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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1998/03/25-Minutes-HEDC 1 Highlights of the Wednesday,March 25, 1998 Economic Development Committee Meeting I. Standing Items None II. New Business A. Resolution to Endorse UNT Health Science as a School of Public Health Libby Watson,Assistant City Manager, explained that the UNT Health Science Center has been asked by the Texas Higher Education Authority to submit a proposal to become a school of public health. As a part of the overall proposal to be submitted to the State the school would like to include a Resolution from the City Council endorsing UNT Health Science Center's bid to become a school of public health. The EDC decided that the resolution should be included in the City Council's next agenda for adoption with the committee's unanimous support. B. Overview of Renewal of Contract with Convention & Visitors Bureau Chairman Wentworth explained that he has met with members of the CVB to discuss the format by which the renewal of the CVB contract should be addressed. He stated that he thought the CVB should make scheduled appearances every month to the Economic Development Committee to introduce the committee members to the contract and the several factors involved in the development of a contract. He then introduced Buzz Brightbill of the CVB. Mr. Brightbill explained that he thought the current practice of having a 5-year contract should continue, but that certain modifications should be made to address issues that have emerged in the past five years. He explained that longer-term contracts provide the CVB with the ability to conduct long range planning and the ability to book large conventions into the future. He stated that the CVB believes that growth in the bed tax should be addressed in any agreement to better deal with future revenue concerns from both the City's and CVB's perspective. Bob Jamison, Manager of Worthington Hotel gave an overview of the issues from a hotel tax perspective. He explained that the contract evolved from its original form to its current form in order to meet state law. He stated that the committee may want to invite Don Hansen, a state official that is familiar with the hotel tax laws to give a presentation to the EDC. He also stated that the renewal of the contract is only now coming before the EDC because the CVB wanted to wait for the transfer of the Convention Center to take place. Mr. Holt Hickman, owner of the Stockyard's Station was introduced and gave an overview of the growing Texas convention industry. He explained that in Fort Worth it is a$1 billion industry. He explained and showed examples on how convention bureau budgets around the state have grown. Joe Dulley and Doug Harmon of the CVB explained that the current contract was entered into when the Convention Center was under the ownership of the County. Consideration should be made to include funding from the hotel tax for improvements to the convention center, beyond those already earmarked. Mr. Harmon concluded the presentation by explaining the contents in the packet provided to the committee. Chairman Wentworth stated that he was aware that the CVB has been booking conventions out to the year 2007. He said it was critical that the Council keep in mind that the renovation of the Convention Center must be scheduled. Council Member McCloud asked what the CVB thought would be an appropriate timeline for the re-negotiation of future contracts. Mr. Harmon responded that probably an 18-month timeline would be appropriate in the future. C.Consideration of Industrial Development Bonds Inducement for M&M Manufacturing Jay Chapa, Economic Development Coordinator gave an overview of the M&M Manufacturing project. He explained that M&M is asking the City Council to act, in its capacity as the Sun Belt Corporation,to pass an inducement resolution that will allow it to seek State tax exempt financing for the development of their sheet metal manufacturing facility proposed on Mark IV Parkway. The proposed development will allow the firm to enhance efficiencies not available at its current location on White Settlement Road. It was explained that a buyer for the bonds, Summit National Bank, has already been identified and that the Council action would merely allow M&M to enter the State financing process. The committee unanimously voted to forward this inducement resolution to the Sun Belt Corporation for adoption. D.Consideration of Tax Abatement Application - Villas by the Lake Project Jay Chapa, Economic Development Coordinator gave an overview of the proposed Fort Worth Villas by the Lake tax abatement application. He explained that the project consists of 234-unit multi-family development dedicated to senior citizens. He explained that the project is a Low Income Tax Credit project with 60% of the units dedicated to low and very low-income level individuals. The tax abatement application was initially not contemplated, but was necessitated when the full amount of tax credits sought for the project were not received and a funding gap resulted. Chairman Wentworth asked Councilmember McCray, who was present at the meeting, to give his opinion of the project since it is in his district. Mr. McCray stated that he had met with both staff and the developers of the project and that he believed it would satisfy a great need in southeast Fort Worth for senior citizen housing. He explained that he thought the proposed tax abatement, with a sliding scale based on M/WBE participation,had been well developed. After a short deliberation,the committee unanimously voted to support the tax abatement application and directed staff to prepare an agreement to be forwarded to the full City Council for consideration. E.Discussion of City of Lake Worth's Request to Disannex and Release Certain Property from the City of Fort Worth Mike Groomer, Assistant City Manager, explained that the Kaleb Mountain area which is adjacent to the City of Lake Worth had been purchased by a Bass entity that is considering developing the property for commercial use. He stated that the City of Lake Worth had approached the developers with a proposition to provide incentives for the development of the property if Lake Worth could acquire it from Fort Worth. Lake Worth made a presentation to Mike Groomer and Councilmember Jeff Wentworth relating to the need for Lake Worth to acquire the area and asked that their request be forwarded to elected officials for review. Mr. Groomer explained that he believes that it is not in the best interest of the City of Fort Worth to give up this area which has great potential to add to the tax base. The committee agreed and unanimously voted to not forward this issue to the full City Council for consideration. F. Update of Tax Abatement Policy Revisions Tom Higgins, Director of Economic Development, explained that proposed changes to the tax abatement policy were still being developed. He explained that a full update with the proposed changes would presented at the April meeting. He stated that staff was developing a policy that would address the committee concerns regarding the current tax abatement program. G.Update on Commercial Corridors Chairman Wentworth asked that a quick update be given on this item and that a full presentation be provided at the next meeting of the committee. Jay Chapa, Economic Development Coordinator, presented the list of corridors that staff had selected to be the group of which the committee shoulchoose to " focus. He explained that criteria of economic development factors needed to . create successful corridors were being developed. He stated that those factors would be used to identify the needs in each of the corridors selected. H.The Committee met in a closed session to deliberate the purchase, exchange,lease or value of real property as authorized by Section 551.072 of the Texas Government Code.