Welcome to the City
Center Redevelopment Authority
board meeting for July 16th,
2026. So let's begin with roll
call. Kelly.
>> Thank you.
>> President Fazio here. Board
member Krippaehne here. Board
member. Copenhaver.
>> Here.
>> Board member.
>> Slick here.
>> Board member. Anderton. He's
online. He just said he's
unable to hear us now.
>> Oh! Thumbs up. So, okay.
He's here.
>> We'll move on to Heather.
Friend here. And Alyssa let us
know that she would not be here
today.
>> Okay.
>> Thank you. So can we do an
excused absence for Alyssa? Do
I have a motion?
>> So moved.
>> Second or I can't? Second?
Second. Okay, all in favor, say
aye. Aye. All right. Thank you.
And we can move straight to the.
Oh, sure.
>> You can't hear us. Nobody
can hear us. Right?
>> Oh. We have to do this all
over again.
>> Ken, are you able to hear us?
>> All right. Thank you for the
for the wait. And we're back to
our next agenda item is the
approval of the May 21st
minutes. Do I have a motion?
>> I'll make a motion to
approve.
>> Second.
>> Second. Any discussion? Okay.
All those in favor, say I.
>> I.
>> I. All right. Minutes
approved. All right. So our
next item is Patrick with the
executive director report.
>> Thank you, President Fazio,
and appreciate the patience as
we work through these issues.
But I think somebody mentioned
we do have a light agenda, so
we should be fine in working
through through everything. I
am, I guess. I guess we'll
we'll just go through the, the
subcommittee report, the
development report, and then I
have a number of other project
updates. So on the subcommittee
front subcommittee did actually
meet this month and got a
preview of the presentation.
You're going to see on the on
the active ground floor study.
So we'll let the subcommittee
weigh in. At that time, there
were actually two two members
there. So so that's really the
subcommittee report on the
development activity report.
You, you you have that
obviously, it's been two months.
So I would hope it would be a
little bit fuller than than
others than it is. So that's
actually a positive sign. So
I'll quickly run through a
couple of the, the projects on
here. As you can see in, in the
pre-development phase, a couple
smaller projects, the one on
northeast 62nd and the, the one
on the first one on Mill Plain.
I just want to say what we're
seeing and we're, we're slowly
seeing more permit activity,
but a lot of what's penciling
is, is, is lower density. And
that's a, you know, relative
term, but, but, you know, it's
more if it's some smaller
projects, but also more walkup
projects, Serface park projects.
So you can see those first two
projects are smaller. And then
even the last one, the mill
plain mixed use project that's
being led by Romano. That's a
kind of relatively lower
density project than it has a
number of different uses in
there, but those are all the
preapp, meaning those in the
past two months. Those actually
came into the system for the
first time, moving down. You
see a. There's a couple of or
three commercial projects,
including the collective. Right?
Isn't that that's in the
Killian property. So excited to
see that moving forward. But
the one at the top is Parkcrest
enclave. It's interesting that
it's not a very big project,
but it's as you're seeing the
notes there, it's being
developed according to a new
state statute that allows for
co-living, which like so single
room, basically what used to be
single room occupancy. So it
allows for shared living spaces.
So it's interesting to see that
project coming forward and
taking advantage of that new
new allowance in the code.
There's also you can see
townhouses associated with that.
And then the last one on the in
this section and land use is
the projects called Grant
Street Apartments. It's
actually the. I think this is
yeah, this is the one on the
Columbian property. So this is
on the Columbian parking lot
property. So next to the Aria.
So we've had some early
conversations with them, but
this is the this is they're
moving through that process
right now. Building plan review.
You know, once again, there's a
industrial building and fruit
valley that we're seeing in
there, a kind of medium density
multifamily project there. And
then, and then another one of
the projects in the in the
Palisades in East Vancouver,
and then building inspection.
These are projects that are
actually under construction or
moved into construction during
this time timeline. And so once
again, you can see a number of
smaller commercial projects.
And then and then this project,
the Mill Plain Commons project,
which is 143 unit. So it's nice
to see that one. Being built
with it's obviously a mixed use
building. And then you have two
relatively large C-TRAN
maintenance projects that are
that are on the list. So nice
to see more activity than we
have. Like I said, this is two
months worth of activity, but
it does feel like we're seeing
more projects that are moving
through in the in the pipeline.
And if you look at the map,
it's actually nice to see
projects throughout the city
happening as well. So. So
that's the development pipeline
report. And as a reminder, I
just, it's, there's, the
pipeline is bigger than this.
This is projects that move from
one stage to the other during
this timeline. So there are
more projects under
construction. And, and you now
get the development activity
report that we all see. So you
can see where we're at. We're
particularly on the housing
side. We're over 600 units
completed so far this year,
which exceeds last year. It's
really lumpy. So we have one,
you know, a couple of months
that are zero. But then you've
got a big project. So, so but
still we can see that we're
we're on the upswing. So that's
a good sign. So just some other
project updates and other
updates for you. So I sent an
email to you. I was just
looking this up, I think
probably a month ago on our
wayfinding survey, the way you
received a presentation on the
wayfinding study and plan that
we're developing downtown, and
then we're sending out a survey
to a variety of stakeholders.
So hopefully you've had a
chance to fill that out. If you
haven't, please do. Or if you
need me to resend it, let me
know. But we'll be reporting
back to you later in the year
on what we're learning from
stakeholders. And then there'll
be an early kind of look at
what we're what things might be
proposed as part of that plan.
The next update is that I think
since the last time we met,
City Council adopted the new
comprehensive plan. So it's a
massive achievement, a, a
really it's a kind of a massive
overhaul of our entire, you
know, zoning kind of land use
system and, and the city's
policies around growth. I'll be
sending you an email later
today with links to the
different documents. If you if
you, if you want to dig in
further, that be just the way
that we do things
administratively. Council
adopted it June 1st. It becomes
effective August 1st. So any
development applications that
come in starting August 1st
will be subject to the to the
new code. And we're we've begun
a lot of communication efforts
to try and make sure everybody
in the development community
knows that this is in effect,
and trying to promote the
opportunities under the most
significant. In addition to us,
you know, updating. And we
think simplifying the zoning
for a lot of areas that already
were zoned for multifamily, we
are. We obviously have zoned
nearly all single family zoning
throughout the city. So that
provides the opportunity for,
for lower scale multifamily
development and in huge swaths
of the city. And so, and what
people generally refer to as
middle housing. So we are
beginning a very targeted
communication effort to really
reach out to, to existing and
potential developers of middle
housing to let them know about
the new opportunities and, and
really try and create a, a
simplified way of them
interacting with the city. We,
these are likely to be smaller
scale developers, maybe
developers who are new to
Vancouver. And so we'd like to
be able to do a little
handholding and help them work
through some of these issues.
