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HomeMy WebLinkAbout108231 - MINUTES - CRA MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING CITY OF DANIA BEACH COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2008 — 5:00 P.M. 1. Call to Order Chairman Jones called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. Present: Chairman: Albert Jones Vice-Chairman: Anne Castro Commissioners: Bob Anton John Bertino Patricia Flury City Manager: Ivan Pato City Attorney: Thomas Ansbro Deputy City Clerk: Miriam Nasser CRA Director: Jeremy Earle CRA Attorney: William Salim 2. Approval of Minutes of September 3, 2008 Commissioner Anton motioned to approve the Minutes of September 3, 2008; seconded by Vice-Chairman Castro. The motion carried on the following 5-0 Roll Call vote: Commissioner Anton Yes Vice-Chairman Castro Yes Commissioner Bertino Yes Chairman Jones Yes Commissioner Flury Yes 3. CRA Update Jeremy Earle, CRA Director, reported on his meetings with Broward County representatives, Cynthia Chambers and Cathy Randazzo, regarding our $6.3M check for the Library. They advised that we cannot use two sources of funding therefore we negotiated other ways to use the money they allocated to Dania Beach. He noted that at this meeting they were able to agree on two projects, a reimbursement of $2.7M for Parcel 109 and $2.3M to be used for the parking garage structure, approximately 20% of the $6.3M. The County remarked that they do not like parking garages, but they finally agreed that we can use the money for that purpose. Director Earle advised that the County would give us back a total of$5M. He told them that if they are leaving $1.3M on the table we would want half of the amount we are receiving to be a grant. Director Earle further indicated that they agreed to give us $2.7M as a grant and $2.3M in the form of a loan, to be paid interest free for ten years, at which time we would pay them back at a two percent interest rate, providing we have moved forward with some redevelopment in the downtown area within that period of time. Commissioner Anton noted the conditions are the same as before. He confirmed with Director Earle that 109 Park will always remain City property. Director Earle noted that the County requires fresh applications to be submitted for this new arrangement. City Manager Palo noted he would be happy to work with Director Earle through this process. Vice-Chairman Castro noted that $2.3M would be a loan, unless we can demonstrate to them that projects are moving forward, in which case it would become a grant and we no longer have to pay them. Director Earle clarified for Commissioner Bertino that the County wants a return on their investment. Commissioner Flury confirmed with Director Earle that any amendment to the Interlocal Agreement needs County Commission approval. She thought we should take the relatively sure thing or whatever moves faster. Commissioner Anton agreed with Commissioner Flury and thought we should take this course of action even though he did not like the idea of leaving $1.3M on the table. He further commented that several other issues are happening and there could be a lot of negativity with Dania Beach on the part of the County, in the not too distant future. Vice-Chairman Castro confirmed with Director Earle that Attorney Moskowitz thinks we can get the vote of the County, with the modifications, and still be able to negotiate $1.3M. Director Earle advised that Attorney Moskowitz has told him he does not like the idea of leaving $1.3M on the table. However, he is confident that within a short period of time, he can get the five votes necessary to ensure that we get $6.3M based on the new projects. Director Earle pointed out that he made it clear to the County that if we agree to leave $1.3M on the table we are going to get credit for this action. He remarked that the grant is guaranteed now, and that he did not believe they would give us $6.3M and still give us $2.7M as a grant. Chairman Jones questioned if there would be a chance to receive $1.3M from the County at a future date. Director Earle did not think so. Vice-Chairman Castro noted that if Attorney Moskowitz thinks we can get $6.3M, with the same terms, she would favor this action. However, she would simultaneously move with the agreement to leave $1.3M on the table and take whatever they are offering now. Minutes of Regular Meeting 2 City of Dania Beach Community Redevelopment Agency Wednesday,October 8,2008—5:00 p.m. Director Earle noted that the County advised that they would want to deal with the money issue first and consider the Findings of Necessity to expand the CRA boundaries afterwards. Commissioner Anton confirmed with Director Earle that Cynthia Chambers and Cathy Randazzo would support this arrangement with the County Commission. Director Earle commented that Bertha Henry, Broward County Administrator, wanted 25% off the original $6.3M. Director Earle noted that $1.3M is just a number to start negotiations. He would like to move forward with the process to get the $2.7M grant as soon as possible. Director Earle further noted that over the next four weeks there would be more discussions and things