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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-02-06Historic Downtown Bowmanville Business Centre (BIA) Board of Management Meeting Minutes Tuesday February 6, 2024; 6:30pm Virtual Meeting In Attendance: Ron Hooper, Chair Laura Holmes, Secretary Gerri Lucas, Treasurer Lloyd Rang, Council Representative (departed 7:24pm) Cathy Holmes, Director Edgar Lucas, Director Bonnie Wrightman, CBOT representative Amber Ross, owner Pink Lemon Decor Sarah Gerdy, owner Markets Regrets: Erin Kemp, Director Laura Knox, MOC Ec Dev representative Delegations Present: Lisa Backus, Manager of Community Planning Tony Ricciardi, Manager of Infrastructure Amanda Tapp, Manager of Development Review The Chair read the Land Acknowledgement statement and called the meeting to order. 1. Presentation by Delegations A presentation was shared on -screen and copy will be distributed to board members. L. Backus shared information on Community Planning - Land use planning. Statutory meetings happening. Bowmanville West Urban Centre includes GO Train. Provincial government is interested in density. Community consultations revealed insights. Bowmanville East Secondary Plan includes downtown. Consultations continue. Downtown Civic Precinct — where is higher density appropriate, set-up for future needs, how can usage be improved, potential for flex -use street on Temperance. Goodyear Lands Precinct — redevelopment plans, decontamination efforts. A. Tapp shared information on Development approvals. Developments will have key economic impacts. Several around the GO train area and Bowmanville Avenue. One across from Bowmanville Mall. Some have ground floor commercial units. Green Rd/Hwy 2 has a park space. Hospital development plans. T. Ricciardi shared information on Infrastructure projects. Ongoing Bowmanville Ave/Hwy 2 reconstruction expected completion July 2024. 2024-7 rehab of Liberty Street expected to start 2026 region led project. Multi- use trail to connect to baseline. Bowmanville Ave widening from Baseline to CPR finalizing design, construction 2025-6. Regional led project. Multi -use trail north side. Municipal projects. Bridge rehab should have little impact on traffic. Sidewalk connections will be improved. Pavement rehab — Scugog to Liberty. Liberty to Haines in 2024, changes to lane configurations. Veterans Square & Courtyard revitalization being led by Community Services. To tender in early spring and will be unavailable until Remembrance Day. Temperance St design is impacting King St pavement rehab plans. Active transportation plan is available on website, public consultations underway. Historic Downtown Bowmanville Business Centre (BIA) FEBRUARY 2024 Clarington plans to extend pavement rehab from CPR underpass to Roegnik. May try to partner with Region to extend current construction. Bridge on King St requires rehab. Lambert from Church to King. Utility relocates. 2025 construction tender. Concept drawing of Veterans Square has been approved by Legion. Accessibility improvements. Level entrance with sidewalk. Some stairs remain. Seating area. Work to begin spring and be completed by November. Invest Clarington. Concierge service — dedicated staff person to navigate Municipal requirements. 2023 — 4 CIPS applications, 1 patio permit. 2024 — refresh of intake process. approx 100 inquiries last year. Investment of 2 — D&R steel, Volt Raceway. New website. Low Value, Buy Local directory — local businesses listed on internal municipal site. Employees encouraged to seek out local sources for goods and services. Part of Angel Investors Durham — will host 3 Clarington events. Ken Ferguson in Community Services will be best positioned to provide information on timeline for start of Veterans Square and potential interference with festival road closures. There have been consultations with MTO on configurations of highway interchanges, particularly Baseline/Hunt. The Chair asked that L. Backus receive correspondence from OBIAA to present to Council. The Chair will provide copy of the report. The Chair thanked the delegations for their presentation. Delegates departed at 7:19pm. 2. Updates from Community Partners (a) CBOT B. Wrightman presented that resources regarding Homelessness have been shared with members of the business community throughout Clarington. Expressed thanks to BIA for distribution to members. Mayor's office provided a list of resources. Notes from November 2023 roundtable session are available. Ideas from DRPS and other organizations are included. Upcoming events — March 5 first aid training session, March 20 partnering with Ontario Tech for session on Al, March 21 job fair no fee to business for table. Business retention and expansion project from 2023 report finalized. Results and recommendations have been shared with participants. Can be viewed on CBOT website. (b) OBIAA The Chair shared that session coming up on February 20 — how to explain BIA to Council. Lots of conversations at OBIAA center around Director expenses, sponsorship, tax obligations, accounting, and award ceremony. OBIAA conference is upcoming. 3. Adoption of Minutes Moved by L. Holmes, seconded by E. Lucas THAT the minutes of the meeting of January 9, 2024 be approved as circulated. CARRIED 4. Business Arising from Previous Minutes Historic Downtown Bowmanville Business Centre (BIA) (a) Smoking/Vaping on Sidewalk FEBRUARY 2024 The Chair spoke with the Municipal lawyer. Bylaw has not been enforcing minimum smoking distance from business, but a bylaw does exist. A concerned community member sent a message through the Bowmanville.com contact form about this. The Chair will reach out to bylaw about sending a letter to all businesses reminding them of the bylaw in existence. (b) OPG at Events Moved by E. Lucas, seconded by G. Lucas THAT OPG will be permitted to participate at Maplefest and Applefest as an invited guest of the BIA but are required to follow all rules and regulations outlined to participants. CARRIED (c) Downtown Parking L. Holmes read an update that the Acting Municipal Law Enforcement Coordinator provided by email. Central meters in municipal lots have been upgraded and will allow debit, credit, and cash payments. (d) DRPS The Chair reported that he spoke with Inspector Finateri of DRPS and requested that a larger police presence be visible downtown. Inspector