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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-04-13Historic Downtown Bowmanville Business Centre (BIA) Board of Management Meeting Minutes Tuesday April 13, 2021; 6:30pm Virtual Meeting due to COVID-19 pandemic Present: Edgar Lucas, Chair Laura Holmes, Secretary Cathy Holmes Ron Hooper Bonnie Wrightman Justin Barry (arrive 7:OOpm) Absent: Gerri Lucas, Treasurer Erin Kemp Delegations Present: Duncan Anderson, Manager Municipal Law Enforcement The meeting was called to order by the Chair. 1. Presentation by Delegations Duncan Anderson, Manager Municipal Law Enforcement, is seeking feedback on parking issues in downtown Bowmanville. Plans to bring a report to Council. Recognizes that the past year has been unique, and especially difficult for businesses. Availability of parking has been different owing largely to employees working from home, business closures, etc. It is difficult to compare situation over past year to pre -pandemic issues. Mr. Anderson has parking information in hand from OBIAA via Councillor Hooper and has reached out to his counterpart in Lindsay and they experience many of the same issues related to parking. During the complimentary parking period, bylaw officers received feedback from tenants about confusion over the limit of two hour free parking. The parking meter bags do not specify the limit so that contributes to the confusion. Bylaw officers handed out notices and warnings. Several vehicles were identified as repeatedly parking for long durations. The Chair expressed that in his opinion the elimination of the two-hour free parking in the lot, particularly the lot on King St, is the main priority. This lot tends to be filled by employees of local business/banks for all -day parking leaving no space for customers to shop downtown. The Board is not in favour of permanently removing parking fees, as the fees help with turnover of space. Mr. Anderson was asked about modern alternatives to coin -based parking meters. He has some knowledge about central meters and mobile app payments but has not formally investigated these options. He stated that transaction fees are associated with both credit card and mobile payments and the current parking fees would not cover the transaction. Mr. Anderson was asked to conduct a cost -benefit analysis for various modern parking alternatives, provide an estimation for necessary increase to fee, and obtain a parking fee comparison with other local areas. Historic Downtown Bowmanville 2 Business Centre (BIA) APRIL 2021 The Board recommends that the December complimentary parking be offered again this year from December 1-31, 2021. With pandemic recovery it will be important to encourage shopping downtown during the busy holiday season. Options for signage that clearly indicate time -limit should be investigated since the meter bags are non-specific. Other cities have used small signs zip -tied onto meters to designate 15 minute curbside pick up spots. Mr. Anderson will reach out to his local counterparts for ideas. Mr. Anderson will draft a report with recommendations, along with a cost analysis of parking options, and share with the Board. 2. Adoption of Minutes Moved by R. Hooper, seconded by J. Barry THAT the minutes of the meeting of March 9, 2021 be approved as circulated. CARRIED 3. Business Arising from Previous Minutes (a) Updates from Mayor's COVID Task Force The Chair states there is no update. 4. Correspondence Correspondence was received from i. John Paul Newman, Deputy Clerk MOC, with notification of Council Resolution #GG-272- 21 BIA Social Media. Moved by L. Holmes, seconded by J. Barry THAT the correspondence be received for information. CARRIED 5. Treasurer's Report No report. 6. Directors' Reports (a) Council Liaison — R. Hooper: Reported that a business in downtown Bowmanville hosted an anti-lockdown rally this past Sunday. DRPS blocked off the road for safety. It was peacefully conducted, but illegal under the provincial order. Historic Downtown Bowmanville 3 APRIL 2021 Business Centre (BIA) (b) Events — C. Holmes: Reported that the Meet The Easter Bunny event was cancelled as a result of the provincial lockdown announcement. The BMO window wrap winter scene will be removed and replaced with a new spring theme. Street festivals are cancelled through the end of the summer. (c) Membership Relations —J. Barry: Reported that there is a new variety store/vape shop opening in the former Bees Knees location. The Village Inn has closed and the new owners are renovating before opening as 99 King. (d) Streetscape — G. Lucas: The Chair reported that he spoke with the flower vendor and the summer planters are on order. The flower vendor expressed concerns about the poor