could change. Commissioner Anton commented the County has some major budget issues and finding $1.3M could be difficult for them. Commissioner Bertino asked if this arrangement exists with other cities. Director Earle responded in the negative. He added that we are in a better position than other cities because our projects are moving forward. City Manager Pato thought we should go for all of it and be prepared to walk away with something. He was concerned that if the grant for $2.7M is based on a current appraisal of the property, the money they give us will resemble today's value of the property and not what we paid for it. City Manager Palo further noted that the County would reimburse more than 10% on any property that they negotiate. He commented that Bertha Henry is following the same path as the previous County Administrator. Vice-Chairman Castro thought this was a reimbursement, and we can show the County what we actually paid for the property. Commissioner Bertino would like to hear Attorney Moskowitz's comments. Bill Salim, CRA Attorney, noted that Attorney Moskowitz proposes to set up meetings with certain County Commissioners to see if he can line up the votes to get an approved amended Interlocal Agreement for $6.3M, with the grant condition. If this plan does not work, he would implement Plan B, which would be to take $5M and leave $1.3 on the table. Commissioner Flury did not agree with this approach and thought that if we keep delaying our decision, we will end up with nothing. Commissioner Anton liked the idea of the grant because we are only looking at a debt service of $2.3M instead of $6.3M. He agreed with Commissioner Flury that it would be better to leave $1.3M on the table. Commissioner Anton was not opposed to letting Attorney Moskowitz try to negotiate a deal where we take the grant, and not leave $1.3M. Minutes of Regular Meeting 3 City of Dania Beach Community Redevelopment Agency Wednesday, October 8,2008—5:00 p.m. Director Earle said he would try to turn in the applications within the next four weeks. Vice-Chairman Castro pointed out that it was a good thing that the County agreed to build the parking garage with $2.3M. She further noted that we do not want to jeopardize the expansion of the CRA with the meetings that Attorney Moskowitz would have with the County Commissioners. Vice-Chairman Castro agreed with Commissioner Flury and thought that it was better to skip the political solution and work with staff for a better deal. Commissioner Bertino noted that Attorney Moskowitz has the political contacts with the County and may get something out of these meetings. He emphasized he would like to hear his comments before we make a decision. Director Earle noted that when we met with the County to discuss the $6.3M we asked for the entire amount to be a grant, but they said no. He commented that we have a lot of things in progress and we should try to work with County staff so we can get something accomplished. Chairman Jones was concerned that the expansion of the CRA would be affected if we upset County staff by using the political solution. He agreed with Director Earle's first suggestion to accept $5M and leave $1.3M on the table. The CRA Board generally agreed to move forward with Director Earle's proposal to accept $5M and leave $1.3M on the table. Director Earle noted that he recently had a very productive meeting with representatives of the Marine Industry. They are excited with the potential for the Marine Industry which will benefit our community. Director Earle was confident that Frank Hertzhold and his team would succeed in getting the funds that we need for our future redevelopment. Commissioner Anton noted that he attended this meeting and there were representatives from Marina Mile, The Marine Industries Association, Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), Florida Inland Navigational District (FIND) and South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD). He noted there were interesting subjects discussed, such as widening the channel under the US1 Bridge, as well as raising the Bridge and the possible name change of the Dania Cut-Off Canal. They all seemed very confident that they could find funding, and deal with the FEC railroad situation as well. Commissioner Anton indicated that they all agreed to work with The Mellgren Planning Group to help them develop the proper zoning code. They also discussed the C-10 Canal and the low Griffin Road Bridge and suggested creating some private/public partnership to deal with this matter. He thought it was a very positive meeting and commended Director Earle for making it happen. Commissioner Anton finally noted that expanding the Marine Industry in our City would bring high-paying jobs to the community. Director Earle remarked that this redevelopment plan will increase the tax base of our City and provide more employment opportunities for our community. He commented that a recent survey showed that the Marine Industry has 22 sites in Broward County, 18 of which are located in Dania Beach. Minutes of Regular Meeting 4 City of Dania Beach Community Redevelopment Agency Wednesday,October 8,2008—5:00 p.m. 4. CRA Presentation There were no presentations at this meeting. 