1 00:03:36,020 --> 00:03:44,380 Good evening. Welcome to our August 24th meeting. I will now call the meeting to order and ask 2 00:03:45,260 --> 00:03:51,360 Councilmember Kuhlwitz to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Oh, shoot. We probably should do that. 3 00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:55,040 If we're going to call it to order. Let's figure out who's present. The gang is here, 4 00:03:55,440 --> 00:04:05,600 but please. Clerk, can you take the roll? Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. 5 00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:14,260 here. Here. Here. Thank you. Now, Councilmember Kuhl, it's going to lead us in the Pledge of 6 00:04:14,260 --> 00:04:14,620 Allegiance. 7 00:04:17,840 --> 00:04:22,820 I'd like to introduce to you my line, the United States of America, and to the Republic 8 00:04:22,820 --> 00:04:29,620 of which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. 9 00:04:38,220 --> 00:04:38,860 Our 10 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:44,180 first line of business is to approve the consent agenda. 11 00:04:45,860 --> 00:04:47,140 May I have a motion to approve? 12 00:04:47,460 --> 00:04:48,120 So moved. 13 00:04:48,640 --> 00:04:48,960 Second. 14 00:04:49,660 --> 00:04:50,860 It's been moved and seconded. 15 00:04:54,160 --> 00:04:55,520 Thank you, Council Member Kuhlwitz. 16 00:04:55,760 --> 00:04:57,260 Council Member Kuhlwitz is abstaining. 17 00:04:59,040 --> 00:05:03,360 All those in favour of approving the consent agenda, please signify by saying aye. 18 00:05:03,780 --> 00:05:03,920 Aye. 19 00:05:04,680 --> 00:05:05,300 Any opposed? 20 00:05:05,520 --> 00:05:05,840 Say aye. 21 00:05:07,260 --> 00:05:08,060 Motion carries. 22 00:05:08,360 --> 00:05:10,240 Consent agenda items are approved. 23 00:05:12,100 --> 00:05:19,000 We'll start today's meeting with a presentation from our Economic Development Manager, James 24 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:23,200 Russell, and he will give us the annual update on economic development. 25 00:05:38,850 --> 00:05:39,730 Good evening, Council. 26 00:05:40,110 --> 00:05:41,310 Thank you for having me tonight. 27 00:05:44,300 --> 00:05:44,940 Loaded agenda. 28 00:05:45,600 --> 00:05:48,920 I'd like to start by talking about the Economic Development Dashboard. 29 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:51,640 You all have a copy of the full dashboard in front of you. 30 00:05:51,780 --> 00:05:56,480 I have selected a couple data slides I'd like to call out and speak about. 31 00:05:56,480 --> 00:05:57,320 Let's 32 00:06:02,400 --> 00:06:04,840 start on the chart on the top left of the page. 33 00:06:05,400 --> 00:06:07,260 This used to be a four-access chart. 34 00:06:07,440 --> 00:06:08,800 It is now a two-access chart. 35 00:06:09,060 --> 00:06:14,300 We have had all positive growth, both quarter over quarter and year over year, according 36 00:06:14,300 --> 00:06:20,940 to Placer AI, that is, visit traffic, so not necessarily visitors but independent visits 37 00:06:20,940 --> 00:06:21,740 to the district. 38 00:06:22,340 --> 00:06:27,400 Very happy with that, led especially by MALLWAY's 11.4 percent increase in visitor 39 00:06:27,400 --> 00:06:31,380 traffic year over year in Lane Avenue with a 10% increase. 40 00:06:33,610 --> 00:06:39,410 On the right, you can see an activity tracker for our progress, 15 BRE visits this year. 41 00:06:39,830 --> 00:06:42,630 In the second half of the year, we need to improve that. 42 00:06:42,950 --> 00:06:46,230 We'd like to be at around 50 visits by the end of the year. 43 00:06:46,810 --> 00:06:51,190 Additionally, as we work to implement the new BRE program, there will be some structure 44 00:06:51,190 --> 00:06:55,990 added later this year, including a full resource team, resource team agreements, 45 00:06:55,990 --> 00:06:59,170 and some pre-meeting and post-meeting procedures. 46 00:07:01,250 --> 00:07:05,370 In the middle of the chart, you will see our business tax receipts year-to-day. 47 00:07:05,830 --> 00:07:10,670 So year-to-date through quarter two, that is just over 25 million. 48 00:07:11,530 --> 00:07:14,710 And I'd like to spend some time talking about private investment. 49 00:07:14,930 --> 00:07:17,150 You can see quite an increase there. 50 00:07:17,350 --> 00:07:21,270 That is a 330% increase in private investment year-to-date. 51 00:07:21,270 --> 00:07:29,890 I'd like to call out specifically the Wellington Project, which is going to be in that data set that is a $13 million project. 52 00:07:30,350 --> 00:07:38,810 Even when that is removed from the data set, there's still a 130% increase year over year in investment activity in commercial spaces. 53 00:07:39,510 --> 00:07:48,830 That also does not contemplate the Frasier Financial Office or the National Church Residence Office with those permits, and they will be reflected in the next quarter's dashboard. 54 00:07:48,830 --> 00:07:49,690 As 55 00:07:57,370 --> 00:08:01,430 far as our built environment and how that is performing, the chart on the left takes 56 00:08:01,430 --> 00:08:06,890 a look at comparable communities throughout central Ohio dating back to 2016. 57 00:08:07,310 --> 00:08:12,370 Do want to make a quick call out, the Columbus region dataset was only available 2018 to 58 00:08:12,370 --> 00:08:15,870 present, so that is 2018, the rest at 2016. 59 00:08:16,550 --> 00:08:21,090 A couple points that really jumped out to me, one was that we continue to outperform 60 00:08:21,090 --> 00:08:25,730 the region in office and as vacancies shrunk in that time period, we added a 61 00:08:25,730 --> 00:08:26,850 a lot of office products. 62 00:08:27,130 --> 00:08:29,030 So you're lane two gateway building, 63 00:08:29,230 --> 00:08:30,970 you have over 200,000 square feet 64 00:08:30,970 --> 00:08:32,970 of additional office product added 65 00:08:32,970 --> 00:08:35,010 as our vacancy continued to drop. 66 00:08:36,570 --> 00:08:39,950 In retail, you'll see that we are falling behind 67 00:08:39,950 --> 00:08:41,450 and our vacancy is increasing. 68 00:08:42,050 --> 00:08:43,690 There's been a lot of lease activity 69 00:08:43,690 --> 00:08:46,130 since the close of quarter two to quarter three. 70 00:08:46,470 --> 00:08:47,910 I expect that to be reflected 71 00:08:47,910 --> 00:08:50,390 into rebound uniformly there. 72 00:08:52,700 --> 00:08:54,640 As far as real estate pricing, 73 00:08:54,640 --> 00:09:04,200 You can see a small increase quarter over quarter in both office and retail rent as well as rising vacancy rates and a negative absorption. 74 00:09:04,640 --> 00:09:09,140 That really tells us that the market needs to continue working on finding equilibrium price. 75 00:09:16,940 --> 00:09:25,440 A few project updates that we're really happy about National Church residents has submitted their Phase 1 office plans to the Community Development Department. 76 00:09:25,700 --> 00:09:28,560 Those are currently being reviewed for permit. 77 00:09:28,560 --> 00:09:36,260 That project was also one of a handful in Franklin County to be awarded transformational mixed use tax credits. 78 00:09:36,660 --> 00:09:42,460 So $4.6 million awarded in transformational mixed use tax credits to that project. 79 00:09:43,060 --> 00:09:49,680 As mentioned earlier, Frazier Financial Advisors also has submitted their building plans to community development. 80 00:09:50,120 --> 00:09:55,640 We're working with their team now to plan some marketing and engagement around their deal to stay. 81 00:09:56,660 --> 00:10:02,920 Lastly, 2471 Westmont City staff continues to work with that project team as they work 82 00:10:03,400 --> 00:10:05,000 towards their financing close. 83 00:10:05,240 --> 00:10:09,740 That project will be in front of council with the development agreement seeking a right 84 00:10:09,740 --> 00:10:13,120 of way lease once our hands are around project financing. 85 00:10:17,190 --> 00:10:21,270 Outside of projects, there's been a lot of activity out of the Economic Development 86 00:10:21,270 --> 00:10:26,390 Division pictured here was the July 15th Farmers Market Community Boot. 87 00:10:26,390 --> 00:10:33,610 At the booth, we had questionnaires that asked participants about DORA and generally any pain points with redevelopment. 88 00:10:34,010 --> 00:10:36,350 You'll see on the board two activities. 89 00:10:36,650 --> 00:10:43,390 One was for residents to identify where they'd like to see redevelopment specifically focused on commercial corridors. 90 00:10:43,750 --> 00:10:45,270 That was a sticker system. 