City Council Minutes 2018 06 05 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council Meeting Minutes June 5, 2018 Page 10 of 11 Mayor Muckle stated the time at the International Convention of Shopping Centers conference is a good opportunity for the City to meet with commercial brokers. Councilmember Loo asked if a better economic development web site would help. Director DeJong stated the web site is usually not how contacts are made, it is more interpersonal, but making the site more self-service would be helpful. Councilmember Loo asked if there are things we should be doing that we are not. Director DeJong stated communication with the business community (primary employers and retailers) could be improved. Councilmember Maloney asked what the general sense is of the attraction ability of Louisville. Director DeJong stated our population densities are not at a level to facilitate growth for most national retailers. Councilmember Maloney stated he would like more information on the return on investment of the BAP program and how we can communicate that information to the public better. Mayor Muckle noted at ICSC they heard from many who are looking for locations here but cannot find a location. Director DeJong stated the real estate demands are difficult now with our building inventory and the right locations that stores want. Mayor Pro Tem Lipton stated we have positioned ourselves in a challenging situation as a community. We don't want increases in population, we have transportation and housing challenges, and we don't want to change the character. We need to be realistic of what to expect in the office and retail areas. The retail market is changing and we cannot fix that. We have some great successes but McCaslin is a real challenge. The market is changing but as a community we don't want to change; that has created structural barriers in zoning, infrastructure, and a lack of housing. We need to be realistic about what we can get and it won't be the large retailers we used to get. He asked for more detail on our strategy for McCaslin Boulevard and what our options are. We seem to be stymied there and we need to work through this and get traction. Retail is diminishing and we need to think more about entertainment areas that people now want. Councilmember Stolzmann asked about the BRaD survey and stated she would like surveying of all the businesses, a much larger group to be more statistically valid with a better margin of error. She added she would like some questions from other departments for the survey to get feedback. She would like more positive marketing such as our low tax rate and water rates for the next business forum.. Councilmember Keany stated it appears that CTC is doing really well, but Centennial Valley is not so successful so he wonders why the differences. Director DeJong stated CTC really has a great product type for this area that people want for the types of businesses that want to locate here (high tech, aerospace, manufacturing). Centennial Valley is more of an office product with amenities and we compete with other similar