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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2 - Minutes - October 1, 2007CITY OF BOULDER, COLORADO BOARI)S AND COMMISSIONS MEETING MINUTES FORM NAME OF BOARD/COMMISSION: DOWNTOWN MANAGEMENT COMMISSION NAME/TELEPHONE OF PERSON PREPARING SUMMARY: Laurie Chestnut - 303-413-7318 NAMES OF MEMBERS, STAFF, AND INVITED GUESTS PRESENT: BOARD MEMBERS: KI.ERMAN, McMULLEN, COLEMAN, MAHER (Karakehian absent) STAFF: JOBERT, CUNNINGHAM, WINTER, LANDRITH, GREEN, CHESTNUT, FABER, BIECKERT GUESTS: Adams 1'YPE OF MEETING: MINUTES REGiJLAR MEETING: October 1, 2007 AGENDA TTEM 1- Roll Call: Meeting called to order at 535 p.m. AGENDA ITEM 2- Approval o[ September 10, 2007 Minutes: (See Action Item Below) AGENDA ITEM 3- Public Participation: None AGENDA ITEM 4- Police Update: Faber mentioned the police department has received numerous complainu, many from business owners, conceming aggressive hansienu in the 1400 block of PearL Klerman asked if the majority of the complaints occur more at night. Faber stated the problems have been reported at all times of the day. Coleman asked what kind of ordinance change might take place to alleviate the problem. Winter stated the operations committee is awaze of the issues and will focus on the behaviors on the mall and see what can be done. Maher asked why the problem moved from the 1300 block to the 1400 block. Faber believes the installation of the fence in the 1300 block may be the reason and feels Starbucks seems to enable the problem by handing out free water, etc. McMullen stated he was out late one night on the mall and was impressed how police handled problem people. AGENDA ITEM 5- Parks Update: Green reported Callie Hayden, who currently works on the mall, was hired for the lead maintenance person. They will post her position within the next two weeks. Green completed a walk through of [he mall with the forestry department and will replace one or possibly two trees that are missing on Broadway. She reported a spider mite problem on the honey locusts and will be doing some systematic chemical control in the spring to try and convol the issue. The tulip bulbs will arrive mid-October. Addidonal personnel will be on hand to assist with planting. McGuckins and Sturtz and Copeland will be donating some of the bulbs. Parks and Recreation is working with DB1 and the Office of Environmental Affairs on getting LED Christmas lights on portions of the mall during the holidays. AGENDA ITEM 6- BID Update: Adams repor[ed Fall Festival will take place this weekend beginning Friday. He handed out promotional items and praised the Stampede and the positive effect it has had on the mall. He reported visitor center figures of 6,000 in June, July and August saying 35% of visitors result in some type of d'uect spending, i.e., people asking about where to eat and where can they can purchase certain items. He stated $60,000 dollars worth of gifr cards were sold this year. DBI expects the sales to surpass last yeaz by 20%. Maher inquired about the hours of the visitor center and Adams responded they are 11:00 a.m: 5:00 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays. When CU has home games the hours are extended, 11:00 a.m. -7:00 p.m. on Fridays during the stampede. Maher asked if DBI will keep it open during January, February and March. Adams stated it will probably depend on the weather. Klerman asked about the current plans for the basement. Adams replied that is the opera[ion center. Klerman asked about buying gift cards at the kiosk. Adams stated the supplier has security requiremen[s and this may be a problem. McMullen thanked DBI for the taxi semce and night HOP. Adams gave an update on the holiday lighting saying DBI is looking at using some of their funds to ins[all LED lights in a couple of azeas around the mall. They are unable to do the entire mall at tlus tune as the cost is approximately $26,000. Envuonmental AfFairs would like to use the LED lights as a promotion by having people ezchange their old lights for a coupon to buy LED lights. Klerman asked if the LED lights will be phased in over time for the entire mall. Adams stated they can't be mixed with other lights so they will be put in by the block but said just to cover two small ffees costs $1,000 per tree. Green added the Department of Environmental Affairs is putting $5,000 towards the lighting and she hopes they will continue to do this in the future. The method of wrapping tree branches and leaving it on yeaz round has been discussed as it provides a huge savings when it doesn't have to be done every yeaz. DBI has pernussion to have the holiday lights on from November 15`" to the end of January. Adams stated several vees aze lighted with the LED lighu in front of Wells Fargo if anyone would like to see them. Regazding the issues with aggressive vagrants on the 1400 block of Peazl, DBI did have a meeting with 13 business owners of the azea to discuss the situation. For the most part, everyone was willing to wait and see if this is a short term problem and would resolve itself once the cold weather amves. Adams has seen many of the vagrants smoking up against the buildings and this may be an infraction of the 15 foot law. They have also been ticketed for littering. DBI feels police presence is the key to keeping [he numbers down. Winter has gotten several suggestions to ban smoking on or azound the children's play azeas on the mall and this will be investigated. Business owners aze not inclined to press chazges in fear of retaliation. Officer Bieckert has been encouraging transients to move back down to the 1300 block on the county court house property. Klerman asked who the vagrants are and Bieckert stated many are runaways, some aze high schooUcollege students who like to hang azound the mall but the majority are what the police have identified as a poser group. They don't really live on the streets but appeaz [hat way. Bieckert reminded DMC loitering laws all over [hey country have been ruled anconstimtional and even a smoking ban on the mall could be a problem. He said the police department can't site everyone who smokes and a trespassing law is difficult to enforce because no one