City Council Study Session Summary 2007 12 11

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City Council Study Session Summary December 11 , 2007 Page 3 of 4 Becky Hogan, EDge Consulting, gave an end of the year summary/progress report. Ms. Hogan presented the "2007 Highlights" handout. She indicated that the Business Assistance Program (BAP) was becoming known to business and developers. Ms. Hogan presented the Real Estate Summary and pointed out that CoStar was used for the data represented in the summary. She pointed out that in there is currently a 27% office vacancy rate in Louisville and the preferred vacancy rate is 12-15%, but that office space has increased proportional. Ms. Hogan discussed that Louisville does not have much single story office space. She indicated that because Louisville did not have a lot of land that proportionally growth in the City should not be compared to other cities. Ms. Hogan pointed out the leasing cost for office space was stabilizing. She stated that the City wants to maintain an inventory to generate interest in businesses wanting to move to the City. Ms. Hogan pointed that retail will follow the number of rooftops in an area. She went on to say that challenges facing the City are that Shopping Centers are aging and will owners invest in modernizing the Centers to draw more retail. Ms. Hogan presented the "Business Retention Summary" handout. She stated that the retention visits had been well received by the business community and that the visits should continue in 2008. She indicated that in January a "Work Plan" would be developed and that strategic follow-ups should be planned. She said that BRaD was working with Avista on organizing a CEO Breakfast and that the Shop Louisville Campaign would continue. Mayor Sisk thanked Ms. Hogan for the summary and for her contribution to the economic development of the City. 4. Discussion - Polk and Dahlia Traffic Survey City Manager Fleming gave a brief introduction about the survey. Tom Phare, Director of Public Works, stated that the survey showed little change in the pattern of traffic and that the Stop signs did not have an effect in slowing down vehicles except in the immediate vicinity of the sign. He suggested that before anything permanent is done that there should be a discussion about what the City is trying to do and where the funding will come from. Mayor Sisk stated that we do not know if traffic was discouraged because of the Stop signs and inquired what is the harm of having the signs? Director Phare agreed with the Mayor and said that it was a subjective measure. City Manger Fleming said that the objective of the residents of the neighborhood was to make the street safer. While the traffic count and speed did not change for the street as a whole, at the Stop sign the cars are forced to stop. So the objective was accomplished at the location. Councilor Sackett asked if Director Phare would be taking this information back to the listening group. Director Phare and City Manager Fleming said that would be their next step.