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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-03-07 WS Minutes-Economic Development Workshop Economic Development Workshop OCOEE CITY COMMISSION Ocoee Commission Chambers 150 North Lakeshore Drive, Ocoee, FL April 3, 2007 MINUTES 6:00 P.M. Mayor Vandergrift called the workshop to order at 6:03 p.m. in the Commission Chambers Conference Room of City Hall. City Clerk Eikenberry called roll and declared a quorum present. Roll Call: Commissioner Hood, Mayor Vandergrift, Commissioner Keller, Commissioner Johnson, Commissioner Anderson. Also Present: City Manager Frank, Assistant City Manager Croteau, City Clerk Eikenberry, and Community Development Director Wagner. Community Development Director Wagner began the workshop by describing items that were distributed on the dais. There were charts that are currently underway or recently completed in the City for residential and commercial projects and maps that showed physical location of these projects. He said today there are 1400 dwelling units underway and 900 additional projects expected to occur in the next 12 months. He said he also included proj ects that should occur over the next 5 to 7 years, based on preliminary discussions with the developers, which consist of 3428 additional dwelling units in the City for a total of 5729 dwelling units. That will add over 17,000 people to our current population, placing the City over 50,000. There are many other projects being discussed that are not included, but will be added to the list over time. He said the interest in building in the City is increasing. We can expect 600-800 dwelling units per year once the housing downturn ends. Commercial development follows residential growth; you cannot have one without the other. The Commercial developers are interested because they see the growth in residential development. Community Development Director Wagner gave a PowerPoint presentation showing the commercial development projects that are currently underway and those proposed in the next three years. The PowerPoint is attached. He added in the last few months there has been a huge increase in interest in high-quality commercial development projects. Commissioner Anderson asked if we have any plans of looking at our Impact Fees, particularly transportation impact fees. Community Development Director Wagner said we have considered doing that; we did some comparison studies showing that Winter Garden and Orange County have recently raised their transportation impact fees including a surcharge that Winter Garden adds on development south of SR 50. He said we need to revisit this issue because we are not generating enough revenue to build the roads we need. Commissioner Johnson said, on a list of impact fees he recently looked at, Ocoee was the highest in the area. Community Development Director Wagner said Winter Garden has a 2-tiered rate scale that caused theirs to be higher. City Manager Frank said he believes the chart Commissioner Johnson is referring to is the January 2007 Home Builders Association (HBA) compilation of rates, which showed Ocoee as the highest, but there has been additional movement in Orange County and Winter Garden since then. Community Development Director Wagner said the HBA list is for housing, and doesn't reflect the Commercial and Industrial rate changes that have occurred. Mayor Vandergrift asked Community Development Director to furnish the Commission with the comparison information on impact fees. Commissioner Anderson asked if we can work with the county to fix the traffic issue at Good Homes Road and SR 50 to see if we can improve the roads before the West Oaks Shopping Center adds more traffic. Mr. Wagner said they have been to two meetings regarding that area, and their planning commission spent an hour discussing the Ocoee input, which was that the development needed to provide adequate right-of-way for both of those roads and they were concerned about the turn lanes, etc. He said he thinks there is a strong level of interest and that he and Planner Rumer are going to a Public Hearing on that issue in a few weeks. Commissioner Anderson asked about the Goodman property at SR 50 and Clarke Road; he said he knows there is interest in putting a drugstore there but he hopes we will try to continue to get a restaurant at the corner. Mr. Wagner advised that someone just purchased that property last week from the original owner, and the new owner has a named restaurant that they are planning to put there. It will probably be a restaurant, a bank, and some retail. Commissioner Keller said he is impressed with what he sees happening in the city, but wondered if there was a way we could streamline the process to get projects get through more quickly. Community Development Director Wagner said they have been dealing with specific projects where developers complain the process was too slow, and there have been no situations where the city was inordinately slow in our review compared to the developer taking a lot of time to get the project back. He said given the volume of development that is going on, that staff has done a very good job. He said there is always room for improvements in the process. Commissioner Johnson said there are problems with the process and that he can point out several developments on the current lists who complained about the length of time it took. He felt someone should be hired from outside to streamline the process and show us if there is a better way to do things. We also need to help the small business people in a more positive manner that we currently are. He would like to have the City Manager look into bringing in someone to analyze and improve the process. This workshop was adjourned at 6:55 p.m. with the understanding that they would continue the discussion on Economic Development at the end of the regular commission meeting. The meeting was adjourned at 6:55 p.m. Attest: APPROVED: City of Ocoee