29, 2012 Board Members Present: Bernie Svalstad, Jim Walker, Scott Laidlaw and Keith Dawson Board Members Absent: Tina Hoover, Ali Zadeh, Tom Nicholson Ex Officio: None Guest(s): Nancy Gardner / Dan Purcell / Jim Mosher / Jessica Prause / Karen Tringali / Ron Yeo/ Scott Palmer/ Linda Leonhard, Rossi Coyle (Irvine Co.) / Amy Senk / Tara Finnigan (BID Manager, City of Newport Beach) and Dan Matusiewicz (Finance Director, City of Newport Beach) 1. Call to Order at 7:34 AM 2. Roll Call - The Chairman called the roll and determined that a quorum was in place. Those present then introduced themselves. 3. Public Comments Scott Palmer announced that he had resigned from his BID administrative position. He thanked the BID board for 14 years of service and indicated that he will remain active with the BID as a business owner. Scott received a round of applause for his loyal service over the years. Guest Jim Mosher thanked Keith Dawson for his efforts on the Minutes. 4. Approval of Minutes Guest Jim Mosher pointed out that “fronds” was misspelled in the Minutes of the October 25, 2012 meeting. Guest Jessica Prause indicated that her last name had been misspelled in the October 25th meeting minutes and in previous meeting minutes. MOTION: Scott Laidlaw then moved to approve the Minutes of the October 25, 2012 meeting as corrected. Jim Walker seconded and the Motion was approved by unanimous vote. 5. Current Business A. City Council Report Nancy Gardner reported that The New Port Theater had submitted an application to the City for a liquor license. She added that the December 11th City Council meeting would be held at the new city hall. Nancy questioned the traffic impact that the new city hall will have on the merge lane project. Nancy reported that the City had issued a Request for Proposal for trash companies serving the City so that the specific costs of the trash collection service can be compared. Nancy reported that the City is looking at mooring and pier fees which will be considered by the City Council at the next meeting. Jim Walker asked Nancy if the New Port Theater would have to comply with the City’s parking requirements as a condition of the issuance of a liquor license. 2 Jessica Prause expressed her contention that the prior use of the Port Theater did not have parking such that the New Port Theater should not have to comply with current parking requirements. B. Village Maintenance Items. Scott Laidlaw reported that a quotation for replacing the tree in front of the New Port Theater had been received and that the proposed location of the New Port Theater’s bench and trash can enclosures had been approved by the City’s traffic engineer. Given the uncertainly of the new purchasing/acquisition procedures, Scott asked how to go about purchasing the bench and trash can enclosure. Tara Finnigan offered to look into how to get the bench/trash can enclosure purchased. ACTION ITEM: Tara Finnigan will find out to get the bench and trash can enclosure for the New Port Theater purchased and will report back to Scott Laidlaw. Power Washing. The Board considered the topic of power washing the sidewalks as suggested by quest Dan Purcell. Scott Palmer commented that 12 years ago, all of the sidewalks in CDM were power washed for the cost of $9,000. He added that the cost of power washing has increased significantly due to the requirement of containing and reclaiming the water used in the power washing process. Guest Dan Purcell commented that the sidewalks in CDM are “disgusting” and that the power washing project should be handled on a community-wide basis from Avocado to Hazel. Scott Laidlaw suggested walking the sidewalks to determine the need. Jim Walker questioned the need to power wash all of the sidewalks and instead suggested identifying specific areas. The suggestion was made to get pricing on a block-by-block basis to enable accurate price comparisons. Rossi Coyle (Irvine Company) commented that the Corona Del Mar Plaza shopping center is on a quarterly schedule for power washing. C. Parking Sub-Committee Jim Walker reported that the progress of the Parking Sub-Committee was temporarily stalled by uncertainty of the future of the merge lane project , the new city hall and the onset of the holiday season. Jim expressed concern over the need to relocate 9 parking spaces based on the current configuration of the merge land project. Nancy Gardner reported that the merge lane project would go before the City Council for a vote in January 2013. Linda Leonhard suggested that the business owners in the area could be surveyed to ascertain their preferences concerning the loss and relocation of the parking spaces. It was noted that newly-elected City Council member Tony Petros has a background in dealing with parking issues and should be helpful in that regard. Scott Palmer added that San Clemente did a good job hand ling its parking issues and that San Clemente should be contacted for information on its plan. D. Revitalization/CAP Committee Report Merge Lane Study Update In addition to the comments above pertaining to the Parking Sub-Committee, Bernie Svalstad reported that the City Council agreed to continue the hearing on the merge lane project to the City Council meeting on January 8, 2013. Scott Laidlaw commented that the traffic study regarding the merge lane project reported no loss of service and that the unfavorable staff finding appears to be based a few negative e-mails. Jim Walker added that the staff report should be based on objective findings rather than subjective opinion. Bernie urged all present to attend the City Council meeting on January 8th to support the merge lane project. 