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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMay 17, 2018 Joint Work Meeting Joint P&Z/City Council Meeting May 16, 2018 Attendees: Mayor Jerry Merrill, Sally Smith, Chris Mann, Brad Wolfe Melanie Davenport, Heidi Christensen, Greg Blacker, Kristi Anderson, Bruce Sutherland Craig Rindlisbacher, Scott Johnson, Natalie Powell, Tawnya Grover Mayor Jerry Merrill introduced Craig & Scott who will be talking about the downtown. Recently, the Mayor returned from a trip where he took pictures of streets. There is something attractive about having a well-planned street. Scott Johnson reviewed Envision Madison. The community wants economic prosperity and a caring and safe community. A pro-active approach is needed for business and job development. The City has found we oftentimes don’t have the space and sometimes the infrastructure to support business needs. NavEx Global was discussed; they will have Class A office space 22,000 square feet. Scott, Craig, and Natalie attended the APA conference. The overarching theme was shared: the Community wants businesses, businesses want talent, and people wants a sense of place. The Mayor shared an example. His kids are beginning a start-up business. The business could be started anywhere. They love the Rexburg area, but they are in Salt Lake and want to be where there are a lot of amenities. Think about the downtown and what will make this “sense of place.” Place and Character. Natalie pointed out the place needs to be relevant. The people who are coming to Rexburg need to relate to Rexburg and the special places and memories here in Rexburg. We need to be careful about tying all to the past; the buildings today need to be relevant to today. Bruce Sutherland talked about the structures after the flood. Some of the buildings are timeless. We don’t want to get caught up in the designs of today, because eventually, they will be the designs of the past. The University has been involved; a class of designers used a form-based code to create a variety of buildings, but when placed beside each other, complement one another because of the quality and form. As we talk about edges, we look to create dynamic places which should be constantly changing. A community center should be full of people, jobs, businesses, and culture. The culture should be found more than anywhere, in the downtown. The downtown should be comfortable. If you design a street for people, you get more people. What is good design for people? Scott related his experience about a INL conference. He was asked to stay later. They said Rexburg has something no one else has, an economic hub in our region. Our downtown needs to be that Regional Economic Hub. What are the challenges to downtown? What can our actions and policies be? 1. We need an effective parking strategy. Parking is not available downtown. Surface parking doesn’t support the downtown model. A home is being purchased to create a parking area, with the intent of tearing it down. A map was shown. Examples were shown that create the feel of being in a building. a. Parking management. We are making some adjustments like in front of NorthPointe. A 2- hour parking limit is being implemented to allow more turnover for parking patrons. Nationwide, communities are doing away with parking requirements downtown. Let the businesses figure the parking out. b. Expand parking regulation limits. We could expand the parking regulations in the Development Code. We could expand the 200’ limit. We would look at walking sheds. People enjoy free parking, but parking isn’t free. Someone has to put the parking lot in. The City loses tax revenue with open land set up as a parking lot. What changes in policy could be affecting our parking? Parking time is inconsistent. Tisha talked about an application that came in for Florence’s. She started walking around to see what the time limits were within local parking lots. Florence’s employees had to go out and change where they were parked. Biomat has the same issues. There employees are taking up 70-90 parking stalls. They have to go out every 2-3 hours to move their cars. Our parking is designed for retail; it is meant for coming and going quickly. It is actually cheaper to leave their car and pay the fines. As we get more and more businesses downtown, those businesses suffer due to parking. Where do we put long-term parkers? Signage is also an issue. Bruce Sutherland talked about the mindset of parking as close as I can, (I deserve to park as close as I can) no matter if the parking space is for the store you are visiting. There is a line-of-site issue. You don’t park in a place if you can’t see your destination from your parking place. We need a parking strategy. We also need a parking structure to support parking in the downtown. This would support more people, jobs, businesses, and housing in the downtown. We need to manage the parking in the downtown. A map showing the land off the tax rolls downtown was shown. The following needs were identified: 1. Increase the tax revenue of downtown. The downtown could provide so much more tax revenue, because of the densities allowed. We have a lot of large open spaces in the downtown that could be built out. 2. We need to drive down the cost of the land in order to fill the gaps and drive downtown development. The City and County have a large amount of land. The school is now sitting on the property on College Avenue. The School District also has some land. The University is holding the land on College Avenue. The City needs to look at what we can do to drive redevelopment. MEPE – Madison Economic Partners. Economic Development Group for the County. We are looking to grow and build. Space is needed; mentors. Job Centers. Hemming Village. The entire 2nd floor of Class A office space is going to Navex Global. Madison Economic Partners talked with the City about this space. Our University has proximity to the downtown. 