City of Lawrence

Retail Task Force

November 9, 2010 meeting minutes

MEMBERS PRESENT:	Robert Chestnut, Tom Kern, Allison Vance Moore, Susan Cook, Mike Gaughan, Leslie Alhert
MEMBERS ABSENT:	Diane Oakes, Earl Reineman, John Ellena
STAFF PRESENT:	David L. Corliss, City Manager Diane Stoddard, Assistant City Manager Scott McCullough, Planning and Development Services Director Roger Zalneraitis, Economic Development Coordinator/Planner
PUBLIC PRESENT:

Call meeting to order:

Commissioner Rob Chestnut called the meeting to order at 4:00 pm on Tuesday November 9, 2010.

Minutes from October 5^th meeting:

Tom Kern made a motion to approve the minutes from October 5. The motion was seconded by Leslie Alhert. The motion was approved.

Continuing Discussion Regarding RFP for market information:

Commissioner Chestnut opened the discussion regarding the draft RFP. Tom Kern commented that retail tends to follow other development and wondered if we let the private market take the lead. There was discussion about the need to have a focus for a variety of retail uses. There was concern expressed that the RFP not only get information that would be exclusively used for recruitment of new retail.

There was discussion that the City doesn’t have any retail incentives at this time. However, the City had adopted a policy concerning Commercial Improvement Districts. Ms. Vance Moore indicated that there appeared to be a need to identify next steps for how the information would be used to ensure that the information would be used to its fullest.

Commissioner Gaughan wondered about the retention work that the Chamber currently provides. Mr. Kern responded that the primary focus of the agreements between the City and County and the Chamber regarding job retention was for primary jobs, not secondary jobs. Mr. Kern suggested that a way the market analysis information could be used would be to share with retailers gap information identified with the analysis. The first focus would be on growing current retailers. Ms. Alhert thought a key would be to have someone working to educate retailers about what the information is saying. Mr. Zalneraitis reported that there are two ways to get the information- have a consultant provide information, or buy the data outright. He thought that the consultant work might be more aiming at identifying gaps and the data might be good for when a retailer just wants more general market information. After this discussion, it was suggested that Ms. Vance Moore asked whether smaller retailers would have the resources necessary to address a gap and thought that might be an issue. Commissioner Chestnut thought that the information may be able to be used by retailers to take to a bank to pursue capital to address a need.

Ms. Alhert indicated that she thought it would be very important to have the Chamber involved in this.

There was discussion about where the point person to lead the information should reside. Several expressed with the Chamber. Mr. Kern indicated that the structure may not be unlike the current economic structure between the City and Chamber regarding other economic development activities. Mr. Corliss confirmed that the City did not license businesses, but had some general information.

It was suggested to possibly modify the RFP to enable data firms to be able to respond. Mr. Zalneraitis indicated that the best way to determine what the data itself might cost would be for staff to do some research on this.

Ms. Vance Moore mentioned staffing resources to accomplish the implementation. It was suggested that this resource issue could be something discussed by the City Commission and the Chamber Board.

Tom Kern made a motion to proceed with requesting that the City Commission consider releasing the RFP. The motion was seconded by Leslie Alhert. Motion passed unanimously.

Memo on changes to development process:

Scott McCullough, the City’s Director of Planning and Development Services, provided an overview for the group of a memo showing various actions the City has taken to improve the development process. These items include things such as various code modifications, extension of approvals, additional administrative authority and waivers and processes to set up continuous improvement. Discussion of these sorts of issues has been a subject at several prior Retail Task Force meetings.

Mr. McCullough indicated that has given a lot of thought to whether the code contributes positively or negatively to economic development. He believes that the changes made have resulted in improvements to the process, but acknowledges that from time to time there are challenges. Ms. Vance Moore thanked Mr. McCullough for his work in the report and indicated that she has noted improvements to the process as well. She also commented customer service was important and noted customer service cultural improvements within the department. Commissioner Chestnut asked Ms. Vance Moore if some of the changes that have been made to the code have adequately been communicated to the development community. Tom Kern suggested the possibility of a commercial realtors forum that could communication and discuss this information several times each year.

Discuss structure of final report:

Mr. Zalneraitis asked the Task Force how they would like to see the final report. Commissioner Gaughan responded that it could be a document that provides background regarding what has been done regarding retail and current status. Mr. Kern added that he thought that there should be a section regarding various recommendations. He thought that placing the recommendations of the Task Force in context would be important. Mr. Kern suggested the possibility of framing this as a pilot project and try to see if certain milestones can be achieved within a given timeframe. Commissioner Gaughan indicated he would be comfortable with that as long as the metrics were flexible in response to things happening in the market place.

Commissioner Chestnut also indicated that including the importance of sales tax to the City budget would be important for the report. Mr. Zaleneraitis reported that he would work on drafting more text of the report for the next meeting. Commissioner Chestnut indicated that having some discussion on the ED Partner’s role regarding retail would be a good item.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:30 p.m. The next meeting is set for Tuesday, December 7 at 4 pm. Agenda items identified included more information on a draft report, discussion regarding role of ED Partners related to retail.