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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-06-09Historic Downtown Bowmanville Business Centre (BIA) Board of Management Meeting Minutes Tuesday June 9, 2020; 6:30pm Virtual Meeting due to COVID-19 Pandemic Present: Edgar Lucas, Chair Laura Holmes, Secretary Gerri Lucas, Treasurer Cathy Holmes Ron Hooper Erin Kemp (departed 7:37pm) Absent: Justin Barry Carrie Hooper Delegations Present: None The meeting was called to order by the Chair. 1. Presentation by Delegations The Chair recognized that no delegations were present. 2. Adoption of Minutes Moved by R. Hooper, seconded by G. Lucas THAT the minutes of the meeting of May 12, 2020 be approved as circulated. CARRIED 3. Business Arisine from Previous Minutes (a) Durham Tourism Shop Local Project L. Holmes provided an update on the project that is a partnership between Durham Tourism and the regions BIAS. The website DOWNTOWNSOFDURHAM.CA launched on May 22 n1. There was excellent media pick up of this announcement and organic social media sharing has been robust. Promotion will occur at multiple levels and there will be a paid marketing campaign by the Region. L. Holmes has been promoting on Instagram, sent email announcements to business owners, and requested promotional support from both CBOT and Clarington Tourism. 43 businesses in downtown Bowmanville self -submitted for inclusion. As of this week, Durham Tourism is now accepting additional business listings from BIA members. A link to self -submit has been sent to all business owners in the Bowmanville BIA. For the short- term, Durham Tourism is managing the site but there is an expectation that each BIA will assume responsibility for it. Durham Tourism has warned that this will be a significant burden for BIAS without paid staff. Information about timeline for handoff will be forthcoming. Historic Downtown Bowmanville 2 June 2020 Business Centre (BIA) (b) Updates from Task Force Meetings with Mayor Foster The Chair reported that CBOT is offering PPE supplies to businesses at cost. Rent is a continued issue for small business. To date, there has been no movement on adjusting the format and rules by the government for the commercial rent relief program. The next meeting will involve an update from the Chief of Police. (c) Durham Region BIAs Proposal was referred back to staff for report. Expected to be on Regional Council agenda sometime in June. (d) Update on Weekly OBIAA Meetings Councillor Hooper reported that there was a lot of discussion related to the reopening of outdoor patio seating for restaurants in stage 2 reopening regions. Some businesses/BIAs are getting creative and are using parking lot space to extend seating capacity. The GTHA remains in stage 1 reopening at this time. There was some discussion related to the commercial rent relief program because to date the uptake by landlords has been very low. There has been an announcement by the Provincial government that they intend to bring forward legislation to temporarily halt commercial evictions until the end of August 2020. There are lots of really good ideas brought forward at the meetings. Attendance at the meetings is dwindling — this week it was 33 — but there is still an appetite for continuing the twice weekly meetings. There are resource links provided by OBIAA that can be shared with BIA members. (e) Planning for Recovery Following COVID-19 Restrictions On May 19t", retail stores with street entrances were permitted to reopen. Many retail stores in downtown Bowmanville chose to remain closed to in-store shopping for a variety of reasons— lack of preparation/notice, difficulty securing PPE, childcare concerns, staffing availability, concerns over safety, etc. On June 8, the provincial government announced that Durham Region would remain in Stage 1 reopening until further notice meaning that personal services and restaurants must remain closed. Under the regionalized reopening strategy, restaurants in Stage 2 areas will be permitted to open patio seating on Friday but not indoor seating so consideration should be given in anticipation of our area moving to stage 2. Many downtown restaurants do not have an existing space for outdoor seating. CBOT has partnered with large retailers to streamline access to PPE for businesses. Information on how to access the PPE supplies has been shared with BIA members. As a result of this initiative, it does not make sense for the BIA procure supplies for businesses. There was some discussion about implementing a marketing campaign to encourage people to shop downtown. With so many businesses still closed at this time, this idea will be revisited when more information about reopening is available. Historic Downtown Bowmanville 3 June 2020 Business Centre (BIA) (f) Downtown Bowmanville Gift Certificate Social Media Contest Contest ran on Instagram and Facebook from June 1-5. It was very well received by both business owners and the