wants to file a complaint. Winter stated focusing on time, place and manner is important. Adams pointed out these aze the same group of kids who hang out on the 1300 block and are not a new group of people. Maher asked if incidents are tracked on a monthly basis. Bieckert stated the PD has a crime analyst who can gather the information but it wasn't readily available to him at this time. McMullen suggested transients might be discouraged to hang out if maintenance personnel are working nearby. AGENDA ITEM 7 -Public hearing and consideration of a motion to make a recommendation to city council of the Downtown and University Hill Management, Parking Services 2008 budget: Winter stated the DMC budget sub- committee did get together and review the 2008 budget. Most of the items in the budget haven't changed from year to yeaz except by percent increases and that rate is included. Winter mentioned DMC sees a shortened version and not all of the detail. The action plan includes new items coming into the budget which are: capital maintenance, $125,000 for studies for the conference center and $100,000 to begin the design work on streetscape for the west end. Winter stated $511,000 is budgeted for the EcoPass which is a 2% increase over last year. She recently learned the EcoPass rate is going up 12% plus there aze additional employees so an additional $142,000 will be needed to cover just the CAGID EcoPass. She proposed to the deputy city manager to postpone the streetscape on the west end and look for other types of savings to cover the excess EcoPass expenses. She mentioned other additional revenue maybe forthcoming with the new pay stations and there could be a reduction in money for capital maintenance. There will probably be some internal adjusunent but the bottom line will remain the same. Winter said there is some flexibility and there will have to be an adjushnent to the long term budget. There have been discussions in the past about charging an EcoPass administrative fee but with the time restraints it is difficult to institute for the 2008 budget. McMullen asked if there was a way to access TIFF funds to help off-set this cost. Winter reviewed how the TIFF is allocated in the budget. Maher asked if there is any room for negotiation with RTD and Winter replied probably not. Klerman asked if the entire RTD district received a 12% increase and Winter responded yes. Landrith stated the city purchased 6,039 EcoPasses for 2007 and distributed 4,600 of those. This yeaz 7,110 will be needed plus the 12% increase which means the cost will be $93 per pass. Winter stated there is more flexibility in the budget this yeaz than in the past. McMullen would like the EcoPass yearly increase be a topic at the DMC retreat. Maher asked Landrith if the businesses would protest to an administrative fee. Landrith responded he felt it would probably be the employees who would disapprove. (SEE ACTION ITEM BELOW) AGENDA ITEM S -Matters from the Commissioners: Coleman would like to see better publicity about being able to use the same ticket from pay stations at different locations as long as the time isn't expired. McMullen stated he has received negative feedback regarding an inability to feed meters but has also gotten many positive comments. McMullen reviewed CAGID and Pearl Street Mall revenues. He stated he was on the mall on a Friday evening and observed the Pearl Street Grill and feels Adam Kulikowski does a great service. He said everyone was well behaved Cunningham reported there have been no further complaints. McMullen commented on a recent a-mail sent to Winter and forwarded to DMC regarding advisory committee responsibilities. He stated it clarified, to him, what an advisory committee does and anything that runs counter to it is not the mission of the committee. To dismpt revenue streams is not what a committee member should be doing and McMullen will be sharing his opinion with council. Klerman stated it seems as though the public is accepting the new parking technology and the concerns have not come to fruition. She asked if there were any preliminary results which might see a change in revenue and Winter stated there is no information on this subject at the time. Klerman asked if it was possible to observe activity at each pay station. Winter stated 60% of all transactions are made with credit cazds. Parking Services is working on a getting a pre-paid card to use in both the gazages and at pay stations. Coleman asked about the time frame and Winter stated this is somewhat out of the deparhnents control. Klerman requested Jobert give an update at the next meeting regarding change of use in pazking meters vs. pay stations. Coleman suggested some kind of recycling receptacle for the parking receipt stubs. AGENDA TTEM 9 -Matters from the Director: Winter commented Silvia Pettem's presentation was cancelled due a family emergency but will be rescheduled. Parking Services has received the new bike racks. The RHI conference will be held this week October 11, 12 and 13. A reception will be held Thursday, October 11 at 7:00 p.m. at Rembrandt Yards. 2 Winter gave an update on the proposed conference center update saying a CU environmental design class will take the conference center on as a project. Winter has interest from two developers and will be meeting with them. Kletman inquired about a recent article in the camera where two council members opposed the current conference center site. Winter said they will not approach council until after the elections. Coleman stated he feels there is a lot of misinformation on the subject. Cunningham gave an update and brief overview on cafe seating. Winter stated she contacted Jeny Lee concerning Karakehian's idea of making changes to the 13th Street loading azea. Meeting adjourned at 7:25 p.m. ACTION ITEMS: MOTION: McMullen motioned to approve the June 4, 2007 minutes. Coleman seconded. Approved unanimously. (Karakehian absent) MOTION: Coleman moved to approve the budget. McMullen seconded. Approved unanimously. (Karakehian absent.) FUTURE MEETINGS: November 5, 2007 Coancil Chambers Regular Meeting 5:30 p.m. APPROVED BY: DOWNTOWN MANAGE tf COMMIS Karen Klerman, Chair Attest: Laurie Chestnut, Secretary 3