We're also we have some
internal teams that we've
convened to work through some
of the questions that pop up,
that will pop up as a result of
this, which relate to, you know,
shared sewer connections or
shared garbage service or
things like that, which middle
housing creates those because
traditionally we've had a
single family way and then a
multifamily way. And this is
kind of in between the two. And
so we're, we need to work
through those issues and be
able to present a fairly
predictable path for middle
housing developers. And we also
want to make sure that we're
not unwittingly kind of
undermining the the aims of the
comprehensive plan by making
middle housing development more
expensive per unit or, you know,
in terms of the different fees
and whatnot, but also creating
disincentives for that kind of
development. So we'll be, you
know, probably have an
opportunity to present some of
the implementation steps that
we're taking at a, at a later
meeting. But we're working on
all that right now and are
trying to be ready when August
rolls around so that we can,
you know, communicate to
potential developers, like I
said, in a predictable way.
Also, the news since you last
met the city did adopt and the
the, technically speaking,
adopted an alternative path for
constructing multi-family
buildings that are six storey
and entirely wood frame. So
it's the new six story wood
frame code. It basically offers
developers the opportunity to
use either the existing Seattle
code or the existing Tacoma
code code. Those are two
different ways of addressing
some of the risks that that,
you know, the, the, the
inherent risks in, in building
that way. So, you know, fire
risks, things like that. And
we're giving developers the
option of taking either path or
they have different mitigations.
And so they might, different
developers might work
differently for, for, for
different projects. So, so
that's now in effect. And we,
we've, we're trying to get that
word out to, to developers that
we know are working on projects.
It's obviously a very important
code update for, for Lincoln,
our partner with Waterfront
Gateway. And so Lincoln is now
it's, I guess it rolls into my
next update that Lincoln is now
beginning the design work based
on the new code. And, and we're,
we're talking with them around
the what their timeline will be
for the updated design and, and
then getting into our
permitting process right now,
we are. And we'll bring them in
in the fall sometime when we
get when they have the ability
to share more with you, both in
terms of timeline and design.
But at this point, I think
we're looking at a year from
now, breaking ground would be a
rough way to think about it. So
we have a lot of City Hall
employees who are anxious to
know when the parking lot is
going away. And so that's what
we're telling them is you're
not going to be able to park
here at this time next year. So
I've been saying that for
actually a long time. So I
really am kind of Chicken
Little, but but I really hope
that we're right this time. So,
so but we've, we've removed all
the roadblocks and, and so it
is, I feel fairly confident.
But we'll bring we'll bring the
team back in, in the fall. And
they can give you a full update
on, on that project. And I do
think you should be able to
weigh in on the new design when
it's ready. So. With regard to
the rest of the property, there
is and President Fazio, you
probably heard some of this in
your previous meeting this
morning, the with the Downtown
Redevelopment Authority. We are
we now have the site behind
City Hall back under city
control and the the Downtown
Redevelopment Authority, which
which owns the the Hilton Hotel
and the convention center and,
and then has control over the
the property immediately south
of the convention center, where
what's called the Weber
Building is they're the they're
planning an expansion of the
convention center. And so, so
that's a that's a project that
I think is of significant
interest to CCRA and to what we
do with the site behind City
Hall. There's also been talk
floating around about about the
some property behind City Hall
being a potential home for a
performing arts center that
there's a site analysis that is
underway with outside
consultants to look more
closely at sites behind City
Hall, in addition to other
sites around downtown. And so
we are kind of watching that
process and, and are anxious to,
to, to, to hear if, if any of
the sites behind City Hall,
including the sites that are
that are up against Colombia or
the site right behind City Hall
so that we can know what the
next steps are for planning for
behind behind City Hall. So we
would expect sometime in the
fall to have some more clarity
on that, assuming a site
decision gets made, there's
there's a site decision on the
performing arts center. There's
a there's a go no go decision,
whatever. Whenever we get more
clarity on that, we'll either
have the opportunity to go back
and plan for the full site
behind City Hall, including the
the city properties that are
that were formerly known as
block Z. For those of you
who've been on the board with,
with or without a performing
arts center. So but either way,
we're going to return to site
planning for the properties
behind City Hall and, and we
plan to do it in collaboration
with Dr. A, because, you know,
not only should that happen,
but I think it gives us more
gives it gives all the projects
more opportunities. You know,
the property lines are kind of
artificial in that sense. So we
can think more creatively about
maybe the convention center
should expand somewhat, you
know, to the West, and maybe we
should be redeveloping some of
those properties that are south
of the convention center for
other purposes or, you know, or
maybe not, but at least it
gives us a better, a better way
to, to integrate the planning.
So I would right now, as I sit
here, I would guess that we
could initiate full site
planning for all the properties
behind City Hall. And sometime
in early 27. And, and we need
budget to do that as well. And
so we've we've made a budget
ask within the city to, to do
that work as well. So that was
kind of convoluted explanation.
I'm happy to answer questions
about that now. But the short
answer is we we will get back
to planning the full site in
collaboration with Dr. A, and I
think it will begin in 27. A
couple other updates outside of
downtown. We are still working
on the the different properties
in the Heights. And we're.
We're bringing a development
agreement to the City Council
for the second half of the. Of
the site that's at the south
southeast corner of Mill Plain
and Devine. That's a project
led by related northwest and
the VHA. We also are continuing
to negotiate with Papish on the
homeownership sites that are
basically where the Vashenko
driving range used to be on the
east of Devine, and we've
kicked off construct
reconstruction of the mill
plain MacArthur intersection.
So that's in the northwest
corner of the Heights site.