community. Instagram gained 345 followers and received 485 comments. Facebook gained 66 followers and received 180 comments. Winners have been selected and notified. $100 prize voucher can be used at any business in downtown Bowmanville. Moved by G. Lucas, seconded by C. Holmes THAT similar social media contests be run on Instagram and Facebook, one in July and one in August, with $100 prize voucher for each. CARRIED (g) Durham Region Online Marketplace L. Holmes reported that the project proposed by the Executive Directors of Whitby and Oshawa BIAs, presented at last month's meeting, is temporarily on hold. Motion to enter in -camera session. Moved by G. Lucas, seconded by R. Hooper Motion to exit in -camera session. Moved by C. Holmes, seconded by R. Hooper 4. Correspondence Correspondence was received from i. Greg Bunker, Planner MOC, regarding Courtice Secondary Plan (via email) ii. Lisa Backus, Principal Planner, MOC, regarding Courtice Secondary Plan (via email) Moved by L. Holmes, seconded by E. Kemp THAT the correspondence be received for information. CARRIED 5. Treasurer's Report The Treasurer presented the following: i. $57 900 Current Account, $125 000 Edward Jones ii. Support staff payments have been halted iii. Audit is ongoing Moved by R. Hooper, seconded by L. Holmes THAT the Treasurer's Report be adopted as presented. Historic Downtown Bowmanville 4 June 2020 Business Centre (BIA) 6. Directors' Reports (a) Council Liaison — R. Hooper: Reported that MOC staff cleaned the street/sidewalk areas in downtown. LED street lamps have been installed on King Street and they are very bright. Thank you to the staff and Mr. Albright for pushing this project forward. MOC is monitoring parking but is not enforcing at the present time. Concerts in the Park on Thursday night have been cancelled. MOC is operating at low capacity staff and some staff are still redeployed to other areas. The administration building is ready to reopen whenever restrictions are lifted, safety equipment is installed. Library renovations are ongoing. (b) Events — C. Holmes: Reported that BluesBERRY Festival has been officially cancelled and communications have been shared with all stakeholders. Cancellation of events is just as much work as executing them. There are concerns that Applefest may also need to be cancelled if restrictions on large group gatherings are not lifted by early autumn. Applefest draws crowds in the tens of thousands so physical distancing would be a problem. There are also concerns about the close proximity of vendors both in the marquee tents and side -by -side pop-up tents. Consideration should be given to diverting events funds to supporting and promoting business and shopping downtown. (c) Membership Relations —J. Barry: No report. (d) Streetscape — G. Lucas: Reported that Rekker's Garden will deliver hanging basket flowers by end of month. The watering contractor is ready to begin whenever the flowers are delivered. The volunteers are going to put new soil and annuals in the planters so it should be timed to occur when the watering will start. (e) Communications— (vacant): L. Holmes reported that email reports and updates have continued to be sent to all members on nearly a daily basis. Several emails have been received from members expressing appreciation for all of the updates and information provided during the pandemic. (f) Website — L. Holmes: Reported that updates on cancelled events have been posted. The website redevelopment is on hold and cannot begin until the BIA determines what direction the redesign needs to Historic Downtown Bowmanville 5 Business Centre (BIA) June 2020 take. This is a very time consuming process and will take a collective effort to determine what functionalities are necessary, as well as aesthetic design ideas. The web developer cannot begin until this information is considered and presented. Discussion deferred until next meeting. The Instagram account management is very time consuming. On average 7-10 hours per week are spent managing the account. Several businesses have posted their appreciation for the promotion that the Instagram account brought to downtown Bowmanville and their individual business during the shutdown. Several other businesses sent private messages of thanks for the promotions. Social media has become an essential marketing tool and the value of this work needs to be recognized. (g) Media Relations — C. Hooper: No Report. 