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Home My WebLink About2009-05-20 Approved MinutesMINUTES 5-20-09 Minutes of the Economic Development Committee held at the City Council Chambers, City of Newport Beach, on Wednesday, May 20, 2009. Members Present: X Mike Henn, Chairman 04ly�WPO�� CITY OF NEWPORT BEACH U ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE CgLIF0VIL Jennifer Gonzalez MINUTES 5-20-09 Minutes of the Economic Development Committee held at the City Council Chambers, City of Newport Beach, on Wednesday, May 20, 2009. Members Present: X Mike Henn, Chairman X Sheri Drewry E Keith Curry, Council Member A Jennifer Gonzalez X Steve Rosansky, Council Member X John Hyatt X Robert Hawkins, Planning Commissioner X Lloyd Ikerd X Mike McNamara, Vice Chairman A Brion Jeannette A Fred Ameri X Debra Legan X Craig Batley X Richard Luehrs X Seymour Beek X Scott Palmer X Jeffrey Cole X John Robinson X Steven Coyne X Gregg Schwenk E Gary DiSano X Gary Sherwin X Jim Donnell X Gay Wassail -Kelly X Kenneth Drellishak Staff Representatives: x Sharon Wood, Assistant City Manager E Leigh De Santis, Economic Development Administrator x Katie Bowden, Economic Development Coordinator Guests Present: Peggy Fort Allen Cashion Roll Call and Introductions: Chairman Henn called the meeting to order at 8:00 am and began self introductions of the assembled members, staff and guests. EDC MINUTES 5-20-09.doc UPDATES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS ■ Gary Sherwin reported on the success of the Newport Beach Jazz Festival, stating that the festival attracted 7,500 to 10,000 people each day of the weekend -long event. ■ Robert Hawkins reported that Speak Up Newport is hosting a presentation and Question & Answer session with local newspapers, the Daily Pilot and Orange County Register, and Tom Johnson media group. ■ Scott Palmer announced the Corona del Mar 5K race to be held on Saturday, June 6. ■ Lloyd Ikerd announced that the restored classic police car project has been fully funded, and that the car will make its debut at the June 7 Balboa Island parade. He announced that Seymour Beek would be the Grand Marshall of the parade. ■ Richard Luehrs announced the Chamber's Citizen of the Year gala to be held on June 11. The 2009 recipient will be Dr. Norm Loats. DISCUSSION ITEMS 1. Minutes of April 15, 2009. Chairman Henn called for comments on the draft minutes. Hearing none, he declared the minutes approved by acclamation. 2. Summary Report on Restaurant Week January 2009 by Sheri Drewry & Peggy Fort, CMC. Peggy Fort provided an overview of the Newport Beach Restaurant Association (NBRA) and the restaurant industry. Now a bi-annual event, the NBRA will sponsor a second Restaurant Week in October 2009. Restaurant Week is a strategic marketing and public relations campaign resulting in a citywide culinary celebration. Participating restaurants offer a fixed price menu at a significant value to patrons during the event. It provides a direct tangible benefit to restaurant participants, promotes sponsors, and drives local tourism and hospitality niche markets. Close to 70 restaurants participated in the January 2009 event. Post campaign surveys reported the highest sales volume week of the year, excluding private events, for what is traditionally a slow business period. Sales were up an average of 21% from Restaurant Week 2008 figures. Over 215,000 patrons participated in the event with an average check of $30 per person, generating approximately $6.45M in revenue to participating restaurants. NewportBeachDining.com website usage was up 400% in December 2008 -January 2009, with over 750 unique visitors per day. Partnerships with Opentable.com and Yelp.com were also up. NBRA looks forward to the October 2009 event and hopes to exceed the January event's sales figures. Lloyd Ikerd stated that several area restaurants carried over their fixed price menus over several weeks after Restaurant Week's success. When asked whether such a practice might dilute the value of the event, Peggy Fort responded that businesses, which did this, did not sustain the same sales volumes after the event. She stated that the benefit of Restaurant Week is its strategic marketing campaign that generates EDC MINUTES 5-20-09.doc excitement and results in increased sales volumes; not the fixed price menus. When asked what percentage of the NBRA consists of large restaurants as opposed to small (10 person or less) eating and drinking establishments, Scott Palmer responded that roughly 40% are larger restaurants. 3. Annual Report on Progress Implementing the Strategic Plan for Fiscal and Economic Sustainability. Sharon Wood reviewed the first annual report of the Strategic Plan since its adoption in July 2007. Due to turnover at the staff and EDC level, the annual review was delayed. Minor changes to Action Steps outlined in Objectives 1.5, 2.2, and 3.1 were requested by the Committee on the Progress Report. Sharon reported that staff worked with the subcommittee on the annual review to recommend updates to the Strategic Plan. She reviewed those changes with the full EDC. Minor changes to the Strategic Plan were recommended and accepted by the Committee. Robert Hawkins questioned staff's recommended deletion of Objective 3.1. Staff felt there was a lack of interest in Newport -Mesa property owners in developing a Master Plan at this time. Steve Rosansky recommended leaving the Objective, but taking out the respective dates of work and completion. He also requested an Action Step be added for the formation of a West Newport business owners association. Discussion arose regarding the deletion of Objective 3.4, to which Sharon responded that the broad "leading indicator" data is not useful to the small business focus of our economic development program. She added that staff has taken on a recruitment role through the hire of Buxton to identify potential retail matches and develop recruitment materials. It was decided that Buxton's expertise and Leigh DeSantis' attendance at the ICSC conference were better tools for business development. Richard Luehrs noted the need for vacancy data. Sharon Wood responded that staff has access to that data through the City's CoStar database subscription, and asked Committee members to refer potential leads to City staff. The Committee appointed a subcommittee to serve as a "Clearinghouse" for business development. Jeff Cole, Jim Donnell, Richard Luehrs, Craig Batley and Lloyd Ikerd volunteered to serve on the subcommittee. Objective 7.4 was deleted in its entirety as staff felt that the development of privately owned alternative transportation services, such as bus shuttles, was not feasible. Sharon Wood reviewed the Economic Development Division's 2009-2010 budget with the Committee. With the proposed updates to the Strategic Plan, she recommended that the EDC ask City Council to consider an additional $15,000 for implementation of projects to be undertaken in FY 2009-2010. Questions arose as to the need for a new Balboa Village Vision Plan and Chairman Henn responded that there were many significant developments on the horizon (i.e. the Nautical Museum, Balboa Theater) and that a Vision Plan is a critical factor for donors to both facilities. Discussion arose regarding an opportunity for the City to partner with the owner of the Balboa Market in the operation of a parking structure. Chairman Henn informed the Committee that the City is in discussions with the owner regarding the purchase of the Balboa Market property. Jeffrey Cole moved to approve the proposed changes to the Economic EDC MINUTES 5-20-09.doc Development budget. Seymour Beek seconded. The motion was unanimously approved. Ken Drellishak approved the changes to the Strategic Plan for Fiscal and Economic Sustainability as presented, and incorporating the changes discussed in the meeting. Gary Sherwin seconded the motion. The motion was unanimously approved. 6. EQAC Representative's Report There was none. ITEMS FOR A FUTURE AGENDA • Jim Donnell requested another City budget update meeting by the Revenue Department at the July EDC meeting. PUBLIC COMMENTS None ADJOURNMENT Chairman Henn called for the meeting to be adjourned at 9:35 am. EDC MINUTES 5-20-09.doc