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Home My WebLink About2017-11-09 MinutesNewcastle BIA MINUTES November 9, 2017 www.villageofnewcastle.ca Attendance: Joyce King, Marni Lewis, Valentine Lovekin, Donna Wood, Helen Vatandoust, Janeen Calder, Catherine Peterson Regrets: Theresa Vanhaverbeke, Greg Lewis, Councillor Wendy Partner, Krista Klawitter, Deb Miller, Tracy Yates 1. Attendance taken. 2. Meeting called to order at 9:00 a.m. 3. Approval of October Minutes: Motion to accept: Helen Vatandoust Seconded: Joyce King 4. Business Arising from Minutes: n/a 5. Council Report - Wendy Partner Unfortunately I will be unable to make the DBIA meeting this morning, as I have been called to OMAFRA meeting If anything comes up you need my help with please let me know and I will deal with it for you. One question I have had from many many residents is why the benches on King Avenue our turn towards the building instead of facing the road. I have been informed by engineering that this was a BIA, heritage committee decision. Many residents want to write letters to Council to have this changed. I just thought the BIA should be aware as I am sure many businesses will hear about this in the next little while. The residence and I have spoke with Heal they would rather see the traffic coming down then have a car come off and hit them when they're facing the buildings instead of the highway. Just an FYI as I don't know who made the actual decision Please let Karen know I would like to donate $100 towards the Santa Claus parade, and will get the check to her Friday morning. Thank you very much, have a great meeting Wendy Hello Marni, Valentine, Karen, Catherine and Wendy, I'm sorry I had to miss the meeting this week due to family matters. I thought I should chime in on Wendy's letter prior to the Minutes for the meeting being completed. I was on the Streetscape committee as a member of the community. Many Newcastle organizations were represented (see list below) including a representative from the BIA. There was a Public Meeting at council in November 2013 for input and later mockups were presented to the community at a February 2014 Public Information Centre held in Newcastle. There was at least one subsequent public meeting prior to going ahead with the allocation in the 2017 budget as well. My memory isn't perfect (or even great) but I do not remember a discussion regarding which ways the benches should face. All the diagrams I can find show the placement of benches (bird's eye view) but I can't seem to find the artist's rendering of that corner (although I believe there was one). Wendy, maybe you could find out what was presented to the community back in February 2014? 1 think it is worth seeing what was presented and if there was a change afterword. Newcastle Streetscape Committee Members per November 2013 meeting: Greg Lewis, Newcastle BIA Theresa Vanhaverbeke, Syvan Developments Myno Van Dyke, Newcastle CIP Committee Dave Eastman, Newcastle Ratepayers Association Lynda Motchenbacher, Region of Durham Ruth Porras, Municipality of Clarington Planning Department Ron Albright, Municipality of Clarington, Engineering Department Sara Taylor, AECOM (Consultant) 6. President's Report: n/a 7. Treasurer's Report: n/a 8. Committee Reports: Safety & Decor: n/a Advertising: The Facebook Page likes are up, the Harvest Festival reached 500 people. Business should go and like the Village of Newcastle Facebook page. All the BIA 2018 events are going to be advertised in the Clarington Tourism Events booklets. Donna Wood will be the main contact for events in 2018. Special Events: a) Santa Parade - the committee did discuss the advertising issues and it is still being looked into. Valentine will follow up with the committee. b) Santa Breakfast is ready for November 25th. It will be a fun family event running from 8-11 am. Tickets are available at the door. 9. CBOT: There are some changes to the BIAs involvement, Greg Lewis will be at the December meeting to explain the changes. 10. Chamber News: n/a 11. CIP: Hi Marni, I see patients Thursday mornings now so I won't be able to attend the BIA meetings, but here's the CIP report from the meeting last week. 1- Recommendations to CIP grants Accessibility Grant 50% to 10,000 Fagade adjust from 5,000 to 10,000 Fagade, signage, building code grants renew after 10 years Sunset Clause 10 years — after 10 years can reapply for same grant 2- Amend current CIP zoning to exclude 210 King West (white building), and 435, 451, 461, 471, and 483 East King (residential houses past Tim Horton's plaza). Amend current CIP zoning to include parking lot behind No Frills and 65 and 109 Beaver Street (commercial building site behind Foodland). 3- Win This Space competition In Uxbridge the BIA offered local residents a chance to operate the next big business in the downtown core with its 'win this space' contest. The BIA announced the contest details through its website, inviting community members to submit new business ideas for downtown Uxbridge with the winner in line to receive $1,000 a month towards the first year's rent of a commercial building, along with a host of professional services including printing, marketing, advertising and free window cleaning. Win This Space is a unique competition which encourages and inspires new business to start up. The purpose of the competition is to spur economic and business development by stimulating new business and filling vacant downtown spaces. The winner in Uxbridge was The Second Wedge Brewing Co, and is now a thriving business in the downtown core. After the competition a number of other Win This Space candidates decided to open their businesses in Uxbridge. Other spin-offs of Win Tis Space have launched since the original competition in 2013, including competitions in Peterborough and Cobourg, proving to be a successful economic development initiative. Win This Space competitions in Uxbridge, Peterborough and Cobourg were all organized by the downtown BIAs. The BIAs partnered with local economic development, non -profits, government agencies and business advisory centres to offer candidates free business building workshops and mentorship. These workshops allow competitors to develop a business plan, marketing strategy, financial forecast and network with other local businesses. The BIAs also had a number of local sponsors, allowing them to pool resources together to offer the winner additional prizes to help kick-start their business, such as a 1 -year networking membership, painting services for their new space, and a website development discount. Through an intensive selection process applicants are narrowed down by a judging panel and then a winner is chosen. The purpose of this initiative is to improve vacancy rates, increase job growth, stimulate new business, develop new partnerships, engage community members and promote the downtown BIA. While Win This Space is not currently a CIP project in any of the communities, many of the communities have complementary CIP grant programs like Clarington's. A CIP project -based grant assist non-profit organizations with new initiatives, such as Win This Space can be considered. Responsibility of running the competition, seeing partners and sponsors would remain with the BIA. The Cobourg Win This Space competition cost $24, 500. A grant to assist with funding the completion could be a new CIP grant. 4- Other Business 2018 outdoor patios: The idea of constructing temporary sidewalks to allow for outdoor patio space during warmer seasons. This is currently going to council. There is one restaurant in Bowmanville and one in Newcastle interested. The temporary sidewalks will project into the parking spaces adjacent to the restaurants, and will be separated from traffic with railings. The cost of the railings and furniture will be paid by the restaurants, while the cost of the temporary sidewalk will be paid for by the municipality. Any questions please let me know. Krista 12. New Business: n/a 13. Next meeting, Thursday December 14th, 2017 @ 9:OOam 14. Motion to adjourn meeting by Catherine Peterson, seconded by Helen Vatandoust