That's the first infrastructure
project to begin in the Heights.
And then we will expect to put
out requests for bids for the
Grand Loop, which is the main
internal infrastructure project
for The Heights. We'll put that
out in the fall, and we would
expect to be under construction
on the Grand Loop in probably
second quarter of 27. And and
we have that's fully funded.
Our federal grant money came
through for that. And then we
are also contemplating filling
the funding gap for what's
called Civic Plaza, which is
the main open space in the
middle of the heights, and try
to put that out for bid in
early 27 so that we can
hopefully sync up the
development of that with the
development of the Grand Loop,
which is, you know, circling
around it. So we can't put the
we can't put it out together.
There are kind of different
funding sources, but we
wouldn't mind having
construction happening together
so that we can, they can go
through all that once. So we're
Finally, the development
projects may still need some
additional funding to close
gaps, but we're pretty
confident that we can move the
infrastructure projects forward
starting next year. So that'll
be a great milestone for us.
Then another update. The
subcommittee heard a little bit
about this, but we have an RFP
out right now for a site that
we purchased on Fourth Plain
and Fork Road. It's a site that
is right next to what's now the
what used to be the Bi-mart
Bi-mart has closed and we. But
we purchased an adjacent site,
about three acre site and we
have that out for a. For
proposals to develop affordable
housing there. But it's
intended to be workforce
housing. And so the way we've
structured the RFP is we've
made the main kind of criterion
cost per per square foot,
because we're trying to get
more cost efficient projects.
And so we're, we're asking
developers to propose in a way
that that can lower the cost of
construction. And we've we've
indicated that we're not
providing any direct subsidy
into that. And we don't want
this project to compete for
subsidy from the state, because
we have a big kind of pipeline
backlog of those projects. And
so we don't want to add more
and more competition to those
those projects. So that RFP is
open. Until the early September,
we had our information session.
We had about 45 people in that
session. So there seems to be a
lot of interest. But it will it
will generate, we think, some
interesting proposals, and it
could be another project like a
some of these low, you know,
medium density projects that
are more of kind of walk up
style. And we're fine with that.
We're just, we're trying to
figure out how to unlock more
housing development in this, in
this time period, and
particularly ones that don't
rely on subsidy. So that's,
that's, that we, we kicked off
our biennial budget process.
The city is does, you know, has
two year budgets. So our next
biennial budget starts January
1st of 2027. So we're in the
middle of the budget process
now. We have we are putting in
requests to continue to work on
all the redevelopment projects
that you're aware of, including
Waterfront Gateway, The Heights.
We also are planning to kick
off the the kind of site
planning and community
engagement for the city's
existing operations center on
Fourth Plain, which will be
vacated in a couple of years.
When we finish the new
operations center. And so that
becomes a redevelopment site.
So we'll kick off that and and
some of the other work that
we're doing as well. So I can
bring give you more detail on,
on our budget, kind of what
comes out of the budget process
that relates to, to
redevelopment. And when we get
later in the year. And then the
last thing is I, and I, I board
member Anderson doesn't have a
copy of this, and I'll send
this out to you, Ken, after the
meeting. But we have the
updated work plan for Keyra for
the remainder of this year and
next year. As as always, it is
kind of a guess as to what what
updates and projects will be
ready for your review right now.
We're hoping to have an update
on our parking activities.
There's a lot going on there
and I can and it relates to a
lot of the downtown work as
well as this Waterfront Gateway
update that I mentioned. And
we'll talk with Lincoln and see
if September is a good time
time frame for them to come
back. We will ask you to
formally endorse the the active
ground floor study that you're
going to be hearing about today,
which is in draft form. We'll
get you the hard copy. Excuse
me, the full copy of the report
in electronic version after
today, and then give you a
chance, a couple months to take
a look at it and then we'll
just it may not take a lot of
time in the September meeting,
but ask you to just take a vote
on, on, on that, just to adopt
that and provide direction to
staff to work on that. And then
you can see we'd like to come
back later in the year with
some updates on our economic
development strategy. Hopefully
we'll know more about IPR at
that time, and then we get back
into the next year. 27 of some
of the things that we've
typically do at the beginning
of the year. So I'll send this
out electronic form as well
later today. And just let me
know if you have any questions
about the agenda or if you have
items that you'd like to us to
bring to you. And, and we can
add those to the, to the
calendar. That's all I have.
Bucsa agenda was lied. I
thought I could take a little
longer today, so hopefully you
don't mind.
>> Any questions. For Patrick.
>> That was just great. On the
expansion.
>> All right, with that, can we
go to Community Communications?
Is there anyone here or online?
>> Nobody in person or online.
>> Great. Thank you. So we're
set for the active ground floor
study with Jim.
>> Does this work? All right.
Cool. Thank you. So I'm Jim
Chumakov, real estate project
manager with Economic
Prosperity and Housing here
with Matt Ferris, vice
president with Bay Area by
Urban Economics. And we're here
to talk about the Vancouver
Ground Floor active use study.
So this study is a follow up to
our downtown redevelopment
study that was completed last
year. And it really the intent
of this is to help provide the
city kind of information and
tools to identify what we
should, what we should be
focusing on in terms of
nonresidential uses for
downtown, given the city's
priorities, and provide a
toolbox for how we or a toolkit
for how we could impact those
uses and, and further progress.
The city's initiatives. So
we'll be kind of providing a
brief overview of the project
scope, kind of looking at some
key high level findings. And
initial findings go a little
bit into how the industry
targets were identified, and
then review the recommended
city's action, city actions and
strategies before diving into
the in more detail, the
near-term recommendations and
proposed next steps. So to
provide some context for this
as envisioned, the recent.
Through the recent
comprehension, let me restart.
As envisioned in the recent
comprehensive Plan adoption and
the Economic Redevelopment
Economic Development Strategy,
downtown plays a critical role
in absorbing the projected
growth, both in terms of
housing and jobs. So this
growth creates a lot of
opportunity, but also a lot of
change from kind of our
existing form to a higher
density environment. So with
that, I think there's a lot of
intentionality that needs to be
brought to ensure that the
ground floor continues to
provide essential needs and
services, as well as employment
opportunities for residents of
downtown and Vancouver as a
whole. So that is really we
also understand that kind of
region nationally and
regionally. Trends are changing.
