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HomeMy WebLinkAboutITEM II-AC ~ DRAFT DOWNTOWN REDEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE * ~HI~"I March 15, 2011 MINUTES I. CALL TO ORDER Chair Lynn Norman called the meeting to order at 4:06 p.m. in Conference Room 2, located on the second floor of One East Main Street, Auburn, WA. Committee Members present were: Chair Lynn Norman and Vice Chair Nancy Backus. Member Sue Singer was excused. Staff present included: Planning & Development Director Kevin Snyder, Planning Manager Elizabeth Chamberlain Economic Development Manager Doug Lein and Planning & Development Secretary Tina Kriss. Audience Members present were: Ronnie Roberts, Ed Hahn, Kathleen Keator, and Spencer Alpert of Alpert International. II. CONSENT AGENDA A. Meeting Minutes-March 1, 2011 Vice Chair Backus moved and Chair Norman seconded to approve the consent agenda items as presented. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY 2-0 III. DISCUSSION A. Request for Expression of Interest Concept for Auburn Junction. Planning Manager Elizabeth Chamberlain and Director Kevin Snyder provided details on the potential marketing tool called Request for Expression of Interest Concept (RFEI) for Auburn Junction. The City of Richland recently utilized this tool for potential developer interest in city owned property; staff believes the RFEI approach could bean informative and instructive method to further expose Auburn Junction to the marketplace, highlight the City owned parcels to this marketplace, and gauge market interest. Staff believes its use could expose both the type of developers and development that are attracted to Auburn Junction and help us focus future marketing efforts. Director Snyder stated this is anon-binding agreement. Staff conferred with the City Attorney's Office regarding the potential use of the RFEI and its conformance to the current Master Development Agreement with Alpert International. The City Attorney's Office has determined that the use of an RFEI is not inconsistent orviolates the Master Development Agreement. Committee and staff reviewed the agreement and Committee provided the following feedback: Page 1 Downtown Redevelopment Committee Minutes March 15, 2011 1. Committee liked the concept and thought it would be a viable way to confirm the City's idea for development forAuburn Junction; it will also provide feedback if the ideas don't seem to be on the right track. 2. Committee asked how this would be marketed. Director Snyder stated the City could use some selective advertising using periodicals and discuss with Mr. Alpert if we would like to send these to several developers. Because this process yields anon-binding agreement the City has more options in the advertising. 3. Committee would like to make sure the RFEI is not limited; they would like to see more information on mixed-use with the housing component involved and how the designation of density housing on the valley floorwill affect planning. 4. Committee would like to find ways of tying Auburn Junction into the existing historic downtown. 5. Committee wants Auburn Junction to have a cohesive feel of an activity, arts, entertainment, and commercial area which will still tie other areas of the City together (an urban center hub) while being open to the ideas that are generated from this RFEI. 6. Committee is excited to see the potential of a RFEI submittal showing something unique and exciting which could expand the current vision of Auburn Junction. Spencer Alpert of Alpert International stated this is a terrific idea, spreading the net, getting Auburn's name out there, and getting ready for development. Mr. Alpert suggested the potential of one single use developer to be connected with another single use developer to enable multi uses and a broader spectrum of ideas to get the development going forward. The City could still determine if they wanted to accept the variation of development from multiple developers. Committee stated they have limited resources of land and would be concerned about squandering our possibilities if a developerwanted to develop commercial with a promise of future housing development only to find out later they did not want to develop housing. Committee suggested wording this in such a way to get a mix of both. Spencer Alpert stated he has been told it is hard to coordinate housing, apartments and retail together. A suggestion is to look for new ideas while still promoting the quality of the overall objective. If someone comes with one use they specialize in marry them up with someone we know is interested in developing with other uses to begin development through a contact point. Committee asked Director Snyder how successful the City of Richland has been with the concept of the RFEI. Mr. Snyder stated he will be talking with the City of Richland and report back. Mr. Snyder emphasized in the past the Committee has discussed development may not be full block but partial block sections due to market considerations; having multiple experienced development parties representing different aspects of the development. Page 2 Downtown Redevelopment Committee Minutes March 15, 2011 Director Snyder stated he will work with the City Attorney's office and the master developer SpencerAlpert and others to create RFEI to bring back before Committee for feedback. B. Downtown Pedestrian Kiosks Planning Manager Elizabeth Chamberlain provided a new mock version of the proposed pedestrian Kiosk, changing the height, width, and font size to depict the actual proposed Kiosk. Committee liked the new version. Ms. Chamberlain cancelled the walking tour planned for today due to the weather. Staff will reschedule this walking tour for a later meeting. IV. INFORMATION Chair Norman stated she will be gone forthe next two weeks. Committee will be meeting again April 12, 2011. Staff stated the Matrix will be updated for the next meeting. V. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the Downtown Redevelopment Committee, Chair Norman adjourned the meeting at 4:31 p.m. APPROVED THIS DAY OF Lynn Norman, Chair Tina Kriss ,Planning and Develolpment Secretary Page 3