Charlotte City Council Economic Development …

1 Charlotte City Council Economic Development Committee Summary February 8, 2018. COMMITTEE AGENDA TOPICS. I. Review Referral Topics (No Action Required). II. Discuss Additional Meeting for February (Action Required). III. ED Committee Schedule for 2018 (Action Required). COMMITTEE INFORMATION. Committee Members Present: James Mitchell, Ed Driggs, Justin Harlow and Matthew Newton Committee Members Absent: LaWana Mayfield Others: Tariq Bokhari & Larken Egleston Staff Resources: Debra Campbell, City Manager's Office Kevin Dick, Economic Development Department Staff Support: Angela Grier & Meg Cappetta Meeting Duration: 12:00 PM 1:10 PM. ATTACHMENTS. 1. Agenda February 8, 2018. 2. Presentation Committee Overview 3. Handout Economic Development 2018 Meeting Schedule DISCUSSION HIGHLIGHTS.

2 Chairman Mitchell called the meeting to order and asked everyone in the room to introduce themselves. Review Referral Topics Debra Campbell introduced the Committee's list of agenda topics and gave a presentation on the ED. Committee's purpose statement, topics discussed in 2017 and accomplishments. The Committee reviewed the list of policies, projects and information items to determine their priorities and set a schedule through April of 2018. Debra also noted the connection to the City's Letter to the Community 1|P a g e Economic Development Committee Summary Minutes and the importance of the business attraction and retention discussions and their Economic impact to our city. Q&A Discussion Driggs: Regarding general policy recommendations related to the business investment and tax increment grants, what are we looking for there?

3 Are we going to go back and reexamine our premise or are we going to change the parameters and eligibility requirements? Campbell: We can do all of the above. I will turn it over to Kevin to respond. Dick: What we're looking for in this regard based upon some research that we've been doing as a department is how we can make all three programs more geared toward our community goals that relate to equitable Economic Development . Best practices with other cities tells us that linking your business incentive and tax increment grants to equitable Economic Development in some way and trying to drive the outcomes that we want from some of those incentives. That also relates to the corridor revitalization programs. We want to link those programs as much as possible to assist to small businesses.

4 Driggs: On the business incentive grant, we have a tendency to look at higher paying jobs and we thought that was the greatest impact. Now taking into account the challenges being faced by lower paid workers, we might think about how we define that priority. Is that an example you're talking about? Dick: Yes. What you can expect is a high-level discussion on a matrix of community goals that we have and how we may weight our incentive recommendations based upon on various parameters, such as, the diversity of jobs, are there enough mid-level jobs and where the geography is. Campbell: I think it is essentially looking at current policies around these programs to ensure that we're accomplishing the broader community goals. Bokhari: Where do we stand on the Disparity Study? What are the next steps and where will the Committee be involved?

5 Campbell: As an addition to the work of this Committee, it was added by the Chair at your Strategy Session on Monday. The Disparity Study has been acted upon by Council as receiving the information, which was an analysis and a determination as to whether disparity continues to exist, which means we continue to have the Charlotte Business INClusion Program. Part two is looking at the totality of our program, go back to that data where we saw issues and concerns about who's involved and not involved, who's receiving and not receiving contracts, whether changes need to be made in terms of policy on how we calculate and how we determine participation and utilization. It is our recommendation that we bring that back at your next meeting in terms of the scope of part two and the community engagement involvement process.

6 2|P a g e Economic Development Committee Summary Minutes Driggs: Is Community Safety Committee also looking at the CIAA topic? Campbell: No, they referred it to the Economic Development Committee. Bokhari: Is there a specific committee that is going to address the financial and Economic data implications of the locational policy? Are there any costs to Economic Development there? Campbell: The Housing & Neighborhood Development Committee has been assigned the locational housing policy. The fundamental question that we have to respond to, I believe, is around the policy of dispersion, the benefits and costs. We have a way should our policy be on the way toward dispersion, which it is now or is there some combination. We are hearing from the Development community that there is a middle ground we need to reach.

7 Councilmember Mitchell started the discussion on reviewing the policy and projects topics list. The Committee prioritized them as follows: Policy Topics 2018 Schedule Notes from Discussion Disparity Study Part II February 20. Project PIECE March 22 Mitchell: Need to have budget conversations. Is the current program working to Council 's satisfaction? Do we want to include additional industries to start training? (Harlow suggested human resources, customer service, and small businesses). Bring back analysis of growing industries that have a labor shortage, which ones are friendly to our citizens having barriers to employment. What are the new industries? (Bokhari suggested: Fintech). Driggs: What kind of private sector investment can we get? Idea to get in training partnership with CPCC, CMS and Goodwill.

8 Bokhari: Bring back case studies in workforce Development Dick: Entry to mid-level salary changes Policy Recommendations on Business Investment April 26. Grants Policy Recommendations on Tax Increment Grants TBD Driggs: Use Pearle Street, ATCO NorthEnd and River District as a case study Policy Recommendations on Corridor Revitalization TBD. Grants Project Topics 2018 Schedule Notes from Discussion Amateur Spots (MLS Soccer, Memorial Stadium and February 20. Indoor Amateur Sports RFP). CIAA Special Events Permitting and other operational February 20 Campbell: Discuss recommended changes from a issues procedure perspective, ten issues that Council identified that the City staff (CMO & City Attorney's Office) has been working on with the CRVA and CIAA around the overall permitting process for special events and safety issues.

9 Eastland Redevelopment March 22 Dick: High level overview NorthEnd Redevelopment TBD Campbell: Pending developer initiatives Charlotte Observer Properties TBD Campbell: Pending developer initiatives LYNX Gold Line Impacts April 26 Campbell: Referred by City Council . Concerns about the impact the construction of the project has on small businesses. This may be more of a policy discussion around the impact of large capital projects on business and residential areas. Driggs: Prioritize litigation 3|P a g e Economic Development Committee Summary Minutes The Committee also suggested the following topics: hospitality tourism Fund (Mitchell). Permitting Process (Mitchell). Sewer Impact of Economic Development (Mitchell). Charlotte Regional Fund for Entrepreneurship Update (Driggs: April 26).

10 Small Business Month (Mitchell: April 26). Business Corridor Revitalization Update (Mitchell). Mitchell: Do we bring up new items in March? Campbell: Everything that you identified on Monday has a sheet; all we need is a referral. Debra Campbell also noted that the list of agenda topic sheets for all Committees discussed at the February 5th Strategy Session would be distributed to Mayor & Council in their Council packets. Follow-up Action: Staff will provide information on the Disparity & Gartner Studies to the ED Committee. ED Committee Schedule for 2018. The Committee approved the 2018 schedule (Mitchell, Driggs, Harlow and Newton) with the following changes: An additional meeting was scheduled for Tuesday, February 20th at Noon The March 22nd meeting was changed from Noon to 2:30pm due to the Foundation for the Carolinas Annual Meeting The November 8th and December 27th meetings will be rescheduled to another date (TBD).