So how do we fit into this
evolving environment? And while
still achieving the the desired
outcomes? So as as such, the,
the scope of this study is to
review kind of current market
conditions, identify national
best practices, as well as case
studies that we can pull from
to kind of guide guide our
approach and then identify
which of these learnings can
best be applied in Vancouver
and are most relevant to our
local context. And then make
identify a list of
recommendations and near-term
actions that we can take to
further the comprehensive plan
and economic development goals.
So from kind of an initial
study, which we kind of
reviewed a bit last time we
came to you, kind of the
initial ground floor trends
really are that we found or
that ground floor space needs
and kind of demand is shifting.
So it's an evolving market
there. Kind of the historic
approach is not always the the
best approach or having the
same outcomes that it has
historically. Additionally, the
city really has a, a. An
emphasis on living wage jobs,
which is, I think, a shift from
kind of how economic
development has been looked at
previously of we're just
increasing jobs, increasing
wages, like, yes, that's
important, but we really need
to look at kind of what do
people need to make to afford
to live here and making sure
that those, those in the wages
and the cost of living are
aligned. And then as well as
creating kind of identifying
support or which key industries
we are looking to grow and
supporting the local small
business environment. And then
finally, the city is already
regulating ground floor uses in
various ways through the
downtown design guidelines and
certain overlays in the
comprehensive plan. So kind of
reviewing those to make sure
that they are aligned with our
economic goals. And with that,
I'll hand it off to Matt.
>> Good to see you all. It's a
great background from from Jim
Chun, and I think really talks
about why we're doing this work.
From my perspective, this work
is sort of culminating in two
really interesting and
important findings. One is what
we're calling the target
industries. What kind of
industries, in addition to the
retail and the restaurants that
that that shape downtown, what
other industries exist, what
industries are growing that,
that meet some of those other
economic development goals. So
I'm going to go through at a
high level, the target
industries. We've created this
really sort of extensive matrix
with ourselves, a small
business consultant who sort of
helps businesses locate where
they locate, and an architect
who's helping understand what
are the needs of those
different businesses as they
grow and what can attract them
to downtown. So with that, we
showed this graphic last time
we were here, it was really
this how can we identify
industries and sectors and jobs
that meet three different core
goals? One is strengthening
those existing nodes, creating
a unique identity in downtown,
sort of a sector of, of, of
downtown. But as Jim Chun laid
out, how can we also think
about downtown as a way to meet
our economic development goals
and also capture in that
emerging industry and the
growth of emerging industries,
and identify the industries
that also are in those
categories that have living
wages, that are growing but
also fit into downtown. And
then lastly, how can downtown
continue but also expand the
inventory of essential services
needs? You think daycares,
places like that, that also
support a growing population
and a more sort of economically
diverse downtown? So with that,
when you all get the report in
the coming days, weeks, you'll
see a much more detailed target
industry matrix. But this is
just kind of a high level of
the information that's included
in there. I think it ends up
being 30, 40 rows of
information on key industries
that are growing, where they're
growing, what kind of
businesses they are, and then
we go into what kind of needs,
what kind of space needs, what
kind of utilities do those
different companies need? I
think when you look at downtown
and, and sort of traditional
new development, they may not
have certain utilities that say
light manufacturing might need.
And yet that's an industry
that's growing, pays living
wages, and certainly can fit
into a kind of growing urban
area. So just at a at a really
sort of high level, some of the
industries and groupings of, of
industries that we've
highlighted, retail,
restaurants. That's obviously a
critical part of downtown. And
I think, as Jim Chun alluded to,
sort of align with some of the
ground floor requirements that
the city has laid out in the
comprehensive plan, primarily
along Main Street, around
Esther Short Park, where you
want that sort of sense of
vibrancy. Outside of that,
we've identified arts,
entertainment and recreation as
concentrated in downtown, but
also areas for for continued
growth. Patrick mentioned some
of the performing arts centers
and some of the, the growth and
sort of goals of for downtown
in that sector, I think there's
an opportunity for offices and
sort of advanced manufacturing
to be in the ground floor of
some of these buildings. We
also found sort of that
national trends. And certainly
you see that locally here in
the Portland metro of a very
robust, small scale, advanced
manufacturing, small scale food
beverage manufacturing. And how
can those industries fit into
downtown, but also what kind of
needs do those do those
companies require? Lastly, we
see again, sort of using the
case studies and some of the
other work background research
that we've done, you see other
specialty civic uses. You're
starting to see public private
partnerships where cities are
getting involved and maybe
occupying the ground floor. So
again, I'm really excited to
sort of you all to, to, to gain
access to this industry matrix.
There's so much more
information included in it, but
we wanted to talk about what's
so powerful about it and the
intended use for the city. This
is meant to be a toolkit. It's
meant to be a tool for the city
to use in a variety of ways.
One, of course, activate ground
floor spaces as space becomes
vacant. Now the city can say,
oh, this is a 4000 square foot
space and it's got these
utilities. Let's go back to the
matrix and see what kind of
industries might fit here. And
can we go do some targeted
outreach to businesses that
meet those criteria or looking
to grow in downtown and or grow
in the city, and can we attract
them to downtown as new
development hopefully continues
to ramp up in downtown? How can
the city use this matrix to
find sites that can support
some of these more innovative
or new industries that help us
meet variety of goals in
downtown? It also identifies
public private partnership
opportunities. You think about
Waterfront Gateway or other
city owned property. Well,
maybe the city can use those to
support some of these other
economic development goals. And
you can use this matrix to
understand what uses might want
to go on what site. And then
lastly, of course, using it to
increase jobs and, and
amenities to, to residents in
downtown. That's sort of the
use, obviously actions somewhat
I've already touched on, but I
think the city can really use
this toolkit in this industry
matrix to begin doing proactive
outreach. We have identified
target industries. We look
through the city's business
license data and found
industries that maybe weren't
in downtown that fit some of
these criterias. We could be
doing some outreach to them.