watering over the past two seasons. The Chair contacted the watering vendor to express these concerns and received assurances that extra care would be taken this summer. Councillor Hooper will arrange the volunteers for the planting of the stationary planters. The Chair will arrange for the support staff to remove the garbage that accumulated in the planters over the winter. (e) Communications— (vacant): No report. (f) Website & Social Media — L. Holmes: Reported that Chris Broumley from Nerivon is scheduled to attend the next meeting. Several phone calls and emails have been exchanged about the website redevelopment and more information is required before an accurate quote can be presented by Nerivon. A new HDB BIA Facebook account has been set up so that the BIA page administration can be conducted from that account instead of a personal account. This will aid in future transfer of access/admin rights. The new account has been used to make a few posts on the Bowmanville page but a fulsome review of the page and followers has not yet been conducted. The Instagram account has been growing steadily in the number of followers. The most recent contest resulted in 1310 entries. Businesses have expressed their sincere gratitude for all the promotion this account provides. There is a daily post and the story feature is used to repost from businesses daily. Over the past month, there have been several comments received expressing displeasure with promotion of certain businesses. As a policy, the account is used to promote products and services in downtown Bowmanville and does not engage in political positions or opinions. (g) CBOT Updates— B. Wrightman: Historic Downtown Bowmanville 4 Business Centre (BIA) APRIL 2021 Reported that there is a new food service business opening in the former Toasted Walnut location. There is a west Indian grocery market with grab and go pre -made food moving into the former billiards hall. The building under construction at King and Ontario St will house a cannabis store. In Clarington, there are a total of 8 licenses issued for cannabis retailers with multiple in Bowmanville. Petley Hare has vacated their space in the Veltri building. There is a new tenant for the former post office location. CBOT continues to support business during the lockdown. A new initiative has launched called "It's in the bag" working with local vendors to make bags for Mother's Day that will sell for $50 with the money supporting the local vendors. Breakfast with Mayor is next Friday in a virtual format. If there are any topics that should be raised please contact CBOT. 7. New Business (a) OBIAA Updates Councillor Hooper has been joining the OBIAA weekly meetings. There was a lot of conversation at one of the meetings related to Directors and Officers Insurance, and insurance for vendors, etc. Councillor Hooper plans to raise some questions with the Director of Finance and will report back. The Secretary reminded the Board that insurance was the topic of a special meeting in February 2019 and recommendations from that meeting, particularly related to vendors, were implemented. Advocacy committee members from OBIAA will have an audience with the government and plan to raise Digital Main Street, opioid epidemic, etc. Previously, these discussions have been instrumental in advancing the priorities of small businesses and BIAS. (b) Review of Current Bowmanville BIA Website & downtownsofdurham.ca website L. Holmes shared bowmanville.com and downtownsofdurham.ca on screen to conduct a group review of content and features. Website redesign will focus on presenting a user-friendly, mobile -first platform. The current website was designed for a desktop user and does not present as well on mobile devices. From feedback received from users, we are aware that Bowmanville.com is traditionally used to find information about events and for vendor applications. We expect this to become important again once events and festivals are permitted to proceed. With the push to shop local during the pandemic and the fact that Clarington has experienced large growth in the housing market, many are looking to discover local small business. As a result, development of the business directory feature is a priority. The interactive map on downtownsofdurham.ca has many of the desired features and can be used as an example. Historic Downtown Bowmanville 5 APRIL 2021 Business Centre (BIA) (c) Date of Next Meeti The next meeting of the Board of Management is scheduled to be held on Tuesday May 11, 2021 commencing at 6:30pm. The meeting will be held virtually as COVID restrictions are still in place. (d) Adjournment Moved by R. Hooper, seconded by L. Holmes THAT the meeting adjourn. CARRIED The meeting adjourned at 9:OOpm.