91 00:10:45,830 --> 00:10:52,670 Used for that, the other activity asked residents what types of businesses they wanted us to pursue when we're contemplating attraction. 92 00:10:52,670 --> 00:10:59,230 The results of that was casual dining, entertainment uses, and home good retailers, and stuff for 93 00:10:59,230 --> 00:11:00,890 mailing mixed there. 94 00:11:03,100 --> 00:11:05,020 Been to many ribbon cuttings this year. 95 00:11:05,140 --> 00:11:08,680 The most recent was Aluvita Social Wellness on Riverside Drive. 96 00:11:09,200 --> 00:11:12,880 That was a project that started in March of 2025 as an attraction. 97 00:11:13,260 --> 00:11:14,940 I'm just very excited to get that one open. 98 00:11:16,460 --> 00:11:22,060 As well, we continue to engage in business walks, primarily when we have a municipal 99 00:11:22,060 --> 00:11:23,880 event that's going to be in the area. 100 00:11:23,880 --> 00:11:28,460 We try to bring that information to our businesses so they can participate and 101 00:11:28,460 --> 00:11:33,700 know, make sure they're open. We got some feedback during the master plan focus group 102 00:11:33,700 --> 00:11:38,040 that the business walk for really helpful, that it was their first contact with economic 103 00:11:38,040 --> 00:11:41,800 development and helped to build trust. So we're going to continue to do those. 104 00:11:41,960 --> 00:11:45,820 In fact, tomorrow we're scheduled for business walks at all districts to 105 00:11:46,360 --> 00:11:47,960 pass out the master plan survey. 106 00:11:51,870 --> 00:11:53,610 As I mentioned at that farmer's market, 107 00:11:53,610 --> 00:11:57,630 We did get some feedback on DORA designated outdoor refreshment areas. 108 00:11:58,070 --> 00:12:01,670 Only 5% of surveyed residents hated the idea. 109 00:12:02,210 --> 00:12:03,890 Everyone else liked it or loved it. 110 00:12:03,970 --> 00:12:06,190 That was on a scale of 1 to 5. 111 00:12:07,490 --> 00:12:11,750 There, so as far as proceeding with DORA this year, we're having two meetings 112 00:12:11,750 --> 00:12:13,130 that will be announced in September. 113 00:12:13,510 --> 00:12:14,650 One focused on residents. 114 00:12:15,390 --> 00:12:20,230 We'll be sending notification to everyone within 300 feet of Tremont Center. 115 00:12:20,230 --> 00:12:23,630 Additionally, one session focused on the business community. 116 00:12:24,230 --> 00:12:30,110 If sentiment remains strong, we'll bring Dora authorized in legislation before council later this year or early next year. 117 00:12:36,150 --> 00:12:39,870 Another large undertaking this year has been the strategic plan. 118 00:12:40,590 --> 00:12:45,530 Up to this point, we have used the Boyette 2021 draft of Blueprint. 119 00:12:45,690 --> 00:12:51,290 As our economic development strategic plan, we've drafted a new version complete with market analysis. 120 00:12:52,690 --> 00:12:59,770 Before that's finalized, we want to make sure, one, that the master plan concludes and those findings are reflected within the strategic plan. 121 00:13:00,230 --> 00:13:04,950 There's also a little bit more public outreach and some expert interviews to do to bring that up to speed. 122 00:13:05,670 --> 00:13:12,730 Right now, it looks like a mid-summer release of the master plan, so this report will be finalized shortly thereafter. 123 00:13:12,730 --> 00:13:13,730 And 124 00:13:18,120 --> 00:13:22,760 there is a lot of data that comes out in that master, excuse me, market analysis. 125 00:13:23,280 --> 00:13:26,960 I want to point you to a few blocks here that's really census data. 126 00:13:28,260 --> 00:13:33,420 You'll see the median age of 40.2, about five years older than county average. 127 00:13:33,900 --> 00:13:38,560 That really reflects that we're both over indexed in seniors and in children. 128 00:13:39,060 --> 00:13:41,620 It's interesting to inform our retail strategy. 129 00:13:42,300 --> 00:13:50,180 Additionally, residents are over 2x the household income as the county and highly educated, nearly 130 00:13:50,180 --> 00:13:54,040 80% with bachelor's degree, nearly 40% with graduate or professional. 131 00:13:55,620 --> 00:13:59,860 At the bottom there, like to call out our unemployment rate, that's over half of the 132 00:13:59,860 --> 00:14:00,960 county average right now. 133 00:14:01,480 --> 00:14:07,000 And our work from home statistics, still in our modern data, we're seeing 27% of 134 00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:08,240 residents working from home. 135 00:14:15,950 --> 00:14:22,210 Looking at the year ahead, the strategic plan, as mentioned, will be finalized once the master 136 00:14:22,210 --> 00:14:23,430 plan is finalized. 137 00:14:23,790 --> 00:14:30,430 The remainder of this year, the focus is that Dora at Tremont Center, as well as completing 138 00:14:30,430 --> 00:14:34,670 the elements, the structured elements of the BRE program mentioned earlier. 139 00:14:35,990 --> 00:14:41,170 As we look to pivot to entrepreneurship as our primary growth mechanism, we'll 140 00:14:41,170 --> 00:14:44,410 be starting next year with an entrepreneurship ecosystem analysis. 141 00:14:44,410 --> 00:14:51,730 So that's really taking a look at our community from an entrepreneur's lens and what elements we have, what elements we may be deficient in. 142 00:14:53,270 --> 00:14:59,870 A new addition to this list, in light of the recent storm, is a business resiliency plan. So next year we will be drafting. 143 00:15:02,380 --> 00:15:08,320 And lastly, the strategic plan contemplates many strategic partnerships. We are pursuing 144 00:15:08,320 --> 00:15:16,060 those partnerships currently and plan to through the rest of next year. With that, I'm happy 145 00:15:16,060 --> 00:15:16,980 to answer any questions. 146 00:15:20,600 --> 00:15:26,360 Thank you, Mr. Ransoul. Councilmember Tracy, quick to the draw. 147 00:15:27,300 --> 00:15:32,580 Thank you for that presentation. It sounds like things are going very well, so that's 148 00:15:32,580 --> 00:15:33,320 It's wonderful to hear. 149 00:15:35,340 --> 00:15:37,800 You mentioned the Westmont development. 150 00:15:38,340 --> 00:15:42,240 I'm aware that residents have expressed some significant concerns over parking. 151 00:15:42,960 --> 00:15:50,120 Do you have any information or thoughts on the latest about what is being done to make 152 00:15:50,120 --> 00:15:54,480 sure that parking for that amenity doesn't become a neighborhood issue? 153 00:15:55,440 --> 00:15:56,980 Thank you for the question. 154 00:15:57,300 --> 00:15:59,200 A couple actions were taken in response. 155 00:15:59,780 --> 00:16:10,460 We continue to work with the applicant to broker an additional parking agreement. They have one now with Ohio Health looking to pick one up at Huntington Bank on the corridor to add more spaces. 156 00:16:11,400 --> 00:16:20,520 Additionally, this fall with community development support will be doing a Lane Avenue parking study that helps to identify where we may have those pain points. 157 00:16:21,040 --> 00:16:24,940 How much parking surplus we have and how to identify and let that be known. 158 00:16:24,940 --> 00:16:33,500 residents. Thanks, and second question just acronyms. BRE stands for what? 159 00:16:33,920 --> 00:16:38,600 BRE is business retention and expansion. So those are visits typically annual 160 00:16:38,600 --> 00:16:44,220 that economic development staff is hosting with large taxpayers. Thank you. 161 00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:51,900 Councilman Coolitz. Thank you Madam President. Thank you Mr. Russell. 162 00:16:51,900 --> 00:16:53,380 So, last two questions. 163 00:16:53,920 --> 00:16:59,900 Do you know how our office rents and retail rents compare with other similar suburbs? 164 00:17:01,420 --> 00:17:01,820 Yes. 165 00:17:02,160 --> 00:17:07,220 So, currently, and thank you for the question, currently our office rent is just a little 166 00:17:07,220 --> 00:17:07,820 bit cheaper. 167 00:17:08,020 --> 00:17:13,240 So, on average, I'd say we're about 50 cents below that regional average from retail 168 00:17:13,240 --> 00:17:17,540 were in the same concentration, so about equal to what the rest of them appears. 169 00:17:18,440 --> 00:17:18,880 Thank you. 170 00:17:18,880 --> 00:17:22,960 And the other question is when you referred to business tax receipts in here. 171 00:17:23,180 --> 00:17:25,680 What all is included in business taxes? 172 00:17:26,380 --> 00:17:32,080 Yes, so business tax receipts that is going to be all withholdings as well as net profit tax. 173 00:17:32,560 --> 00:17:34,780 So it's the combination of those two. 174 00:17:35,180 --> 00:17:37,120 It does not break like property tax. 175 00:17:39,220 --> 00:17:40,240 Thank you. 176 00:17:41,240 --> 00:17:42,340 Vice President Muntz. 