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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-05-10 Jtg Mtg MDCMeridian City Council - Meridian Development Corporation May 10, 2016 A special meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 6:30 p.m, Tuesday, May 10, 2016, by Mayor Tammy de Weerd. Members Present: Mayor Tammy de Weerd, Keith Bird, Joe Borton, Genesis Milam, Ty Palmer and Anne Little Roberts. Members Absent: Luke Cavener. Item 1: Roll-call Attendance: Roll call. X Keith Bird X _ Joe Borton X__ Genesis Milam __ Luke Cavener __X__ Ty Palmer ___X_Anne Little Roberts _X Mayor Tammy de Weerd X Jim Escobar – Chairman X Keith Bird-Member X Dan Basalone – Vice-Chairman O Kit Fitzgerald–Member X Dave Winder– Secretary/Treasurer O Callie Zamzow-Member X Tammy de Weerd – Member O Eric Jensen – Member X Calvin Barrett – Member X Todd Lakey – Counsel X Ashley Squyres – Administrator De Weerd: Thank you for your patience. We are an hour late, but I know we were doing delay tactics so our presenters would be in attendance as well. Didn't we accommodate nicely? Well, thank you for all being here. For the record it's Tuesday, May 10th. It's 6:30. And we will start with roll call attendance for both Item 2: Adoption of the Agenda City Council and, then, for MDC. Madam Clerk. De Weerd: Thank you. Okay. Item No. 2 is adoption of the agenda. Bird: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Bird. Bird: On the agenda we need to add Item 4, the Ten Mile Urban Renewal District Plan update and with that I move we approve the amended agenda. Borton: Second. Joint Meridian City Council - Meridian Development Corporation May 10, 2016 Page 2 of 16 De Weerd: Okay. I have a motion and a second to approve the agenda as amended. All those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carried. MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES. Item 3: Presentation and Discussion of Hilltop’s Survey Results De Weerd: Item 3 is our presentation and discussion in regards to Hilltop survey results and I know that Calvin Barrett will be kicking off this -- this item. Barrett: These are -- they are on. Look at that. Madam Mayor, City Council, Members of MDC Board, it's my pleasure to present the results of the steering committee survey that both of these bodies approved the funding for earlier this year. We are honored to have Maria Weeg of Hilltop Public Solutions, along with her associate Ben Patincan to present those results to you this evening. So, with that, Ben, please welcome. Patincan: Well, thank you all for having me here today and thank you for the delaying tactics. I got stuck in horrible traffic coming out here and getting to the airport and missed my flight and had to get a later one, so thank you. De Weerd: Well, thank you, Ben. If you will, please, state your name for the record. Patincan: It's Ben Patincan. De Weerd: Thank you. Patincan: So, I'm about to run through some poll results that we did. I'm going to start with -- hang on. Is it advancing? There you go. I'm going to start with a brief overview of the methodology exactly what we did in terms of the survey. So, we talked to 500 registered voters in the City of Meridian. The interviews were conducted April 1 through 5 of this year. As we go through this, you know, please keep in mind that there is a margin of error for every single data point of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points, a 95 percent level of confidence. So, with that let's move along into the data and I want to start off by saying this is a very right track city. Fifty-six percent believe that the city is headed in the right direction. Only 26 percent say it's off on the wrong track, which I have to say like this -- I am not used to numbers like this and typically I'm in communities that are, you know, much more divided on this measure. So, kudos to all of you, you know, people are happy with where things are going. That said, as we move through this we will see -- they think that more can be done. They have a desire for more to be done and that will come out as we start looking through each one of these slides here. And this is a first step indication of that. So, we asked the question generally speaking do you believe that more needs to be done in order to revitalize Meridian's downtown. Fifty-eight percent, a majority of the electorate Joint Meridian City Council - Meridian Development Corporation May 10, 2016 Page 3 of 16 in this community says, yes, more needs to be done to revitalize the city's downtown. Only 26 percent say no. Sixteen percent are undecided. Now, the feeling is rather muted. If you look -- I'm going to play with one of these buttons. This is so cool. Right there. Yes strongly at 24 percent. Thirty-four percent say, yes, not strongly. So, that's an indication to me when looking at that -- I mean this is a rather general question. Should the downtown be revitalized. I think add a project to that, add a more clear discussion to that and the numbers will actually harden, there will be more people in the yes strongly category. I think this is, frankly, the large numbers of folks in the not strong categories is a symptom of the fact that we didn't attach a project to this, we just asked in general what do you think. So, building a proposal. We asked another series of questions trying to understand, you know, what's important for your community members when they are thinking about revitalizing the city's downtown. So, we asked after each statement, please, tell me how important it is