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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-06-06Historic Downtown Bowmanville Business Centre (BIA) Board of Management Meeting Minutes Tuesday June 6, 2023; 6:30pm Virtual Meeting In Attendance: Ron Hooper, Chair Laura Holmes, Secretary Gerri Lucas, Treasurer Cathy Holmes, Director Erin Kemp, Director Edgar Lucas, Director Laura Knox, Economic Development/Tourism representative, MOC (depart 7:37pm) Andrew Poray, Manager Economic Development, MOC (depart 7:37pm) Regrets: Lloyd Rang, Council Representative Bonnie Wrightman, CBOT representative Delegations Present: Kevin Heathcote, Capital Works Supervisor — Planning & Infrastructure Services, MOC The Chair read the Land Acknowledgement statement. The meeting was called to order. 1. Presentation by Delegations Kevin Heathcote manages capital projects related to Municipal infrastructure. MOC works in conjunction with Region of Durham on many major infrastructure projects. REGION OF DURHAM PROJECTS 2023 — Bowmanville Ave & Hwy 2 reconstruction and widening. 2024-2027 Liberty St rehabilitation (Baseline to King) & Bowmanville Ave widening (Baseline to CPR line). Bowmanville Avenue project rail overpass to Stevens Rd intersection. Widening to four lane. Multi -use path to connect to Roenigk Drive. Water and sewer. Reconstruct around train bridge crossing. Intersection improvements. Liberty St will have continuous turning lane down centre to help with traffic flow. Baseline Road intersection improvements. Potential for multi -use paths to be included in front of Memorial Park. MOC PROJECTS 2023 — Church St & Division St Municipal Parking Lot rehabilitation. King St E (Liberty to Haines Rd) pavement rehab, intersection accessibility adjustments, lane adjustments, and dedicated bike lanes. Veterans Square & Courtyard revitalization at Municipal Administrative Centre. Future years (2024-27) - King St pavement rehab (Liberty to Scugog). Active transportation master plan/wayfinding system. King St pavement (Roenigk to CPR underpass). King St bridge (over Bowmanville Creek) rehab. Lambert St reconstruction (Church to King). Mr. Heathcote was asked to determine timeline for project completion of the Veterans Square project as this may conflict with Applefest which is October 14. Mr. Heathcote will connect with Community Services and ask for them to communicate with BIA. Historic Downtown Bowmanville 2 JUNE 2023 Business Centre (BIA) The Chair thanked Mr. Heathcote for attending. Mr. Heathcote departed at 7:26pm. 2. Updates from Community Partners (a) MOC Economic Development (formerly Clarington Tourism) Laura Knox introduced Andrew Poray who is the new manager of Economic Development held within the Planning Department. The past few months have been focused on building the team and outlining roles. Andrew has experience with Ajax and Oshawa. Two years ago Council created a strategy to implement an internal Economic Development department. Previously CBOT was contracted for this role. Some of the work is very closely tied with CBOT and will continue to be. Much of the Tourism workload will still be handled by Ashlee. Laura will handle many of the CIP and patio programs, as well as the business portfolio. Jessica from Tourism is also part of the team. Laura —downtown/urban. Ashlee — tourism/rural. Economic Development will be responsible for attraction of investment to Clarington. CBOT will remain a Board of Trade and will focus on membership, events, etc. There will be a contract negotiation for 2024, but at this time it is unclear how the division of responsibility will be handled. The Chair questioned whether CBOT would still be the contact for businesses looking to relocate downtown. Laura will be assuming responsibility for connecting potential businesses with vacant properties. 3. Adoption of Minutes Moved by L. Holmes, seconded by G. Lucas THAT the minutes of the meeting of May 16, 2023 be approved as circulated. CARRIED 4. Business Arising from Previous Minutes (a) BMO driveway L. Holmes shared an update provided by D. Anderson by email. Public Works has confirmed the issue is now Municipal and it is still being investigated. Mr. Anderson will report back when more information is available. The property owner of BMO has cleared all blockages on their property. (b) 99 King Mural The Chair reported that on the top right-hand side of the mural painted on their outside wall is the BIA logo. The Chair confirmed that the business owner was told that permission was not granted for use of the logo. The BIA will not ask for the logo to be removed or covered. (c) Proposal for banners in construction zone The Chair has not spoken with Municipal staff yet. Historic Downtown Bowmanville 3 JUNE 2023 Business Centre (BIA) (d) Damage of benches/planters Several benches and stationary planters downtown are in a state of disrepair. Temporary large planters will be used this summer at strategic locations downtown instead of stationary ones. The Chair will set a meeting with Mr. Brake to do a walkabout downtown. The BIA would like to request removal of stationary planters and discuss repair or replacement of benches. (e) PFLAG banners The Chair will speak with E. Mittag about banner installation. The two 2022 banners are in storage. (f) Parking Downtown Mr. Anderson sent a notice by email that he would like to attend a future BIA meeting to provide a walk- through of the HotSpot parking application. L. Holmes informed Mr. Anderson that the Board does not formally meet again until September but would be willing to set-up a special meeting for this discussion. Mr. Anderson is to reach out with potential dates. 