Commercial Properties (vacancies, new businesses, etc.): First, I have ceased work on the City’s industrial properties database. Clackamas County is developing a much better database on industrial and employment lands properties that should be up and running by summer. I have seen the output from this program, and it is much more detailed than anything I could put together. So rather than reinvent the wheel, I will simply wait until the county database is done and then link to it from the City’s website…
Stephanie’s Restaurant: Building activity continues at the old Priester’s location. Terre has been by for a second inspection, and while there is still some work to do (ADA issues in the bathroom, securing equipment to the walls for seismic mitigation, etc.), he is fairly confident that by the time you read this, Stephanie’s will be seating customers at its new location. <<late breaking development – apparently there has been a grease fire in the kitchen of this unit, so the grand opening will likely be pushed back by a week or two…>>
Sandy Family Restaurant: This is the name of the new restaurant that will be going into the space that Stephanie’s previously occupied. Ria of Ria’s Bar is making the building owner an offer on the building, and will be developing this space to be a full-service family restaurant offering breakfast, lunch and dinner. Work is occurring on the remodel as I write this. She has been very easy to work with, and I look forward to working with her in the future on issues with both the bar (she has asked us to keep her personally informed of any issues that might develop with bar patrons) and the parking lot behind her building (she would like to work with the City to develop a contained area outside the back of the bar [on her own property, of course] so her patrons could smoke without causing a noise disturbance – Kelly and I will include this idea in the Downtown Parking Initiative when we start looking more closely at it).
Leathers property: I have not been able to independently verify this as of yet, but the produce shack on the Leathers property is finally going to get some usage. One of the members of my Ford Institute Leadership Group is very active in supporting the AntFarm, and she has informed me that Nunpa has cut a deal to use the property for AntFarm activities, which might include selling the produce they grow at their community gardens out of the existing produce shack. More as this develops…
Sandy River Brewing/Lumberyard/Psychic Shop property: It appears that for reasons unknown, the current owners have given up on trying to bring these properties up to code and have instead put them up for sale. Asking price for all properties together is rumored to be $1.2 million, but these properties have not officially been listed as of yet. Keeping an eye on this one as it develops…
Tickle Creek Antiques (a consignment antique store): Unfortunately, problems are already developing with this business. The property owner claims that this store has yet to pay him rent. The store owner claims that there are multiple major repairs that still need to be made on the property. I will check up on this at both ends over the next month to see if problems, real or perceived, get resolved satisfactorily.
Sandy Antiques & More: They now have their business license and are open for business. They are offering coffee and light snacks as well as antiques as a courtesy to their customers, but do not seem to be using their espresso machine as of yet. The owner tells me that there has been some discussion regarding Tickle Creek Antiques moving into the property next door at 38958 Proctor, but I have as yet been unable to confirm this as more than just talk. They’ve done a fantastic job prepping the interior of the shop, and have had a lot of interest from locals (4 people stopped by to look in the window in the 45 minutes Terre and I were there to do the initial health and safety inspection!)
Rip City Glass: Still working on the ADA ramp for the back of the building, which the property owner has committed to provide. Have not spoken with the owners for awhile, but activity continues inside of the building (interior seems to be dramatically improved – final layout seems to be set up)
Public Information:
- Social media: Facebook followers = 3,133 (+54) // Twitter followers: 119 (+1) // Lots of posts this month, but few comments. Largest activity generators were the initial Bark for the Park announcement (14 comments, 48 likes, 27 shares), the unfortunate suicide on Barlow Parkway (29 comments, 7 likes, and 13 shares), and the 1 year anniversary of the new library (7 comments, 41 likes, &2 shares). Comments were overwhelmingly positive on all three accounts.
- Current copy of Sandy Business Insider – pending
- Current copy of H2O bill newsletter – G:\Economic Development\PIO duties\Water bill newsletter\Apr 2013.pdf
ED Committee: This committee met on March 20th, and we had a very fruitful and passionate discussion about a number of topics. Relating to housekeeping, Mitchell Speck contacted me prior to the meeting and asked if he could be released from his commitment to us due to business priorities. I accepted his resignation and told him he’s welcome to return if he would ever like to in the future. As we added a seat for the fellows at the Sandy Inn, we will not be replacing Mitch’s seat, which puts us back to the original number of seats we should have on the committee.
From the last meeting, I am currently in the process of collecting information from surrounding cities in East County pertaining to the average market rental costs for commercial space. This will take some time, as many cities don’t have this information readily available. I will inform the committee when we have enough information to move on.
The main topic from this meeting was one that was not on the agenda, but that I brought up in an open forum. Hood to Coast is coming up here in a couple of months, and I have heard horror stories from some of our local businesses about how H2C teams have treated local business owners. The gentlemen from the Sandy Inn confirmed this with some horror stories of their own, and the group decided that it would be in Sandy’s best interest if we could arrange a meeting between H2C organizers, City of Sandy elected officials and staff, a few local business owners, Chief Yamashita or another rep from the Sandy PD, and a Chamber representative to talk about what we can do to improve the situation.
Project work:
- · destination hotel – I will be meeting with Wendy and Jamie Johnk from Clackamas County on April 29th to discuss potential tax abatements available through the County’s enterprise zone program, and to otherwise touch base with where the project is at from Wendy’s end.
- · i3 fiber project – Final all-sector plenary meeting held on March 10th at the Community Center – feedback from all three groups (ED, digital divide, education) combined into overall strategy; this strategy will be consolidated and forwarded on to us in 2 to 3 weeks – I kept track of my time on this project (approx. 18 hours), and was expecting to be reimbursed approximately $1,100 by Chris Tamarin at Business Oregon…Chris actually reimbursed us $4,000 for my time and expenses (the maximum allotted), with the balance going into the general fund. Many thanks to Mr. Tamarin and the Governor for their generosity!
- · PPLIP – The program continues, and is generating goodwill with a) our citizens, and b) businesses that donated prizes to the program. Waiting for weather to improve and/or wayfinding signage to be installed to see if it actually affects parking habits.
Conferences/training: The Ford Institute Leadership Program that Beth Scarth, Monica Smith and I have been involved with is kicking it’s Sandy Community Action Center Remodel project into high gear. We have a webpage (http://highwaytohood.wordpress.com), a Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/HighwayToHood), and an Indiegogo donation website (http://sndy.us/1a) set up, and will be trying to reach our goal of raising $4,300 between now and mid-May. The Ford Institute will match up to $5,000 raised, $1K of which can be in-kind donations (which the City generously maxed out by donating the remainder of the bookshelves and other office furniture left over from the old Library), which will be more than enough to completely paint and remodel the interior of the entire building. For complete information on the FILP Highway to Hood Cohort and our SCAC Remodel project, check out our project presentation at: http://www.myplacetolearn.com/uploads/users/files/H2H-SCACPresentation/index.html
Seth and I have signed up for a 1 day course at Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue in Tigard on April 19 – topic of the course is the use of social media in emergency management. I’ve also signed up for an OLLI training course in Newport on May 23rd to improve my understanding of planning procedures. This is a one-day course, so I will be commuting early in the morning rather than incur hotel expenses.
The Broadband Communities conference in Dallas is April 15-18, where I will study marketing and advertising strategies for broadband by looking at other connected communities and talking with folks who have already made the conversion to 100Mb/1Gb fiber. Jeremy, if there are any specific items related to fiber you would like me to research while I’m there, I would be happy to add it to my list.