to them personally. Is it very important, somewhat important, not too important or not important at all? At the very top, creating and attracting more good paying local jobs for residents of Meridian. You have 81 percent of registered voters in the city saying, you know, at the end of the day whatever you do I want to make sure that we are attracting more good paying jobs to this community. You have 69 percent -- and these are the numbers on the right-hand side here. Beautifying the downtown to make it a more attractive place where Meridian residents want to spend time, instead of going to Boise. Folks want to stay here. They want to have fun here and they want, you know, good jobs while they are doing it. Building more affordable housing, 68 percent. And I want to be clear, when I think about affordable housing in the context of this survey, I did a -- just a quick new search and through the Google items on housing. It's not like Section 8 housing or something like that, we are talking about -- I think first time family home buyers. I mean for working families. These are people who want their own home. They want to be able to afford one and they want to be able to afford one that fits the needs of their family. That's what I'm thinking about when -- when I think what these folks are saying when they say we want more affordable housing. Providing more entertainment, restaurant, and retail businesses and opportunities outside The Village, 67 percent want that. So, as you go through this list you can see, you know, at the very top of the list, whatever it is, whatever project -- should a project be -- you know, be chosen and, then, funded and move forward, vision found, they wanted to have an outside impact on bread and butter issues. They want those jobs. They want to be attracting more businesses. They want to beautify this downtown and they want -- in the process to create housing that, you know, families like their own can afford to live in and stay in this community with. So, next slide. If I can get it to move forward here. There we go. So, now we actually get into some of the more specific building projects. Those were aspirational to, you know, I think to be more precise. This is more, you know, brick and mortar. So, building library space downtown. Sixty- two percent say that it's important to build library space in the downtown area. Building a children's museum, 62 percent say that that's something that they would like. Enhancing Meridian's ability to compete with Boise and Nampa for Joint Meridian City Council - Meridian Development Corporation May 10, 2016 Page 4 of 16 new businesses and opportunities for growth, you have 61 percent saying that's important and, then, lastly, building a convention center in that attracts regional or local organizations and associations in order to bring more people into our downtown and grow local small businesses and create more good paying jobs, you get 60 percent backing that. So, you have substantial majorities b ehind every single one of these concepts, saying that these are things that they want to bring to their community and, again, I think for all of these, particularly for the convention center, though, it would have, I would expect, an outside -- outside impact in terms of job growth and job creation. So, something to consider. And, then, lastly, these were the two things that were lowest down on the list, the least prioritized, but even for both of these you get to a majority. So, building a multi - purpose center that would include flexible space for meetings and conferences, you get to 56 percent and, then, building a performing arts center aimed at addressing growing demand for more seating and space for things like Opera Idaho, Treasure Valley Children's Theater, et cetera, you get to 51 percent. So, no matter what we look at -- I mean -- and there is shades of gray here, but no matter what you look at, Meridian residents said these are things that we believe are important. As I go through analysis of any project, you know, I don't just look at direct questioning I also like to do some regression analysis to understand not just what's the most popular and what's the least popular item, but what piece of this puzzle -- if people know more about it, if the y are more likely to believe in it, would drive support for opposition to whatever concept it is we are looking at. So, in this case I did a regression model to try and understand what are the underlying motivations for support for a revitalization of the downtown? So, when we are looking at priorities some of those, you know, bedrock things that I think people would be looking for is providing more entertainment, restaurant, and retail businesses outside of The Village and, then, building a children's mu seum that includes interactive exhibits and after school programming. In terms of descriptions, they -- whatever -- if there is a project and you're moving forward with it, you know, I would suggest that you keep in mind that, you know, it should boost Meridian's ability to compete with Boise and Nampa for new businesses and growth. That it needs to, you know, be cognizant of the need for more activities for families and young children and it needs to have more flexible space for multi-purpose use and there is some language nuance and the top one is -- is less interesting. Basically, we did a split sample simulation in the survey where we divided the survey in half at random at the beginning of the call, so half of respondents got into a split sample A, the other