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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07/02/1998 MINUTES OF THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION OF THE CITY OF THE COLONY HELD ON JULY 2ND, 1998 A REGULAR SESSION OF The Colony Municipal Economic Development Corporation (4B Board) was called to order at 7:15 p.m. with the following members present: Don Goebel President Susan King Member Sue Walden Member Vicki Briggs Member Wayne Bullard Member and with Member Manser and Member Seay absent; thus a quorum was established. Also in attendance was Pam Nelson, Director of Parks & Recreation Dept. of The Colony, John Sanders, Chairman of the Parks & Recreation Board, City Manager Lanny Lambert, Tony Johnston, Director of Finance for The City of The Colony, and Bill Sheveland of JNC. 1. CITIZEN'S INPUT. None. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF JUNE 18, 1998. Member King asked if when there are corrections to the minutes, don't those corrections have to be noted as to how they are being corrected? This was not done in the minutes of June 18, 1998. Ms. Nelson said they do. Member King made a motion to approve the minutes of June 18, 1998 to show how the minutes are being corrected- Member Walden wanted "The Colony" to be left in the title of our name at the end - she did not want it taken out. Under Other Business, the end of the sentence should read "413 could possible get involved with the financing." Member Walden seconded the motion. Ayes: President Goebel, Member Briggs Noes: None. Abstain: Member Bullard 3. DISCUSSION OF APPOINTING SUE WALDEN AS OUR REPRESENTATIVE TO THE 4A BOARD. None. This will be placed on the agenda for the next meeting as a consideration item. 4. DISCUSSION OF PRESIDENT GOEBEL'S MEETING WITH THE CITY MANAGER AND RICHARD SEIDLER OF THE 4A BOARD. President Goebel met with Richard Seidler and Lanny Lambert to discuss options of the 4A and 4B Boards having one director or two directors. The consensus was that it made more sense to have one director for each board. The fear being that by having one director for both boards, 4B would get shortchanged. Both boards have to make sure their needs are met. President Goebel stated he thinks one director can meet the needs of both boards possibly better than two directors can because they may have a problem communicating with each other. To hire a director, each board will have 3 members on a panel. The board will screen the applications. Before the interviews begin, the board needs to come up with a criteria. Member King asked Lanny if the new director will be a city employee and if 4B could fire the director. Lanny said that 4B could not fire the director but the 4B Board does have the right to cancel their contract with Lanny and Lanny is not sure if we need City Council approval to do that. Member Walden stated she does not think one person can handle being director of both boards. Member Briggs agreed. Member Walden told Mary it didn't appear that we have a choice but to go with one director for both boards. But if we're not taken care of, you'll be hearing from us. Lanny presented a structure and budget to the board for the costs of a new director. He believes this is a good plan and he would like us to try it and thinks it is the lowest cost for each board. Member King stated she is really upset that we've spent 6 months working on this structure and plan and I feel like we've been manipulated and used. Member King asked for assurance from Lanny that this won't always be like this. It's like we're nothing more than a rubber stamp for what city council wants. Member Bullard stated he is fine with the structure except in regards to a finance person. That person won't have a lot to do at first, so why not have the #2 person be an assistant director. It will increase the cost some, but you will have two people who understand planning principles and grant writing. Tony Johnston stated he is in agreement with Lanny's proposed structure and budget because it has the support of the city manager and city council. This will get your foot in the door. Tony also said he fears we are making a quick decision with this land. He said he would get us the funding if we need it. He said 4B is looking at this as an opportunity but it needs to be looked at as a plan of action. This may be the focal point that everything else expands from up to 380 to Austin Ranch. There are dollars that need to be weighed. Tony asked Lanny if there was any other land that 413 could focus on. Tony also asked about the TU Easman land. Lanny said a whole retreat was spent on this issue and no other land could be found. The last time we proposed the TU Easman land for a soccer field, the residents who lived around it said "no, you're not bringing lights, noise and activity to my neighborhood." Ms. Nelson stated you can't put lights of the TU Easman land. Member Walden stated this was supposed to be an example of what the 413 money could do, but people saw this and they decided this is what we're going to have and didn't hear anything else. Member Bullard stated this is a need communicated to us by the residents. There is nothing else we see that can meet this need. We can't go outside the city limits for this. This is the only land for a central location. Tony Johnston also stated he has a great concern on how Ms. Nelson is being compensated. She has put in hundreds of hours into the situation, and needs to be compensated. Members Bullard, Walden, Briggs, and King all stated they had been told by Lanny how much Pam was being compensated; and each one was told something different. Tony stated that Pam is an excellent Parks & Recreation Director. I can always rely on her budget and her figures. She's a key person and I think it needs to be addressed in the Parks & Recreation area and maybe not 413; but I do know that she will somehow be utilized in 4B, but I don't know where. President Goebel asked how we could get Pam compensated. Tony said it would be a discussion between the board and Lanny. Some