5. CRA Next Steps Jeremy Earle, CRA Director, noted that we want to work on the Redevelopment Plan and the implementation of the Plan at the same time. He distributed a copy of the CRA Next Steps Report to the Board, outlining the items that would be accomplished during the next few months, which report is attached to and incorporated into these minutes. Director Earle indicated that we are putting our policies and procedures in place as well as complying with State Statutes. He pointed out that the things we do will have to be workable and implementable. Director Earle advised that Jim Carras, Carras Community Investment, Inc., would provide advisory services for the creation of a New Markets Tax Credits Community Development Entity as well as a Brownfield Area. Mr. Carras would also advise us in finding particular funding sources. He explained that Kimley-Horn and Associates would provide consulting services to undertake a Parking Evaluation Study, which should become the basis for our shared parking agreements for the CRA. Director Earle also noted that Kimley-Horn would prepare the engineering sketches that the County requires. He remarked that each consultant is a specialist in their respective fields and will put the CRA on the right track very quickly. Director Earle asked the Board for approval of the contracts in order to move forward as soon as possible. Commissioner Flury confirmed with Director Earle that funding for these contracts are included in the CRA budget. Commissioner Flury motioned to proceed with the contracts for the services requested; seconded by Vice-Chairman Castro. Commissioner Anton clarified for the record that this process is required for the implementation of the CRA Plan. The motion carried on the following 5-0 Roll Call vote: Commissioner Anton Yes Vice-Chairman Castro Yes Commissioner Bertino Yes Chairman Jones Yes Commissioner Flury Yes Director Earle further advised that Frank Schnidman would also be providing services to the CRA and staff in matters pertaining to the achievement of the CRA's goals and objectives, including the facilitation of private land assembly. Once Mr. Schnidman meets with the parties concerned, he would assist in the preparation of a CRA policy to foster private land assembly. He also noted that Michael Cannon will help us conduct our Economic Benefit Analysis. Director Earle thanked the CRA Board for their support. Minutes of Regular Meeting 5 City of Dania Beach Community Redevelopment Agency Wednesday,October 8,2008—5:00 p.m. Commissioner Flury confirmed with Director Earle that the time-frame to submit the application to the County is four weeks. Vice-Chairman Castro would like everyone involved to have a commitment to check the status in about three months based on when we start. Director Earle noted he would include this clause in the agreements. 6. CPA Board Member Discussion Items Vice-Chairman Castro asked Director Earle if he knew of any non-profit affordable housing organizations approaching Dania Beach to participate in the program. Director Earle responded in the negative. Vice-Chairman Castro asked if we could encourage non-profit participation in the Affordable Housing Program, once our CRA is up and running. She wanted to make sure that we do not overlook it, if this is part of the process. Michelle Mellgren, The Mellgren Planning Group, advised that we can incorporate non-profit organizations although she would like to make sure that it is legal to provide incentives for non- profits. Commissioner Bertino stressed the fact that Dania Beach has a lot of affordable or workforce housing. He noted we need to increase our tax base with the type of homes that are being built. Commissioner Bertino pointed out that Dania Beach has the lowest valued housing stock in the County. Ms. Mellgren explained that affordable housing is based on the household income level. She noted that we need to address the affordable housing issue better so there is a balance. Commissioner Bertino noted that while we address the affordable housing issue, we should try to upgrade some areas to a higher range of housing prices. Vice-Chairman Castro commented there are certain cities in Broward County that have no affordable housing. She thought each City should be evaluated on its own merits, before new developments are required to have a certain percentage of affordable housing. She clarified that affordable housing is a totally different concept nowadays with the addition of the non-profit and public partnership, and they are also including the workforce percentage. Commissioner Anton said we need to promote home ownership, versus rental properties. He further noted that he has no problem with affordable housing, but we need to be very careful. Ms. Mellgren indicated that we need to create an improved housing stock and come up with an Affordable Housing Program to increase the potential for ownership. Minutes of Regular Meeting 6 City of Dania Beach Community Redevelopment Agency Wednesday,October 8,2008—5:00 p.m. Further discussion followed between members of the Board and Ms. Mellgren regarding the best way to manage