3 Pocket Park Ron Yeo presented a cost estimate for the proposed pocket park in the amount of $56,260 with a separate estimate for a free-standing sculpture in the amount of $25,000. Ron added that a lease from the landowner would be necessary. Nancy Gardner noted that the City’s art commission would need to be involved with any decisions regarding the proposed sculpture. Holiday Décor Linda Leonhard reported that the shooting stars that were planned for the Margarite/PCH center divider could not be attached to the palm trees and that Dekralite had proposed an alternative design. Linda commented that the alternative design was unbalanced and unsatisfactory. She added that the cost of the shooting stars was $1600 and that she would contact Stacey at Dekralite to get a credit for that portion of the contract. E. Administration & Financial Report BID Structure Update Bernie reported that he, Jim Walker and Linda Leonhard met with Tara Finnigan and two attorneys from the City Attorney’s office to discuss the pros and cons of a 1989 BID configuration versus a 1994 BID configuration. A discussion followed regarding how to modify the way the existing 1989-configured BID interfaces with the City, the need for less City involvement and a liaison to work through contract issues. It was the consensus that the BID board favored the 1989 BID configuration over the 1994 configuration. /// MOTION: Jim Walker moved that the BID would maintain the 1989 BID status with modifications to be determined. Bernie Svalstad seconded the motion. No vote taken. Discussion: Jim Walker commented that the BID needs to be more self-sufficient. A discussion followed regarding the nature and extent of proposed modifications to the BID’s contracting process and the cost of the modifications. Bernie suggested the formation of a sub- committee to explore and formulate a proposal outlining proposed modifications. AMENDED MOTION: Jim Walker moved that the CDM BID would not pursue conversion to a 1994 BID structure and that modifications of how the presently-configured BID interfaces with the City would be explored. Keith Dawson seconded the motion and the motion was approved by unanimous vote. BID Accounting Procedure Update City Finance Director Dave Matusiewicz described a new on-line process for contract and invoice submission and approval that is intended to streamline the process. He indicated that a new accounting firm will be handling the BID’s bookkeeping / accounting. Matt and Tracy Savage will be in charge of the BID assessment billings, payments, etc. He added that BID assessments can be paid on-line and that the on-line service would be up and operating within the next week. A list of aged receivables will be provided to the Board subcommittee. Contact information for City staff, Matt and Tracy was distributed to the Board F. Marketing / Outreach Report Holiday Ad Campaign. Linda Leonhard Reported that the final Holiday ads promoting the CDM Business District will be running in December in both the Daily Pilot and the Newport Independent. Linda gave an overview on the results of the QR code “Enter to Win” Campaign 4 and how it spiked the web stats and increased traffic to the BID’s Website and FB Page. Linda also reported that many hits to the webpage have come through cdmtoday.com from the website ad the BID placed. Beautification Award. Linda discussed how appreciative Avila’s El Ranchito and the Port Theater were to receive their Beautification Awards. Linda also requested nominations for the next business recipient and nominated B. Candy for their building remodel. Committee voted unanimously on B. Candy. Jim Mosier stated that since Keith Dawson had to leave the meeting early that the BID did not have a quorum to vote on this matter. The subject will be continued at the January BID Meeting. Christmas Walk. Linda stated that the BID’s Exhibit booth at the Christmas Walk will be set-up and ready to go by 10am and inquired if there were any Board Members that would be willing to volunteer to staff the booth. Keith Dawson volunteered. 2013 CDM Business Directory – Linda reported that the BID Membership Directory is currently in production and will again be direct mailed to 12,000 households. G. CDM Chamber Report Christmas Walk. Linda gave an update on the Christmas Walk and all details were running smooth and on track and thanked the BID and the City for supporting the event. Holiday Events. Linda reported that the Bungalow hosted a successful holiday mixer for the general membership and the last event of the year will be a holiday luncheon hosted at the Five Crowns on December 18th. Please RSVP. Job Opening. Linda reported that the Chamber currently has a job opening for an Administrative Coordinator. Please see Linda for details and referrals. Board Members – Linda Reported that the Chamber will have a new Board of Directors beginning in January and looks forward to another successful new year. 6. CORONA DEL MAR BID ANNOUNCEMENTS - FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS Marketing Report – Beautification Award Vote 7. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 a.m. Next meeting: January 24, 2013