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HomeMy WebLinkAbout261018 - MINUTES - City Commission MINUTES DANIA BEACH CITY COMMISSION WORKSHOP MEETING JANUARY 13, 2004 1. Call to order Mayor Anton called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. 2. Roll Call: Present: Mayor: Bob Anton Vice-Mayor: C.K. McElyea Commissioners: Robert Chunn Pat Flury Bob Mikes (arrived at 6:02 p.m.) City Attorney: Tom Ansbro City Manager: Ivan Pato City Clerk: Charlene Johnson Absent: Bob Mikes 3. Discussion of Broward County Redevelopment Capital Program. (City Manager) City Manager Pato explained that negotiations with the County had reached a point where the new Community Development Agency (CRA) plan could be moved forward. He stated that the new plan design would be presented to the County Commission in February for approval. He introduced Cynthia Chambers, Broward County Director of Urban Planning and Redevelopment, to address the Commission and noted that she had nothing to do with the airport expansion. Cynthia Chambers, Broward County Director of Urban Planning and Redevelopment, stated that she had met with Lawrence Leeds, Community Development Director and City Manager Ivan Pato and felt they had a very positive conversation. She explained that they felt it was appropriate to come and share ideas concerning what the County had planned in relation to the City of Dania Beach's Community Redevelopment Plan. (County Commissioner John E. Rodstrom, Jr. arrived at 5:35 p.m.) Ms. Chambers explained that the Redevelopment Capital Program was created for the purpose of investing the ten million dollars that was set aside by the Board of County Commissioners in FY04 to facilitate redevelopment in cities and unincorporated areas. She stated that MINUTES 1 JANUARY 13, 2004 WORKSHOP MEETING y . cities, CRAs, and the County Commission (for redevelopment activities on the unincorporated areas) were the current eligible entities for these funds and explained that the eligible areas and activities under consideration for this program were within existing CRAs and outside of CRAs with certain conditions. She noted that the County would provide opportunity for the terms and conditions of existing CRAs to be renegotiated in order for cities to participate in this program. She stated that Dania Beach would fall under the category of new CRA's and stressed the fact that the County funds could be used as part of a redevelopment plan for land acquisition and the construction of public infrastructure. She reiterated that the County plan provided money, up front, to be used to pay for improvements or land acquisition necessary to facilitate the proposed development and clarified it was not an infrastructure program to be used anywhere in the City; it had to be tied to the CRA or redevelopment plan. Ms. Chambers explained that projects being presented needed to show increased value to the tax base, be project specific, and show how much time the plan required. She added that a formula would be used by the County to calculate the amount of investment that they offered to the City. She stated that a consultant on retainer would be employed by the County to assist in its evaluation of proposals and this ensured the programs could be addressed in a timely manner. Ms. Chambers explained that an inter-local agreement would be offered that provided terms and conditions, as well as, expected results. Ms. Chambers explained that Dania Beach had already received delegation of authority for a CRA, the finding had been approved, and the next step was that County staff needed to complete its review of the City's CRA plan and come to the Board of County Commissioners with a recommendation on how to proceed. She hoped to be able to bring before both the City and County Commissions a proposal for plan approval of the Dania Beach Redevelopment Plan. She noted that the City lacked solid commitments from developers for Dania Beach's downtown area. She recommended approval of the plan and delegation of all authorities provided under statute to the City in order to move forward with implementation and establish a trust fund and TIF. Ms. Chambers stated that the County would withhold its participation in the trust fund until Dania Beach came back with a proposal that was project specific and included all the dollar amount and information that could be used for them to evaluate. She explained the City would then be assured they had plan approval and could move forward with the powers of a CRA. She stated the City would then be assured that the County would be there when they were ready to return with solid proposals. She stated that this plan would be recommended to the Broward County Board of Commissioners on February 10, 2004. She also noted that, assuming approval of that Resolution, they should be able to move quickly through the process and have their inter-local agreement developed making it extremely clear as to what the terms and conditions were. She reiterated that the County would not participate financially until the City came back with an amendment to the MINUTES 2 JANUARY 13, 2004 WORKSHOP MEETING interlocal agreement that specifically stated what the projects and infrastructure needs were. Ms. Chambers explained that it was the County's intention to leverage the ten million dollars through bonding and other mechanisms to create a larger fund and to propose an additional ten million dollars to be added to the program each year. She noted that Dania Beach could use its own TIF or other municipal funding sources to pay for administrative costs and overhead, but stressed it was not the County's intent to have those types of costs provided for. She noted the provision for those funds stated in the resolution were for the purpose of working with existing CRAs, not for new CRAs or activities outside of CRAs. She explained that procedures and application processes were to be put in place that would not require an annual filing period and stated that municipalities would not be competing for the funds. She noted that the evaluation that took place would be weighted and based on the criteria stated in the resolution. She summarized the process as follows: an application submitted, information provided, plan evaluated by County, financial feasibility study performed by consultant, the interlocal agreement establishing terms and conditions negotiated, and opportunity by elected officials to act on the proposal. Mayor Anton confirmed with Ms. Chambers that repayment would be negotiable. Ms. Chambers clarified that money would be provided through interest free loans and grants specified in the interlocal agreement. Broward County Commissioner John E. Rodstrom, Jr. reminded the Commission that the resolution referred to above had not been voted on by the County Commission and that there might be some elements included that he would not support. He envisioned municipalities using the funds for land acquisition and that infrastructure improvements would be funded by the profit made on the land. He felt this eliminated the need for cities to sell long-term bonds for short-term