affordable housing in our City. Frank Schnidman commented that the City has a housing element in the Comprehensive Plan that was approved by the County and the State in accordance with their policies and regulations. He remarked that when it comes to providing housing there is no government incentive but only private market demand. Mr. Schnidman advised that the City should describe our community as "Dania Beach: The Home of South Florida's Marine Industry". He noted that the Library is the project that will jump start our redevelopment area and therefore the design of the Library should be a Marine theme. Mr. Schnidman pointed out that Dania Beach has places like the Fishing Game Museum, the Dania Simulator for Pilots and SeaTech at FAU. Furthermore, we have Frank Hertzhold who would be looking for ways to bring together the people who serve the Marine Industry. He noted we should create a market for the people who want to live close to these facilities and think about ways to go to the County and the State to request funds. Mr. Schnidman congratulated the Board on the Library project. Commissioner Flury asked about the money for the Library and when are we planning to break ground. City Attorney Ansbro noted the money is a draw down. City Manager Pato responded we plan to break ground before the end of the year. Dominic Orlando, Public Services Director, advised that he worked on the RFP for the Library and the final draft will be sent to the City Attorney, City Manager and Broward County, and it should be advertised before the end of the year. Commissioner Flury questioned if a timeline could be provided at the next meeting. City Manager Palo explained that some of the issues that could delay the project are not in- house, but matters that Broward County would have to review and they said it would take approximately sixty days. He commented that with the holidays coming, we do not want to give the Board false expectations. Director Orlando advised this is a Design-Build project for a 10,000 sq. ft. facility and we have to comply with certain requirements from the County. He further noted that the contract should be resolved by the end of the year and construction should be finished by the end of 2009. He confirmed for Vice-Chairman Castro that a lot of the information contained in the RFP was provided by the County, except for the front-end section of the City requirements. 7. Adiournment Chairman Jones adjourned the meeting at 6:19 p.m. Minutes of Regular Meeting 7 City of Dania Beach Community Redevelopment Agency Wednesday, October 8,2008—5:00 p.m. ATTEST: COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT _pp AGENCY LOUISE STILSON, CMC 0ARO$q�r ALBERT C. JONES CITY CLERK HAIRMAN-CRA Approved: November 10, 2008 reo tom° Minutes of Regular Meeting 8 City of Dania Beach Community Redevelopment Agency Wednesday,October 8,2008—5:00 p.m. Memo 70: CRA Board Frorrc Jeremy Earle,Executive Director CC: Date: 10/7/2008 Re: CRA Next Steps Greetings Community Redevelopment Agency Board members, as you are well aware, we are in the process of conducting our Redevelopment Plan Modification with the Mellgren Planning group. I know that the memo below is a bit lengthy but it is necessary in order to bring you up to speed on where we are now and where we intend to go. In order to get the CRA up and running the Redevelopment Plan Modification Process is only one of the steps that are required for the growth of this agency and to bring us into compliance with state statutes; other steps include the creation of various CRA policies and procedures for how we deal with such issues as: 1. Affordable Housing and relocation 2. Housing Rehabilitation 3. Demolition 4. CRA Incentives 5. Creation of Programs and Policies for private sector investment 6. Organizational structure of the agency 7. Signage,architectural, urban design As mentioned in previous memos, the first part of the year entailed getting the redevelopment process started and the last part of the year entails getting the necessary policies and procedures in place so that we can actually implement the redevelopment plan. A CRA cannot exist without the necessary policies and procedures which define what it is able to do or not do in various situations. When I presented my budget to you in September, I mentioned that it was very lean and that there was nothing included within it for 2009 that would allow for the CRA to go out and purchase property or do any improvements. The money that you approved within the budget was designed to hire the necessary consultants to help us expeditiously get the necessary CRA programs, policies and procedures in place. Outline of the Next Four Months Below you will find a list of things that we will accomplish over the next few months. Every item below is vitally important to our efforts to not only get the agency up to speed but to also create and attract the type of development, redevelopment and economic development that we hope to see happen within the City of Dania Beach. Each consultant is a specialist in their respective fields and will be able to get the agency on the right track very quickly.There is no fluff and no wasted effort. 