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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-08-29 Redevelopment Authority Minutes. y.. • SOUTH BEND REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY RESCHEDULED REGULAR MEETING August 29, 2006 12:00 p.m. Presiding: Carolyn Pfotenhauer 1200 County-City Building 227 West Jefferson Boulevard South Bend, IN 46601 The August 29, 2006 Rescheduled Regular Meeting of the Redevelopment Authority was called to order at 12:00 p.m. by Carolyn Pfotenhauer. There was a quorum present. 1. ROLL CALL Members Present: Ms. Carolyn V. Pfotenhauer, President Mr. Jose Alvarez, Secretary Redevelopment Staff: Mr. Bill Schalliol, Economic Development Planner Mrs. Jennifer Laurent, Economic Development Planner Mrs. Jenny Hullinger, Recording Secretary 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES a. Approval of the minutes of the Regular Meeting of June 7, 2006 Upon a motion by Jose Alvarez, seconded by Carolyn Pfotenhauer, and unanimously carried,. the Authority approved the Minutes of the Regular Meeting of June 7, 2006.. 3. NEW BUSINESS a. Authority approval requested for Affidavit of Officer of the South Bend Redevelopment Authority. Upon a motion by Carolyn Pfotenhauer, seconded by Mr. Alvarez, the Authority approved the Affidavit of Officer of the South Bend Redevelopment Authority. b. Authority approval requested for Petition of the Common Council of the City of South Bend, Indiana, for the establishment of an Economic Improvement District. • Jennifer Laurent showed a brochure that the Downtown South Bend group has been doing a demonstration of upgraded maintenance, safety patrols, ambassador programs, flower planting that has been entirely funded by the City, through our Community & Economic Development budget. The City has been pushing them for some time to involve the private sector as a stronger partner to fund these improvements. It would be funded by voluntary property assessment, and Downtown South Bend has done a remarkable job with a grass roots petition campaign to get the property owners and business owners willing to be assessed to continue these improvements. They are asking the City to participate, as well, as a property owner and the Redevelopment Authority is one of those property owners. This petition is saying the Authority is willing to be a part of this voluntary The South Bend Redevelopment Authority August 29, 2006 Meeting Minutes assessment and funding of the program. Ms. Laurent said only businesses and not- for-profit organizations are assessed, not residential properties. Ms. Pfotenhauer asked if they were getting a positive response from the businesses, and Ms. Laurent said they were. Shannon Schmidt, from Downtown South Bend, said they are getting a lot of positive feedback from businesses on what has been done in the downtown. Ms. Pfotenhauer asked if this would be a special taxing district and Ms. Laurent said it will be a special assessment district. Ms. Laurent asked Tim Williams, who is our property manager for City-owned properties, to do a step-by- step look at all our properties. Mr. Alvarez asked if the information shown about Redevelopment Authority properties is the amount estimated that would be coming in fees, and Ms. Laurent said that would be just the amount from the Authority, but that there would be much more from businesses, as well. Ms. Laurent said the City will continue to fund all the administrative costs of DTSB, as we do now, so that the assessment amounts can go directly toward the visible improvements. Mr. Alvarez asked if only 51% of property owners agreed to the assessment then the other 49% would benefit without any contribution. Ms. Schmidt said they are working hard to locate all business owners, and are finding great difficulty in locating those who live somewhere else. Mr. Alvarez said he thought there would be a lot of property owners who would not be interested in participating in this, and Ms. Schmidt said they have gotten some who said no. Ms. Pfotenhauer said this would not be a tax assessment district, then, and Ms. Laurent said it is. The basic budget is $500,000. which is divided up. Ms. Schmidt said as they looked at the area and what the funds were to do and tried to come up with a reasonable budget. They have looked at other cities and what they are doing. They took the total assessed value for the area and compared the two and came up with a multiplier, which is .0017 so that if you hit a maximum or a minimum, which is built into the program, your bid fee is exactly .0017 of your assessed value. People can then know their bid fee very easily. Ms. Laurent said the small business owners end up paying a very small amount, which may be harder for them than the big property owners who can easily write a big check. They have taken special care to talk to the small business owners so they don't feel like they are carrying the burden. The large business owners, who are taking the large portion of it, are buying into the program. Mr. Alvarez asked if the fee would go down next year, and Ms. Schmidt said as the assessed value grows, the multiplier will stay the same so the budget would grow to accommodate the increased assessed value. If it were to decrease it would probably indicate that they aren't doing the right things. Mr. Alvarez asked about the $110,000. capital budget and wondered if that was aone-time or annual budget, and Ms. Laurent said there will always be projects of improvement that are needed each year. Ms. Schmidt said they have made significant landscaping and on-street service for maintenance and cleanliness. They started on Michigan 2 H:\W PDATAW UTHORTY\082906. M IN.DOC • The South Bend Redevelopment Authority August 29, 2006 Meeting Minutes and Niles and have done a thorough job block by block rather than a slight job everywhere. They then went to Main, and now Jefferson, and do a high level block by block. They want to continue to grow it in a smart way. Mr. Alvarez asked if they knew how many people come downtown annually, and Ms. Schmidt said this was the first year they tried to do an annual report, so next year they will have a comparison to this year's findings. The events have increased three fold in the last three years. Mr. Alvarez said anything that can attract people to the downtown will be a positive help. Ms. Laurent said many cities have used this mechanism and it is working all over the country. Indiana statute sets a very high bar to get things passed. Upon a motion by Mr. Alvarez, seconded by Ms. Pfotenhauer, the Authority approved the request for Petition of the Common Council of the City of South Bend, Indiana, for the establishment of an Economic Improvement District. • 4. .NEXT MEETING DATE: September 6, 2006 5. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the Redevelopment Authority the meeting was adjourned at 12:30 p.m. Carolyn Pfoten r, P ent onald Inks, Director 3 H:\WPDATA\AUTHORTY\082906. MIN.DOC