BUSINESS & CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT BOARD
REGULAR MEETING
April 16, 2008
A Regular Meeting of the
Business & Cultural Development Board was held on April 16, 2008 at the
City Hall Annex,
Chairperson Muncey called the
meeting to order at 7:02 p.m.
MEMBERS ABSENT
Mr. Anderson
OTHERS PRESENT
Council Member Roberts
City Manager Boucher
Beautification Board Chairperson Hale
Joyce Hamilton, Resident
INTERVIEW: Prospective
Board Member John W. Craig
Ms. Muncey invited Mr. Craig
to the podium and requested that he brief members on his background.
Mr. Craig presented he was
the current vice president of Craig Technologies, a software engineering/IT
development firm located within the City of Cape Canaveral, that provided
services to the Federal, State and Local Government, as well as NASA and the
Navy. His wife was the owner and founder
of the company. He presented he was also
an airline pilot for Jet Blue Airways and a member of the Naval Reserve. He and his family moved to
In response to Ms. Peppers’
question, Mr. Craig presented that his former position with the company was COO
and as the current vice president, his primary focus was on business
development.
In response to Mr. Peterson’s
question, Mr. Craig presented that all of their KSC work was on the Constellation/LX Program.
He presented that Craig Technologies was not involved in Space Tourism;
however, in aviation circles that was the “buzz” word as it was the wave of the
future.
In response to Ms. Marcum’s
question, Mr. Craig presented that the biggest challenge of doing business
within the City of Cape Canaveral was locating up-to-date, wired, IT ready
office space for lease and/or purchase without going to considerable expense.
Members unanimously agreed
that Mr. Craig would be a valuable asset to the board. Moved by Mr. Peterson, seconded by Ms. Marcum
that the City Council interview Mr. Craig for an appointment as an alternate
member of the B&CDB at their May 6, 2008 meeting. Motion passed unanimously.
Chairperson Muncey recognized
and thanked members of the audience for their attendance.
ADOPTION OF MINUTES:
1. Regular Meeting of March 19, 2008
Moved by
Mr. Peterson, seconded by Ms. Peppers to approve the minutes of the March 19,
2008 regular meeting. Motion to approve the minutes carried
unanimously.
NEW BUSINESS:
Discussion: July 2,
2008
Ms. Muncey presented that the
City hosted this event every July and it was held at the Radisson.
Ms. McIntire advised that
this year’s event would be held in the
Members discussed ways to
encourage participation by the City’s businesses:
Mr. Boucher recommended the
board consider offering the businesses located within the City of
Members unanimously agreed. Ms. McIntire advised the business owner
letter would be revised to reflect this recommendation.
Ms. Muncey asked for theme
recommendations from members. She asked
members to be mindful that the attendees and exhibitors often dressed according
to the theme.
Ms. Marcum recommended “Reach
for the Stars”. This year was the 50th
anniversary of the first rocket and because the City was built by the people
working on that, this theme would link the past to the future;
Mr. Peterson recommended
“Space Tourism”; Resident Joyce Hamilton recommended “Space and Beyond”; Ms.
Peppers recommended “Space Tourism” with a tag of “Above and Beyond”; Mr. Craig
recommended “Fly Me To The Moon” as this would help promote NASA’s future
program of returning to the moon.
Members unanimously agreed
that Moon Pies should be served at the event.
Staff to research cost.
Ms. Muncey concluded that the
board’s recommendation was a “space
tourism, fly me to the moon” theme with a special City rate for the local
businesses.
Mr. Peterson presented that
there was a business that was going to start taking people to space on an
airplane utilizing the old shuttle landing strip. They may be interested in hosting a tabletop. Ms. Marcum presented she had a contact at
Zero G and volunteered to contact them.
Ms. Peppers recommended that
the exhibitors be encouraged to donate door prizes. Ms. McIntire presented that businesses were
encouraged to do this in the past. She
explained that the drawing took place, with the assistance of board members,
following the Mayor’s Welcome. However,
it was a challenge to gain the attention of the attendees and that was the
reason why the businesses were encouraged to have individual drawings at their
respective tables. However, if members
wanted to return to this practice, the business owner letter could be revised.
Council Member Roberts
recommended that there be a Welcome Banner acknowledging the City of
In response to Ms. Muncey’s
inquiry, Ms. McIntire assured the board that there was an abundant supply of
space related decoration items that would be appropriate for the event. She also advised that the chamber prepared
the postcard invitations to their partners and they would be happy to add some
type of space verbiage at the City’s request.
OPEN:
Debriefing of 2nd
Annual Images in Art: A summary was presented to members, a copy of
which is attached and hereby made a part of these minutes.
Ms. McIntire asked if the
board had an interest in hosting a Winter fine art show, as recommended by
several of the exhibitors, on December 28-29, 2008. Following a brief discussion, members
recommended that the City continue hosting only a Spring fine art show so the
event could establish an identity.
Consideration of hosting a Winter show could be addressed in the future.
