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Business Retention & Development Committee <br />Meeting Minutes <br />December 7, 2015 <br />Page 2 of 5 <br />DOWNTOWN PATIO FEE DISCUSSION: <br />Economic Development Director Aaron DeJong discussed the memo in the packet <br />related to fees for the downtown patios. <br />DeJong updated estimates for costs of patios and said replacement reserve needs to be <br />built up. Currently the fee is $500 for a 12' section which does not cover all the costs <br />associated with the program (staff time for installation and tear down, maintenance, <br />administration, depreciation, insurance and storage). Fees can be changed by City <br />Manager. DeJong asked for input from BRaD members. <br />Council member Jeff Lipton said 2016 and the next few years will be tight budget -wise. <br />However, the City has invested a lot in downtown, increasing spending and contribution. <br />Council would like downtown business owners to make a bigger contribution. <br />DeJong asked for comments from business owners for this meeting and received none. <br />Menaker suggests a modest increase saying the City is the prime beneficiary of the <br />program. <br />Tienken agreed with Council member Lipton: businesses need to contribute more. <br />While the City benefits, the restaurants benefit greatly. Feels we need to increase fees. <br />Pritchard agreed with Tienken. He thinks DeJong should go to individual businesses <br />and discuss an increase to see how /if streetscape will change. <br />Council member Lipton said we are spending $300,000 for parking to support downtown <br />businesses. Clearly, the owners of businesses that have patios increase seating <br />capacity and benefit greatly. <br />Lathrop said businesses don't disclose how well they are doing. Believes the price of <br />patios should be raised to $1000. Believes $1500 or $2000 is too high. <br />Council member Maloney believes both City and businesses benefit. Thinks an increase <br />to $1000 may be reasonable. <br />Reichenberg suggested there should be a stepped increase so businesses can be <br />forewarned. <br />Pritchard agreed with Menaker that the PUD for Madera Grill requiring patios be looked <br />at. Council member Lipton said we need to look at PUD. <br />3 <br />