10-11-17 Design Committee Packet

DESIGN COMMITTEE MEETING Wednesday, Oct 11, 2017 – 12:00-1:00 pm CEN DEL Foundation Building AGENDA I. Welcome/Call to order II. Roll call III. Approval of Minutes IV. New Business a. New façade grant applications b. Updated checklist for façade grants process c. Updates to Façade Grant Guidelines d. Work Plans V. Old Business a. Old façade grants status b. Mural update VI. Adjournment

DESIGN COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2017 – 12:00-1:00 pm CEN DEL Foundation Building ATTENDANCE Committee Members Kristin Pleasanton, Chair Carrie Hart Elena Stewart Staff Joan Coate, Executive Director Tina Bradbury, Operations & Program Manager I. Welcome/ Call to order Kristin called the meeting to order. II. Roll call Kristin, Carrie and Elena were in attendance from the Committee; Joan and Tina were there from the DDP. III. Approval of Minutes Kristin stated that Dawn was ill; therefore, there were not minutes to be shared. IV. New Business Field trip to Puffster – Kristin acknowledged that the owner of Puffster, Sam Chick, was frustrated with the façade grant process. Kristin put together a packet to help the merchants understand the process and offered to walk down and reach out to him. It was acknowledged that the reason the Committee couldn’t approve his sign grant was due to it being against City of Dover regulations to have a backlit sign. Joan called Sam Chick to ask if he was interested in speaking to Committee members about his application. He stated he already had purchased his sign and it would be going up tomorrow, but he would like to talk to the DDP and Committee about more opportunities for design grants. Tina told the Committee members that the Gunn Wealth Management group would be resubmitting their application since work hadn’t been completed in the approved time frame. They were not able to attend today’s meeting. 1

DESIGN COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2017 – 12:00-1:00 pm CEN DEL Foundation Building The Loocke application – Tina and Elena brought up the frustration Erin Thwaites, owner of the Loocke, expressed in only receiving 50% of her grant request of $2500. It was acknowledged that it was never expressly stated that the maximum award was 50% of the grant request; however, the application was rushed through as an emergency so there was not time to discuss the application with Erin prior to issuing the award. It was decided to update the language on the website to reflect the policy of only awarding up to 50% of the grant request and Elena made a motion to increase the grant request to $5,000 from $2,500. There was not a quorum present so Kristin stated she would send the motion out through email. The website would also be updated to make it clearing for merchants to understand the process including reflecting a turnaround time of up to 60 days for applications. Carrie made the motion to change the limit of grants received from 1 to 2 in a fiscal year. This is in response to an increase in funding and to let businesses who have already received money this fiscal year to take advantage of the possible increase in grant award money. There was not a quorum present so Kristin stated she would send the motion out through email. Until the website is updated, Joan instructed Tina to take down any old materials that could be confusing merchants on the DDP website. Tina asked that any important information that would be put on the website should also be put on the application that the applicant had to sign off on to avoid confusion in the future. Joan asked that if any Committee members could attend the Board meetings it would be very helpful. If members were not able to attend, she requested we send her our comments a week prior to the meeting so she could share them with the Board. V. Old Business Façade grant checklist final version review – Elena added that the time frame should be added to the checklist. Kristin explained the checklist was for internal use; however, a similar version would be put on the website. Downtown Assessment sheets for review – Kristin handed in the sheet her group had completed of the south side of Loockerman Street to Joan. They had reviewed and commented on the facades on the south side of the street. VI. Adjournment Next meeting date is October 11, 2017.