Ms. Marcum recommended that in
the future, hotels be provided with event information several days in advance.
Members agreed that the
signage on A1A was excellent. Council
Member Roberts pointed out there was no signage on the East/West, presidential
streets. Ms. Peppers recommended that
the City businesses with marquees be encouraged to advertise the event a week
in advance.
Council Member Roberts presented
that the City did not own any electronic reader boards, but rather rented the
boards. Brief discussion followed
regarding the possible purchase of electronic reader boards. Ms. Marcum asked if there would be grant
money available as the boards could also be used for evacuation and brush fire
information. Mr. Boucher was unsure of
any grant monies due to the State budget cuts.
Ms. McIntire presented that
Ms. Rudzitis had reserved the dates of March 14/15 and March 28/29 for the 2009
Spring show and asked the board for their recommendation. Members agreed upon the March 28/29
dates. Members felt a thank you letter
would be appropriate; Ms. McIntire volunteered to craft a letter to Ms.
Rudzitis.
Status of Marketing Video: Mr. Boucher
advised he was currently editing the script.
He confirmed for members that the theme of the video was “Live, Work and
Play” and the target audience was ANYONE.
He presented the importance of having a very broad base as the video
would be on the Internet as a Welcome Mat to the world. The purpose was to get enough information out
there so people would research the area on the internet.
Ms. Marcum presented that the
board felt the first script was very localized and one
of primary assets of
Members presented that the
original script had no imagery that captured what
Mr. Boucher presented that a
final edited script would be brought back to the board.
Status of Business Survey: Mr. Boucher presented that he had added questions
regarding business signage, building height along A1A, creation of a business
association, and “recovery” insurance. His
intent was to hit on a wide range of issues.
Ms. Marcum questioned the
relevance of the height question without any additional context wrapped around
the question. If there were a high
percentage of “no’s” received, would this drive the future direction of the
City? Mr. Boucher presented the feedback
would be a piece of information available for the City Council to either
consider or not consider. Ms. Marcum expressed
the need to be cautious as the resident survey had been used to drive a lot of
direction even though it was just an informational survey. Mr. Boucher presented that the height issue
would be a “flip of the coin”; there would be people on both sides of the issue
no matter what. He presented that the town
meeting on the height issue revealed that people were split on either side of
the issue; however, there was support for an architectural theme along A1A.
Ms. Muncey presented there
was some confusion at the town meeting as people were worried when they heard
the word “height”, that the building would be 10-20 stories. Mr. Boucher presented that density was not
the issue, it was simply an increase in building
height.
Mr. Peterson did not feel the
height issue was a good question and asked how an increase in building height
along A1A would benefit another business.
Ms. Marcum said if the
purpose of the height question was based on attracting new investors into the
City, perhaps the question could be revised to read, “In order for the City to
attract new business development, would you support an increase in building
height along A1A?”
Ms. Hamilton presented the
need to educate the people on the height question as there was quite a bit of
misconception within the community. Some
people thought the increase in height affected the beachside property as well
as the A1A corridor. Because the City
was 93% built out, the question was what would the remaining
7% bring to the City in tax money.
Height was an important issue because one of the first things a potential
developer asks is, “how high can we go?”
Ms. Marcum agreed that the
key word was “education” and her recommendation would be to not include this
question in the survey.
Mr. Boucher said the height
question had to be neutral. If the
question stated that an increase in height was for economic development,
someone could take issue with that statement because economic development could
occur by utilizing tools other than height.
Mr. Boucher presented there were very strong feelings on both sides of
the issue.
Ms. Peppers recommended that
the question be revised to read “would you support an increase in height”
rather than “would it benefit your business” because everyone who would be
contacted was already in an existing building and the increase in height would
not directly impact them.
Ms. Marcum questioned why the
green business question was not included.
Mr. Boucher presented that the chamber of commerce was working on this
initiative and when the Cape Canaveral Business Association was created, they
would work with the chamber on this initiative.
He said that everyone wanted to be involved in some level of going
green, but they did not know how to get there and that was the problem. City Council had already endorsed the Green
Business Concept. Ms. Marcum felt there
should be a green business question included in the survey.
Mr. Boucher presented that
Dr. Wright was ready to proceed with the survey, but the board could still recommend
revisions/additions to the survey. Ms.
Marcum reiterated that it was the board’s recommendation NOT to spend the
money. Mr. Boucher responded that City
Council wished to move forward with the survey.
Ms. Marcum questioned the value of the survey as it had been pending for
over one year and money was tight. Mr.
Boucher responded that when the City’s business association was created
utilizing the chamber’s resources, the survey would be a good way to reach out
to small business owners.
Mr. Peterson presented that
the Wednesday Friendsday would be an opportunity to sign folks up for the
City’s business association. Mr. Boucher
presented that the name of the group would be the Cocoa Beach Chamber of the
Cape Canaveral Council. It would be a
council of
Mr. Boucher said if it was
the board’s recommendation to cancel the contract with UCF, he would present
this to the City Council. Ms. Muncey
concluded this would be the board’s recommendation as there was no value at
this point in time. Members unanimously
agreed.
