Economic Development – Monthly Report – May 2013

Commercial Properties (vacancies, new businesses, etc.):  Last month’s rumor about the Local Cow opening a new restaurant in Sandy seems to be a bit premature.  The Planning Desk informs me that the space currently occupied by the Sub Shop will be taken over in an expansion of the Cellular Plus/Verizon Wireless store which occupies the rest of the building.  See below for additional information.

No word from the local artist I’ve been working with regarding the search for a suitable property for a studio/gallery in the downtown business district.  I have a request for information in with her, and am currently waiting for her to respond.

I have had a few more inquiries about potential future businesses, including one sit-down visit from a new resident that is interested in opening an organic produce delivery service for the mountain, and possibly a brewpub as well.  The local economy continues to show promising signs…

Sandy Family Restaurant:   Open for business.  More reviews continue to roll in.  While most people are very impressed with Ria’s remodel job on the restaurant, the food and service have been a little inconsistent.  However, some of this is to be expected when ownership of a restaurant changes as the new ownership inevitably changes over to new processes, scheduling and equipment.  Hopefully the kinks can get worked out over the next few months…

The Sub Shop:  The owner of the Sub Shop would like to re-open in a different location somewhere in Sandy, but needs to find a property that was previously a restaurant of some sort.  She has been looking at the vacant property next to the DMV (which has never been a restaurant), but to convert that property to include all of the required plumbing, grease interceptor, fire suppression equipment and the like, she was quoted $18,000.  She told me it would take her two years just to make that investment back, and she’s not even sure that her loan application with Clackamas FCU would be approved anyway.  I put her in touch with CCB, so perhaps they might be able to help out with financing if CFCU can not.  The only available commercial property in Sandy that was formerly a restaurant is the old Paris Café, and while she is considering that property, she is considering it only as a last resort because of the poor location.

Leathers property:  Work continues on rehabbing the old Produce Shack and grounds in anticipation of the development of Sandy’s first Farmer’s Market.  The shack will be used primarily as the HQ for the AntFarm’s outdoor programs, but the grounds will be configured to set up produce stands similar to the Thompson Farms stand in Centennial Plaza.  Damon at the AntFarm tells me that 2 people have already been hired for this project, and they are looking at having the first stands open for business by the beginning of July.  They are also seeking more ancillary products to sell, like farm fresh eggs, honey, berries, and the like – and I will definitely be sending any potential stand owners their way (I have one appointment set up already.)  Definitely more to come….

* Sandy Antiques & More:  This business illustrates a potential problem with the City’s process for getting involved with new businesses.  Before opening, the owner called me to talk about his vision for the business….a move I wholeheartedly support.  Along with selling antiques, he was also very adamant about selling espresso, as he had come across an espresso machine in his travels and wanted to use it in his store.  I cautioned him about this for two reasons: a) such a machine would require dedicated plumbing, which would require additional permitting and inspection by our building inspector, and b) serving espresso counts as serving prepared food, which requires the County to get involved on several levels (food handler’s permits, County health inspection, etc.).  This was on top of the fact that there were no less than 5 coffee shops within a 2 block radius of his store.  He said he understood all of this, but serving espresso in his store was essential to his business and he would deal with all of the inspections and permitting when he was ready to go.  He then had the machine plumbed sans permit (by a licensed local plumber (Jeff Newberry) who knew that a permit was required!) and activated without doing any of this.  When the building inspector called him on the lack of required permitting, he blamed the City for not letting him know.  He was informed about the required permitting/inspection three times to my knowledge – once by myself in a phone conversation, once by Noryne face-to-face, and once by Terre during his health/life safety inspection.  Apparently he didn’t “remember” any of these conversations.

The plumber has since been called on the carpet for performing work without a permit, and the proper permit has now been pulled.  However, the store owner has not scheduled an inspection yet and is still serving espresso to the best of my knowledge.  His problems were compounded a few days ago, as he received a cease and desist order from Clackamas County’s health inspector for serving food without a permit or an inspection.  This should be discussed by the various ED committees in Sandy to determine if we can somehow change our process to stop this from happening in the future…

Public Information:

• Social media:  Facebook followers = 3,176 (+27) // Twitter followers: 122 (+1) // Not much activity this month, as our posts were mostly advertising events going on in town.  Biggest traffic generators were the Petsafe contest for dog park funding (11 likes, 9 comments, 11 shares) and the announcement of the new SHS principal (20 likes, 13 comments) and Hoodview’s Annual Clean-Up Day (21L, 7C, 1S) which has been roundly praised by almost everyone.  I will attempt to generate more activity on the FB page in June…
• Current copy of H2O bill newsletter –  G:\Economic Development\PIO duties\Water bill newsletter\previous newsletters\2013\June 2013.pdf
• Current copy of the Sandy Business Insider –

ED Committee:  The rapid response team training given at the May 14^th ED Committee meeting was as good as advertised.  We went through the process that medium to large companies go through when looking for a new site, and focused on what kinds of information they might be searching for.  We also discussed how to properly set up a recruitment meeting and how to determine if Sandy is a good fit for the company (and whether the company and its community philosophy is a good fit for Sandy!)  We then split into three groups and role-played how we would present our fair city to a fictitious company.  The overarching message concerning rapid response teams is that there is a lot of information that companies could potentially ask us about Sandy, and we need to devote some resources to consolidating that information into writing and making it available to everyone involved in our rapid response team.  There is simply too much information for any one person (other than maybe Scott J) to keep in their head, and it is neither practical nor efficient to try and memorize every other department head’s “sales pitch”.  I will be working on drafting a few cut sheets regarding ED information (demographics, tax structures and comparison to surrounding cities, comparative info on Sandy’s residential neighborhoods, etc.)  Next meeting: TBD (August)