The city could be looking at
infrastructure upgrades, either
building specific or sort of
holistically in downtown to
support some of these
industries that maybe need
bigger water, sewer utility
capacity. But the sites
themselves don't have that. The
city could be looking at
investing in that
infrastructure, certainly
coordinating with existing
landowners, building owners as
a building becomes vacant,
using that, using that industry
matrix to think creatively
about who might want to go here.
And same story with prospective
developers. We've already
mentioned strategically
leveraging publicly owned land,
identifying other investments
or incentives, you know,
thinking about putting
manufacturing. And we've done
this in a advisory for for San
Francisco, it's expensive to
put a ground floor
manufacturing space in a
residential building, but it's
been done. And it's and
actually co-located with office
as well. But it took some
incentives from the city. And
so the city needed to step up
in that case to incentivize the
delivery of that space. This
doesn't just happen by land use
or necessarily by, by, by land
use and sort of advocating for
these uses. So are there
properties or moves the city
can make to incentivize that
kind of delivery of space? And
then lastly, identifying
partnership opportunities. Some
of the industries we highlight
are in the health care
profession or day care
providers. Can we be thinking
about opportunities to partner
with those entities, bring them
downtown and think about how
they incorporate and sort of
meet some of the growing needs
of of downtown. So that's this
industry matrix that really
talks about individual
industries that are growing,
how they meet economic
development goals. Then we talk
about, well, how can the city
be supporting those industries?
And so then we have this list
similar to what we did for the
downtown redevelopment
assessment, where, you know,
what can the city be doing in
different categories to help
meet these goals? To begin, I
want to note that we did a
tremendous amount of case study
research, and no city has
cracked this code. You know, no
city has said, oh, we made this
one little thing. And now we
have a thriving urban growing
environment that's maintained
vibrancy but has living wages.
Like a lot of cities, we
thought we'd dig in and say, oh,
you know, so and so is is doing
it. Let's model it after that.
In reality, everybody's kind of
grappling with this and
figuring out multiple
approaches. What I think it had
us come back and realize is,
well, you need to leverage
what's going on locally and
regionally. What are the
strengths locally? We looked at,
you know, in Omaha, Nebraska,
they're partnering with the
university who's trying to grow.
But in certain areas, in other
areas, you've got, you know,
advanced manufacturing or the
tech sector is is growing, but
you really need to look locally
and say, what's working here
and what's growing. Every city,
I think that we look at still
does recognize that you need to
strengthen your existing retail
and restaurant nodes. It's what
makes downtown interesting and
what brings brings people here.
And by concentrating and
strengthening, you're building
a more robust environment. With
all of that research grounded
locally, understanding what's
going on locally, we came up
with various recommendations by
in five different categories.
One is sort of what can the
city be doing from a land use
perspective to support these
industries, to what can the
city be doing from a process
perspective, perspective? Can
the city be streamlining
permitting for specific
projects that maybe meet these
goals? And we'll go through
quickly some of the sub ideas
within these categories similar
to that prior comment. Are
there financial incentives the
city can be thinking about
either, you know, under
Washington code that allows
certain fee waivers or property
tax exemptions for specific
projects? And then are there
investments the city needs to
be making to kind of, again,
support these industries? And
then lastly, we know a lot of
these ideas take capital. And
so what can the city be doing?
Are there ways where the city
can be raising funding to then
go back and be meeting some of
these investment and economic
development goals? So way too
many different ideas and
strategies there, again, going
to be wrapped up into the
report. And even in the report,
we take each strategy, we
summarize it and we give it, we
sort of score it on. Is it a
near term, medium term, long
term. Does it have a high
medium, low impact on existing
businesses? Does it help meet
economic development goals? So
there's a lot more in the in
the matrix. But you know, the
first idea around land use,
things like allowing
flexibility, potentially
exempting target industries
that we find that don't
necessarily meet into the comp
plan requirements. So I'll
continue through these because
at the end, we'll talk about
the ones that we think present
near-term opportunities, city
processes. Of course, what can
the city again, be doing?
Permit streamlining, conducting
outreach, aligning public
management of ground floor
spaces, et-cetera increasing
pop ups. Then we look at
financial incentives that's
leveraging city owned land,
coordinating with other public
and nonprofit landowners. We
certainly learned as part of
the downtown redevelopment
assessment, there's a lot of
publicly owned land, not
necessarily city, but county
feds, etc. in downtown. Then we
look at direct and indirect
investment. So is that
purchasing, leveraging city
owned sites, doing different
programs, facade improvements,
grants, etc. to help attract
businesses to downtown that
align with these goals. And
then lastly, we identify a
series of potential mechanisms
for raising city funding. We
know the city's been looking at
some of these already. We know,
for example, TIF in in
Washington is sort of
challenging to to raise funds,
but there may be reform needed.
And I know that conversation is
being had at the state. So I
just want to end with talking
about what we think are the
sort of near-term
recommendations you're thinking
about. How do you use these 40
different strategies and
potential actions for the city?
So the first one is really
thinking, and part of this is
what's being done across the
country is allowing flexibility
in the ground floor. And I
think you've heard from Jim
Chun, the comp plan, Patrick,
the comp plan was doing this
and we actually had the ability
to, to provide some feedback,
certainly from the
architectural perspective on
transparency requirements and
specific requirements that made
their way into the comp plan.
So the city is doing a lot of
this already in our report. We
do talk about what industries
align with the new comp plan
requirements. So does this
industry, would this industry
want to locate in an area that
now meets the comp plan's
ground floor required or ground
floor ready, or does it want to
be somewhere else? So now we're
sort of tying in how these
industries align with the new
requirements from the city and
thinking about how the city can
support those industries. I
think there's a tremendous
opportunity to be just sort of
playing deal maker, talking to
businesses, talking to
landowners about what their
visions for their properties
are, or if there are businesses
who are intending to grow and
need space in the near future.
Could we attract them to
downtown? Same story on the
industry representatives being
in contact with CR ETC who are
talking to businesses. That's
certainly the large scale
businesses coming to Vancouver,
but also working with other
industry representatives. And
then, as I alluded to, talking
to the industries themselves,
what kind of businesses exist
here that fit into these
categories that are growing,
and are there ways where they
fit into the urban fabric in
downtown? Thinking about
opportunities with local
organizations to fill vacant
storefronts as they pop up in
downtown, primarily with local
small businesses? I think the
city has done a tremendous job
of this already, but leveraging
publicly owned sites for
development and thinking about
how can those sites not just
maybe meet housing demand, but
also meet some of these
economic development goals?