177 00:17:42,820 --> 00:17:44,380 Thanks for the presentation, Mr. Russell. 178 00:17:44,540 --> 00:17:48,860 And I just want to start by saying I really appreciate the data-driven approach that you're taking to your role. 179 00:17:48,860 --> 00:17:51,100 I think it's very productive for us. 180 00:17:51,440 --> 00:17:53,640 Two questions, terms I don't understand. 181 00:17:54,680 --> 00:17:59,180 Lease reabsorption, you mentioned that and it's because of, you know, it might be this 182 00:17:59,180 --> 00:18:00,480 way until the market comes into balance. 183 00:18:00,640 --> 00:18:01,980 Can you just say a little bit more about that? 184 00:18:02,640 --> 00:18:04,140 Yeah, thank you for the question. 185 00:18:04,460 --> 00:18:09,040 Absorption is really how much and what's reported there is a 12-month net absorption. 186 00:18:09,300 --> 00:18:15,240 So looking 12 years or 12 months historically, what is the total inflow of office occupancy 187 00:18:15,240 --> 00:18:18,380 see an outflow and then the net position there in square feet. 188 00:18:18,900 --> 00:18:20,060 So same for retail. 189 00:18:21,360 --> 00:18:26,200 And on this last page that we're looking at right now, the business resiliency plan totally 190 00:18:26,200 --> 00:18:28,120 agree we should be doing that given the recent storm. 191 00:18:28,380 --> 00:18:31,880 What are the types of components or content that you would expect to come out of a plan 192 00:18:31,880 --> 00:18:32,240 like that? 193 00:18:33,080 --> 00:18:35,100 I think there's a few different lenses. 194 00:18:35,400 --> 00:18:39,500 One is looking really planning and looking towards the futures of what are actions 195 00:18:39,500 --> 00:18:43,300 that we can take, particularly in capital planning and large projects that would 196 00:18:43,300 --> 00:18:48,560 make businesses more resilient so things like underground utilities, for example, the other 197 00:18:48,560 --> 00:18:49,800 element is really the response. 198 00:18:50,100 --> 00:18:53,280 So how do you respond when that emergency arises? 199 00:18:53,840 --> 00:18:58,720 Who did the business contact and how and how do we respond as quickly as possible to meet 200 00:18:58,720 --> 00:18:58,940 needs? 201 00:18:59,340 --> 00:18:59,980 Thank you. 202 00:19:02,580 --> 00:19:04,000 Thank you for the presentation. 203 00:19:04,940 --> 00:19:08,860 I note that the one area where we're a little higher than our peers is on retail 204 00:19:08,860 --> 00:19:13,840 vacancy and the presentation and your words noted that there's some lease activity 205 00:19:13,840 --> 00:19:19,780 that should bring that down, but are there any discernible trends as it relates to our retail 206 00:19:19,780 --> 00:19:27,940 stock or immediately identifiable needs that could enhance the community from a retail perspective? 207 00:19:30,050 --> 00:19:35,290 Thank you for the question. From the retail perspective, I do believe those numbers are 208 00:19:35,290 --> 00:19:40,630 going to find themselves right back to close to three or four percent once this lease activity 209 00:19:40,630 --> 00:19:45,370 is reported. There was large vacancies at shops online in Arlington Square where 210 00:19:45,370 --> 00:19:49,670 we've seen lease activity. The largest trend we're seeing right now in retail 211 00:19:49,670 --> 00:19:54,410 lease up is this push for health and wellness. So lots of yoga, lots of Pilates 212 00:19:54,410 --> 00:19:58,890 studios and general wellness. As far as what we can bring to the market to 213 00:19:58,890 --> 00:20:01,730 make it more attractive for retailers, that's where we are 214 00:20:01,730 --> 00:20:06,490 contemplating. Doras and other district-wide marketing using our events 215 00:20:06,490 --> 00:20:08,410 and says, you know, an event driver 216 00:20:09,050 --> 00:20:10,550 and bring more foot traffic ultimately. 217 00:20:11,390 --> 00:20:13,490 I do want to use this as a, James, 218 00:20:13,690 --> 00:20:14,690 do you want to talk a little bit about 219 00:20:14,690 --> 00:20:17,130 the work you've been doing on the FASAD program as well? 220 00:20:17,970 --> 00:20:22,010 Yes, the strategic plan calls for a continued investment 221 00:20:22,010 --> 00:20:23,570 in the FASAD grant program. 222 00:20:24,010 --> 00:20:26,730 So that was an incentive program started last year 223 00:20:27,210 --> 00:20:29,370 to help incentivize some of that retail 224 00:20:29,370 --> 00:20:31,530 and outside of the economic based companies, 225 00:20:31,990 --> 00:20:33,170 some large tax payers. 226 00:20:34,510 --> 00:20:40,630 FASAD grant was awarded to what is soon to be Arlington Grill, who the hands was on 227 00:20:40,630 --> 00:20:41,150 Tremont. 228 00:20:41,690 --> 00:20:46,610 And we saw that facilitator transaction there continue to use the FASAD grant in a similar 229 00:20:46,610 --> 00:20:47,090 way. 230 00:20:51,380 --> 00:20:52,120 Councilmember Oldham. 231 00:20:52,720 --> 00:20:53,760 Thank you, Madam President. 232 00:20:54,040 --> 00:20:54,820 Thank you, Mr. Russell. 233 00:20:55,640 --> 00:21:01,000 Related to the parking study on Lane, is there any way we could include in that 234 00:21:01,520 --> 00:21:05,900 how a circulator busts the different economic hotspots around town might be able to 235 00:21:05,900 --> 00:21:10,640 benefit people who don't want to drive. I don't know if it's too late to add 236 00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:15,620 something like that but I'd love to see if it would be beneficial financially to 237 00:21:15,620 --> 00:21:20,600 the city. Certainly I can speak with Chad Gibson who's leading that effort just 238 00:21:20,600 --> 00:21:24,240 to understand where they are in planning. I think that's a great idea to 239 00:21:24,240 --> 00:21:24,640 consider. 240 00:21:26,860 --> 00:21:31,820 Follow-up question on that. If my memory is serving me right, did we 241 00:21:31,820 --> 00:21:39,920 do or circulator study assistance in the field? Didn't we do one two years ago this before 242 00:21:39,920 --> 00:21:46,440 this council? I don't think it's dated or not too dated that it couldn't be incorporated 243 00:21:46,440 --> 00:21:50,360 or? Yeah, we did a 2025 kind of circulator study. 244 00:21:50,580 --> 00:21:57,520 The biggest challenge we're running into is we don't have people in enough singular 245 00:21:57,520 --> 00:22:06,120 locations like everybody that we talked to or kind of surveyed about it want to be picked 246 00:22:06,120 --> 00:22:08,300 up at their house or dropped off at their house. 247 00:22:08,760 --> 00:22:14,920 And so the results of that were a recommendation that if council wants to consider something 248 00:22:14,920 --> 00:22:22,560 like that maybe a first pilot step would be some kind of ride sharing vouchers for 249 00:22:22,560 --> 00:22:29,640 people where they could use a private company to get door-to-door rides. 250 00:22:33,010 --> 00:22:41,570 I'd be happy to recirculate that and then look at how maybe we can share that data with 251 00:22:41,570 --> 00:22:46,670 the OSU students that Chad Gibson is working with and see if they can't correlate that 252 00:22:46,670 --> 00:22:47,590 and update it in there. 253 00:22:52,040 --> 00:22:52,680 Yeah. 254 00:22:55,750 --> 00:22:56,150 Okay. 255 00:22:56,390 --> 00:22:57,310 Yeah, that's helpful. 256 00:22:58,990 --> 00:23:11,910 I don't always want to abandon work that we've done, but always kind of think about as a time to update, refresh it. What did we see then? What new trends are? Do we have now that would change the circumstances? 257 00:23:13,310 --> 00:23:17,310 And then report back on that. Okay, great. Thank you. 258 00:23:17,310 --> 00:23:19,950 Council Member Ford can't thank you madam president 259 00:23:20,770 --> 00:23:26,950 So first James, thank you for your work in this area because with small of missed municipalities 260 00:23:27,790 --> 00:23:34,810 It's competitive out there, and I think your work within the city is helping keep us at a leading edge here 261 00:23:36,190 --> 00:23:43,390 My first question is looking at the quarter of a quarter and your over your change and visitor traffic 262 00:23:44,030 --> 00:23:59,770 I was hoping to see a little more growth for the King Steel area, especially with the recent developments over the past years of the apartments there, of the community center, and those being a draw to that area. 263 00:24:00,050 --> 00:24:05,970 Is there any underlying themes or anything beyond these numbers and the data that you're seeing? 