August 30, 2016

BRIDGEPORT DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY MINUTES

City of Bridgeport

County of Harrison

State of West Virginia

REGULAR SESSION:

At 7:32a.m. the Bridgeport Development Authority met in the Conference Room of the Bridgeport Municipal Complex at 515 West Main Street.

MEMBERS PRESENT:

Darrell Bowen, Jeff Smell, Bridget Furbee, Tom Bush, Doug Marquette, Drew Pomeroy, John Stogran, Fred Sartoris and Bob Rector

MEMBERS ABSENT:

Jeff Barger, Okey Bowers and Bob Greer

CITY STAFF PRESENT:

City Manager Kim Haws, Community Development Director Randy Spellman, Finance Director Monica Musgrave and City Clerk Andrea Kerr

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:

Minutes of the June 13, 2016 regular meeting were unanimously approved as presented on a motion by Jeff Smell; seconded by Darrell Bowen.

NEW BUSINESS:

  1. Economic Development Update – Randy Spellman
  • Meadow Creek – 80 units, 19 structures. The first phase on the rental side should open in 30-45 days. They anticipate getting 16-18 more structures going before winter starts. They have some 12-14 unit apartment buildings. They have some 6 unit apartments called The Nest. They have a 3 bedroom townhome called The Molly. Then they have 2 for sale called the Bridgeport and the Meadow Creek townhomes. The only thing holding them back is finding framing contractors. They will add a fitness center, pool, tennis and basketball courts and walking trail in the spring 2017.
  • Lodgeville Estates –continuing construction. They have their first 8 unit building open with several tenants. They’re working on the pool house and the fifth building right now. Phase II will have an additional 5 buildings.
  • Stonebridge apartments – Trevor Flanagan says they are staying full.
  • Bridgeport Heights has two single family homes under construction and 2 spec homes under contract.
  • UHC is doing a large remodeling job of their Oncology department.
  • Friday’s (formally TGIFriday’s) is hoping to open this fall.
  • Dave Biafore’s Marketplace – 1st tenant has backed out.
  • CVB broke ground yesterday.

BRIDGEPORT DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY MINUTES

August 30, 2016

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  • Intersection of 131/79 - on the northbound side is Freedom Kia which is outside city limits. On the southbound side is BFS foods and that is inside city limits.
  • BW3’s and Outback – remodel – both over $300k

2.Fiber-to-the-Home Project Update

  • Drew Pomeroy said that they currently have 600 pre signups since the kick off on July 2nd. They need 750 signed up to get the cash flow.
  • They are advertising with flyers in water bills, ad on Connect – Bridgeport, door hangers, and yard signs. They will advertise on television and in other media outlets in September.
  • Rosewood will be the 1st subdivision and they hope to be online by September. Briarwood will be the 2nd. South Hills will be the 3rd. Then Heritage Farms and Crystal Ridge by the end of 2016.
  • CityNet spent $300k on engineering and core equipment.
  • Concentration was on the areas with the most signups.

3.Consider request for Façade Improvement Grant for proposed project for Mark Carder – Carder Motors.

  • Randy explained that the next three items are requests for Economic Incentive Grants. The Façade program is the only one of the three incentives that Council has to fund. This year we have $25,000.00 in our line item budget for the façade improvements and Mark Carder will probably qualify for the bulk of that.
  • Drew Pomeroy asked what the façade program includes. Randy said since the revision of the grant, Council took the limit up to $100,000.00 and the business can be located anywhere in the city. The board will make a recommendation to Council and Council will have the final say.
  • Darrell Bowen said that he did some math and to qualify for the $25,000.00 at 25% he would have to have $100,000.00 investment. The signage is already $50,000.00, so he only needs another $50,000.00, which he needs for the building. So he qualifies. Randy noted that he also plans on doing interior improvements which would not be included in this grant.
  • Randy said that Monica audits the Economic Development Grants through the B&O that is collected. Then the 90/40/40, she audits through the quarterly B&O taxes making sure they keep their three full time employees. Andrea and I audit the Façade Improvement Grant by looking at the receipts.
  • Randy said that this board needs to decide if the recommend the grant request and do you want to put any parameters on it.
  • Member Drew Pomeroy made a motion to approve the request for Façade Improvement Grant for proposed project for Mark Carder – Carder Motors. Motion was seconded by Member Bob Rector and unanimously approved.
  • Randy asked if this board wanted to set any parameters. The board agreed that it would be up to Council to change it.

BRIDGEPORT DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY MINUTES

August 30, 2016

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  • Kim Haws said that if this board has ideas to change the policy he thinks it is a good idea to go to Council and discuss the changes.
  • Bob Rector discussed the term “façade” and how that could be misconceived.
  • Bridget Furbee suggested that it be added to the next agenda that the board reviews the policy and ordinance.
  • Randy said he is confident that City Council will want all the unanswered questions answered before this comes to them.
  • Doug Marquette asked if a new sign constitutes an “improvement.” He asked if we should have spent our money on the new Dairy Queen sign.
  • Randy said he thinks the goal of the committee was to make anything in the City look better and this includes signs. He said this program is great and he stands behind it 1000%, but it has to be funded.
  • Drew said that now that we have had 4 or 5 come through, maybe we need to exclude some things, like signs.
  • Bridget said she thinks we need a definition of “ancillary property”.
  • Darrell proposed that we need to define what want to include and consider as a “façade”
  • Kim said that it is up to City Council to change the rules or to increase funding.

4.Consider request for Economic Development Grant for proposed Mountain State Brewing Company project.

  • Randy said this is a different request. This group has 3 restaurants and a brewery. They want to open a location at Charles Pointe. This is all new construction. We are looking at all the B&O realized from the infrastructure and the construction of the building is audited by the Finance Department and whatever we recommend and Council approves of that percentage of the B&O collected is then given back in the form of an Economic Development Grant. This does not cause any funding issues on the City, there are no line items but it does affect your General Fund Revenues. Typically we recommend 50% of the B&O received off of a project in the form of a grant.
  • Andrea said that once he has constructed the building and receives the grant, he wants to invest the grant money by adding a patio to the new building.
  • Member Darrell Bowen made a motion to approve the request for Economic Development Grant for proposed Mountain State Brewing Company project. Motion was seconded by Member Tom Bush and unanimously approved.

BRIDGEPORT DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY MINUTES

August 30, 2016

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5.Consider request for Economic Sustainability Incentive for proposed Linea Esthetics.

  • Randy said that this lady would like to open a Brazilian Beauty Spa. Her request is for the 90/40/40 sustained building program. Her initial startup cost is $202,000.00 with three full time employees. She will be in the old Bridgeport Express Care location. The Finance Department will audit this.
  • Kim said she will have to put the investment in and open the business.
  • Member Bridget Furbee mad a motion to approve the request for Economic Sustainability Incentive for proposed Linea Esthetics. Motion was seconded by Member Drew Pomeroy and unanimously approved.

ADJOURNMENT:

Meeting adjourned at 8:31 a.m. on a motion by Member Jeff Smell, seconded by Member Drew Pomeroy, and unanimously approved.

PREPARED BY:

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Andrea Kerr, City Clerk

APPROVED:

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Date

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John Stogran, President