We've talked a lot about
acquiring other property. That
was one of the main
recommendations in the downtown
redevelopment assessment. But
how can those privately owned
sites or buildings that maybe
are under public ownership can
meet some of these economic
development goals and meet some
of the industries that we've
identified? And then lastly, it
seems really important to start
studying in more depth the
potential revenue generation
mechanisms that we've
highlighted. So for now, those
are sort of the, the, the
near-term recommendations that
we've made from an exit
perspective. I think Patrick
and Jim Chun both alluded to it,
hoping to get you a complete
draft that goes through this in
a little bit more detail, has a
lot of background that Jim Chun
went over around market
conditions here, what's going
on nationally, and then
ultimately provides a lot more
detail on both the industries
that we've identified and the
recommendations. So with that,
I will pause and see if anybody
has questions. Comments,
certainly willing to
incorporate feedback into the
report before it gets to you in
the coming days. Weeks.
>> Anyone? David smiling. Go
ahead.
>> I was curious, how are you
guys running this program? Is
it one person who's kind of the
centralized point of contact,
or are you I'm assuming you're
not running it. Someone else is
going.
>> To.
>> Program or kind of
coordinating all of these
efforts within downtown because
it's a lot of different pieces.
>> Yeah. So I think for, for
this particular study, I think
Matt's team and Matt is the
lead for, for the
Subconsultants and, and running
this, this work, I think in
terms of all the other stuff
happening downtown, it, it is a
bit of a mix. The comprehensive
plan obviously had its own
process that encompassed a lot
of the downtown activities, but
for our department's focus,
I've been focused. I've been
kind of lead on the
redevelopment pieces. And then
we have obviously Main Street
Promise, which is it's kind of
its own project. And the
economic development work is,
is primarily Chris's team, but
we're coordinating. But I don't
know if we.
>> Well, yeah.
>> I have one point.
>> Yeah, I think so. So that's
to come. So some of the things
that. What, what this whole
study highlights is in a, in a
positive way, I think is it
brings together the work that
we're doing on an economic
development side, which is led
by Chris in the back of the
room there and his and the team
on the economic development
side and the redevelopment work,
we were. We do, which has been
primarily kind of site focused.
But once we did the downtown
redevelopment study, we began
to think of all of downtown and
what the redevelopment
opportunities are. So so this
is really the first opportunity
for us to kind of knit together
the two different efforts. And
so from an implementation
perspective, it is this kind of,
you know, different teams
coordinating, but it'll like
the redevelopment work will
continue to happen. But I think
the priorities for this work
will come out of what the work
that Chris is doing on the
economic development strategy,
meaning what types of economic
activity are we trying to, to,
to promote, to try and
encourage here to grow? That's
the focus of the economic
development strategy. And one
pillar of the economic
development strategy was this
site based aspect, like, can we
can we help find homes for
different industries that we
want to grow? And so, so I
think that's ultimately where
this will go. But it's kind of
right now, we're at the early
stages of, of having this
integrated strategy. And so
that'll be part of the
implementation of this study.
Once you sign off on it is, is
how do we then make it real
with the different teams that
we have working on these
different issue areas? So.
>> I'll throw out a comment or
two. I just like that you guys
are really digging into all
these things because it's, it's
a, you're throwing out a huge
broad net to try and, you know,
figure out all these things
that interact. I really, I like
that you're being so thorough
with all this. And then looking
at the, what can we do as a
city thought process? What do
we do to hinder development?
What do we do to help
development? And that you're
considering all those. And then,
you know, the, the winding into
the code, all the flexibility,
those all those things are
going to kind of stir up. And I
think hopefully it'll, it'll
really start producing some
results.
>> I'll echo that sentiment.
When it came to the
presentation, you actually
answered my questions as you
went along. I appreciate the
thought that went into outreach
to businesses that we would be
interested bringing them in,
because I think that will be
important organically. They may
not come to downtown. And then
also looking at what are the
incentives for those businesses
to move here? So great job
putting it together. And thank
you for the insight.
>> Well, it's a great, great
report. I mean, you guys really
dug into a lot of aspects. And
I know it's a very complicated
issue. One question I did have
is, is this map centric? I mean,
is there like identified
corridors that you're
addressing because, you know,
within the downtown, which is
broad, right? You have the
government district, you have
Main Street, you have the
waterfront, you have all these
different things uptown,
different needs, you know, and
obviously you're setting up a
program for long term. So you
have to be open to maybe, you
know, districts moving, but
like, you know, some
jurisdictions unnamed have, you
know, in the past made errors
in like forcing retail in
certain locations. And that was
disastrous. Not only because
was it not necessarily a retail
destination, but a lot of the
people that were developing
didn't understand the needs of
retail. And so you were
providing this space that one
didn't get the visibility or
the, you know, the, the
pedestrian attraction, but then
it didn't work for anybody. So,
so, you know, it's, I think you
guys are working at it really
good because you're looking at
a macro, not a micro, you know,
and, and the micro comes in
different forms, like through
design guidelines and stuff
like that. But you know, what
may be good in the government
district may not be good for
Main Street or, or, you know,
other different areas. And then
also, I mean, I'm obviously a
big advocate of, you know, let
things flow. You know, it's
like, like a bowling alley,
right? You, you put these
bumpers up for kids to, you
know, keep them from going into
the gutter, but you're not like
rolling the ball for them. And
so I think there's that
flexibility and let the market
be the market because we don't,
we don't really truly know
where this town is going. It's
going somewhere, evidently. But,
you know, like, for example,
the Pearl Pearl district, you
know, that started out as a,
you know, an artists haven
really and just kind of became
a cool place to be. And then it
kind of grew from that. So
letting it kind of take an
organic approach rather than
trying to force something, you
know, and, and also, I think
for me, it's really about
activation at the grassroot,
whatever that is, because there
are some places like where
we've done development downtown
here is that, you know, it
wasn't a retail. So we didn't
put retail in, but we put in
residential because some some
jurisdictions will say no
residential. And I think that's
a big mistake because if you go
to like back Bay and Boston, it
is such an absolutely cool
place because you have ten
blocks that are residential,
but then you have one has
residential above, but it's
retail, you know, let it, let
it grow according to what the
market demands. So yeah, but no,
I think you're tackling a very
difficult subject and I think
you've done a great job.