of 4B money should go toward her compensation. Member Bullard said we need to discuss this as an agenda item for consideration, so that if we come up with something, we can vote on it 5. CONSIDERATION OF PROPOSAL FROM JNC TO CITY COUNCIL TO SUPPORT THE PURCHASE OF THE JNC PROPERTY. Lanny told the 4B Board he thought the Board should consider making a proposal to City Council on the purchase of the JNC property and make a recommendation to City Council on Monday night, July 6 because they have it on their agenda for discussion. The Parks Board would purchase the land and the 413 Board would develop it. Lanny thinks the 4B Board and the Parks Board should each have a representative present at the City Council meeting to snake a formal presentation regarding their decision. Lanny stated the proposal is fairly clear, the cost of the land is $24,000 plus development costs for roads, sewer lines and water. The total cost is roughly $45,000. Member Walden asked if deed restrictions could be added so that no liquor stores be allowed to develop. Bill Sheveland answered no. The deed restrictions are there for the purpose of ensuring this type development occurs on the land and there never is any commercial development because this is the type development we think would benefit economically the land we have to make it. Member King asked if we buy the land, can it be used for meeting places. Bill Sheveland answered that as long as the land remains in the ownership of the city, it's a public facility there to serve the community. The primary purpose of the building is for public purposes. Lanny stated that parkland could only be used for parkland and public services; once it's parkland, state law says that cities can't sell it without an election. Bill Sheveland stated that "park" means public facilities such as a library, park, etc. Bill Sheveland stated that having places you can host tournaments is great for the city and has distinct economic benefits. The nature of the 121 Corridor and The Colony is much better if we create generators of economic opportunity then maximize other areas. We'll be generating uses that haven't been feasible before. If The Colony makes the commitment to the project, the land will become more attractive sooner for development, which benefits JNC as well as the city, than if you wait for the normal market process to discover you. Until you get economic activity on the land, the city doesn't get the benefits. In suburban areas, you can more effectively use and efficiently manage one facility as opposed to a number of facilities located throughout the city - you don't get the impact you do from operating just one facility. President Goebel asked how you can determine the benefits of this? Bill Sheveland answered - look at all the land together - if you shorten the time you hold the land, you build it faster to stimulate economic development. Bill Sheveland stated this kind of program we think will push development faster in The Colony. Since it comes faster, that means we don't have to hold the land as long as we would ordinarily and we make money faster which means the city gets more economic development faster and it begins to feed money back into the city. The community has more to lose than the developer - this community won't be able to find this opportunity in this location again. Member Bullard made a motion to accept the proposal from JNC and present it to City Council. Member Walden seconded the motion. Ayes: All members present voted aye. Noes: None. 6. DISCUSSION OF FIELD TRIP TO CIMARRON PARK. President Goebel, Member Walden and Seay, Ms. Nelson, and John Sanders, Chainnan of the Parks & Recreation Board went to the opening of Cimarron Park in Valley Ranch. We were not impressed. They spent a lot of money for appearance and not for function. 7. DISCUSSION OF CITIZEN'S INPUT FROM THE PARKS & RECREATION BOARD MEETING HELD JUNE 24, 1998. Member King stated she thinks it would be beneficial for the Board to have any citizen's input from the Parks & Recreation Board meetings put on a separate sheet and distributed to the 4B Board members during their meetings. 8. DISCUSSION OF PUBLICITY CAMPAIGN TO NOTIFY CITIZENS OF THE NEXT PUBLIC HEARING TO BE HELD ON JULY 23, 1998. Members King and Briggs reported on the costs to advertise notification of the public hearing: 1. The Colony Clipper distributes to 7,500 homes. `/2 page ad would cost $150.00. 2. The Colony Leader ad - $98.00 to be turned in by 7-15-98 for publication 7-17-98. 3. The Colony Courier distributes to over 7,000 homes and all businesses. An ad would cost $84.00. 4. Morningstar will print flyers - 500 camera ready - $50.00. 5. Lazerset will print flyers - 500 for $34.44 / if we bring the flyer all ready, they will print 500 for $25.00. 6. Inserts - did not check the cost, but they do cost more. 7. Will check the cost to get the crawl on channel 6. Ms. Nelson stated a news release should also be done in conjunction with the ad. The news release would need to give more specifics about the meeting. Ms. Nelson said she could pay for the ads and the Board can reimburse her. 9. NEW BUSINESS. Member Briggs - On the next agenda, I think a decision needs to be made in regards to making a request for a City Council member to be a liaison to the 413 Board. Personally, I like Bernetta. I also think we need to discuss appointing a panel for the Interview Committee for the new director. Member Bullard - On the next agenda, I think there should be discussion and consideration as to getting Pam Nelson compensated. It was decided that a Special Session would be held on July 9, at 7:00 p.m. to discuss and consider the following items: 1. Consideration of Sue Walden as our representative to the 4A Board. 2. Consideration of nominations of 3 Board members to form a panel to be on the interview committee. 3. Consideration of publicity budget for the public hearing. There being no further discussion, it was unanimously decided to adjourn the meeting at 9:35 p.m. Kathy Neal, Recording Secretary Don Goebel, President