Mixed Use: Mr. Boucher
presented that per the recommendation of this board, the P&Z Board was
evaluating areas for mixed use and the type of economic redevelopment tools
that could be put in those districts. He
stated that over $1 billion in taxable property was put on the tax roll during
the building boom, which has since come to an end. The only way to grow revenue and continue to
provide services to the residents (police, fire and recreation) was to grow the
tax base. He challenged the P&Z
Board to identify economic development tools and opportunities that were
attractive to investors to come into the City and build in both the commercial
and residential areas. Mr. Boucher
encouraged members to attend every P&Z Meeting as they committed to have mixed
use as the only agenda item for probably the next six months. The P&Z Board needed the expertise of
this board and he encouraged members to attend their next meeting on April 23. Mr. Boucher presented that the P&Z Board
also received the video of the redevelopment conference he attended on March 27
that this board received. Ms. Muncey
recommended that one or more members attend the April 23 meeting to promote
viewing of the video and promote the rationale behind this board’s mixed use
recommendation.
Brief discussion followed
regarding ad valorem taxes (over half of the City’s operating budget was
dedicated to Public Safety – fire and police); how the City benefitted from the
consumable type taxes (communications tax, utility tax, franchise fees); how
the City would benefit from a CRA by the extra tax revenue generated as a
result of an increase in property value due to redevelopment.
Ms. Joyce Hamilton presented
other taxes included business tax, fire inspection fees and sewage fees.
Mr. Boucher presented that
the port authority was a special taxing district established by the State and
neither the county or City were entitled to any
property tax monies from the retail and restaurants located at the port.
Mr. Peterson presented that
the port was growing and recommended that the City encourage associated port
businesses to relocate to the City. Mr.
Boucher replied that the City would receive some spin-off from the activity at
the port as well as benefit from the future redevelopment of the commercial
properties along A1A once the P&Z Board established the redevelopment tools
to attract investors. Mr. Boucher
reiterated the importance of this board working with the P&Z Board and
helping them with their recommendations to the City Council. He also said there was a big need for Class A
office space.
Mr. Peterson did not think
mixed use was the answer and presented that this board should be going after new
business. Members encouraged Mr.
Peterson to view the video which addressed the quality of life and urban land
planning. Mr. Boucher asked members to
visit www.walkscore.com, an example of
a redevelopment tool, and enter their home address to see the walkability of
their community.
Mr. Boucher explained the
formal adoption process of the Redevelopment Plan for members and presented
that City Council had received a copy of the Redevelopment Plan. Ms. Marcum asked if it would be beneficial
for the board to create a Power Point presentation highlighting the board’s
recommendations contained within the Redevelopment Plan. Mr. Boucher asked that the board not take any
action until the Community Development Director had been hired as this
individual would be the board’s advocate.
Ms. Marcum asked about
Florida Forever and how it related to Carver’s Cove. Mr. Boucher presented that this program
sunsets in one year and the legislature was trying to re-establish the program
which would be dependent on State funding.
Mr. Boucher presented that
the City Council was facing some tough decisions and he encouraged the board to
attend the City Council Revenue Analysis Workshop that was being presented by
the city treasurer on April 30th.
He advised that all the boards had been invited as well as staff. It was important for everyone to understand
the City’s upcoming fiscal restraints.
Members thanked Mr. Boucher
for attending the meeting and providing feedback.
Chairperson Muncey presented
that for this board to be efficient for the City, that the May 21 meeting be
cancelled. She advised that both she and
Mr. Anderson would be out of town and there were no action items. Members agreed that the next meeting would be
June 18. Ms. Muncey advised Mr. Craig
this would allow him time to come before City Council. Members requested that a status report on the
Wednesday Friendsday be placed on the June agenda as well as the updated
marketing video script. Mr. Boucher
reported that the Community Development Director may be on board and would have
some items to bring to the June meeting.
Mr. Peterson recommended that
this board be proactive by researching support businesses for the port that
could be encouraged to locate in the City.
Mr. Boucher presented that this would be a task for the Community
Development Director as this individual would be a seasoned professional with
contacts and resources; however, the board could certainly conduct research. Mr. Peterson presented there were things that
could be done more economically to support the port from Cape Canaveral rather
than from Orlando or
Ms. Marcum volunteered to
contact a representative from Disney Cruise Lines to provide an overview of the
types of support businesses they utilize for their ships.
Mr. Peterson presented another
way to research would be to contact port cities and look at the businesses that
were established to support the ship operations.
Mr. Boucher presented that
the support businesses for the port were listed in their magazine directory and
reminded members that the City did not have any Class A office space.
There being no further
business, the meeting adjourned at 9:15 pm.
Approved
this _______________ day of _____________, 2008.
________________________________
Joanne Muncey, Chairperson
ATTEST:
___________________________
Kim M. McIntire, Secretary