7. New Business (a) Parking on King Street in Downtown Bowmanville With the reopening of some businesses, parking issues in downtown Bowmanville have resurfaced. Anecdotal evidence suggests that it is business owners and their employees using the street side parking spaces all day. Communication emails with businesses asking for parking to be left open for customers have been largely ignored. During the shutdown, Clarington Bylaw temporarily paused parking enforcement. Moved by G. Lucas, seconded by L. Holmes THAT a letter requesting a gradual reintroduction of parking enforcement be sent to the Mayor and Director of Municipal Law Enforcement. CARRIED (b) Proposal for King Street Closure Similar to announcements by other regions, there was an idea brought forward to close King Street in downtown Bowmanville to traffic to allow for more space for activity (walking, biking) and space for businesses to expand outdoor seating or conduct sidewalk sales. There are many logistics to consider with road closures. Historically, there have been mixed reactions from businesses about road closures. Moved by G. Lucas, seconded by R. Hooper THAT a survey of BIA members be conducted and results reviewed before any further discussion. CARRIED (c) Proposal for Distancing Kits for Businesses Historic Downtown Bowmanville 6 Business Centre (BIA) June 2020 Other BIAs have provided their businesses with a kit including social distancing floor stickers, window clings for business hours, and social distancing signage. Some kits have also included a starter kit of supplies like gloves, masks, sanitizer, etc. The Chair states that most businesses have already had to purchase these items. (d) Thefts and Vandalism in Downtown Bowmanville On May 271h, a woman was seen on security camera images stealing flowers from the exterior of SCRUB'n. Several other businesses have since reported thefts and acts of vandalism to the exterior of their businesses in the months of March through June. There was also a break -and -enter theft at Pita Pit. Communications regarding these events were shared by email with members and all members were encouraged to report any thefts or acts of vandalism to both the police and the BIA. (e) DMS ShopHere Program L. Holmes reported that Durham Region has committed to fund the DMS ShopHere program. The program provides free help to businesses to set up a Shopify e-commerce site. There is a 90 day free trial, after which businesses are responsible for the monthly Shopify fee. The program will be available to any business in Durham Region and is not restricted to downtowns/BIAs. The Business Advisory Centre of Durham (BACD) has submitted a proposal to the Economic Recovery Task Force to be awarded the contract for project management. Moved by G. Lucas, seconded by C. Holmes THAT a letter regarding the DMS ShopHere program be sent to the Director of Economic Development and Tourism at Durham Region. CARRIED (f) Digital Main Street L. Holmes reported that it is largely expected that an announcement about government funding for the Digital Main Street grant program for BIAs will be made in the next week or so. The program is expected to be administrated through OBIAA again and that the format will largely be consistent with the previous program. There have been preliminary discussions with Durham Region BIAs about applying for the grants as a collective versus each BIA being responsible for its own implementation. Moved by L. Holmes, seconded by C. Holmes THAT the BIA will apply for the Digital Main Street grant and discussions about implementation will occur once details of the program are announced. Historic Downtown Bowmanville 7 Business Centre (BIA) CARRIED (g) Rediscover Clarington & Business Directory June 2020 Clarington Tourism is creating a new business and attractions directory to be housed on their website. A link to self -submit your business was sent to all Bowmanville BIA members. The expected launch date is June 12 and the directory will be continually updated by Tourism staff. The purpose is to serve as a blackboard for Clarington residents to discover what businesses are operating and any special restrictions that are in place. The directory is one part of the new Rediscover Clarington marketing strategy to promote local exploration and shopping. (h) Storage Garage Reorganization and Clean Up Once restrictions on gatherings are lifted, support staff will be asked to install shelving, reorganize, and clean out the storage garage. It may require rental of a disposal bin. Input and permission will be sought from the property owner on the possibility of disposal bin placement, as it will impact building tenant parking. Board members will be asked to assist in determining which items can be disposed of. (i) 4x8 signs James Printing and Signs produced the Downtown Bowmanville says Thank You signs pro bono that have been placed at the east and west ends of the downtown core. A new sign for Hwy 2/E of Hwy 57 is needed. Moved by C. Holmes, seconded by G. Lucas THAT a small token of appreciation be sent to James Printing. CARRIED 8. Date of Next Meeting The next meeting of the Board of Management is scheduled to be held on Tuesday September 15, 2020 commencing at 6:30pm in Clarington Meeting Room 1-C, unless COVID-19 restrictions are still in place in which case the meeting will be held virtually. 9. Adiournment Moved by R. Hooper, seconded by L. Holmes THAT the meeting adjourn. CARRIED The meeting adjourned at 8:54pm