half into split sample B and in doing that we were able to test language and test different, you know, ways to describe a vision or a project. In this case we wanted to understand is it better to talk about a community center or a multi-purpose center and as you can see in the numbers on the top here, 46 percent to 38 percent, people are far more likely to say it's important to build a multi-purpose center than it is to build a community center. Just something to keep in mind. And, then, at the bottom here -- at the bottom you will see -- we tested out just including the words at the end of the sentence: Instead of going to Boise. So, beautifying the downtown to make it a more attractive place where Meridian residents want to spend time, in one Joint Meridian City Council - Meridian Development Corporation May 10, 2016 Page 5 of 16 sample it ended there and the other sample it went -- it went on to say instead of going to Boise. People were more likely to be supportive of the concept if it also said instead of going to Boise. People don't want to have to go to Boise all the time. We did ask a series of questions to try and understand price sensitivity in terms of where are people starting and how much they would want to spend and I want to make sure that you're all looking at this with -- there is a significant caveat here. We don't have a project yet. So, we are sort of asking people in this particular question to frankly fork over money without telling them what they are buying and so the end result is I think that, you know, we see a willingness to at least in the ten million dollar question to support spending some money to revitalize the downtown, but if you were to attach a project like a convention center, like a children's museum, whatever it may be, my guess is that these numbers would increase significantly, because they didn't get enough information, frankly, on these series of questions and so serious caveat when you're looking at this particular slide. But at a minimum pretty willing already to say I'm willing to spend 93 cents per month for a home with an assessed value of 100,000 dollars to support a project. Give me a project and I'm willing to do that. If we were to give them a project that they like and that, you know, we have done an education campaign around and tried to, you know, sell a vision of what more could be done within the City of Meridian, my guess you might even be able to get to 20 or 30 million. But you need that vision. You need that project in order to get to those things. So, we asked a series of questions at the end of the survey to try and get a sense of how people think about the City of Meridian. What, you know, words or phrases are they most likely to use when thinking about their city. So, we provided a series of descriptors and asked them how descriptive is this. At the very top of the list they believe Meridian is a great place to live, work, and raise a family. Eighty-six percent say that's descriptive of their city. Forty-one percent say it's very descriptive. Eighty -one percent say it's an attractive place for businesses and families to relocate. Now, they already believe that, but they also at the beginning said that we want more of that. So, we have opportunity here to, you know, build on something they already like and say we are going to do even more, because clearly we are seeing that and we are hearing that desire and it has thriving local small businesses. We are starting to see the numbers drop a little bit going from 81 to 69. Other questions? We asked has enough entertainment, restaurant and retail business opportunities outside of The Village. Starting to see the numbers drop even more. We are down to 57 percent saying that's descriptive. Only eight percent saying it's very descriptive. So, a lot of soft feeling around that. Again, I think that's a function of the fact that, you know, maybe they are just not sure and maybe there could be more. Has enough entertainment, restaurant and retail business opportunities. That's at 53 percent descriptive, 45 percent not descriptive. Frankly, that's divided. People aren't sure whether that's the case or not. And it's divided when you're taking into account margin of error. Is able to compete with Boise and Nampa for new business and opportunities for growth. Again, very divided when considering margin of error and has enough affordable housing for working families, extraordinarily divided at 44 descriptive -- 44 percent descriptive, 47 Joint Meridian City Council - Meridian Development Corporation May 10, 2016 Page 6 of 16 percent not. And, then, we also, in the same battery, tested out some needs. So, at the top we asked, you know, how descriptive is this of Meridian. Needs more good paying family wage jobs. Seventy-eight percent say that's descriptive of their city. Need more activities for families with young children. Sixty-four percent. Needs library space downtown, 58. Needs more flexibl e space for multi-purpose use 58. And, then, you get into the more divisive places where you need more court space for athletic teams. People prefer jobs before that. Needs more space to accommodate performing arts groups. Again, 44 percent descriptive, 48 percent not. People prefer jobs, activities for families, more flexible multi-purpose space, et cetera, before that. And I think that is the end of the slide deck. I just want to sum up again -- I think the most important point is this one right here. Needs more good paying family wage jobs and if I were to add anything else to