20170608 - CBDAC Minutes

Central Business District Advisory Committee

June 8, 2017 minutes

Attendees: Councilman Ramon Hache, Chief Luthke, Gary Kolesaire, Amy Bourque, Philip Davis, Jane Shinozuka, Michael Velicu

Absentees: Bill Gilsenan, Chris Rutishauser, Gail McCarthy, Lorraine Reynolds, Kathryn Schmidt

Discussion of CBD budget and questions as to how the money is being spent. One of the committee members tried to find CBD allocations and was unable to locate in budget line items. Ramon is going to check on this. There was further discussion on how the CBD money will be allocated.  70k for lighting and sound in the park. 30k for the website and 33k for downtown beautification.

Downtown Beautification. Money in the budget has been set aside for the beautification of our downtown and it will go towards tree wells, plantings, banners, flags, and LED snowflakes during the winter season. The end goal is to create a more inviting downtown.

CBD tree wells and their maintenance. Michael Velicu had concerns over our tree wells. Is there enough money allotted for the maintenance of all the tree wells in town? Some of the wells are currently empty, some have dead trees, some are growing vegetables and others are full of weeds. There needs to be consistency and a uniform look across the CBD, especially along the main arteries. Will the money for the tree wells also be used towards getting new trees? Amy Bourque will reach out to Michael Sedon to see if the Shade Tree Commission can let us know about the dying or dead trees in the tree wells.

Central Valet

As of right now, there have not been any bonds for a central valet service in our CBD. We discussed the possibility of having two locations for the valet.

Public Outreach

Ramon Hache suggested handing out flyers to all of the downtown businesses to keep them informed on the valet services and let them know about the new CBD website.

Parking

Ramon Hache discussed the option of introducing the possibility of a second garage in downtown located on the Walnut Street Lot after the construction of the Hudson Street Lot. There is already a preliminary rendition of wat his garage would look like, although at this point it is purely conceptual and has not been formally discussed by the Village Council.

Estate Card Update

The Village is currently considering if they want to make Estate Cards available to residents of Ridgewood. The Chamber and Guild are strongly behind this.  Estate Cards would help promote local shopping.

The meeting ran close to three hours. There was a discussion that our meetings should be limited to an hour and a half.

The meeting was adjourned. Submitted by Amy Bourque, July 11, 2017.