20,000 students in the University. This is a large university. There are 3 semesters/track system. There is a lot of talent that moves through Rexburg. There is proximity to government, health care, culture, arts. We need to capture and capitalize on these. The vision is more of this caliber of office space is needed in the downtown; lots of glass and open space. Our home grown kids have a work ethic; however, they can’t live here. What kind of a change would there be if we could retain businesses that want talent and we have a place for those businesses to work? Possible allowance for higher building heights. Incentives like selling off our parking lots at below market price allow for development allow the buildings and office space businesses are looking for. Downtown Living. There is a need for more housing downtown. There are times when Center street is dead. Hemming Village is always busy. Residents are needed in the downtown. We need reinvestment. The housing would be above retail. We need a choice of housing options. The Homestead is a great example, but it isn’t downtown. However, it is old and dated. Can you imagine giving up your yard and living in a condo downtown? There needs to be something to do downtown. Room for planters and a balcony would be a draw. Different scales, sizes, and taller buildings are needed. NorthPointe was shown. The activity is being pushed out to the periphery instead of downtown. This is a very active place. How do we make this happen? We are looking for some branding and some way-finding signs for downtown. This will help people identify where the downtown is located. Are there any programs to make the downtown what we want it to be? The City has some options and New Market Tax Credits administered regionally. The Second Seasons and the 2nd half of Hemming Village. If it is meaningful and a mixed use project, they will put out 20% of the cost of the project. The Mayor talked about Brownfield development from DEQ. Ace was able to take advantage of this program, because it was an old filling station. Repurposing a building without a foundation was discussed. 1. Consolidating parcels could be something Urban Renewal could be doing. 2. Redeveloping publicly owned land. 3. A parking structure might allow some programs to happen. Projects have come forward to the City, but their projects can’t make money. We are talking about a vision that will take a generation to build. Bruce talked about If we make it appealing for investors to try something different, the development will come. Melanie talked about the University does not necessarily have stability in their numbers. This makes investors leery. There are also other groups of people approaching the City. We have a whole stake of young single adults not tied to the University. This group is looking for housing. We want to see this housing in the downtown. The City is hearing professors who do not want to own a home and have a lawn to take care of. They want to be able to walk to a grocery store and take part in downtown activity. Gathering Places. Should we need to close the street for a major event? 2,000 people showed up to Cinco de Mayo. We should develop large and small gathering places, possibly near the Tabernacle, Center Street, or University property. Center street gathering place was created, but the limiting factor was the loss of parking spaces. This action must be done in combination with parking. The intent is to plan, identify, purchase, and design spaces in the downtown which are gathering places. In Chicago, along the lake front, there is a wide open green space. The property is worth billions, but the City has kept it in green open space for public. This takes some resolve. Postcard View. Farmland. College. Taylor Chapel. The Tabernacle. We have iconic buildings. At one time, those iconic buildings were private in the downtown. We need architecture people identify with. We want to create an authentic place based on Rexburg’s history and culture that says, “Rexburg.” One of the ideas is to create the Art Fund to create iconic art in the downtown. How do we get this going? Buffalos, copper statues, changing platforms for art. Pedestrian Safety. We have some challenges with pedestrians. The street crossings are very large. Sidewalks are not wide enough or in good condition. The message is the pedestrian is not a priority. Our new projects are shortening the distance. It is a long way to get from campus to downtown across the street. People hesitate. This provides a barrier between campus and downtown. The traffic lane is 15’ causing people to go fast. Interstate is 13’. We need a plan in the downtown to accommodate; “a complete street”. It is important for those areas to be lit as well. How do you activate a street? Entrances and exits onto a street are important, because there are places to see and places to go. Surround the street with interesting buildings. Bring buildings up to the street, creating enclosure. The street can be activated. Mesa, Arizona example was shown. You do this to show the highest mix of uses. Human scale is the focus. Edges. People look for enclosure. Trees and buildings create the enclosure. Narrow walks feel dangerous and blank walls are not exciting. A separation between pedestrians and the street feels safe. A form-based code. The overhead plane, quality of building materials, wider sidewalks and implement a façade update will aid in creating buildings that follow the form-based code. There is an idea of transition from housing to the downtown. We see some places that transition from the high rise to a single level single-family home. In different transects, different areas are planned. High rise, townhomes, then single-family home. Implementation: We have been identifying the issues. Next steps are to create a vision. Parking Strategy. Complete streets plan. Frugal use of resources. Investment. We have a great opportunity. 4,000 people currently living in the downtown. This area can become the economic hub. We are talking about affecting change in the entire region. How can we encourage development to happen? We need to set correct expectations up front. Desire for integration with the University. Pathways was originally intended for the College Avenue property. The City is working with the University on a parking structure. How do we encourage the University to help? The charge of the University is to attract students, develop students’ skills, and send them out into the world. The current president of the University has a desire to work with the City. How do we build community? This is all about timing. The time feels right. The citizens, if presented correctly, will be able to see how this could work. Please share this message, to help people understand the opportunities. Work to be business-friendly and also encourage quality. There is fine line to tread to help development happen in a good way for the future of the community. Let’s set correct expectations up front. Learn all you can about these ideas and talk with staff.