improvements. He stated that in Dania Beach's situation, the County would be given monies to assemble properties and bring some development to bear. County Commissioner Rodstrom further stated that he intended for the annual ten million dollars to be appropriated for debt services allowing a large amount of leverage funds to be made available. He felt the program was well suited for Dania Beach. In response to Commissioner Flury's question about the County approval of the City's CRA plan, Broward County Commissioner Rodstrom explained that if the monies were requested without a CRA plan, the City would not have the ability to have the property taken off the tax rolls. He explained that if a city with a CRA sets up its own TIF, the County could provide money for projects outside the CRA area, tax-free. MINUTES 3 JANUARY 13, 2004 WORKSHOP MEETING City Manager Pato felt that having the CRA approved was important and it was a good tool that provided opportunity to deal with unusual circumstances such as when one issue could hold up something else. He explained that the City Commission would be in control as the Board of Directors of the CRA determined which projects would be beneficial. County Commissioner Rodstrom noted that there were circumstances when it was beneficial to have the CRA created after properties had been acquired. City Manager Pato wanted clarification on whether there was one inclusive interlocal agreement for the entire plan or if there were specific interlocal agreements for each project. Cynthia Chambers described it as a master interlocal agreement based on negotiations with the County, however, flexibility would be provided within the agreement that prevented amending it over every single detail. Lawrence Leeds, Director of Community Development, felt the key to creating the CRA was the master interlocal agreement and stated that the City would work with the County to have it completed as soon as possible. He thought that immediately after that first step, the City would have specific projects identified within the CRA to be submitted to the County. • In response to Mayor Anton's question concerning the County Resolution, County Commissioner Rodstrom expected it to be approved. Commissioner Mikes arrived at 6:02 p.m. City Attorney Ansbro inquired as to where in the process the City of Oakland Park was. Ms. Chambers felt Oakland Park might have a plan brought to the County in April or May and, at that time, the County would look at having their plan approved and have an interlocal agreement prepared subject to future negotiations on terms and conditions of participation. Mayor Anton declared that Dania Beach's CRA was ready to go with the exception of an adjustment of wording in regards to the TIF. City Manager Pato echoed Mayor Anton's statement and asked Ms. Chambers to clarify the difference between economic development and redevelopment inside or outside of a CRA. MINUTES 4 JANUARY 13, 2004 WORKSHOP MEETING Ms. Chambers restated the requirement in the program for a redevelopment plan and stated that the they were not looking to fund stand—alone projects such as a Walgreen's on the corner or an independent Holiday Inn, but rather the City needed to have a vision for the future where the revitalization of an area could be seen at the end of a certain number of years. She clarified that when they looked at projects outside the CRA, they would be limited in the scope of what could be funded. She stated that there was more latitude to work within a CRA. In response to Commissioner Flury's question, City Manager Pato stated that the CRA plan depended on the County's action and could be ready in February or March. John Etling, Director of Main Street Program, thought that the prospect of a CRA plan allowed the City to use County funding to step forward in redeveloping areas designated by the City and felt that it was a good opportunity. He felt the City and County might want to have the statutory powers and possibilities given to CRA's and redevelopment districts looked at. John Bertino, 211 SE 2"d Terrace, Dania Beach, felt the City might be getting short changed because the new CRA's were not as good as the old ones. He was concerned about the following things: 1) the five- year limit to pay back the money tax-free, and 2) what might happen if the real estate market changed for the worse. He felt the City could be stuck with a debt to the County past the deadline. He would like the County to have a reasoning clause included that would allow cities to pay back the money without interest in such circumstances. He noted that terrorism could be a factor and felt the County needed to provide some type of safeguard. He felt the CRA needed to have a power of condemnation for public purposes and wanted to know if the County would no longer be on the hook for TIF. He also thought the City should have Griffin Road looked at. Mr. Bertino felt the City needed to amalgamate properties on Griffin Road for business purposes and thought the County would not mind having Griffin Road included so that Dania Beach would have the condemnation power to help develop businesses there. Commissioner Mikes felt that there could be a shift in the economy after the coming set of elections and felt a plan was needed in case the future real estate market was adversely effected. County Commissioner Rodstrom compared a traditional CRA with the County's proposed Redevelopment Project. He stated that under a traditional CRA, the City would risk having properties held within their CRA if the real estate market collapsed and the tax levy would have been frozen leaving them with no revenue. He explained that by using County funds, provided for up to five years interest- free, the risk was taken away from the City. He also felt the County program MINUTES 5 JANUARY 13, 2004 WORKSHOP MEETING would stimulate growth and redevelopment immediately and would get stagnant properties back on the tax rolls. Commissioner Flury agreed with County Commissioner Rodstrom that this process would be more advantageous to the City than a traditional CRA and felt the biggest advantage over the traditional CRA was the five-year time factor. She felt that if the real estate market collapsed, the City would only risk paying the interest on the money for the second five years. She also agreed with John Bertino about the Griffin Road corridor, but felt that expanding the CRA boundaries to include this area would be a mistake because it involved new development and not true redevelopment as in the existing CRA area. Mayor Anton agreed with Commissioner Flury and did not see a downside to the proposal. He wanted to consider it a little longer and get other opinions. City Manager Pato expressed appreciation to County staff for their hard work. Mayor Anton personally thanked County Commissioner Rodstrom for his support on recent issues that concerned the City. 4. Adjournment. The meeting adjourned at 6:20 p.m. r C.K. MCELY MAYOR-CO ISSIONER ATTEST: MIRIAM NASSER ACTING CITY CLERK Respectfully submitted by Jill Fiorentino APPROVED: March 9, 2004 MINUTES 6 JANUARY 13, 2004 WORKSHOP MEETING