1 Land Assembly The next few months are going to even busier for the CRA; over the next few months, not only will we continue to get the agency up to speed but we will create our land assembly policies and implement those policies by working with property owners by encouraging them to come together as a group if need be to develop their properties. ($24,000) Marine Industry Economic Benefit Analysis We are going to continue our economic development efforts as a part of our redevelopment strategy by conducting an economic benefit analysis which will enable us to go Federal, State, County and various other governmental organizations such as FDOT, SFWMD,ACOE, FIND and associations such as the Marine Industry Association of South Florida in order to find funding for the bridges and other redevelopment activities contained within our plan($25,000). Community Development Entity-New Market Tax Credits We will also be applying to become a Community Development Entity which will enable us to provide New Market Tax Credits to potential developers; this is a major tool by which we will be able to encourage redevelopment. Jim Canas has briefed the board at previous meetings about the mechanics of such an entity. In addition to this we will be applying to become a brownfield area so that we can have access to brownfield dollars and we will also be applying to the EPA for assessment and cleanup grants worth millions of dollars. During this process, Jim Carras will also be helping us to set up the advisory boards for both the Community Development Entity and the Brownfield advisory boards (23,500) Land Use Beginning in October Michele will also start the process of recommending any of the land use changes that will be necessary to begin encouraging Marine Industry uses along the Dania Cut Off Canal. The marine industry representatives that I met last week at a focus group were very excited about this step in our process($11,500) Affordable Housing,Relocation,Displacement and Business Our affordable housing policy which is a necessity for any CRA will be completed by Former Undersecretary of HUD Dr James Baugh. This policy will help us to define what we do with the current affordable housing and rental units within the CRA in terms of purchase or rehabilitation or relocation and displacement. Additionally Dr. Baugh will advise on business relocation efforts and issues relating to the Dania Beach Housing Authority.As a final note,the need for a CRA to clearly address affordable housing and is one of the stated items within statute 163($25,000). Parking Study-Shared Parking Over the next few months we will also be getting our CRA-Wide shared parking agreements as well as our payment in lieu of parking systems in place. According to legal counsel, the legal basis for the things that we do from here on out will need to be based on a parking study. Kimley-Hom and Associates who is currently worldng on the Transportation Portion of our Redevelopment Modification will be conducting a detailed parking assessment that will form the basis for our shared parking agreements, our parking garage and parking management systems and our future payment in lieu system. The study should be completed over the next few months. Additionally Broward County has asked me to turn in a parking structure layout for Parcel 109 as well as a sketch of how the mixed use might look on the site;this information will be presented to the County Commission as a part of our new application for Broward County to fund the parking structure. Broward County would like to see the information as soon as possible in order to change our Intedocal Agreement, I have asked Kimley Hom to work on this for us because they already have a lot of the information and don't have to recreate it 0 Page 2 from scratch,this will enable us to provide the information on a timely basis to the county within the next few weeks($40,000). CRA Organizational Structure,Marketing,Private and Public Sector Partnerships One of the most important things that we can do over the next few months is to get our organizational structure in place. Kim Briesemeister who is a consultant in addition to being the current CRA Director of West Palm Beach and former CRA Director for the Cities of Ft Lauderdale and Hollywood will help us create an airtight CRA entity. Additionally she will bring her many year of redevelopment experience in financing infrastructure improvements such as parking garages, land assembly and forming public private partnerships to bear to help us reach our end goals much faster($24,500) As you can see we have a very full few months ahead of us. We have accomplished a lot over the past few months but here is still much work to do. I have in essence condensed three years of activity down into about a year and a half. This will put us way ahead of the curve as the market begins to return in our favor. You have all also seen the tremendous value in the experts that we now have on our team. My mantra to our team of consultants is that we must do this right the first time, we get no second chances what is at stake is too important. Thanks again for your continued support, Jeremy Eade,ASLA,AICP 0 Page 3