>> So yeah, if I could just
quickly respond, I think this
study is more focused on the
macro as as you mentioned, I
think we're our intent was to
work within the structure that
was provided by the
Comprehensive Plan of having an
active ground floor required
section, which is for downtown,
really just an overlay of
existing commercial. So Main
Street kind of a loop around
Esther Short and then the
waterfront. So so really where
existing commercial already
exists. And then they have
active ground floor ready,
which allows residential, but
kind of looks to has some
requirements that would allow
conversion at some point in the
future to something. So I think
this, this study is the intent
is to really identify what we
should be doing as a city
beyond that, to incentivize so
not require, but more
incentivize or look to offer
additional flexibility within
those areas to get the desired
outcomes that we're looking for.
>> Yeah, they're kind of, I
guess, follow up question on
that. When you're looking at
this, again, macro, not macro,
but you're looking at, you know,
public private partnerships or
incentives and so forth. And
the unfortunate thing that we
have here is we all acknowledge
we don't have a lot of the
tools other states have. Right.
We've already determined that
the lift doesn't do much for us.
You know, new market tax
credits. I know the city looked
at it years and years ago, kind
of abandoned that because it
didn't really work. So we don't
really have a lot of tools. The
MFTE has been a great program,
I think, for promoting not only
affordable housing, but just
development, you know, so I
don't know, I'd be interested
in hearing as we progress, are
there other things you discover
that do work in other
jurisdictions that maybe we can
adopt here in terms of that,
that incentive, you know,
because, you know, like, for
example, if someone comes back
and says, well, it's too costly
to, you know, improve my
storefront. It's like as a
developer, we kind of look at
that and think, okay, you got
three sides of a building and
you only have to dull up one
side. I mean, you know, so, so
I think being selective about,
you know, who gets what, so to
speak. Yeah.
>> And also let the developers
come up with the ideas, you
know, if you don't constrain
them so much, but you tell them
the objective and make that the
requirement, I think that's
where the creativity is going
to come in. Somebody's going to
have a deal that doesn't quite
fit in the, you know, the
square peg in a round hole
thing. Well, let's square up
the hole so the thing can fit
and work. So I think that, and
you guys have indicated a lot
of willingness to, to move in
that direction. I think the
comp plans, you know, allowing
more flexible zoning and
letting more uses that, that
you may not have allowed before
to be in a certain area, for
instance. And so the market and
the response to the market by
the developers and the city are
going to be what makes this
succeed.
>> I have one question. Just
recently, I think two new
retailers have moved downtown,
and I'm kind of curious if the
city did anything to help with
it. One is the former Sedgewick
that's now a bar that I have
not gone to, but on Main Street
there's a ramen place that I
have been and it's really good.
It's a tea house. And I was
curious, did the city do
anything to help? It looks like
Chris Harder is coming here to
speak.
>> Yes, but mostly through our
partnership and investment in
the Vancouver Downtown
Association. So one of our
staff members is our point
person on Main Street, the Main
Street Promus project. She also
does broader work downtown. So
between her and the VA, there's
kind of a coordinated effort to
attract or facilitate those
types of tenants downtown.
We've actually had one other
data point. I think it's up to
pushing 20. I'll just say 15
plus businesses, restaurants,
retail, kind of a little bit
more civic use. Move downtown
while Main Street Promise has
been going on, and I think we
have 2 or 3 that have
permanently left. So you can
see what that investment is
doing as a as businesses are
looking to relocate.
>> Yeah, I think that would be
a good thing to go talk with
the retailer and the landlord
on both and see what, what
would have made it easier? What
I mean, what, what what the
city could have done that we
didn't do or we're hoping for
or maybe not. Maybe it's all
organic.
>> That's a great idea. Yeah.
>> I guess tagging on to that,
it's always cheaper and easier
if the economics work for the
retailer or whoever's occupying.
Then if you have to subsidize
and try to make the round peg
fit in a square hole, I guess
to that sense, it feels like
there's retail moving here and
to Ridgefield from other areas,
including Portland Metro, other
areas of Portland Metro. So I
think the story here is
naturally already inclined to
support that migration. But I
guess, you know, and I'm sure
you guys are already thinking
about doing this, but I really
encourage you to advertise the
benefits that the city is
willing to offer a potential
retailer or other business
that's looking to move to the
ground floor to facilitate that
relocation, especially to the
brokers who typically have
relationships with those
companies or organizations,
whether it's child care or a
restaurant or a bar, because
it'll really help them sell
downtown Vancouver options to
their clients. Because I don't
know if everyone's paying that
close of attention, even though
they should be to Vancouver. So
I would really encourage you to
do a tour of like the brokerage
houses to kind of advertise
that or maybe have like a one
pager that's really easy for
people to understand. Like,
these are the benefits the city
can help facilitate.
>> Another great idea. I
appreciate it.
>> And a lot of that can come
down to processing time. A lot
of the retailers, I mean,
everything about retail is
delivery of the space at the
time they need it. And, and a
lot of people will turn their
turn away because they just
can't get in when they need to.
And that is a play that the
Vancouver can do that doesn't
really cost. It's just, you
know, prioritizing the needs of
those people that want to be
here.
>> I will say, relative to some
of our other communities in the
market, we have a favorable
reputation on that end. But I
think there's also room for
improvement on that end as well.
>> Yeah. You know, you got what
I.
>> One more thing. This is
totally unrealistic related,
but and David probably knows
this already. There's a
remarkable number of families
in southwest Washington. I've
been touring apartments and in
Portland, we really don't get
that many families. And so I
would really, really lean into
that. Like, I feel like it was
already on the list of things,
but there's so many options
that, you know, ragged parents
who are willing to fork over
$30 to keep their kid occupied
for three hours. Like, I just
feel like that is a world that
Vancouver could really lean
really heavily into and draw
customers and clients from all
over Clark County and also
Portland, because I'm driving
to Hillsboro right now to do
that stuff. So that would be
really great.