that, it would be -- and I can't find it right now. Well, it would be needs more good paying family wage jobs and, then, also they want to -- there is just a desire to go back to the very beginning of the slide deck for more to be done. They see the city as a right track city, but they believe that more could be done to revitalize and build Meridian's downtown into something that attracts jobs, attracts businesses, and attracts families. And so with that -- I don't, Calvin, did you want to introduce Maria or -- we would be happy to take any questions. Barrett: Yes. I would just like to introduce Maria . Maria Weeg is a principal at Hilltop Public Solutions. Weeg: Thank you. De Weerd: Well, welcome. Council, MDC commissioners, any questions? Barrett: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Barrett: Barrett: Not a question, but just a comment. From the steering committee's role of the folks and all the volunteers that have been spending hundreds of hours of trying to help come up with an idea of what type of project we should have in our downtown to help revitalize it, I am very, very positive with these results. I think where we need to go going forward is perhaps entertain sending it back to the steering committee and saying, okay, what type of project do we want to envision? What is Council willing to envision in terms of what they want to see in their downtown, because it's -- it's pretty apparent from these results, without even a project we have got majority support. Now, it's not super majority, but we have got majority support of the -- of the citizens of this community that they want to see more done in downtown. So, I think from the steering committe e's point of view and from the chairman of that committee, is we need a little bit of direction, perhaps from the City Council or -- as well as the MDC board in term of what are the next steps. Where do we go from here? Joint Meridian City Council - Meridian Development Corporation May 10, 2016 Page 7 of 16 De Weerd: Any discussion? Any response to Calvin's question to you all? Dan. Yes. Basalone: I was particularly struck by the phrase -- I'd like to do it in Meridian and not in Boise. On April 30th the Meridian symphony held a rising stars concert at the Morrison Center. There was over 600 people there who had traveled I'm assuming mainly from Meridian to Boise to hear that concert, to hear our first class orchestra -- I don't want to say world class, because I don't want to be too hyperbolic with what I'm saying, but it is a first class orchestra. My feeling is that not enough of our community really knows the resources we have, because we can't show them off right here in Meridian and if more people heard that orchestra I think there would be a thousand people here in Meridian to hear them play and the young performers that they highlighted who are children in our schools, who do get the chance to perform. So, I was kind of struck by the fact that performing arts kind of came in lower, although you did say that a multi - purpose facility, which could include a performance area, would be attractive to citizens in our community. So, if you could expand on that a little bit I would appreciate it, because we do have a very strong -- and especially a very strong youth performing arts component in our community that does need to be shown off in ways other than just a children's museum. Patincan: Good question. I mean I think it's -- I think what it really comes down to is the project needs to be able to build Meridian's gravitas to a certain extent. It needs to be able to attract more good paying jobs. It needs to be able to attract new businesses. Now what that project is I think is entirely still up for grabs. I mean, frankly, you know, I would assume that whatever project is eventually decided upon there would be an education campaign to help build awareness about why this is needed within the community and, you know, if there is a public financing component there would be an actual campaign to try and get that public financing. Now, it could be a convention center, it could be a performing arts center, but I think the end of it all -- and it goes back to one of those very first slides that we were looking at, is that the end goal is, you know, building Meridian's ability to attract those businesses and attract those jobs and if a performing arts center does that, I think that that's something that is a vision that if the City Council and others should want to take on, is something that people could rally behind, but it takes an education effort. Maria, I don't know if you want to expand. Weeg: Well, much of what we did when we started the project -- and I think first meeting with Calvin and Chris and Ashley around this sort of project that had been envisioned was to say, well, maybe we need to take a step back and really see what folks in Meridian are thinking about and caring about and what's on their mind and so the survey was meant to do just that. One, kind of get a baseline of how people feel about the community and, t hen, test an appetite for a project. So, what we -- I think what we really found very, very clearly -- folks love Joint Meridian City Council - Meridian Development Corporation May 10, 2016 Page 8 of 16 Meridian and they are sort of ready to take that next step, that gravitas if you will, and it's an incredible opportunity to say -- I mean they weighed in on some options that we put in front of them and phrased in a particular way, but what they are really saying is bring us something. Bring