COMMUNITY IMPROVEMENT CORPORATION MEETING
Tuesday, August 3, 2010 at 7:30AM
Evendale Municipal Building, 10500 Reading Road, Evendale, Ohio
Attendees: Hugh McKinnon, Stiney Vonderhaar, Carolyn Smiley-Robertson, Dave Harwood, Bob Szczur, Al Pearlman and Jack Cameron. Also present from FSA/KKG Aaron Whittaker, Steve Armsey, and Linda Armsey.
Recurring Business:
1. Approval of Minutes from July 13, 2010 Meeting (1st Szczur, 2nd Vonderhaar – 6 aye, 0 nae)
2. Economic Development update.
a. Jack updated on an incentive meeting with KDM P.O.P. solutions and Gold Medal products. Representatives from the Hamilton County Development Company and State of Ohio Department of Development were also in attendance.
i. KDM wanted to consider extending their existing enterprise zone. KDM is in acquisition mode and will be considering future expansion and consolidations on their Evendale site. They have another facility in Hamilton County as well as Tennessee and are considering a west coast site for coverage in that area of the country.
ii. Gold Medal wanted to discuss a new enterprise zone for expansion plans in the ‘flavor department’. International business has been growing and they have an immediate need to expand the popcorn flavor operation.
b. White Castle has been in contact through a site consultant, Ernst & Young. They have three plants that make buns like Evendale facility, Louisville and Columbus. HCDC has also been a part of the discussions of an enterprise zone for this expansion in Evendale.
c. Formica has a new President of North America and the global CEO of the Formica Group is moving to the Evendale facility from the UK.
New Business:
Old Business:
1. So-Low Environmental final CIC motion to approve agreement between CIC and So-Low Environmental.
a. Motion was made to approve the agreement and ratify the actions of officers taken on the agreement. (1st Vonderhaar, 2nd Pearlman – 6 aye, 0 nae)
b. Motion was made to add ‘in furtherance of that’ to the motion. (1st Harwood, 2nd Smiley-Robertson – 6 aye, 0 nae)
2. FSA Project
a. Review Draft Economic Development Strategic Plan
i. Bob’s comments submitted since last meeting were incorporated to the current draft.
ii. Bob stated that his changes were intended to streamline the document and make the wording more impactful.
iii. Bob asked that an Executive Summary be drafted to make part of the plan.
iv. Hugh said it is time to get the final draft ‘out the door’.
v. Al summarized actions going forward to be: Aaron to make changes and provide a final draft back to CIC and without further changes the final draft Economic Development Strategic Plan should be sent to Council well ahead of their September meeting.
b. Project area updates
i. Aaron updated the CIC on the tracking tool.
1. It is an online gant type chart to track the action items of the ED Strategic Plan. Aaron displayed the current tracking device online.
2. The program is called ‘Base camp’ and can track, delegate, assign tasks, comment and send out notifications.
3. Hugh and Al asked how the CIC would connect. User guide is being developed for CIC.
4. Who makes updates? The chart shows many additional tasks and current staff cannot accomplish everything being shown.
5. Discussion of how staff gets dedicated to making all of this happens. It will involve some costs and staff time not currently allocated.
6. Note was made that the Zoning Code update was not shown in the action items of the ED Strategic Plan.
ii. Hugh questioned the master plan tracking and how that was accomplished per the scope of FSA’s work.
iii. The CIC agreed that the online tracking tool was something that would give the Village ED efforts a competitive advantage. The group thought was that the CIC can get rolling with implementation of this tool and then introduce Planning, Council, ZBA and the like.
c. FSA updates
i. Village Crossings
1. Master Plan of the site.
2. The site can be ‘animated’ through the progression of individual development plans on the site.
3. Colored renderings need to be part of the master plan.
ii. Landmark
1. Need final rendering of the site.
2. Final layout of the site.
iii. Fifth Third/St. Rita Lane
1. Site is to be shown as an office use site.
2. Brochure to be created for marketing the site.
3. Consider listing with broker.
iv. FSA summarized that PSA’s are being developed and renderings created to get our vision out to the public as well as to get our group’s arms around the consensus design. It was noted that the PSA designs could also spark some interest by the current property owners.
d. Other
i. Bob discussed a recent article in the Enquirer about best places to work. Two Evendale companies were on the list. The ratings were done by employee survey and Bob thinks that could be something we use for Village employees.
ii. Jack distributed an article in ED Now which talked about strategic planning.
Discussion Items for Next Meeting
1. The CIC agreed that the ED Strategic Plan should be finalized within two weeks, 8/17/10, and forwarded to Council for their consideration at the September 9th Council Meeting.
2. The online tool should be brought up as soon as possible and CIC should begin to use it.
3. PSA’s will be presented at the next meeting with site plans and renderings.
4. Dave suggested that the CIC encourage Council Members to support the Zoning Code update immediately along with the necessary funds.
Date of Next Meeting and Adjournment
Motion to adjourn (1st Harwood, 2nd McKinnon – 6 aye, 0 nae)
Next meeting – Wednesday, September 8, 2010 at 7:30am
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