>> Yeah. I just want to add one
more thing. I think one
headwind that downtown
Vancouver has is because it's
in the lower extreme southwest
corner of the city. So there's
so much of the city to to
Mitchie's point that is car
driven. You know, as far as
it's just not on people's
agenda or thought to come down
and to really promote that. I
don't know in what capacity,
but, you know, we're, we're
doing in the Quinn building,
we're actually doing a 10,000
square foot if you're familiar
with helium. So we're doing a
comedy club like that that's in
the basement. And I'm excited
for them and nervous at the
same time. So, you know, and,
but trying to drive more people
down because we are seeing some
growth here. But as, as you
know, the multifamily basically
hit a saturation point. And so
we have a few projects that
we're going to absorb. And I
think things will pick up in
the next 3 or 4 years. But we
don't I don't think we're going
to have a lot of new residents
moving here. We need some new
jobs. That's a big thing to
create jobs, but we're not
going to survive on just the
people living down here. So we
really need to drive other
people from Clark County and
Clark County, which you're
probably familiar with, or
maybe not. I'm not I'm not
necessarily hampered by this,
but a lot of people don't want
to go into Portland. It's like
it's there's geographical
barrier, this river. It's just
like, no, I never go into
Portland. And it's not because
of homelessness or crime or
anything like that. It's just
no, that's the other side of
the river. And so if you can
make this a viable option, and
I think the city does that with
a lot of the festivals and, you
know, programing with the
Esther Short Park. Matter of
fact, there's one happening
this weekend, but I guess it's
just drive people down here,
you know, and if you can drive
people down here, people are
going to want to open
businesses here, you know, and,
and as far as going back to
what Dick said about creativity,
I've done a lot of retail. And
the problem is, is really the
business owner, right? You know,
I'm, I'm tired of getting on
Pinterest and typing in
storefront and seeing all these
great, you know, and just like,
why don't we have that here?
And that's because there's a
lot of people that don't have
that creative spirit like he
refers to. So if the city can,
you know, and the VA can kind
of push people towards
something a little bit more
creative, that would be helpful.
Yeah.
>> I'll just add, Mark, you
know, this is great stuff. I, I
think you guys have done a
remarkable job of trying to
turn over every stone and, and
try to support business and
think into the future. I, I
actually support both Mark for
David Anne and Mitchie. Mitchie
on the family I just got back
from. I'm a native Salt Lake
and just seeing all the the
family related catering to a
lot of businesses do for
families and I think Vancouver
has a big family base. And then
the other question and David
mentioned a little bit about it
is one thing I didn't notice
really is talking about events
or attracting entertainment
venues downtown. And I know
that there's a lot of
competition, both downtown
Portland, but also in
Ridgefield, etcetera. But
that's one area maybe to
consider is, is how can you add
additional entertainment venues
or entertainment options for
downtown or surrounding
Vancouver area? Oh, and lastly,
I was last year I was in
Greenville and Charleston. And
one thing I did notice a lot of
street entertainment buskers,
other other avenues that
actually made the city feel
alive and maybe some sort of
something around arts and
performing arts might be
helpful.
>> It's things keep popping up
that are raising questions, but
and this is totally beside the
point, but it does help because
parks have been known in urban
settings to facilitate growth.
You know, people congregate and
it spills over into the
adjoining ones. So I didn't
know this is more of a trick
question is like, does the city
have any I mean, I know we've
got the reserve, right? We've
got hundreds upon hundreds of
acres over on the other side of
the freeway. And that's great.
But do we have any ideas for
another like, underdeveloped
block in downtown that we can
do a park that maybe would
instigate, you know,
residential around it or
businesses?
>> So the downtown
redevelopment study that
preceded this actually did I
mean, Matt and his team, they
actually looked at, obviously,
you know, a number of parcels
and, and they, they zeroed in
on. Right. Some of the parcels
right around the new seasons
and said they thought that
putting in some kind of park or
open space, urban urban plaza
kind of space would drive
additional development or could
spur that next wave of
investment in that part of town.
I think we agree with that
philosophy in general, that
with the site specific stuff is
yet to be determined, and we've
shared it with our parks
colleagues, and we all agree.
So there's an execution part of
it, like how do we, you know,
do that? But I think we're in
agreement that downtown needs
more active spaces. And we know
not just as a public good, but
we know what that does to drive
investment and make it
attractive places for people to
live and work and businesses to
locate. So we're absolutely in
agreement on that. I really I
just want to emphasize that we
bring you these things in these
components and it's and there
isn't a perfect kind of grand
plan, but it is intentional
that these are all interlocking
things. So, so we and part of
the, you know, I'm in year five
of this department that we've
created, it's meant to be this
integrated thing. So we are
this is this is trying to
integrate the redevelopment
objectives with the economic
development strategy objectives.
And I think we're beginning to
see it. And this has been
intentional. The downtown
redevelopment study gave us the
the kind of lay of the land and
now which could which would
have will inform future
redevelopment that could be
primarily residentially driven.
But then there's also part of
it that is driven by commercial
needs. And then both, you know,
sites that are used for
commercial purposes. And one
thing mixed use and how we
drive active ground floors is
part of both strategies. And
then and then the work that
we're doing to promote local
businesses in downtown and
elsewhere. This is all meant to
be integrated. It's all meant
to be integrated. And
thankfully, we have a team that
that is on the same place. And
we get to begin to think about
how to make all this work
together.
>> So yeah, I think in closing,
I'd just like to say I think
it's progressive. It's
strategic. I think what you're
doing here is really insightful.
You know, I think it's going to
bear fruit. I really do so.
>> Well. Thank you for this.
And any other questions though
or. So we're going to have a an
adoption. We're going to have a
vote.
>> And yeah. So thank you all
for the feedback. We'll we we
have a draft currently of the
full study. So we'll work on
incorporating some of these
comments into, into that draft.
And then we'll distribute it
out to the CRA board and come
back at a later date to look
for adoption.
>> Good.
>> All right.
>> Yeah, I'll talk to you
afterwards. Okay. With that. Is
there any other items that we
have? I guess we're good to.
We're adjourned. Thank you.
>> Thank you.
>> Thank you all