states that foot patrols are still occurring but will be increased when possible. S. Correspondence Correspondence was received from i. Fire Chief regarding sidewalk snow clearing; letter to property owners (via email) ii. Planning department regarding Notice of Public Meeting — Bowmanville Avenue; COPA2023 (via email) iii. (via website contact form) Concerned community member regarding volume of cigarette butts in front of Endivine iv. Concerned business owner regarding recent property damage and thefts downtown (via email) V. OBIAA regarding advocacy letter (via email) vi. Planning department regarding Bowmanville East Urban Centre Secondary Plan; JC-015-24 (via email) Moved by L. Holmes, seconded by G. Lucas THAT item 5.i. was distributed to business members. THAT the correspondence be received for information. CARRIED The Chair reported that the gas company has put protective covers on meters to avoid damage from snow plow. Historic Downtown Bowmanville 4 Business Centre (BIA) 6. Treasurer's Resort The Treasurer presented the following: i. $65 205 in current account ii. Audit items are due by end of February Moved by E. Lucas, seconded by C. Holmes THAT the Treasurer's Report be adopted as presented. CARRIED FEBRUARY 2024 The Chair questioned whether the balance was remainder from previous. The Treasurer confirmed that the levy transfer had not yet been received. 7. Directors' Reports (a) Council Liaison — No report. (b) Events — C. Holmes shared the results of the 2024 events survey. Most respondents did not support cancellation of Twilight Tuesday or Sidewalk Sale, so these will continue in 2024. A small number (non -majority) of respondents supported cancellation of the vendors market at Moonlight Magic. A decision has been made to cancel the vendors market for 2024 on a trial basis. A revised Calendar of Events will be distributed to business owners and published on website. A business owner located on Division St has asked if the road closure for Maplefest and Applefest could be extended to the Church St intersection to allow participation in front of their location and increased festival flow up Division St. Several years ago, the road closure was altered to begin at the south side of the entrance to the municipal lot to allow access to the lot and property access to the Balmoral Place residences, so changing the closure will impact traffic flow. A request will be made as part of the Road Closure application. An ad will be placed in Grapevine magazine promoting Maplefest, along with special advertising opportunity for downtown businesses. A new publication Liberty N magazine has asked to publish the BIA events calendar. Meet the Easter Bunny is scheduled for Sat March 30. Communications with Clarington Library about a Story Walk or other promotion are ongoing. (c) Membership Relations — G. Lucas reported that Talk of the Town is no longer moving. Durham Regional Glass has closed and will operate out of his home. The Nooks is closing. Chad's Game Room has decided to close because of recent thefts and a break and enter, feels it is no longer safe to operate in downtown Bowmanville. The Fox and Falcon has closed. The Chair would like to make sure that the BIA is celebrating accomplishments/retirements of business members and asked that flowers be sent to the owner of Durham Regional Glass. (d) Streetscape — Historic Downtown Bowmanville 5 Business Centre (BIA) FEBRUARY 2024 E. Lucas reported that baskets will come down at end of February. Weather permitting, other winter items will be removed in March or April. The Chair will investigate if the street sweeper can be used in colder weather. (e) Communications — No report. (f) Website & Social Media — No report. 8. New Business (a) Business Operating Hours The Chair would like to know if there is an appetite for standardizing business hours, particularly during the holiday time. Finds it difficult to be one of the only businesses offering late night hours. Concerns raised about late hours included difficulty of independent business owners agreeing, employee safety, increased operating costs, rising labour/staffing costs, etc. It was also raised that many downtown businesses do not operate on Monday's year-round. (b) Part-time Maintenance The Chair would like to reach out to Mr. Brake about having clean-up following garbage days. More information would be required before any decisions are made. The Chair will report back with details. (g) Member Involvement The Chair would like to see more member involvement. (e) Downtown Parking The Chair would like an update on downtown parking. Municipal Law Enforcement staff will be invited to share statistics on the uptake of the newly implemented mobile parking application when the results become available. Item deferred. (h) Thefts, Break & Enter, Property Damage In the past few weeks, downtown has suffered from a series of shoplifting incidents which impacted several businesses, thefts from parked vehicles, at least two known break and enters resulting in significant thefts, and several incidents of intentional property damage including a BB gun shot into a front window, graffiti, and broken doors. Historic Downtown Bowmanville 6 Business Centre (BIA) FEBRUARY 2024 It was suggested that business owners need resources on how to protect themselves and their businesses. The Chair will reach out to DRPS to determine if they are willing to meet with business owners to provide tips on crime prevention. (i) OBIAA Advocacy Letter OBIAA has drafted an advocacy letter for businesses and/or BIAs to submit to multiple levels of government. In Section 1. earlier in meeting, the Chair asked that L. Backus receive this letter as correspondence to present to Council. (j) Membership Networking Event The Chair would like to host an in -person social networking event for business members. It was suggested to combine the DRPS speaker with the networking event. March 20 was proposed as date and Markets as proposed location. The Chair will reach out to DRPS to determine availability. Planning will commence once DRPS and date is confirmed. 9. Date of Next Meeting The next meeting of the Board of Management is scheduled to be held on March 12, 2024 commencing at 6:30pm, virtually. 10. Adjournment Moved by L. Holmes, seconded by G. Lucas THAT the meeting adjourn. CARRIED The meeting adjourned at 9:10pm.