264 00:24:06,850 --> 00:24:12,130 Yeah, thank you for the question. And one data point that's not in there that does reflect 265 00:24:12,130 --> 00:24:16,690 some of that positive traffic there is generally as we look at retail leases in Kingsdale. 266 00:24:16,890 --> 00:24:21,970 So there was only one that turned over, but that was at roughly a 25% premium on the market. 267 00:24:22,250 --> 00:24:26,870 So we are seeing market reflect the reality of a thousand daily visitors at the Bob Crane 268 00:24:26,870 --> 00:24:32,310 and another close to 500 residents living there. I think some of the reason that 269 00:24:32,310 --> 00:24:38,730 Kingsdale might only be at that 3% growth is previous to this. There was an 8% year-over-year 270 00:24:38,730 --> 00:24:42,890 growth there. So I think we're just starting to stabilize a little bit to where traffic 271 00:24:42,890 --> 00:24:47,910 is now that construction is concluded. Thank you. And just kind of a follow up on that 272 00:24:47,910 --> 00:24:54,850 when you guys mentioned the facade program. Is that open to those at Kingsdale or is 273 00:24:54,850 --> 00:25:00,170 that more for historical businesses and properties? It is open for any commercial 274 00:25:00,170 --> 00:25:05,370 property. Awesome. Thank you. On our website, Upper Arlington Civic Service. All right. Perfect. 275 00:25:05,670 --> 00:25:14,130 Shameless plug. My next question is, could you speak more about the Entrepreneurship Initiative? 276 00:25:15,130 --> 00:25:18,110 Do you say that was kind of going to be a focus for the next year? 277 00:25:18,970 --> 00:25:23,350 Really a focus through the entire strategic plan. So as we've evaluated, 278 00:25:23,630 --> 00:25:27,550 really, you have a little bit of defense and offense and economic development. Your business 279 00:25:27,550 --> 00:25:33,250 for Tension Expansion Program is defense. As we think about growth in typical communities 280 00:25:33,250 --> 00:25:38,590 that would be economic-based attractions of recruiting large companies, given our limits 281 00:25:38,590 --> 00:25:43,370 on space and commercial size, we've had to really rethink how are we going to grow. 282 00:25:43,790 --> 00:25:48,150 And so there is some density and redevelopment of properties contemplated, but it's really 283 00:25:48,150 --> 00:25:53,050 leaning into entrepreneurship, and that aligns with some of the skill sets in this community. 284 00:25:53,050 --> 00:25:58,510 So, it starts with plugging out the ecosystem, but continuing to roll out what are resources 285 00:25:58,510 --> 00:26:03,070 and support that we can deliver to continue making up Burlington, the most attractive 286 00:26:03,070 --> 00:26:04,950 place in central Ohio to start a business. 287 00:26:05,350 --> 00:26:10,330 And I appreciate that, especially with that understanding what our strengths are as 288 00:26:10,330 --> 00:26:16,910 a community, where our talent lies, and the kind of untapped area of entrepreneurship. 289 00:26:17,290 --> 00:26:21,230 I'm not aware of many other cities really trying to focus on that for their community, 290 00:26:21,230 --> 00:26:23,030 and kind of cultivating that. 291 00:26:23,310 --> 00:26:26,490 So I am excited to see what that comes with. 292 00:26:27,270 --> 00:26:27,710 Thank you. 293 00:26:31,320 --> 00:26:33,600 Mr. Russell, thanks for the presentation 294 00:26:33,600 --> 00:26:36,500 and to echo many of my colleagues. 295 00:26:36,900 --> 00:26:38,720 Thanks for the approach that you're taking 296 00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:41,760 with our economic development efforts in the city 297 00:26:43,300 --> 00:26:44,360 and the data focus. 298 00:26:45,140 --> 00:26:46,780 I have a couple of questions. 299 00:26:47,560 --> 00:26:49,040 Some just clarifying some of the things 300 00:26:49,040 --> 00:26:51,520 my colleagues have said or a follow-up 301 00:26:51,520 --> 00:26:54,100 and then some just kind of re-educating me. 302 00:26:54,880 --> 00:26:58,000 The first is our dashboard. 303 00:26:58,960 --> 00:27:03,840 Remind me, is that internal or what's the external portion of our dashboard 304 00:27:03,840 --> 00:27:07,760 such that businesses have access or kind of like a door front 305 00:27:07,760 --> 00:27:10,260 to economic development activity in our city? 306 00:27:11,160 --> 00:27:12,640 Thank you for the question. 307 00:27:13,180 --> 00:27:15,080 Our dashboard is hosted publicly, 308 00:27:15,420 --> 00:27:19,040 so the most updated version sits on our CivicServe website. 309 00:27:19,840 --> 00:27:23,760 There's a bottom ribbon there, so there is some visibility there. 310 00:27:24,080 --> 00:27:30,020 One of the things the strategic plan contemplates is reviewing our economic development website, 311 00:27:30,460 --> 00:27:33,860 that being the base at UA.gov website. 312 00:27:34,160 --> 00:27:35,440 And I think that that could live there. 313 00:27:36,040 --> 00:27:36,280 Okay. 314 00:27:37,900 --> 00:27:44,060 To follow up on Council Member Ford-Camp's entrepreneurial question ecosystem and the analysis that you're doing. 315 00:27:44,060 --> 00:27:51,380 Now, I know that you personally take some extra effort and time to kind of speak with 316 00:27:51,380 --> 00:27:53,220 our high school and connect to our high school. 317 00:27:53,500 --> 00:28:01,220 I know they have a lot of innovation, entrepreneurship, style-esque things going on there. 318 00:28:01,360 --> 00:28:08,260 And as I think about just future business and, you know, sometimes your best business 319 00:28:08,260 --> 00:28:13,120 people within communities are the students that end up coming back or building businesses 320 00:28:13,120 --> 00:28:15,860 or even starting to think about how they could build a business here. 321 00:28:16,280 --> 00:28:21,720 What are some efforts or some work that we could do in that regard as we're thinking about our ecosystem? 322 00:28:23,180 --> 00:28:26,640 Thank you for the question. I'm really excited to talk about this actually. 323 00:28:27,480 --> 00:28:31,760 Upper Arlington Schools this year is starting the Incubator EDU program. 324 00:28:32,320 --> 00:28:38,340 So that is a new full-length program that will represent a course of study through the IB curriculum 325 00:28:38,340 --> 00:28:41,680 that allows students to come in and really learn 326 00:28:41,680 --> 00:28:43,640 from also our local business community 327 00:28:43,640 --> 00:28:44,640 who we've connected in. 328 00:28:44,820 --> 00:28:47,160 There will be subject matter experts, mentors 329 00:28:47,860 --> 00:28:50,700 that will help them develop a business plan in year one. 330 00:28:51,180 --> 00:28:52,700 That program is slated to grow 331 00:28:52,700 --> 00:28:54,200 and have an accelerator program 332 00:28:54,200 --> 00:28:57,560 and it's year two that helps them launch the business 333 00:28:57,560 --> 00:29:00,280 and scale it from that minimum viable product 334 00:29:00,280 --> 00:29:01,120 and business plan. 335 00:29:01,500 --> 00:29:03,220 So we've been right at the table with that 336 00:29:03,220 --> 00:29:04,620 attending all of their programming, 337 00:29:04,740 --> 00:29:06,460 helping to plug in our businesses 338 00:29:06,460 --> 00:29:09,360 where we have connections to facilitate that. 339 00:29:09,920 --> 00:29:12,820 We're really excited about that point of where founders come from 340 00:29:12,820 --> 00:29:14,660 and bringing them back into the community. 341 00:29:15,540 --> 00:29:17,240 And that starts early. 342 00:29:17,980 --> 00:29:19,440 Yeah, that's awesome. 343 00:29:19,600 --> 00:29:20,560 Love to hear it. 344 00:29:21,060 --> 00:29:26,860 Quick question on trying to figure out a phrase 345 00:29:26,860 --> 00:29:30,640 that's, I think about, we're not like this island. 346 00:29:31,100 --> 00:29:35,360 We exist with, and Clintonville has a pretty active business ecosystem. 347 00:29:35,360 --> 00:29:37,540 We have Columbus, we have Grandview. 348 00:29:38,420 --> 00:29:42,460 Are we doing this kind of work in a very insular fashion? 349 00:29:42,760 --> 00:29:45,480 Or is there any collaborative efforts, 350 00:29:45,620 --> 00:29:48,460 any way that we're on their minds 351 00:29:48,460 --> 00:29:51,540 or collaborating with your economic development? 352 00:29:51,780 --> 00:29:54,840 What is happening in the collaboration space 353 00:29:54,840 --> 00:29:56,720 as we think about economic development? 354 00:29:57,460 --> 00:29:59,080 Yeah, thank you for the question. 