us your vision of what is next for Meridian and, then, tell us how it fits into all of the things that we care about. So, really, I think it's up to all of you to say you all are some of those folks that know Meridian so well and have been entrusted by this community and for this community to say here is what we know we can bring that will take Meridian maybe to the next level, like, for lack of a better phrase, right? And continue to build business and bring jobs and make Meridian an even better place, as trite as it may sound, to live, work, and raise a family. So, I think that this leaves you really wide open to imagine this project and talk to the community about it and sell it to the community in a really powerful way and I bet if you had something like that in Meridian you would get people from Boise coming over to see that concert as well. De Weerd: And I will just preface that more people in Meridian attend the Meridian symphony. So, they are sold out -- yes, in Centennial, I hate to say that's in Boise as well. But, hopefully, we get it back to at least Meridian Middle School if they had a better sound system and they are getting there. I was encouraged -- I think that it confirmed a number of the actions that City Council and MDC have done with the New Ventures Lab. The technology focus, innovation center, in trying to build that entrepreneurial spirit unbound, having the library there that offers an environment that helps those innovators to really look at their creations and be able to touch and feel it and get resources to grow their businesses and those are all very positive. We have a work group led by Jacy Jones and with the children's museum to that take our historical walking tour and our tours for our elementary school students to that next step of giving them a destination and a place to imagine. Those are all things that were reflected in the survey that gives some good bones how we continue to build on efforts that have been seen as successful, that could be foundational pieces to a large vision and how we can grow that, even in the beautification of our downtown and how it has inspired the businesses on Idaho Avenue and Marty Schindler is here to really show how you get a couple of business owners -- or property owners that are excited and how they kind of take the ball and run with it. So, it's -- it does confirm many of the actions and priorities that both the City Council and the MDC board have initiated, now it's how do you bring that to the next level and to continue to incubate the jobs, to grow that family wage base, to draw affordable housing developments to -- to bring people into the downtown to frequent the retail, the destination entertainment and those kind of things. So, I think it all ties together very nicely and I would support Calvin's recommendation to give it back to the steering committee and flush out some ideas with the results of the survey that can be discussed by both of these entities. Palmer: Madam Mayor? Joint Meridian City Council - Meridian Development Corporation May 10, 2016 Page 9 of 16 De Weerd: Mr. Palmer. Palmer: Madam Mayor, I feel that these results are far from a mandate to move forward on a project that encourages public debt. I just feel if we get to that point that we own it, that we do it as a city, because we brag about how we don't bond for things, the city doesn't go into debt, but we do it under the guise of a urban renewal district, that would pretend as a separate agency that we have no control over, nor anything to do with their existence, which is -- couldn't be further from the truth and so I hope that if we get to that point that we as a city will say we are asking the taxpayers to go into debt for a project that a little over 50 percent said that they might like the idea out there on a phone survey. De Weerd: I don't think I heard that at all and it did say that there was support for funding of some kind and that needs to be further flushed out, whether it's an auditorium district that supports the development of a certain thing and, then, you're paying for it through the visitors that would be attracted because of it is another thing and so I guess I would add onto that the need to flush -- to flush out the -- the additional funding tools and what they could possibly bring to the table. Yes, Calvin. Barrett: Madam Mayor, Ty -- Mr. Palmer, I couldn't agree with you more. The city and the community have to be behind this project or it does not happen. We have been told over and over from our business development community, our developers, that when we put that first RFP out there that there was not enough skin in the game from the citizens of this city, specifically what types of incentives do they have to take on a massive project with no real guarantees that they are going to be successful. So, an education program is vastly important. Identifying a project is vastly important. Educating our citizens on the vision that this -- this City Council has for a revitalized downtown is hugely important. This is not a blank check to be written very lightly. This is an opportunity for this Council and have the citizens bind behind this Council to do something really, really great. So, I couldn't agree with you more. Bird: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Bird. Bird: I think the two -- the two performing arts centers that we have been looking at is the Nampa Civic Center and the Morrison Center over in -- and neither one of them were done by bonds from the public -- or of -- by the