5. Correspondence Correspondence was received from i. Laila Shafi regarding Land Acknowledgement document ii. Michelle Pick regarding follow-up on questions raised in April meeting iii. Planning Department regarding Notice of Public Meeting: Wilmot Creek iv. CAO regarding Clarington Public Communications Survey V. Clerks Department regarding JC-052-23 2024 Budget Schedule vi. Planning Department regarding NOA OPA 130 & PD-041-23 Wilmot Creek vii. Planning Department regarding Bowmanville East Secondary Plan viii. (via website contact form) Bethesda House representatives regarding promotion of Yoga in the Park ix. (via website contact form) Ontario By Bike regarding promotion of webinar Welcoming Cycling in Durham X. Clerks Department regarding SC 2021-0001 Draft Approval & Approved Draft Plan Fairhaven xi. Planning Department regarding Bowmanville West Urban Centre Moved by G. Lucas, seconded by E. Lucas THAT the correspondence be received for information. CARRIED 6. Treasurer's Report The Treasurer presented the following: i. $195 230 in current account ii. Audit is ongoing Moved by E. Kemp, seconded by C. Holmes Historic Downtown Bowmanville 4 Business Centre (BIA) THAT the Treasurer's Report be adopted as presented. CARRIED 7. Directors' Reports (a) Council Liaison — No report. (b) Events — JUNE 2023 C. Holmes thanked all who came out to assist with check -in at Maplefest. Crowds at Maplefest were very large. There was no noticeable loss of attendees due to the absence of the pancake breakfast. There was misinformation spread about the pancake breakfast, as well as vendor fees, on social media. Applefest is nearly half sold out already. Upcoming events include July Twilight Tuesday & August Sidewalk Sale, neither will have road closure. (c) Membership Relations — G. Lucas reported that flowers were sent to the owner of Poppies Cove following her accident. The Chair reported that he attended Himalayan Spa to congratulate them on their 6t" anniversary and Pink Lemon Decor for second anniversary. He also attended the official Grand Opening of A Well Mind. (d) Streetscape — E. Lucas reported that flower baskets will be installed later this month, along with large temporary planters. Watering will commence once flowers arrive. Summer banners will be installed soon. Autumn banners will be installed at the end of August. (e) Communications — No report. (f) Website & Social Media — No report. 8. New Business (a) Graffiti/Tagging There is a significant problem with graffiti downtown. Business owners should be encouraged to report all incidents to DRIPS. An email will be sent all business owners with this reminder. Business owners may be able to access CIP funds to assist with costs of repainting. The Chair will reach out to DRPS to notify of the issue and request an increased vigilance. (b) Citizen seeking support for cigarette disposal Historic Downtown Bowmanville Business Centre (BIA) JUNE 2023 A private citizen visited several businesses downtown asking about their experience with cigarette butts in front of their location and informally asking whether the business would support cigarette disposal cans. Several board members have negative experiences with these disposals and cite risks including fire ignition. The BIA would ask to be consulted if Council were to consider installation of cigarette disposal apparatus downtown. (b) Homelessness Several businesses have been impacted by transient persons occupying sidewalks and vestibules. There are also reported incidents of persons entering businesses several times per day and speaking/acting inappropriately to customers and staff. Some businesses have had success with asking these persons to vacate the premises, while others have not. The Chair will raise these concerns with DRPS during the discussion about graffiti. (c) Concerts In The Park The first concert is June 22. The sign will be installed at Roegnik Drive. The BIA is a sponsor of Concerts In The Park and will be invited to sponsor appreciation night later this summer. (d) RaceFest A. Kielbiski from Economic Development/Tourism reached out by email about RaceFest planned for July 5 at Garnet B. Rickard. This is the first time for the event to promote race weekend at CTMP and organizers hope to make it an annual event. The organizers would like to help cross -promote attendees shopping downtown. L. Holmes met with organizers to discuss potential opportunities. Given tight timeline for this year it was not feasible to offer late night shopping hours downtown on July 5. Moved by L. Holmes, seconded by G. Lucas THAT signage promoting shopping downtown will be produced and installed at RaceFest. CARRIED 9. Date of Next Meeting The next meeting of the Board of Management is scheduled to be held on Tuesday September 12, 2023 commencing at 6:30pm, virtually. 10. Adiournment Moved by E. Lucas, seconded by G. Lucas THAT the meeting adjourn. CARRIED The meeting adjourned at 9:26pm.