355 00:29:59,080 --> 00:29:59,620 and I think, 356 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:04,280 Collaboration in economic development is a very interesting topic. There is a little bit 357 00:30:04,280 --> 00:30:09,980 of competition, but also, you know, the region as a whole we compete together. And I think 358 00:30:09,980 --> 00:30:14,120 that we've had regional leaders really set up great infrastructure there. So we are all 359 00:30:14,120 --> 00:30:18,820 part of the Mid-Ohio Development Exchange once a month, everyone in my position from 360 00:30:18,820 --> 00:30:23,000 various cities. We get together to talk about the pipeline of businesses that are 361 00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:28,360 coming in, best practice. So there's collaboration in that front. Certainly we continue to 362 00:30:28,360 --> 00:30:33,200 work with the tri-village-chamber partnership, who is the local chamber of commerce that 363 00:30:33,200 --> 00:30:37,620 includes Grand View Heights and Marble Cleft, so some collaboration there as well. 364 00:30:37,940 --> 00:30:38,260 Okay. 365 00:30:38,960 --> 00:30:42,420 And maybe to take that question also a step further, because I do recognize that, you 366 00:30:42,420 --> 00:30:50,680 know, it's competition and market scan on maybe cannot sustain with everyone competing 367 00:30:50,680 --> 00:30:51,460 for the same thing. 368 00:30:51,460 --> 00:30:58,100 I'm more concerned about how plugged in, how will we become a resource for our businesses 369 00:30:58,940 --> 00:31:04,440 on that information, set another way as I think about the elements of your BRE. 370 00:31:05,040 --> 00:31:11,380 When business think about, am I staying or am I going, part of the retention is, listen, 371 00:31:11,500 --> 00:31:18,780 I have a very solid resource here with the UA's economic development department and 372 00:31:18,780 --> 00:31:22,720 information and the access to information that I can get and knowing what's coming up in the region 373 00:31:22,720 --> 00:31:30,380 such that that's worth staying versus taking, you know, 50 cents on the dollar somewhere else or 374 00:31:30,380 --> 00:31:38,400 whatever. How are we building that relationships kind of back and forth so that it feeds into our 375 00:31:38,400 --> 00:31:43,740 BRE? Yeah, and I'm glad you caught out the relationship-based nature of it. Actually, 376 00:31:43,800 --> 00:31:48,140 that is the title and the strategic plan of our BRE program is to add that additional 377 00:31:48,140 --> 00:31:54,180 relationship component, making sure that before the conversation on retention and expansion starts, 378 00:31:54,600 --> 00:31:59,700 that we've had some face-to-face that they know, you know, who I am, what we do as a city, 379 00:32:00,060 --> 00:32:05,380 and also that we've had some resources there or just, you know, they've had positive touch points 380 00:32:05,380 --> 00:32:11,980 with the rest of City Hall and City Stat. Okay. And last question for me, and this is on 381 00:32:13,100 --> 00:32:18,880 Dora, could you just expand a little bit on that survey? 382 00:32:19,420 --> 00:32:20,460 Who was surveyed? 383 00:32:20,480 --> 00:32:21,820 What was the radius? 384 00:32:23,880 --> 00:32:29,060 So the initial survey as reported, this was conducted just as written questionnaires at 385 00:32:29,060 --> 00:32:29,960 the community booth. 386 00:32:30,180 --> 00:32:35,620 So there is going to be some bias there towards people who enjoy the market, enjoy 387 00:32:35,620 --> 00:32:36,360 Tremont Center. 388 00:32:36,640 --> 00:32:37,100 Okay. 389 00:32:37,580 --> 00:32:42,380 But we don't have any idea of whether they are within that neighborhood. 390 00:32:42,860 --> 00:32:43,660 We do not. 391 00:32:43,900 --> 00:32:45,340 Just that they attended the market. 392 00:32:45,640 --> 00:32:46,000 Okay. 393 00:32:46,500 --> 00:32:51,420 In the contemplated public meetings, we will be doing some exit survey at that. 394 00:32:51,580 --> 00:32:57,460 So when you come to the presentation and open house, we'll then have a quick survey at the door a couple of questions. 395 00:32:58,100 --> 00:32:59,600 Have another chance to gauge. 396 00:33:00,720 --> 00:33:01,200 Okay. 397 00:33:02,980 --> 00:33:11,840 Is there a way to structure a survey or is there going to be conversations around that particular neighborhood around the market? 398 00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:25,900 As I think about Dora and I'm an advocate for it, but of course the people that, the people's lives that may change from this are the people closest and most impacted to that. 399 00:33:25,900 --> 00:33:30,540 And those are the voices that I'm trying to make sure that we touch and hear from and 400 00:33:30,540 --> 00:33:32,480 design for and around. 401 00:33:33,200 --> 00:33:41,520 And so our survey, if there's a way to do a little bit more targeted approach in how 402 00:33:41,520 --> 00:33:43,300 we get that feedback, that would be helpful. 403 00:33:43,780 --> 00:33:49,720 I think surely all of our audience wants a space that has door, but I want to hear 404 00:33:49,720 --> 00:33:55,560 or at least want to target the neighborhood and the houses that the community they'll be impacted. 405 00:33:56,220 --> 00:34:02,420 I think two approaches to working that feedback and one will be in the data analysis. So we can 406 00:34:02,420 --> 00:34:06,700 certainly put a location type of question on there and use that to do some cross-section. 407 00:34:07,540 --> 00:34:13,280 Another one is the nature of everyone within 300 feet will get an official, you know, 408 00:34:13,300 --> 00:34:17,540 service that the meeting is happening. Yeah, I don't want to dictate the approach that you 409 00:34:17,540 --> 00:34:25,340 I just want in a future feedback that some kind of targeted approach has been taken and 410 00:34:25,340 --> 00:34:31,280 some aggregated feedback that is in that target community, if that makes sense, and it would 411 00:34:31,280 --> 00:34:36,100 be helpful to see that juxtaposed against the attitudes and the feelings of the rest 412 00:34:36,100 --> 00:34:37,260 of Upper Allington. 413 00:34:38,420 --> 00:34:38,980 Okay. 414 00:34:40,720 --> 00:34:41,640 Council Member Kulwitz? 415 00:34:41,940 --> 00:34:42,060 Yeah. 416 00:34:42,280 --> 00:34:42,340 Yeah. 417 00:34:42,600 --> 00:34:44,020 I'm done, so, yes. 418 00:34:45,120 --> 00:34:50,500 Just one other question. Do we keep tabs on the amount of city investment in business 419 00:34:50,500 --> 00:34:56,240 development as a sort of corollary figure to what the business investment amounts have 420 00:34:56,240 --> 00:35:02,440 been in business taxes? Do we know how much the city has invested in economic development 421 00:35:02,440 --> 00:35:03,780 through incentives and otherwise? 422 00:35:04,340 --> 00:35:08,680 We do track that. And it's an omission from this report, but it should be on there. 423 00:35:08,720 --> 00:35:13,660 So I will add that as a field as far as our incentive activity. I also know we've 424 00:35:13,660 --> 00:35:18,400 discussed doing a look back at some of the projects and incentive deals over the last decade, 425 00:35:18,620 --> 00:35:23,860 just to see now how they're, you know, penciling and that the modeling is congruent with actuals. 426 00:35:24,180 --> 00:35:24,700 Thank you. 427 00:35:24,760 --> 00:35:27,940 That would be very illuminating just so we can have a sort of correlator figure and 428 00:35:27,940 --> 00:35:29,760 see what that return on the investment has been. 429 00:35:30,400 --> 00:35:30,860 Thank you. 430 00:35:32,760 --> 00:35:33,640 Thank you. 431 00:35:33,760 --> 00:35:35,740 Are there any other Council questions, comments, discussions? 432 00:35:36,980 --> 00:35:37,600 All right. 433 00:35:37,800 --> 00:35:39,960 Well, Mr. Russell, thanks very much. 434 00:35:40,160 --> 00:35:40,980 Keep up the good work. 435 00:35:41,560 --> 00:35:41,860 Thank you. 436 00:35:41,860 --> 00:35:42,840 That 437 00:35:47,990 --> 00:35:52,070 concludes our presentations for tonight. 438 00:35:52,410 --> 00:35:55,930 We will now move into legislative items. 439 00:35:58,270 --> 00:36:01,450 Before I begin, I would like to share that we, 440 00:36:01,650 --> 00:36:05,110 that's Council, appreciate comments from the public. 441 00:36:05,110 --> 00:36:07,190 If you would like to give a comment, 442 00:36:07,330 --> 00:36:10,710 the comment has to be on a legislative item on the agenda tonight. 443 00:36:11,630 --> 00:36:13,990 Please fill out a yellow slip, speaker slip, 444 00:36:14,110 --> 00:36:15,350 that's outside the doors. 445 00:36:15,350 --> 00:36:21,650 You will be given three minutes when your legislative item is up for discussion. 446 00:36:22,630 --> 00:36:26,530 And we have a traffic light system to help you out with those comments. 