City of Lawrence

Retail Task Force

July 6, 2010 meeting minutes

 

MEMBERS PRESENT:

Robert Chestnut, Earl Reineman, Allison Vance Moore, Susan Cook, Diane Oakes, Hank Booth (for Tom Kern), Mike Gaughan

 

MEMBERS ABSENT:

Leslie Alhert, John Ellena, Tom Kern

 

STAFF PRESENT:

David L. Corliss, City Manager

Diane Stoddard, Assistant City Manager

Scott McCullough, Planning and Development Services Director

Amy Brown Miller, Long-Range Planner

Ed Mullins, Director of Finance

 

PUBLIC PRESENT:

Judy Billings, Convention & Visitors’ Bureau

Hubbard Collinsworth

 

 

Call meeting to order:

Commissioner Rob Chestnut called the meeting to order at 4:00 pm on Tuesday July 6, 2010.

 

Minutes:

The minutes were approved unanimously with a small correction to Ms. Vance Moore’s name.

 

Follow-up Items from Previous Meeting:

 

David Corliss reviewed the listing of stores representing various NAICS code categories. 

 

David introduced Ed Mullins, Finance Director.  Dave indicated that internet retailers are not required to collect a sales tax unless 1) they have a physical connection with the state; or 2) they have agreed to collect sales taxes.  For example, Amazon has a physical connection in Kansas with a distribution center and Best Buy has stores here.  However, some store from out of state would not be required to collect state or local sales tax.  Mr. Reineman indicated that if sales taxes could be collected on internet sales, it would solve many ills for many communities.  Mr. Corliss indicated that many states have “streamlined” their sales taxes and refined the definitions of sales taxes.  Kansas has been part of this effort and there have been several pieces of legislation over the past few years regarding this. 

 

Ms. Stoddard reviewed Mr. Zalneraitis’s information regarding peer cities that he had prepared as a follow up to discussion from the last meeting.

 

Mr. Corliss introduced Judy Billings.  He also noted that there was some general information prepared by Mr. Zalneraitis regarding tourism and lodging.  He noted that the guest tax rate recently was changed to 6% from 5%.  Mr. Corliss asked Ms. Billings to comment on what she saw as the future of lodging in Lawrence. 

 

Ms. Billings indicated that we were challenged here sitting between Kansas City and Topeka. She noted that she thought that a higher end property would be much better for Lawrence than a limited service facility.  Mr. Reineman asked about the occupancy rate of 60% and how it compares to other communities.  Ms. Billings indicated that information is really hard to find.  Lawrence does its own voluntary reporting and it ranges from high 50s to low 60s.  Overland Park had a higher occupancy due to a lot of business activity.  She said that 60 percent occupancy was acceptable given the economy and the market at this time.  Mr. Reineman asked if another property were added, would it negatively affect existing properties.  She said that it would need to a more full service property.  She said that we compete with Kansas City and Topeka for conventions.  More meeting capacity would likely come through KU and the Oread is filing that niche.  She did say that the Oread was challenged that had a higher price point and the conference meeting rooms were smaller and pre-convene area was not large.  She said that Lawrence has a unique community and Lawrence needs to have a lot of marketing. 

 

Mr. Booth asked about the property south of Hallmark.  Mr. Corliss responded that the property has been zoned and platted to allow for a hotel use, but that the City wasn’t aware of the brand of hotel, or exactly what was proceeding at that location. 

 

Ms. Billings stated that hotels either needed to have a “flag” so that they could access a national reservation system, or they needed to be a destination hotel.  Ms. Billings was asked about the top events that brings in people to stay the night.  She said that they were mostly KU events, but there were also events with Haskell, some sporting events, etc.  She said that weekends generally weren’t a problem for hotels in Lawrence, it was weekdays that was needed.  Mr. Reineman asked if anyone was looking at downtown currently.  She indicated that she was not aware of anything at this time.   She said that she thought that Lawrence was holding its own. 

