20210204 - CBDAC Minutes

Central Business District Advisory Committee  (CBDAC)

Minutes

Thursday, February 4th, 2021

Zoom Call: 8:30 – 10:00am

• Minutes approved from 1/21/21 meeting

• Bollard Posts for Dining Corrals Follow Up
  • Chris introduced another model which is more crash resistant and satisfied some of the safety concerns re: spacing and proximity to cars.
  • Pam will circulate the cut sheets about 2 different kinds of bollards. Chris will submit a sketch. If restaurants are interested, it would be appropriate for side streets and not RW Avenue. Village needs to approve the floor plan submitted by restaurants. Restaurants  will pay for materials and the village will pay for installations.
  • Randy said all restaurants that had corrals last year were interested and other restaurants might also be. Randy will distribute plans and rough costs to restaurants to gauge approval.
  • Sook, Park West, Steel Wheel and Edigio are interested. Waiting to hear back from the Office. Probably 6-10K cost per corral depending on size.
  • Bollards are an extension of sidewalk cafe permit and will be no bigger than existing parking space.
  • Bollards are more expensive than barriers--perhaps $1-2K--because restaurants will have to buy rather than borrow from VOR. We would like to have restaurants volunteer to put them in. Sturdier bollards are about $800 with discount for quantity.  Average restaurant would need 2 on each side that traffic approaches and varies depending on length of corral and other issues that would affect safety (e.g., traffic patterns.)

• Budget. What qualifies as a budget item? Waiving village revenue (e.g., grab and go) does not qualify. Only items that the village needs to pay for (e.g., police overtime) qualify.  Short term funding of initiatives.

• CBDAC and “Welcome Back Ridgewood” Effort
  • Getting other organizations in town to help and participate (Chamber, Guild, Newcomers, RHSAA, Rotary, etc)
  • Lobby for free parking for volunteers and performers
  • Art Initiative-murals. Arts Council lined up 3 artists. Project will go hand in hand with another 3D sidewalk chalk rendering project. Artists will teach high school students. They will do it on the streets when closed once a month. Jordan will ask the RHS Alumni Association if they want to get involved.
  • Murals will be placed outside of pedestrian plaza and people ask people to find them. Bibilia, Rossi Paints, bike shop. Jacqui suggested posting pictures with “Where are we now?” on social media or in the press. Have people find them and take pictures with them. Look at Burlington Vermont's Arts Council webpage for an example. Perhaps put plywood up on walls.

• SID Research Review Cathryn shared Inventory of existing organizations and their efforts in the town. Not comprehensive. Please send examples of other ideas that we can include. We have a lot of stuff going on--lots of events, opportunity. What could a SID add? Or our council do? Add/comment on the list. Add RW Alumni Association. Have a convo to plan who is reaching out to which groups independently. What opportunities that could be filled with a SID?

• Property owners meeting/forum. We have done this in the past. This is a great time to coordinate something. Tenants are in a pivotal moment of survival. Invite property owners to a forum on Zoom. 60 owners on the East Side. Bills says most of the stores will attend. Will contact everyone. Landlords are interested in helping tenants succeed. There are over 100 buildings but key players are important. If effort is not successful, a SID won't be successful.

• Hudson Street Garage
  • Lorriane, Pam Village Manager and CFO formed a committee to look at opening up the garage to groups outside of the village.
  • New ordinance concerning inappropriate behavior of public property. How high can the penalties be?
  • Also working on some kind of fencing on the 4 floor. Signage would reflect ordinance. Need more deterrents.
  • Revenue opportunity exists for events on the 4th floor, especially during pandemic.
  • Multi-Unit Housing

Other

• During heavy snows, priority should be given to grab and go to the garage for parking.
• Adopt a storm drain. Check for issues and alert the Village if it needs to be cleaned.
• The Long Game:  CBDAC considered a strategic resource consulted with by businesses and organizations for downtown activity and plans (the CBDAC can help with that!)