Economic Development Commission Minutes 05/09/2013 ADOPTED

Meeting date: 
Thursday, May 9, 2013


ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION
REGULAR MEETING
MAY 9, 2013

1. Call to Order
Mark Deming, called the regular meeting of the Economic Development Commission to order on Thursday, May 9, 2013 at 7:30AM in the Main Meeting Room at the Town Offices. The following members were also present: Allan R. Raphael, Kris Barnett, Derek Peterson, James Devivo, Louis George, Kevin Crimmins and David Balboni. Also in attendance were: Hiram Peck; Planning Director, and other interested parties.

2. Approval of the minutes of April 2013
Commissioner Crimmins made a motion to approve the April 2013 EDC Meeting minutes as presented. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Barnett and was unanimously approved.

3. Reports: FVVA; SMSP  Nancy Anstey, FVVA, updated the Commission on the upcoming events FVVA is working on, organizing and promoting. Ms. Anstey said they are planning events to mark 20 years of the FVVA. Ms. Anstey specifically noted that Simsbury ArtWalk will be on June 22, 2013.
SMSP - Sara Nielsen was unable to attend the meeting.


4. Status of the consultant's marketing study  Commissioner Deming announced that Fairweather Consulting will be presenting at a meeting tonight at 6:00PM at Masonic Hall. Mr. Peck said he hopes this will be a good kick-off for the marketing study. He spoke about the synergy between the different studies currently being conducted. The timing and funding of the marketing study was then discussed. The interaction between this study and The Hartford land use study was discussed briefly.


5. Status of the Hartford/Town of Simsbury land use study
Mr. Peck spoke about the timing and process regarding the RFQ for The Hartford/Town of Simsbury land use study. He spoke about the possible future uses for the site and the focus of the study. When asked about who is the decision maker regarding the acceptance of a proposal, Mr. Peck said ultimately, it is The Hartford’s property, but the goal of this process is to build consensus and make the property more attractive to a wider range of buyers. He then spoke briefly about the Village District Study, a separate study that will focus on the section of Weatogue from 185 to Powder Forest. When asked about the status of Big Y, Mr. Peck said Big Y is hoping to begin construction in July and with that start date, will be unlikely to open the store this year.


6. EDC website front page and links  The layout of the EDC website was discussed with Commissioner Deming handing out a list of possible links that could be added to the EDC front page. The process of requesting maps from the GIS consultant was described by Mr. Peck, which was then discussed. It was noted that these GIS maps would be extremely helpful to potential developers and it could be detrimental to Simsbury to not have that capability.  GIS Mapping costs and budgetary restraints were discussed.  Mary Glassman, First Selectmen, joined the meeting at this point and spoke briefly about GIS mapping and the future potential of Town Government getting a free market connection rate (as Board of Ed, Fire and Emergency Services already have) which will make a big difference with this issue by freeing up funds that can be used towards staffing related to this system.  Commissioner Deming then reviewed the links that should be on the EDC website and asked for any additional input from the other Commissioners. Ms. Glassman suggested the EDC form a task force in order to organize and communicate the EDC’s suggestions regarding the website content. The idea of creating a “Developer’s Page” was proposed.


7. Old/New Business  Commissioner Deming reminded everyone that he would not be in attendance at the next EDC meeting. There was no additional business for discussion.


8. Adjournment


Commissioner Crimmins made a motion to adjourn the May 9, 2013 EDC Meeting at 8:05AM. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Barnett and was unanimously approved.