HomeMy WebLinkAbout05/12/04 EDC MINUTES
THE COLONY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
REGULAR BOARD MEETING
CITY HALL CONFERENCE ROOM
MAY 12, 2004
The Regular Session of The Colony Economic Development Corporation of the City of
The Colony, Texas, was called to order at 7:06 p.m. on the 12th day of May 2004, at the
City Hall conference room with the following roll call:
Board Members:
Bob Norris, President Present
A1 Garcia, Vice President Present
Kevin Greene, Treasurer Present
Rick White, Secretary Absent
Bo Trosper, Member Absent
Perry Schrag, Council Liaison Present
Staff Members Present:
Tom Ten'all, Director of Economic Development
Cindi Lane, Economic Development Specialist
Guests:
C. Kelly Cofer; Cofer, Haag & Thrasher
Mike Rosa; The Buxton Company
Jeff Grice; The Buxton Company
And with three voting members present, a quorum was established and the following
items were addressed:
Item 1.1. Pledge of Allegiance: President Bob Non'is led in the Pledge of Allegiance.
2.0. CONSENT AGENDA
Item 2.1. Reports:
a. Cash flow projection
b. Monthly ½ Cent Sales Tax graph
c. Tax Allocation Summary for April
d. Summary of current activity regarding development
e. Marketing update
fi Weitzman/Cencor update
g. ICSC Update
h. DFW Allies Marketing Team update
i. Update of Golf for Women Tournament at The Tribute
j. Report of TEDC spring conference
k. Quarterly treasurer report
(a.) Tom Terrall reported that April sales tax came back ahead of projection. (b)
The sales tax graph shows each month this year higher than the past two years. (c)
The tax allocation summary is there for the board members to compare our tax
revenues with those of other cities. (d) Mr. Ten'all said that Big Lots is more than
likely going to take one half of the available space in the former Rainbow location
and that there will be another user occupying the other half of the building. (e)
Cindi Lane discussed a meeting with Amy McCall of Shapiro, an ad in the May
14 Dallas Business Journal, an article coming up in the June-July Outlook
magazine, and the total number of visits to the website in April. (f) Robin Barrow
at The Weitzman Group is working on setting appointments at ICSC and will
touch base with the group going to ICSC regarding attending some of them. (g)
There will be a meeting with the ICSC team next Wednesday at 6:00 p.m. to go
over procedures and discuss appointments at ICSC. Developers and brokers will
be called on based on location, starting with Texas companies and branching
outward. There will be three teams of two each. We will work with Robin at The
Weitzman Group and will be allowed to use a table at her booth for a meeting if --
necessary. (h) Mr. Terrall has attended the DFW Allies Marketing Team meetings
and several issues have been discussed all focused on creating structure for the
team. There is another meeting tomorrow at the Dallas Chamber and he is
planning to attend the Coronet meeting in San Antonio this fall. (i) The national
golf tournament is taking place on Friday and there will be some activities on
Saturday as well. Tom and Cindi will set up the tradeshow booth Friday morning
and represent The Colony on Friday and Saturday. (j) Mr. Terrall recently
returned from the Spring TEDC conference. He attended the TEDSTA meeting
and reported that there are several TEDSTA members who are still not satisfied
with the H.B. 2912 and would like to see revisions made at the next legislative
session. He attended the legislative committee meeting and reported that the
lobbyist gave a report on the current special session discussing a possible change
of the state sales tax among other changes. (k) Kevin Greene gave a treasurer
report of the past two quarters stating that revenue exceeded the prorated budget
amount but that the interest revenue was lower than projected due to the low
interest rates. Expenses are favorable to the prorated budget and incentives are
extremely favorable due to not many incentives being paid during this period. As
of March 31, 2004 the unencumbered fund balance is $2,787,462.92.
Item 2.2. Approval of the minutes of the regular board meeting held April 14, 2004:
President Norris asked if there were any corrections, changes or additions that
anyone would like to make and there were none. A1 Garcia made a motion to
accept the minutes as presented. All members were in favor.
EDC Minutes May 12 2004, Page 2
3.0 PUBLIC COMMENTS
3.1. Public Input: There was no public input.
4.0 REGULAR AGENDA
Item 4.2. Presentation and discussion of retail initiative with Corer, Haag &
Thrasher: C. Kelly Corer of Cofer, Haag & Thrasher gave a PowerPoint
presentation to update the board on his findings and preparation for the ICSC
tradeshow. Mr. Cofer said he is in step nine often steps to complete his findings.
He has spent significant time in The Colony market as well as surrounding cities'
markets. He defined the trade area and reported the demographic profile. He
discussed the lifestyle segmentation profile of The Colony trade area and it was
discussed with the board members. He defined the top ten restaurant matches
explaining that all but two of them were either already in The Colony or in Frisco.
He discussed the retail leakage analysis describing the top leakage sectors. He
discussed pull factors. He then discussed 13 retail prospects he has determined are
a good fit in The Colony and said that if six or seven of those deals go through he
feels that it would be a realistic goal. He has spoken to a total of 45 retailers and
has set four appointments at ICSC. He has met with one prospect already. The
next steps are: (1) to complete retail and restaurant calls, (2) attend the ICSC
meeting May 23-26, (3) present the final report to The Colony, (4) be available to
The Colony in an advisory capacity for 12 months following the presentation of
the final report.
Item 4.1. Presentation and discussion of retail initiative with The Buxton Company:
Mike Rosa of The Buxton Company brought the board up to date on where
Buxton is in this project. He explained the basics of Phase I and that normally at
the conclusion of Phase I the demographics are in place to go through and
determine which retailers match the demographics of our community based on
several factors and comparing to successful retailers in other locations with
similar situations to The Colony. The problem is that they could find no matches
with retailers located in other cities. They first looked at the relationships in Texas
and then expanded to the rest of the United States. Buxton found itself struggling
to achieve goals for potential retailers and Buxton does not feel like they are
getting the results The Colony is looking for. In most cases, a match for a retailer
could not work because the retailer was already located in Frisco and Lewisville.
The final list that Buxton came up with was a list of fast food retailers and Buxton
does not feel like that is what The Colony is paying them for. Therefore, they
decided that they would reimburse The Colony $20,000 for the Phase II work and
continue to run the demographics in six months, then in six months after that
without further charges Buxton also offered to provide Kelly Cofer with
information if it would help his effort. Buxton will also create packets for specific
retailers at The Colony's request. Buxton felt that was fair considering the money
EDC Minutes May 12 2004, Page 3
The Colony has already paid them. Mr. Terrall said he does not think the
community wants to see more fast food; they want attractive, quality retail. The
board agreed with Mr. Terrall and to accept Buxton's refund of $20,000 and use
them on an as-needed basis.
Item 4.3 EXECUTIVE SESSION as authorized by section 551.086 of the Local
Government Code regarding Economic Development, to-wit:
A. To deliberate the offer of a financial or other incentive to a business
prospect. There was no executive session.
Item 4.4: Consideration of appropriate action to be taken as a result of executive session: No action was taken because there was no executive session.
President Norris adjourned the 4A board at 9:08 p.m.
Cindi Lane eRobert E Norris
Economic Development Specialist President
EDC Minutes May 12 2004, Page 4