public, they were done by private -- started up. I think that you have to -- you would have to talk pretty long and hard to get me to support a bond for something like that if we didn't have -- if we didn't have private entities into it. In the first place I don't think -- I don't think it's up to the city or MDC to run something like that. I think you have a foundation to run something like that. We do have a Meridian art foundation in place that could do it. I'm not for helping them. I'm not for being Joint Meridian City Council - Meridian Development Corporation May 10, 2016 Page 10 of 16 behind them. But I'm not too sure that -- that going for a bond is the way to go, but to answer Commissioner Barrett's suggestion, I'd go along with that. Let's pursue and see what we -- what we -- I -- I think this just touched -- this survey just touched the bottom of the deal. I think there is a lot more that we need look into and to pursue, because nobody wants a performing arts center here worse than I do. De Weerd: Any other comments? Milam: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mrs. Milam. Milam: I -- I am not the visionary on this project. However, I do support giving it back and having them work on it, you know, further and doing some more research and try to figure out if this is a viable project and what would be a viable project and how that would -- how would that would make sense to us. Borton: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Borton. Borton: My reservation with that is -- is in respect to the committee's time and effort doing this. I mean to cut to the chase, the Council at the very least and/or MDC needs to express our willingness or nonwillingness to ever incur any form of publicly voted upon financing and if it's -- if it's our position that there is never any instance where we would ever support allowing the voters to vote to go into debt to support anything, then, let's talk about it and if that's the position, I don't want to remand it back to the committee to study. I don't think that's doing them a good service and it's fair to their time and efforts. I don't think we can commit one way or the other, but I just -- I think it's fair for everyone involved if any or the majority of us are of that opinion, we got to talk about it. Alternatively, if we are open minded and we see there may be, in a limited circumstan ce, the right type of project, that could garner the right support, that this -- this data -- I agree with Councilman Palmer, I don't think it's overwhelmingly supportive, but is it enough to encourage that exploration? Perhaps. Not willing to forego any opportunity that there might be a very specific project that would warrant the public having a say on it and if the public rejects it, so be it. But if -- if we are of the mindset -- or people are of the mindset up here that that -- that public financing should not happen period, I think we owe it to the committee to just be clear about that and not remand it back to them. I'm not of that opinion. I think there may be a specific project that might warrant garnering public support and going forward and seeing if our community would support it. I may be very narrow, but -- Barrett: Let me just -- I would like to add -- that's a good point and I think it's something that we should all keep in mind. It's -- whether there is or is not public Joint Meridian City Council - Meridian Development Corporation May 10, 2016 Page 11 of 16 financing I think is a bit cart before the horse right now. Clearly there is a desire for something, but I think it's still incumbent upon, you know, the committee or others to figure out what that something is and until you can find what that is, it's tough to say is there a need for public financing and, if so, how great is that need. Borton: Madam Mayor? And that goes to the scope, the chicken or the egg, the cart before the horse, is I would envision the committee saying, well, what's the -- the spectrum of potential projects. If the concept of public financing is outside the realm, then, we are talking about a totally different animal than everything that we have just polled, quite frankly, and which may be fine. But I would think they would need that direction to say here is the basket of goods that we are going to explore in furtherance of these interests or is it a basket that can be funded by debt on the table? Barrett: That's absolutely -- I mean you're -- it's absolutely right. Because at the same time by -- having that vote narrows the scope, obviously, by which they can look at in terms of projects, but if they were to come up with a project that -- if there were future polling and it came out it involved public financing, but -- like 70 percent support in the community, that was just -- that was limited ahead of time. They can't look at that -- they can't even table that -- you know, have that discussion, because of that direction. That was just my -- I'm sorry, that is my point of view. Palmer: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Palmer. Palmer: Piggy backing on Councilman Borton's -- I guess conversation you started with, that is I am perfectly happy to say on the record that I would never consider supporting a public debt option for a non-life safety issue. Bird: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Bird. Bird: I agree with some of the stuff Joe said there and I -- a bond or something isn't completely out with me, but I -- it's got to be for a specific deal. I'd like to be -- because none of these -- none