447 00:36:27,630 --> 00:36:27,970 All right. 448 00:36:28,430 --> 00:36:29,690 Moving on to our legislative items. 449 00:36:31,270 --> 00:36:36,830 First up is a legislative item for fourth reading, public hearing tonight, no council action. 450 00:36:36,830 --> 00:36:52,210 I do want to know that the last council meeting we discussed some council action tonight, but in discussion with staff decided on some additional time to review portions of the ordinance based on last week's discussion. 451 00:36:52,650 --> 00:36:59,950 So we will be reviewing that as a reading tonight, taking an additional reading and taking a vote at next meeting. 452 00:36:59,950 --> 00:37:09,990 That's ordinance number 27-2026, ordinance to amend chapters 301, definitions, 383, bicycles, 453 00:37:10,270 --> 00:37:16,190 motorized bicycles, motorcycles and other forms of transportation other than walking. 454 00:37:16,750 --> 00:37:22,090 And section 543, parks, playgrounds and open space areas of the Upper Orleans and 455 00:37:22,090 --> 00:37:31,770 to establish an e-mobility, device registration, safety education, and parking restriction program. 456 00:37:32,790 --> 00:37:37,410 I don't know if that takes the cake on the longest title, but... 457 00:37:37,410 --> 00:37:41,590 It does not. The bond authorizations typically far from that. 458 00:37:42,270 --> 00:37:48,710 I do appreciate Council's patience with us after the very robust discussion last week. 459 00:37:48,710 --> 00:37:54,650 I think we all sat back and said, okay, let us think about the feedback we got, and rather 460 00:37:54,650 --> 00:38:01,370 than try and craft some, I think, glorious term Frankenstein piece of legislation that 461 00:38:02,010 --> 00:38:06,050 does everything that tries to kind of take what we originally started with and amend 462 00:38:06,050 --> 00:38:09,430 our way to where I think we have a pretty good understanding of where you want to 463 00:38:09,430 --> 00:38:09,610 be. 464 00:38:10,110 --> 00:38:15,350 We want to take the extra time to kind of say, okay, starting with this premise 465 00:38:15,350 --> 00:38:23,870 of doing a program really focused on folks without a driver's license. Let's 466 00:38:23,870 --> 00:38:28,550 let's use what we learned but not start with where we were. You know what I mean? 467 00:38:28,790 --> 00:38:32,250 And so we're gonna take a little bit extra time so I appreciate Council's 468 00:38:32,250 --> 00:38:35,010 patience on that. There were some things in the packet that I think Darren 469 00:38:35,010 --> 00:38:39,330 is gonna explain to you briefly and then I'm happy if we move on from this 470 00:38:39,330 --> 00:38:44,590 for tonight. Sounds good. Yes so I just wanted to kind of Steve did a 471 00:38:44,590 --> 00:38:47,970 great job of laying the groundwork. I want to explain what's in your packet. In your 472 00:38:47,970 --> 00:38:53,410 packet, we have a document called proposed amendments. We are not anticipating now that 473 00:38:53,410 --> 00:38:56,530 you're going to need to vote on those amendments, but we wanted to show them to you. These 474 00:38:56,530 --> 00:39:01,970 are crystal in my attempt to take everything that Council sort of brought up last week 475 00:39:01,970 --> 00:39:07,550 and boil it down into word format. What's not in here is the changing the registration 476 00:39:07,550 --> 00:39:12,870 to only be non-licensed. People without a driver's license, I have language for 477 00:39:12,870 --> 00:39:16,190 But Steve wanted to really look at that globally, as he said. 478 00:39:17,410 --> 00:39:20,330 Unless you have strong objections to anything on this list, 479 00:39:20,450 --> 00:39:24,350 our intention is to come back rather than with a piece of legislation 480 00:39:24,350 --> 00:39:27,650 and then do a bunch of amendments, come back with a clean copy incorporating this 481 00:39:27,650 --> 00:39:33,290 and what we come up with to properly state the driver's license amendment. 482 00:39:33,750 --> 00:39:35,770 And so you'll sort of – it'll still be the same legislation, 483 00:39:35,890 --> 00:39:38,690 but it'll be updated between readings, so you won't have to make any amendments. 484 00:39:39,270 --> 00:39:42,330 So I guess the only favor I would ask of you is if you read this 485 00:39:42,330 --> 00:39:43,610 You say, no, that's absolutely wrong. 486 00:39:43,690 --> 00:39:44,550 We don't want to do that. 487 00:39:44,850 --> 00:39:46,730 It'd be helpful to reach out to Steve in between 488 00:39:46,730 --> 00:39:48,230 because then we will not incorporate that 489 00:39:48,230 --> 00:39:49,870 into this clean draft that you're going to get. 490 00:39:50,450 --> 00:39:51,410 Happy to answer any questions. 491 00:39:54,920 --> 00:39:57,660 Have any Council questions, comments, discussions? 492 00:39:59,560 --> 00:40:01,760 I guess one point of clarification 493 00:40:01,760 --> 00:40:05,560 because maybe you listened to me long enough. 494 00:40:05,760 --> 00:40:09,860 I'm always curious about how it looks back 495 00:40:09,860 --> 00:40:12,760 when we look back at the record on what was done. 496 00:40:14,580 --> 00:40:26,100 I do want to show the work on this item, so I still kind of want to see the amendments as, 497 00:40:28,170 --> 00:40:32,310 you know, this plus if people do kind of make comments. 498 00:40:32,750 --> 00:40:37,890 I don't want it deleted but added. Does that make sense? 499 00:40:38,530 --> 00:40:43,870 Yes, so a couple of things. The draft that you're going to get will still have all of 500 00:40:43,870 --> 00:40:45,710 the changes and things we're putting in there. 501 00:40:45,950 --> 00:40:46,150 Yeah. 502 00:40:46,150 --> 00:40:50,570 As for what's changed from the current draft to the next draft, what Chris and I typically 503 00:40:50,570 --> 00:40:56,270 do is in our staff reports, we say this current draft has been reflected or has been amended 504 00:40:56,270 --> 00:41:00,370 to reflect the following changes. So we tell you in the staff report, these are the 505 00:41:00,370 --> 00:41:05,310 amendments we've made in between readings. So I can go back to if Council would 506 00:41:05,310 --> 00:41:08,530 prefer me to do the color-coded system that I tried to do, Steve's head was kind of getting 507 00:41:08,530 --> 00:41:09,150 ready to explode. 508 00:41:09,450 --> 00:41:15,030 But we will definitely be very transparent as to what has changed between this current 509 00:41:15,030 --> 00:41:17,750 draft and then the new, I'll call it the new draft that's coming. 510 00:41:18,190 --> 00:41:18,430 Okay. 511 00:41:18,630 --> 00:41:21,510 In a way that I don't want to compare edits, I guess. 512 00:41:21,950 --> 00:41:22,110 Yeah. 513 00:41:22,250 --> 00:41:27,550 I think let us come up, let us figure out what the end product's going to be and 514 00:41:27,550 --> 00:41:31,430 then we'll work with you guys on what you think the best way to memorialize, 515 00:41:31,550 --> 00:41:33,330 show the work, show the processes. 516 00:41:33,330 --> 00:41:36,330 So I heard, I think I understand the intent. 517 00:41:36,630 --> 00:41:36,750 Yeah. 518 00:41:36,870 --> 00:41:40,270 So let us figure out ultimately what we want to do and then work toward that intent. 519 00:41:40,590 --> 00:41:46,250 And that was also one of the reasons why we wanted to distribute these amendments that may not become voted on amendments. 520 00:41:46,550 --> 00:41:52,410 So when we look through the legislative history of how this goes, we can see every draft and everything we provide to council. 521 00:41:52,410 --> 00:41:56,690 So this will be part of the packet that's saved up on our agendas for legislative history. 522 00:41:57,010 --> 00:42:00,290 But I think we'll want to make it very clear on drafts and staff report next time as well. 523 00:42:00,630 --> 00:42:00,890 Great. 524 00:42:01,390 --> 00:42:01,890 Thank you. 525 00:42:02,930 --> 00:42:06,030 much appreciated. Any other council comments, questions, discussions? 526 00:42:06,970 --> 00:42:14,650 There is much. Cool. Moving on. We are now moving on to a legislative item for first reading, 527 00:42:14,710 --> 00:42:21,210 public hearing, no council action tonight. That's ordinance number 32-2026. Ordinance 528 00:42:21,210 --> 00:42:27,170 to authorize the city manager to enter into contract with performance pipelining Inc. for 529 00:42:27,170 --> 00:42:33,750 construction-related services for the 2026 Sustainable Sewer Solutions Project. 530 00:42:35,800 --> 00:42:36,220 Is there 531 00:42:36,220 --> 00:42:39,800 any council discussion on this? Council Member Kuhlitz. 