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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEcon Dev Adv Comm - 2004-06-24ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES June 23, 2004 11:00 am - 1:00 p.m. Conestoga Room - City Hall Attendance: Staff: Regrets: Guests Pete Benninger Lawrence Bingeman Howie Budd Peter Cook Manfred Conrad Mark Paleczny Glen Woolner Patricia Bacon Rob Browning Edwina Weiss Kathy Weiss Janette MacDonald Councillor John Smola Councillor Christina Weylie Scott Baird Jane Jantzi Henrik Noesgaard Hans Pottkamper Rob Morgan Hans Gross Carla Ladd Jeff Willmer Mayor Carl Zehr Shawky Fahel Edward Brooker Robert Denton Frank Pizzuto Patricia Rutter- City of Waterloo, Economic Development Mary Dalton - W.E.D.C., Chair 1. Approval of Minutes of May 26, 2004 Minutes of May 26, 2004 were approved as amended. Moved by: Glen Woolner Seconded by: Mark Paleczny Carried 2. Update · EDACjoint committee meeting Hans Pottkamper reminded the group of the suggestion to merge EDAC and DAC committees to provide advice to the new Economic Development structure. The two committees do share some common interests and challenges. Future exploration of this merger will continue. · Development Charges (City and Regional) Pauline Houston presented a handout with the unresolved issues/questions regarding the development charges by-law. Finance will be discussing these issues on Thursday, June 24th. and EDAC members are invited to attend. Pauline highlighted that staff plans to recommend to Council, a January 1, 2005, phase-in date for both residential and non- residential rate increases. The Region is also proposing a phase-in for non-residential development charge rates. 3. Tourism Presentation Rosemary Pitfield guided the members through a power-point presentation regarding Communication's division objectives and goals for tourism in the Kitchener Waterloo area. The Your Kitchener Store opened in May 2003; since then a few changes have been developed. The hours and days of operation have been extended to accommodate the public. In 2004, the store operates seven (7) days a week in the summer and on weekends up to the Thanksgiving weekend. The committee received a handout with comparison figures of the types of inquiries the store has received in the last two years. Customers are able to purchase tickets for local upcoming attractions e.g. Centre In The Square, Sportsworld, etc. through the concierge service. Merchandise such as mugs, clothing, etc. need to be price conscious. Communications is partnering with the golf courses and tourism stakeholders to advertise their businesses/products and provide discounts wherever possible and also providing support for locally held conferences. Looking ahead to 2005, we would like to introduce trail guides and pocket guides with an attached calendar of events for the entire Region. There is an aggressive goal to develop our sport tourism market and a sport tourism strategy plan is underway. Laurentian University has the capability to prepare bids for sports in advance and maintain the database. We would target specific events over the next five (5) years, with funds allocated in advance. Important questions followed concerning why this community failed to obtain the Memorial Cup hockey bid in 2003 - the committee believe it is certainly valuable to understand why Kitchener was unsuccessful? What material was prepared to sell the bids? VVhat steps are being taken to succeed in future bids? Another concern is Kitchener's tourism does not seem to provide promotional material for Cambridge and Cambridge office is not carrying up-to-date information on Kitchener. It is beneficial to have Cambridge on-board to support and promote the attractions in our Region. EDAC Minutes June 23, 2004 In addition, to encourage the public to use area amenities e.g. hotels, Bed & Breakfasts, Bingaman's, etc., Rosemary Pitfield and Jane Jantzi will discuss the development of a guide of available facilities. Ideally the guide would include the entire Region and not just Kitchener. Mention was made that the Region should invest dollars in Tourism and it was brought to the attention of the committee by Lawrence Bingeman that Wayne Hussey prepared a study which suggested that the Region was prepared to allocate $200,000, towards tourism however it was the industry partners who could not come to agreement on the delivery model. 4. Presentation New Econ. Dev. Structure and discussion to follow Carla Ladd guided the group through a power-point presentation as to how the new structure will operate. The Investment Fund will be split between the Downtown and Greenfield Industrial land development. Three sections, working together, will deliver the mandate of the new Economic Development structure: Downtown Community Development This area will focus on the following items: Singular, clear focus on Downtown and Neighbourhoods Ambassador, a gateway to the Downtown - a one person contact Ombudsman - problem solver Facilitator- co-ordinate activities Create stronger integration between the Downtown and BEC Project Administration and Economic Investment Hans Gross introduced himself to the committee with a brief history of his professional background (engineering) and the strengths he will be bringing to the new Economic Development structure. Hans is the Director of Project Administration and Economic Investment. Three areas of responsibilities for this position are: > Investment Strategy > Project Administration > Real Estate Management Investment Strategy- how to achieve a successful knowledge based cluster in the downtown and identify related business opportunities, to research and investigate funding opportunities, and communicate with higher levels of governments our needs and develop partnerships. EDAC Minutes 3 June 23, 2004 Project Administration has two features: 1. Business case development - required for all projects prior to the commitment of funds, outlining the project and cost-benefit analysis 2. Project Management - a tool to make sure that the project is successful for all stakeholders. It identifies needs for all departments and resource requirements. Training programs will be developed and implemented to meet this need. Real Estate Management - will research and provide information concerning the city's assets for the purpose of purchasing and selling of lands. Business Development will focus on attraction, retention and client services for business. The organizational chart also referenced to committees for this area: a. Development of the Economic Investment Steering Committee including the CAo and some general managers to provide oversight on project development and financial management b. Investment Leadership Committee- a possible mix of EDAC and DAC members ( an experimental model) It is important that the core work to be undertaken will achieve EDAC's mandate and that this committee involvement and interests are addressed. This will be discussed at the next meeting. 5. University of Waterloo Business Plan The University of Waterloo and the City are working together to establish a Health Science Campus on the vacant Epton site. This is an exceptional opportunity to advance the formation of an education cluster in the downtown core. The final business case will be presented to Council at their June 29th meeting. EDAC members were encouraged to email any comments to Council. 6. New Sidewalk Policy Patricia Bacon presented a draft recommendation to the committee to amend Council's Appendix "B" Policy 1-1120 on sidewalk requirements. A team of staff within the corporation has completed a comprehensive review of this existing sidewalk policy. The two priorities the team focused on were: developing a sidewalk policy in industrial areas and developing a model that prioritizes the construction of new sidewalks in areas other than planned residential subdivisions. This recommendation addresses the first priority of developing a sidewalk policy in industrial areas - the current policy requires sidewalks on roads 16 metres and greater, except on roads in business park/industrial areas. The suggestion recommendation is to delete Subsection la) and replace it with the following: EDAC Minutes 4 June 23, 2004 Sidewalk Requirements Sidewalks will be constructed in accordance with the following requirements which shall apply to all lands uses unless specified otherwise herein. a) Location of Sidewalk Roads 16 metres and greater: sidewalks are required on both sides of all roads, except as follows: In business park/industrial areas sidewalks shall be required only as follows: i) on one side of all arterial roads; ii) on one side of main major collector roads which function as a connector between residential neighbourhoods. After a lengthy discussion concerning sidewalk placement in the industrial areas, EDAC committee agreed to support the change in the policy. The meeting adjourned at 1:15 pm. Edwina Weiss Economic Development Advisory Com m ittee Next Meeting July 28, 2004 11:00 am to 1:00pm Conestoga Room, Kitchener City Hall EDAC Minutes June 23, 2004