of even come close to a super majority. I mean there is 62 percent, which is getting there, but, you know, these building library space downtown, where were those 62 perfect when we had a bond, you know? It didn't pass. I would be -- you know, I'm for the -- if the people want to bond themselves, that's fine. I might not be the one to go out and fight for it or do that like we have for schools before, but I'm not completely non-open, but I would like to know what we are -- what we are going for. I mean we just -- we just spent a bunch of the taxpayer dollars to get us some athlete fields, so why do we need athletic courts in a performing arts deal. Joint Meridian City Council - Meridian Development Corporation May 10, 2016 Page 12 of 16 Little Roberts: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mrs. Little-Roberts. Little Roberts: I would also like to see us proceed. I mean I'm also not one to just say, hey, let's spend the money, but I think if we can focus on what the public wants and we may -- you know, at this point leave our options open for something that we may need some funding for with the community support. Plus an auditorium district would also need to go out to vote. So, I mean there is -- there is definitely some options that may or may not use taxpayer dollars. Bird: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Well, I'm getting the sense -- so I'm going to try and wrap this up. But that seems like people's options, for the most part, are -- are looking for further feedback on what -- what a project could be and what it would look like and what some of the options are. I think the Nampa Civic Center, the -- you had a vision and, then, you had the private sector step up and fund the vision. So, you did have to start with something. And I think this gives us at least some foundational pieces to have the steering committee work to -- to see if there is a vision that can be created with some of these pieces and parts that could come back and, then, maybe have further information about what some of the funding opportunities might be, be it a public-private partnership, an auditorium district type of a project or -- or something that would need a number of different funding options to it. So, I guess -- I think it starts with the vision before you can have a conversation about what are some of the opportunities to pay for that vision. Just my two cents. Bird: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Bird. Bird: I wholeheartedly agree. I think we need -- I think the committee will do it, go back and look and let's kind of -- kind of narrow the scope down a little, in my opinion, and I would be sure that a new arts district or something -- another taxing entity isn't the best way to go. That's how Meridian got a swimming pool, we had to -- had to start a taxing entity to get it built, so I think we need to proceed on it and see what we can come up with, b ut I want to know -- narrow it down. I don't want a whole bunch of stuff thrown at me. Barrett: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Barrett. Joint Meridian City Council - Meridian Development Corporation May 10, 2016 Page 13 of 16 Barrett: Councilman Bird, I couldn't agree with you more and I think that's what I'm asking for is to take it back to the steering committee to define a vision to present back to both of these boards, look at the various other successful private-public partnerships that have occurred across the nation where very many beautiful buildings that attracted hundreds of peopl e to their community and have been very very successful elsewhere, we have success stories out there. I know Gretchen Caserotti has a number of them and I think that we could present a vision back to this -- both of these boards that we could either get a yes-no answer on whether to proceed or look for other funding mechanisms. I don't think there is anybody at this table that anticipates this to be a one hundred percent publicly funded project. But we have to present a vision before we are going to attract the builders, the philanthropists, and the rest of the citizens of this community and until we have that vision I don't think there is any reason to have a discussion about financing. De Weerd: Well -- and I will tell you, on the 19th we will be having the grand opening for the Boys and Girls Club gymnasium and you couldn't get a dime raised until you have the vision of what that facility was going to look like and even then as generosity of the community, this valley step forward, it took an additional turn when Albertson's foundation stepped forward and added a million dollars to making sure the teen center was well equipped and Class A space for our teenage youth members. So, it starts with a vision, though, and, then, you start exploring how best to -- to fund it. Basalone: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Yes, Mr. Basalone. Basalone: Yeah. I fully agree that you must start with a vision before you even start thinking about financing. It's kind of ludicrous to put the cart before the horse in that way. However, in establishing the vision I do have some concerns. This is not just a downtown business owners type of vision or a downtown geographic vision, this is a vision for the entire City of Meridian. So, I would hope that the steering committee in creating the vision would have focus group outreach to all parts of the community to get input. The easiest way to get consensus is too have people buy in at the beginning, not at the end, and so I would not be