532 00:42:40,980 --> 00:42:46,500 Thank you Madam President. Just out of curiosity, how does this solution, how will it reduce 533 00:42:46,500 --> 00:42:51,520 excessive inflow and infiltration of rainwater into the sanitary sewer system? Where is 534 00:42:51,520 --> 00:42:55,500 the excessive inflow coming from and what will this do to abate that? 535 00:42:56,300 --> 00:43:02,600 The primary way that the infiltration happens is through cracks in the pipes. 536 00:43:03,420 --> 00:43:06,640 So stormwater gets into the ground and then it gets into the pipe that way. 537 00:43:07,060 --> 00:43:14,700 So this project lines the sewer lines to cover and seal all those cracks or defects that we have. 538 00:43:14,880 --> 00:43:21,860 We also do point repairs for if we occasionally find like a partial collapse, that also gets repaired. 539 00:43:23,120 --> 00:43:29,660 Occasionally, we'll find like a roof drain that's improperly tied into the sanitary system, 540 00:43:29,920 --> 00:43:33,280 but it should be going to the street, so we relocate those. 541 00:43:33,860 --> 00:43:35,160 Yeah, those are the main ways. 542 00:43:35,620 --> 00:43:40,360 Is the camera pretty good at picking those up and picking up the vulnerabilities in the water, 543 00:43:40,740 --> 00:43:44,080 the gaps or holes in the pipeline? 544 00:43:44,740 --> 00:43:49,600 Yes, sir. Yeah, the camera will go down really slowly and pause if it sees something 545 00:43:49,600 --> 00:43:53,100 and kind of look around, take a snapshot, and then keep going. 546 00:43:54,360 --> 00:43:54,980 Thank you. 547 00:43:55,540 --> 00:43:55,980 Good luck. 548 00:43:56,600 --> 00:43:56,860 Thank you. 549 00:43:58,660 --> 00:43:59,880 Council Member Ford, Cam. 550 00:44:00,280 --> 00:44:02,240 Thank you. Just kind of one quick follow-up question. 551 00:44:03,040 --> 00:44:06,300 And when we're doing those scoping of the pipes, 552 00:44:06,660 --> 00:44:12,040 is that part of the ongoing already set-in-place scheduled maintenance 553 00:44:12,560 --> 00:44:16,140 and kind of repair schedule that we have, 554 00:44:16,240 --> 00:44:17,860 or is this going to be something additional? 555 00:44:19,300 --> 00:44:24,360 I'll answer that one. It's a little bit of both. The bulk of this project was identified 556 00:44:24,900 --> 00:44:30,040 several years ago from the EPA. They mandated us to do this project, stop inflow and infiltration. 557 00:44:30,560 --> 00:44:35,180 So that's the bulk of this project, but it also includes just other repairs that we have found 558 00:44:35,180 --> 00:44:41,400 from our just regular inspection of the sanitary lines. So this is a combination of both projects. 559 00:44:41,400 --> 00:44:41,540 Thanks. 560 00:44:42,520 --> 00:44:43,260 Thank you. 561 00:44:44,600 --> 00:44:45,720 Council Member Cougars. 562 00:44:46,560 --> 00:44:53,720 Just one other question, how do we pick the two areas, the Brixton Canterbury, the Tremont 563 00:44:53,720 --> 00:44:56,380 area and the Clifton Road area? 564 00:44:57,000 --> 00:44:59,980 So this goes back to the study we did about a decade ago. 565 00:45:00,740 --> 00:45:06,560 So, for the EPA where we looked at kind of our worst problem areas when it came to infiltration, 566 00:45:06,960 --> 00:45:12,460 and then from there, we made a prioritized list. And for the past nine, eight, nine years, we've 567 00:45:12,460 --> 00:45:18,340 been going out kind of top of the list down, going after these more problematic areas that 568 00:45:18,340 --> 00:45:18,860 we studied. 569 00:45:19,620 --> 00:45:22,460 Where are we on the timeline at this point? 570 00:45:22,460 --> 00:45:40,240 So, 2028 will be our last year to meet the EPA mandate to get some of the worst areas in the city. And then we do plan to do another study at that time to take a look at next steps just for life cycle management of our sewer system. 571 00:45:41,540 --> 00:45:42,240 Thank you. 572 00:45:44,320 --> 00:45:45,320 Council Member Tracy. 573 00:45:47,160 --> 00:45:54,780 So just to bottom line it for the one or two residents who may be watching tonight, do these 574 00:45:54,780 --> 00:46:00,140 sorts of maintenance activities and preventing infiltration of stormwater into sanitary sewer 575 00:46:00,140 --> 00:46:04,640 lines, do these help people not end up with sewage in their basement when it rains a lot? 576 00:46:05,620 --> 00:46:06,700 Yes it does. 577 00:46:07,140 --> 00:46:07,420 Great. 578 00:46:10,820 --> 00:46:11,780 It's a good thing. 579 00:46:11,780 --> 00:46:23,060 Any other council comments, questions, discussions? All right. Hearing none, we will vote on this legislative item at our next meeting on September 14th. 580 00:46:23,620 --> 00:46:31,460 Moving on to legislative item 473, public hearing, and finally, council action here tonight. 581 00:46:33,080 --> 00:46:36,180 I'm assuming no one is more excited than Attorney Shulman. 582 00:46:37,460 --> 00:46:48,200 Great work on this, by the way. I know this was a council priority for the code cleanup, so thanks for all the effort and patience as we work through it methodically. 583 00:46:48,200 --> 00:47:06,300 This is Ordinance Number 21-2026, an ordinance to amend various sections of Part 1, Administrative Code, Part 4, Schedule of Fees, Part 13, Building Code, the uparolings and Code of Ordinance. 584 00:47:07,460 --> 00:47:11,180 May I have a motion to adopt Ordinance Number 21-2026? 585 00:47:11,180 --> 00:47:18,300 Madam President, I'm delighted to move to adopt ordinance number 21-2026. 586 00:47:19,000 --> 00:47:20,940 It's been moved, does it say second? 587 00:47:21,080 --> 00:47:21,320 Second. 588 00:47:21,740 --> 00:47:23,540 It's been moved and seconded. 589 00:47:24,420 --> 00:47:30,160 Is there a final blessing from City Attorney Shulman? 590 00:47:30,740 --> 00:47:36,080 I will do so mostly for my own private victory lap, but also because I just wanted to update you. 591 00:47:36,540 --> 00:47:42,120 We voted on the changes last week those have been incorporated in the one that I 592 00:47:42,120 --> 00:47:44,900 want to draw your attention to because it just looks a little funny as with the 593 00:47:45,660 --> 00:47:49,500 2029 deadline it kind of like made me feel a bit going going backwards 594 00:47:49,500 --> 00:47:52,260 because we have the current language in there so we know what the current 595 00:47:52,980 --> 00:47:58,340 donation limit is until 2029 and then it says after 2029 it becomes this so 596 00:47:58,340 --> 00:48:03,780 if anyone is on council January 1st of 2029 or whatever we may want to go 597 00:48:03,780 --> 00:48:07,040 back and strip out the old number just so it's not clogging it up there but there 598 00:48:07,040 --> 00:48:11,220 was no other way to do it where we can make sure that people knew current versus 599 00:48:11,220 --> 00:48:14,400 the second one. Other than that, happy to answer any questions and I'm more than 600 00:48:14,400 --> 00:48:15,620 happy to have you vote on it. 601 00:48:18,220 --> 00:48:21,060 Are there any council comments, discussions, 602 00:48:23,900 --> 00:48:27,200 final ego stroke kudos to 603 00:48:27,200 --> 00:48:31,320 Attorney Shulman? Not an ego just I'm really I'm really proud of this 604 00:48:31,320 --> 00:48:35,520 project and I also just want to say that I really enjoyed sitting here 605 00:48:35,520 --> 00:48:39,980 watching council dig into these issues and debate these things because there's a lot 606 00:48:39,980 --> 00:48:43,380 of typos and things like that we cleaned up but there was a lot of issues where you really dug 607 00:48:43,380 --> 00:48:47,680 into the process and like that's kind of why I went into government so like thank you for 608 00:48:47,680 --> 00:48:53,140 really leaning into this because it could have been a very boring seven rating so I appreciate it. 609 00:48:54,740 --> 00:49:02,600 Well well done city manager. I will now call for a vote. All those in favor of this ordinance 610 00:49:02,600 --> 00:49:04,120 Please signify by saying aye. 611 00:49:04,620 --> 00:49:05,040 Aye. 612 00:49:05,760 --> 00:49:06,480 And you're opposed? 613 00:49:07,680 --> 00:49:09,140 Stab shulman now? 614 00:49:09,340 --> 00:49:09,440 No. 615 00:49:11,120 --> 00:49:12,460 No opposed. 616 00:49:12,980 --> 00:49:14,240 Motion carries. 617 00:49:15,420 --> 00:49:18,800 And that concludes our legislative items for tonight. 618 00:49:18,960 --> 00:49:19,840 Can you believe it? 619 00:49:20,380 --> 00:49:25,080 We do have a liquor permit application notice. 