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Downtown Development Steering Committee Minutes - 07/02/2018MINUTES OF THE DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT STEERING COMMITTEE (DDSC) July 2, 2018 PRESENT: Jesse Brown Danny Ahern Cody Magana Scott Poenitzch Ripley Tate Rick Hatcher Christy Whiteley Darron Leiker, City Manager Paul Menzies, Assistant City Manager Dana Schoening, Director, Community Development Jim Dockery, Deputy City Manager R. Kinley Hegglund, Jr., City Attorney Marie Balthrop, City Clerk John Burrus, Director, Aviation, Traffic & Trans. Karen Montgomery, Planning Administrator Russell Schreiber, Director, Public Works Pat Hoffman, Property Management Rita Miller, Code Enforcement Bobby Teague, Assistant Dir. Community Dev. Delores CulIey, Wichita Co. Heritage Society ABSENT: Mayor Stephen Santellana DeAndra Chenault Dusty Potter Dave Clark City Staff 1. Call to Order Jesse Brown, Mayor Pro Tem, called the meeting to order at 3:50 p.m. once a quorum was present. 2. Approval of Minutes of Meetings of dune 4, 2018 Motion made by Mr. Hatcher to approve the minutes of the June 4, 2018 meeting. Motion seconded by Mr. Poenitzsch and carried by the following vote: DDSC — Minutes of .Tuly 2, 2018 2 Ayes: Brown, Ahern, Hatcher, Magana, Poenitzsch, Tate, and Whiteley Nays: none 3. Committee Reports • Streetscapes Mr. Poenitzsch presented a PowerPoint presentation to the committee. Mr. Poenitzsch discussed areas of visual improvements, potential safety concerns, possible improvements to city ordinances, and proposed crosswalk art. Streetscapes and Lifestyles subcommittees did a walk through the downtown core area and sent in forty-four requests through the access Wichita Falls online system. Jana Schmader, Downtown Development Wichita Falls Executive Director, addressed the committee and discussed six different intersections where they would like to do crosswalk art. They would like to have some of these completed live during Art Walks. John Burrus stated that they would complete a Memorandum of Understanding with Downtown Wichita Falls Development that will work out the details of installation and maintenance. This project will be completed with a combination of public and private funds. Jana Schmader stated that Downtown Wichita Falls Development wanted to take on crosswalks as a project. They would like to complete one to six of the crosswalks by Hotter than Hell Hundred. Downtown Development is seeking approval from the steering committee, and Ms. Schmader stated the funding will be provided by Downtown Development, and no city funds were being requested. Motion made by Mr. Tate to approve the crosswalk art project. Motion seconded by Mr. Poenitzsch and carried with the following vote: Ayes: Brown, Ahern, Hatcher, Magana, Poenitzsch, Tate, and Whiteley Nays: None • Historic Preservation Delores Culley stated that she has been in contact again with the Texas Historical Commission that are working on the additional historic district. They hope to have a preliminary drawing by the next meeting. • Lifestyles Cody Magana stated the Lifestyles sub -committee did a walk through downtown with the Streetscapes sub -committee to identify issues. Mr. Magana stated that DDSC — Minutes of July 2, 2018 3 the Lifestyles committee is willing to offer manpower assistance to other sub- committees. • Regulatory Danny Ahern stated that the regulatory sub -committee will meet July 9, 2018 at 3:30. Mr. Ahern stated that they are working with other cities to collaborate. • Marketing Dusty Potter was not present. Jana Schmader stated that once some of the projects begins, the marketing sub -committee will begin marketing once streetscapes or bike rack projects are started. • Finance Dave Clark was not present. Jim Dockery, Deputy City Manager, stated that the sub -committee has finished identifying funding sources. 4. Announce Next Meeting Scheduled with Freese & Nichols The next meeting with Freese & Nichols will be August 16, 2018 at the Travel Center. 5. Public Comments Sam Pak addressed the committee in reference to the trees and how the trees have outgrown the containment areas. He was concerned about the comment made about possibly cutting out more concrete around the trees and how that will not fix the issues. Darron Leiker, City Manager, stated that it is common practice to remove and replace trees approximately every twenty years. Jana Schmader stated that the original agreement did have a variety of trees listed and the responsibility of the maintenance of the trees was addressed in the original agreement. 6. Other Business Paul Menzies, Assistant City Manager, presented a PowerPoint presentation addressing recent Code Enforcement concerns downtown, and current ordinances and laws. Mr. Menzies focused on sidewalks, trees and right-of-ways. The maintenance of the area from the building line out to the street and in the back of the building to the center line of the alley is the responsibility of the adjacent property owner and according to law includes weeds, trees and trash. Sidewalks maintenance and repair are also the responsibility of the adjacent property owner and once notified repairs must be made within 30 days. There was discussion about the city selecting the trees, if the wrong tree type was selected, and due to that the sidewalk has root damage, and if the DDSC — .Minutes of July 2, 2018 4 property owner has the right to remove and replace a tree. Kinley flegglund, City Attorney, stated that property owners cannot replace trees without permission from the city. There was discussion on what sidewalk conditions require repair, and when tall grass and weeds constitute an enforcement issue. Mr. 'Menzies discussed the 4B grant that is available to help with funding repair and maintenance issues downtown and that. the City will be addressing these issues with a compliance based approach. The committee discussed the need to educate property owners on their maintenance requirements and address the concerns that the city caused the problem that the property owner is 110W responsible to repair. It was also suggested that an acceptable tree list be provided and a process put in place to allow property owners to remove and replace trees. Mr. .Menzies will discuss these issues with a couple of sub -committees and then come back with a timeline and compliance checklist. Adjourn There being no further business, the .meeting adjourned at 4:26 PM. Ies Brown, Mayor Pro Tem D wntown Development Steering Cmte.