Minutes of 12-8-2005 "Big Box" Committee meeting---Next Meeting is Jan 12th--5:30PM

Evansville Large Scale Commercial

Development Study Committee

Thursday, December 8, 2005, 6:30 p.m.

DRAFT MINUTES

Present: Chris Eager, Dean Arnold, Kelly Gildner, Rebecca DeMarb, Bill Hammann, Karen Aikman, Sandy Decker.

Also present: Kevin Pomeroy, 1000 Friends of Wisconsin; Dick Woulfe, Evansville Observer.

The meeting was called to order at 6:32 p.m. by Chair Chris Eager. The minutes of the November 10, 2005 meeting were approved as written.

Kevin Pomeroy, Planning Director of 1000 Friends of Wisconsin, former Main Street Director for Stoughton and 17-year resident of Stoughton, was the invited speaker on large scale commercial development. Mr. Pomeroy's main observations, impacted by the recent events surrounding the proposed Walmart Supercenter in Stoughton, are:

Evansville will certainly be faced with a decision on a large scale retail development in the future.
a moratorium on large scale commercial development may be necessary until completion of a comprehensive plan or ordinance.
the public must be brought into the process with a deliberate strategy of public education/input. Buy-in by the community is critical to successful ordinance implementation. The public must see that the ordinance benefits the community as a whole.
the existing business community is usually difficult to mobilize.
a "big box" strategy has been to cause division in the community and to influence local politics, including promotion of specific, "friendly" candidates to get desired results.
the proactive implementation of a sound plan for community economic development, including desired commercial mix, provides vitality to the existing economy and works toward meeting the needs of the community.
a good strategy is a two-pronged approach to large scale commercial development. A well-drafted large scale commercial development ordinance, requiring independent traffic, environmental and economic impact studies and addressing security issues such as policing and lighting, coupled with detailed high-caliber architectural, landscaping and parking lot design standards, may provide better project results.
Other information provided by Mr. Pomeroy:

Walmart is in the process of doubling the number of its Supercenters.
some Supercenters have a designed life span of only 10 years.

there are presently 400 vacant Walmarts, a specific strategy to keep out competition.
the proposed Stoughton Supercenter may actually be killed by transportation impact issues. The Town of Dunn is not likely to approve necessary upgrades to Highway 51.
An implementation item in the Evansville Smart Growth Plan is the exploration of possible participation in the Main Street Program. As former coordinator of the Stoughton Main Street Program, Mr. Pomeroy was asked for a brief explanation of the Program.

There are 35 Main Street Program communities in Wisconsin. Participating communities receive three years of free technical downtown revitalization assistance. The community is required to fund a full-time Main Street director for three years. In Stoughton, funding for the director (at approximately $60,000 per year) was accomplished by establishment of a Business Improvement District (BID) to provide 1/3 of the cost, the City provided 1/3 and the remaining 1/3 was through donations. Stoughton's BID was dissolved after 3 years, causing termination of the program.

Stoughton had a 30% commercial vacancy rate at the start of the program. The Chamber of Commerce was not doing enough in the downtown. Coordination of downtown decorations, streetscaping improvements and establishment of marketing events like Victorian Weekend were samples of Main Street initiatives.

When informed of the Evansville Community Partnership and its similar activities, Mr. Pomeroy's opinion was that Evansville may not benefit from Main Street participation. He suggests that community marketing be carried out by a "downtown manager", and that it is logical that marketing efforts feed off Evansville's historic assets and economic development activities.

Committee discussion determined that the preliminary information gathering is complete and the committtee will now focus on establishing the parameters and framework for an ordinance and begin drafting a proposed ordinance. The meeting was adjourned at 8:00 p.m. The next meeting is scheduled for January 12, 2006 at 5:30 p.m.

Prepared by:

Sandy Decker, Secretary

These minutes are in draft form until approved at the next committee meeting.