in favor of coming up with an ideal plan that someone else did in some other city and say this is our vision. I would hope that we could start, use it as a catalyst, but, then, go out to all the groups throughout the city that are organized groups that we could go to, show it to them, get thei r input, get their synergy involved in it, get their ideas, incorporate those ideas where they are viable, and, then, bring it back as the vision. I think the vision has to be a widespread vision. Palmer: Madam Mayor? Joint Meridian City Council - Meridian Development Corporation May 10, 2016 Page 14 of 16 De Weerd: Mr. Palmer. Palmer: Madam Mayor, quick question. I was wondering if -- if we can find out what the -- on this side, for example, the not too important and not important at all. It doesn’t have to be like right now. But those kind of numbers I'm interested in as well. Basalone: We can get to that. Thanks. De Weerd: Okay. Calvin, since you are the chair of the steering committee, do you have enough direction or feedback from these two groups? Barrett: Madam Mayor, yes. De Weerd: Okay. Good. Well, thank you so much. We appreciate you being here and for the extraordinary effort of getting here. Thank you and I guess, can you provide -- I think Ashley has a completed survey? Patincan: Yes. Yes. De Weerd: Okay. And we can get it out to the board memb ers and City Council members? Okay. Patincan: Thank you. De Weerd: Thank you very much. Patincan: Appreciate your time. De Weerd: Okay. We did have -- Rob, did you have anything you wanted to say? Okay. Anyone else? I didn't have Mr. Palmer to remind me. Oh, yeah. Okay. Item 4: Amended onto the agenda: Ten Mile Urban Renewal District Plan Update De Weerd: Item 4 is an item that was amended on the agenda, an update on the Ten Mile Urban Renewal District Plan. Lakey: Madam Mayor, I think I will probably be addressing that briefly, but -- if that's okay. De Weerd: Yes. Mr. Lakey. Lakey: Thank you, Madam Mayor. Caleb is handing out a resolution. Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, as you know the urban renewal board approved Joint Meridian City Council - Meridian Development Corporation May 10, 2016 Page 15 of 16 a proposed plan for the Ten Mile Urban Renewal area and that was forwarded to the city. The city's authorized sending that plan out to the agencies and they go through the process of review that's provided for under the code for the city. After that meeting on the 27th, we had one of the potential property owners circle back with us and say, hey, we would really like to have the Kennedy Lateral included as a potential project that could be considered for reimbursement funding under the plan and the agency met today and recommended that that be included. Just by way of background, the plan that was put forward to the city, the language of the plan clearly includes laterals, irrigation canals, improvements, crossings, all of those kind of things, but there is also attachments that reference specific road sections that may be built, other types of improvements and utilities. It's always a balance between flexibility and specificity when you're putting together a plan and since we are early on in the process the board preferred to include this in the map, again, as a potential project that could be included and send that forward to the city to be included in the process that the city goes through in considering whether to approve or deny that proposed plan. So, that's the amendment, Madam Mayor, that's put before you. It's Resolution 16-019 from our board. It includes the modified map to add that segment of the lateral and, then, also updates the charts and graphs in the plan to include that as a potential project. So, Madam Mayor, that's what I have before you. I would be happy to answer any questions if the Council has any. De Weerd: Okay. Thank you, Todd. Council, any questions? I know the MDC board already has discussed this and passed a resolution 16-019. Any questions from Council? Or concerns? So, I guess we would need to have a motion to accept this to be part of the language that goes out to the various entities and also in front of Planning and Zoning for their public hearing. Bird: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Bird. Bird: I would move that we adopt MDC's Resolution 16-019 to go forward with adding the Kennedy Lateral as one of the projects and to make sure that the other taxing entities and Planning and Zoning gets dimensions -- the change. Little Roberts: Second. De Weerd: I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Madam Clerk, will you call roll. Roll call: Bird, yea; Borton, absent; Milam, yea; Cavener, absent; Palmer, nay; Little Roberts, yea. De Weerd: The majority has it. Joint Meridian City Council - Meridian Development Corporation May 10, 2016 Page 16 of 16 MOTION CARRIED: FOUR AYES. ONE NAY. ONE ABSENT. De Weerd: Okay. Well, thank you. It was nice having the MDC board here with us tonight. We apologize for the late start. We did appreciate the opportunity, though, to have a conversation with you. So, anything further from either the Council or MDC board? Bird: Madam Mayor? De Weerd: Mr. Bird. Bird: Seeings how I'm a member of both, I move we adjourn. Milam: Second. De Weerd: All those in favor say aye. MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT. De Weerd: Thank you. MEETING ADJOURNED AT 7:24 P.M. (AUDIO RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS) MAYOR T E—WEERD ATTEST:/ ,7 C.JAY-COLE�, CITY CLERK Zo Z/ /�6 DATE P OV D DATEDg�GA* \m2.