 

Ms. Vance Moore asked about whether there were things in the works to bring people into town, such as the bike race.  Ms. Billings responded that there were.  It was asked if there was overflow here from events out of town. She said that there were guests from the Speedway events.  Commissioner Chestnut asked what more can we do to enhance overnight guests.  She indicated that we just bid on the Shrine Bowl, but that the KU facility was too expensive for what the Shrine Bowl could afford and it went to Emporia.  Ms. Billings stated that some kind of incentive for a higher end property in the downtown area would add to Lawrence’s capacity.  Commissioner Chestnut asked about whether there were shuttles from the Oread to the downtown area.  The response was that most of the people staying at the Oread drive their own vehicles. 

 

Ms. Billings updated the group on the status of heritage tourism efforts.  She stated that in 2011 it is the 150th anniversary of statehood and the beginning of the civil war.  She is doing cooperative advertising between Kansas and Missouri to get the word out.  There is work going on to tie in exhibits together to make a more cohesive experience for visitors.  She said that the Carnegie building will serve as the first gateway for tourists to get information about regional historic tourism.  The exhibit would likely open in the spring, after Ms. Billings moves DMI into the Carnegie Building.  Commissioner Chestnut asked about co-marketing efforts.  Ms. Billings said those efforts were underway.  She said that by the end of the year, there will likely be a map showing heritage tourism opportunities. 

 

Commissioner Chestnut indicated that he wanted to visit next about developing destination shopping and retail incubator examples.  Ms. Vance Moore reported that there is an incubator called Trendz at 151st and Nall in Johnson County. This was a larger retail space where the owner rented booths.  It was asked if she could forward the information to City staff. 

 

Commissioner Chestnut asked Ms. Stoddard to overview the destination shopping information.  She indicated that many communities had used steps similar to those set forth in the outline to develop retail strategic plans.  She spoke about firms, such as Buxton, that used spending trend information to develop plans, either by identifying retail gaps, or and identifying potential market opportunities.  She said that with Buxton, for example, they used credit card information to identify where people are shopping and what opportunities are to spend in town. 

 

Commissioner Chestnut thought it may be good to have Buxton or one of these companies make a presentation to the group. 

 

Mr. Reineman asked about the focus of the committee.  He thought that retailers know knew about the market and if there was a market here, they would be here.  He thought that looking at what companies to attract to come here would be a top down approach.    He expressed concerns about offering incentives to retailers.   He thought that there should be a bottom up approach to make the conditions right to support retail.  The example that he provided was a downtown hotel, which would be good for downtown retailers.  He supported an education effort.  He stated that we have many of the nation’s top retailers now. 

 

Ms. Oakes asked about the role of the City in this effort.  She thought that perhaps some of the things that had been discussed paired more with the Convention & Visitors’ Bureau, or the Chamber of Commerce.  Ms. Vance Moore agreed and thought that this was one of the purposes of the Task Force.  Mr. Corliss also agreed that this was an important question.   He said that the City had improved quite a bit regarding its data collection abilities and being able to monitor sales tax trends, etc.  He thought that the policy issue for the Task Force to address is what should the role of the City be regarding retail.  Mr. Booth noted that Lawrence does things differently and Ms. Vance Moore agreed, even if it were only a perception.  Ms. Vance Moore indicateds that when a change of use occurs, it triggers additional City processes.  Mr. Booth said that CVS had a perception that it was more expensive and difficult to put a business here. 

 

Commissioner Chestnut thought that there was a lack of information and that having additional market information may be useful. 

 

Commissioner Gaughan indicated that there is a need to have additional discussion about Lawrence’s process.  He also thought that it would be important to discuss the incubator models. 

 

The meeting was adjourned at 5:30 p.m.  The next meeting is set for Tuesday, August 3 at 4:00 pm.  Commissioner Chestnut asked for members to plan on the next meeting to go until approximately 6 pm.  Mr. Corliss indicated that possible items could include a presentation from one of the firms that collect retail information, discussion about various retail incubators, and continuing discussion on what the City’s role should be regarding retail in the community.