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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-11-15 Balboa Village CAP Approved MinutesCitizen Advisory Panel Meeting Balboa Village ACTION MINUTES Newport Beach City Hall, Council Chambers APPROVED 3300 Newport Boulevard Tuesday, November 15, 2011 -- 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Committee Members: Staff Members: Terri Pasquale Mayor Michael Henn, Council Member Liaison Mark Hoover Kimberly Brandt, Community Development Director Ralph Rodheim Brenda Wisneski, Deputy CDD Director Craig Smith Jim Campbell, Principal Planner Jim Stratton Steve Badum, Public Works Director Fern Nueno, Assistant Planner Cindy Nelson, Project Consultant "Balboa Village ... a unique destination between the bay and sea where history meets the excitement of the future" 1. Call Meeting to Order The meeting was called to order at 4:05 p.m. 2. Roll Call All Committee Members were present, with the exception of Ralph Rodheim. 3. Approval of Minutes —The meeting minutes from the October 26, 2011, and November 3, 2011, meeting were approved by a 4 yes to 0 no vote. Committee Member Rodheim arrived at 4:10 p.m. 4. Current Business a. Confirmation of 2012 Meeting Dates. The following meeting dates were confirmed: Tuesday, January 17, 2012 Tuesday, February 21, 2012 Tuesday, March 20, 2012 Tuesday, April 17, 2012 Tuesday, May 15, 2012 Tuesday, June 19, 2012 b. Discussion of Brand Promise for Balboa Village — Cindy Nelson and Gary Sherwin, Visit Newport Beach Cindy Nelson gave an introduction to the topic of branding and introduced Gary Sherwin of Visit Newport Beach. Mr. Sherwin gave a presentation (PowerPoint is attached) and a summary of the key points is below: • Visit Newport Beach is a destination marketing organization, formerly known as a conference and visitors bureau. They sell Newport Beach from a global perspective as a destination. They do advertising, promotions, sales, and often work with the local hotels. • A brand is the combination of both functional and emotional benefits that creates a distinct impression in the mind's eye. An example is Tommy Bahama, which sells a relaxed, upscale weekend lifestyle. A lot of research goes into branding. The brand promise is an internal guiding star, not something seen by the consumer. You must be able to deliver on the brand promise. Balboa Village CAP Draft Minutes November 15, 2011 • Visit Newport Beach uses booklets, magazines, and online arenas to promote the City. There is an international effort in the United Kingdom and Australia. After the presentation, Mr. Sherwin fielded questions from the CAP members and attendees of the meeting. The key issues are summarized below: • Because of the popularity of "staycations," we need to bring people to the Balboa Village from the region and Newport Beach area. • When people come just for the day, we do not collect the transient occupancy tax. We need to convert Los Angeles guests into overnight guests. • The Balboa Village brand promise is something that we can create in the future that ties in with the vision for the area. The brand promise should be specific to the area and identify what differentiates Balboa Village from other destinations. Mayor Henn suggested that we decide what we want the brand promise to be in the future and then figure out what we need to do to get there. • We should focus on defining the experience in the future. What are we lacking and what do we do to get to the end product? • The brand must be good for both the visitors and the residents. • Balboa Village is family oriented. "Newport Old Town" has an emotional draw. • We need to hang on to some aspects of the Fun Zone. c. Discussion of Public Safety Issues— Dale Johnson, Police Captain Captain Johnson discussed City -wide and Balboa safety and crime information including the following: • The number one crime is property crime. With the rise of craigslist and a -bay, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to recover stolen items. • The highest number of property crimes is from cars /vehicles and most of those involve unlocked doors (crimes of opportunity). • Police officers are assigned to specific geographic areas (beats). • At any given time, there is at least one (1) officer in the Balboa Village /Peninsula /Wedge area. • Officers are encouraged to walk around their area, not just stay in the car. • There have not been any recent big events in the area, just a few isolated issues. After the presentation, Captain Johnson fielded questions from the CAP members and attendees of the meeting. The key issues are summarized below: • There are specific areas that need more attention (including bicycle riders going the wrong way on Island Avenue, traffic down East Bay Avenue, and rowdy patrons of Cabo Cantina). Captain Johnson took note of the specific concerns, mentioned that the Police Department has focused and worked to improve traffic issues, and discussed the inherent conflicts between certain land uses. • Certain types of businesses are associated with higher levels of crime, but the City needs to balance the needs of the businesses and residents (traffic, crime, etc.). • In reference to the need for a substation, Captain Johnson indicated that the City used to have a foot beat and that the need for an increased presence is tied to calls for service. The Police Department encourages people to report all crimes so that the statistics are accurate. A suggestion was made to use alerts and associations to spread the word. • The Police Department has worked with Visit Newport Beach to create a training program for officers and lifeguards. Often the officers and lifeguards are the only City employees that visitors to the City have contact with. The Police Department tries to be as helpful as possible, even leading people to destinations when they have time instead of just giving Balboa Village CAP Draft Minutes November 15, 2011 directions. This is a cultural change to make the City more visitor - friendly. The Police Department represents the City. • Captain Johnson left flyers (attached) regarding safety and crime prevention and also encouraged people to sign up for Nixie, a notification system for law enforcement. d. Discussion of Code Enforcement Issues — Matt Cosylion, Code Enforcement Supervisor Due to time constraints, this item was postponed to a future meeting date. e. Introduction of Parking Management Plan Approach —Cindy Nelson and Brian Canepa, Nelson Nygaard Ms. Nelson explained that the City hired an economic consultant, Keyser Marston, who retained Nelson Nygaard for the parking analysis. The consultants will attend some CAP, Neighborhood Revitalization Committee, stakeholder, and public meetings. Mr. Canepa gave a presentation (PowerPoint is attached). The key points of his presentation and comments /questions from the attendees of the meeting included the following: • Some goals of the process include public outreach, prioritizing residential needs, and economic development. • Mayor Henn clarified that the parking consultant will not be collecting new data, just using the existing data from previous studies. Mr. Canepa confirmed that he will use the Walker Parking Consultants study. • Mr. Canepa discussed shared parking, off -site parking, public parking lots, way finding, parking pricing strategies, and other parking strategies for the Balboa Village Parking Management Plan. • The California Coastal Commission will need to approve certain policy changes and they are tasked with ensuring public access to the coast. • There is a possibility of creating a resident parking permit system. Some residential properties do not provide enough or any parking for the dwelling units. • Metering is an option and residents could purchase passes to park at the meters that are located in front of residential properties. • The residential finger of the BID should be removed from the study area. 5. Public Comment 6. Next Meetings— Tuesday, December 20, 2011, 4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. at the Nautical Museum 7. Adjournment —Three committee members needed to leave so there was no longer a quorum and the meeting was adjourned at 6:12 p.m.