620 00:49:26,200 --> 00:49:31,300 And this is Ohio CVS LLC. 621 00:49:31,300 --> 00:49:38,940 doing business as CVS pharmacy number 6149 at 1-855 West Henson Road in Upper 622 00:49:38,940 --> 00:49:43,460 Arlington. I just want to remind counsel on that unless there is any 623 00:49:43,460 --> 00:49:49,560 objection, there is no need for action. And if no comments, if I hear no 624 00:49:49,560 --> 00:49:52,980 objections, we'll just move on. Are there any counsel comments, objections? 625 00:49:54,480 --> 00:49:59,360 You can get your liquor and your medication from CVS it sounds like. 626 00:49:59,360 --> 00:50:00,440 All right. 627 00:50:01,640 --> 00:50:02,640 No objections. 628 00:50:04,600 --> 00:50:05,840 All right. 629 00:50:06,240 --> 00:50:08,680 Well, that concludes legislative items. 630 00:50:09,320 --> 00:50:12,520 City Manager Shoney, do you have an update? 631 00:50:12,920 --> 00:50:14,000 I have two items. 632 00:50:14,440 --> 00:50:25,380 First of all, you all noticed last week that we entered into a second contract for help with cleaning up tree debris from the storm. 633 00:50:26,400 --> 00:50:46,280 So we have entered into that. We're seeing, if you check our storm cleanup map, we're making great progress getting through the city. It's been a real, real effort. I think once we got into it, once we saw how much stuff was going to be out on the street, we just, we realized it was going to take us months and months and months to get through it. 634 00:50:46,280 --> 00:50:51,960 So, we're progressing through that given the break between this meeting and when we're going to 635 00:50:51,960 --> 00:50:56,340 have our next meeting. I do anticipate that I will be making one more contract modification 636 00:50:57,000 --> 00:51:01,980 under the emergency authority that will be to modify our sidewalk maintenance contract with 637 00:51:01,980 --> 00:51:07,940 newcomer concrete services to add an additional $120,000 into that contract. 638 00:51:08,260 --> 00:51:11,900 They are preparing to start our sidewalk repair program for this year. 639 00:51:11,900 --> 00:51:19,900 They will be going around and dealing with all of those sidewalk panels that were uplifted by the street trees and getting those repaired this year 640 00:51:19,900 --> 00:51:27,680 Rather than having to wait till next year. So once we get that contract modification done, I will officially close out the emergency 641 00:51:27,680 --> 00:51:34,440 The emergency authority and take care of that. So you should be seeing that this week 642 00:51:35,220 --> 00:51:41,660 It's my hope that we'll be able to get that contract modification done. So those things are progressing well 643 00:51:41,660 --> 00:51:46,520 Well, any questions about storm cleanup or anything on that before we move on. 644 00:51:47,060 --> 00:51:48,060 Council Member Tracy. 645 00:51:48,960 --> 00:51:52,580 You said a moment ago that it was going to take months and months. 646 00:51:52,980 --> 00:51:58,420 I assume that because we now have the contract, it was going to take months. 647 00:51:58,920 --> 00:52:01,200 Now it's going to take a couple weeks. 648 00:52:01,680 --> 00:52:06,580 Looking at the map today, you know, Debbie, and the next week. 649 00:52:08,960 --> 00:52:14,160 Yes, our goal is for the first round, for the round of curbside collection to end, hopefully 650 00:52:14,160 --> 00:52:14,760 next week. 651 00:52:14,980 --> 00:52:19,520 We are also going into our parks where we have large trees that have come down as well and 652 00:52:19,520 --> 00:52:20,400 trying to get those playable. 653 00:52:21,100 --> 00:52:24,160 But hopefully by the end of next week we're complete with that. 654 00:52:25,540 --> 00:52:27,640 Thank you for the clarification on that. 655 00:52:28,580 --> 00:52:30,280 Any other council questions? 656 00:52:30,980 --> 00:52:33,440 I do have one on the sidewalk. 657 00:52:33,440 --> 00:52:41,920 walk. Is the assumption that any damage would have been just from the pulled up trees? Are there any 658 00:52:41,920 --> 00:52:48,900 damages that could have occurred in the storm that then to our sidewalks that may not have been 659 00:52:48,900 --> 00:52:54,840 from a pulled up tree like something else happened? So it's very narrow in that we're 660 00:52:54,840 --> 00:53:01,860 specifically looking for sidewalk damage as the result of an ejected or tree. 661 00:53:02,560 --> 00:53:05,640 That's correct. I can confirm that, but that's my understanding. 662 00:53:06,160 --> 00:53:06,440 Okay. 663 00:53:06,520 --> 00:53:08,020 But it's only trees. 664 00:53:08,720 --> 00:53:09,220 Okay. 665 00:53:10,600 --> 00:53:12,140 Clarify confirm that. Thank you. 666 00:53:13,160 --> 00:53:16,740 And then there is one other item that's a bit more fun. 667 00:53:17,480 --> 00:53:23,800 We have, you brought up our tendency to survey fairly frequently. 668 00:53:24,520 --> 00:53:26,560 We were doing a master plan. 669 00:53:27,680 --> 00:53:29,820 Excuse me master plan focus group. 670 00:53:29,820 --> 00:53:35,580 last week. And I authentically said to the focus groups that we do a lot of surveys, 671 00:53:35,740 --> 00:53:42,640 I feel like sometimes we're Survey City USA. And during the – during the focus group, 672 00:53:42,700 --> 00:53:48,320 one of the focus group members, quickly checked to see if SurveyCityUSA.com was available. 673 00:53:49,040 --> 00:53:56,040 It is. We have secured that. And we will be hopefully fairly soon using that as the 674 00:53:56,040 --> 00:54:00,420 repository for the results of all the surveying that we do as a city. 675 00:54:02,440 --> 00:54:08,060 So if you ever wonder whether we're listening to our residents in these focus groups, we 676 00:54:08,060 --> 00:54:08,800 are. 677 00:54:09,200 --> 00:54:15,540 And if somebody comes up with a particularly good and fairly easy and inexpensive idea, 678 00:54:15,900 --> 00:54:17,560 we may act on it fairly quickly. 679 00:54:17,840 --> 00:54:24,020 So a fun little story, but I do think we do listen a lot to the community. 680 00:54:24,200 --> 00:54:25,180 We do a lot of surveying. 681 00:54:25,180 --> 00:54:29,860 we still got, I think, three more surveys queued up by the end of this year. 682 00:54:33,850 --> 00:54:34,430 Yeah, so 683 00:54:34,430 --> 00:54:41,330 we do a lot. And it's a fun way to help our residents find all that data and understand 684 00:54:41,330 --> 00:54:45,250 that data. So that's it. That's the end of my report for tonight. 685 00:54:45,570 --> 00:54:52,110 I love that. I cringe at the fact that it may end up on the podcast then. 686 00:54:54,670 --> 00:55:00,090 Exactly. Or we may find a reason to just put the podcast up there, because it'll probably 687 00:55:00,090 --> 00:55:02,550 get more traffic than the podcast on SurveyCity. 688 00:55:05,510 --> 00:55:11,210 Well, that's very clever. I like that. Congrats. Any other updates from you? 689 00:55:11,550 --> 00:55:18,110 Any, it's our last meeting of the month, and so we always like to do our council liaison reports. 690 00:55:18,110 --> 00:55:21,690 Are there any Council Liaison reports for this month? 691 00:55:22,150 --> 00:55:23,090 Council Member Ford, Ken? 692 00:55:23,750 --> 00:55:26,350 As we are coming out of our summer season, 693 00:55:27,030 --> 00:55:30,730 the Communications Committee has only had one meeting, 694 00:55:30,730 --> 00:55:32,750 but we were able to welcome in our new members, 695 00:55:33,350 --> 00:55:35,870 and they've gone through some of their training. 696 00:55:36,370 --> 00:55:38,970 And our focus so far, we have a meeting on this Thursday, 697 00:55:38,970 --> 00:55:41,330 so anybody who wants to come attend, 698 00:55:41,770 --> 00:55:43,850 learn a little bit more about the CRC, please do. 699 00:55:45,350 --> 00:55:59,350 But we're really trying to refocus, reorganize, kind of reposition the CRC for the future and kind of continue to build those foundational steps of what their place is within our community and how they move forward. 700 00:55:59,610 --> 00:56:06,850 So we're taking a holistic approach and I think we're in a good spot to kind of evaluate where things are going. 701 00:56:06,850 --> 00:56:06,910 Good. 702 00:56:07,750 --> 00:56:08,370 Love it. 703 00:56:08,650 --> 00:56:09,110 Great to hear. 704 00:56:09,470 --> 00:56:10,810 Any other council liaison reports? 705 00:56:11,830 --> 00:56:12,750 Well, fantastic. 706 00:56:13,730 --> 00:56:15,730 I'll now call for a motion to adjourn. 707 00:56:15,910 --> 00:56:18,450 All those in favor of adjourning, please signify by saying aye. 708 00:56:18,910 --> 00:56:19,210 Aye. 709 00:56:19,530 --> 00:56:19,610 Aye. 710 00:56:20,350 --> 00:56:21,090 Any opposed? 711 00:56:21,790 --> 00:56:22,130 Say so. 712 00:56:22,850 --> 00:56:24,050 All meetings adjourned. 713 00:56:24,510 --> 00:56:25,230 We'll see you all next month. 714 00:56:25,470 --> 00:56:25,710 Thank you.