Members of the ED Committee (myself, Mayor King, and Jeremiah Heiser from the Sandy Inn Best Western), City Manager Lazenby and Chief Yamashita met with representatives of Hood to Coast (COO and President) on May 9^th, and the meeting was very productive.  The Hood to Coast folks were very gracious and understanding about our concerns, and were quick to offer solutions to the problems that we presented to them.  They will be helping the Sandy Inn with signage to better identify the hotel’s parking and instruct teams that hotel parking must be vacated by 2pm for hotel customers to check in.  They were also very understanding of our concerns regarding participant behavior, gave us emergency contact information for race officials on race day in the event that we end up with uncooperative or disruptive teams, and acknowledged the Chief’s concerns about racers not putting emergency contact information on their numbers (they might penalize teams for this in the future).  Finally, they loved the idea of race-day coupons and agreed to put those coupons in all 1400 team packets if we would get them the coupons soon enough, and  I am already asking local businesses to get those to me ASAP.

Project work: 

• destination hotel – Nothing new to report here, but every indication from Wendy that I have received says she is still pursuing this project.  Project is in a holding pattern until we get more information…
• i3 fiber project – According to Scott and Joe, our contacts at what was i3America have gotten back in touch with us, just as the gentleman I met from Grass Valley, CA at the Broadband Communities Conference in TX said they would.  Apparently i3America has been bought out, and the new owners of the business would like to renegotiate the contract somewhat.  However, they are willing to start the wheels turning again soon, and are looking at September as a target for getting their engineers out to scope out the City’s sewer system.  Details will no doubt change over the next few months.  Joe will give a much more detailed update at the next SandyNet Advisory board meeting later in the month.  Stay tuned…
• PPLIP – The program continues (9 prizes left), and although the weather is improving, usage of the parking lot doesn’t seem to be affected much.  Unfortunately, I am beginning to believe that usage of this lot will only improve when a) we have better signage installed through the wayfinding project later this summer so non-Sandyites learn where it is, and b) the Farmer’s Market being planned for the Leather’s lot makes usage of the lot necessary.
• Tupper to Bruns urban trail project – On Saturday, June 1^st, Kelly O’Neill and I led a party of mostly City staff volunteers in a rehabbing of the urban trail connecting the end of Bruns Avenue to Tupper Road.  Project volunteers marked off the trail, removed undergrowth, laid down and compacted gravel, and disposed of all of the vegetative debris using the City chipper.  The trail is now usable and much easier to monitor from a distance, serving our citizens and police alike.  This project was also completed without any sizable expense (so far the only expense has been food) to the City’s budget.
• Ford Family Foundation project – see below…

Conferences/training:  The Ford Institute Leadership Program that Beth Scarth, Monica Smith and I have been involved with is now done with the fundraising portion of the project.  We have exceeded our initial goal by raising enough to qualify for $5,000 of matching grants from the Ford Family Foundation.  The fundraiser for the project sponsored by Buddha Kat winery netted us an additional $500 in funding, and was a very well attended event that ended up benefitting the winery as well.  We are now preparing for the build/work segment of the project, and will begin working on the interior remodel of the Action Center on the weekend of July 20^th, with the following weekend reserved if we cannot get done in 72 hours.  Special thanks to Beth for writing the grant for us, and to Monica Smith for being a dedicated group member.

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

Attended an OLLI day class in Newport on May 22 entitled “Oregon Planning Procedures – From Application to Approval” taught by John Morgan, currently the Community Development Director in Damascus.  I’ve taken several classes from John before, and his instruction is second to none.  Unfortunately, the…um…mess in Damascus was happening as the class was being taught, so he had to rely on his partnered instructor for a good portion of the class as he ducked out of the room to put out fires at Damascus City Hall via cell phone.  However, I did get some good information out of the class – mostly about what kinds of planning information I need to familiarize myself with in the coming months.

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 20^th, 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 29^th 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 10^th 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 23^rd 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.

Commercial Properties (vacancies, new businesses, etc.):  First, I am currently working on developing an industrial property database for the City’s website to match the commercial properties database.  This will take some time, but look for the first few properties to be listed during the first few weeks of March.

More news concerning the Coffee Station…I finally received a response from an e-mail inquiry about the status of the business from Andrew Muff.  The response simply said “We are looking at an (sic) transfer of ownership.  Hopefully that happens soon.”  So there is the possibility that the business could re-open under new management, but given the difficulties associated with this property I feel that this is fairly unlikely…

Received a call from a Maddie Bettendorf requesting information about available commercial properties.  She and her husband are local and would like to set up a PC repair shop somewhere in town, but are looking for a small and inexpensive property.  I advised her to check out the old trophy shop right underneath SandyNet ($600/month) and directed her to the Commercial Properties Database on the City’s website.

Building activity continues at the old Priester’s location.  We’re keeping our fingers crossed that Carlos has enough funding to complete this project and re-open Stephanie’s under new management in the coming months.  More to come…

Negotiations between Bill Trimble and one of the hair salon owners in town to occupy the property across from Windermere (38750 Proctor) have fallen through.  The property is back on the market.

A gentleman with an auto detailing shop (Papa John’s Auto Detailing) was looking at the produce shack on the Leathers property as a potential home for his business.  After receiving a list of needed repairs from the Building Department, he submitted that list to the property owners and asked when he could reasonably expect to move in and start his business.  The property owners then said that they changed their minds and that they were going to sell the property, although the property does not currently appear to be listed as for sale.  No word on whether or not he will continue searching for a new location here in Sandy.

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:  This business has moved into the old Mark Johnson campaign office at 38962 Proctor – another antique & second hand store that appears to have higher quality items than both Tickle Creek Antiques and Beagle Deals.  They have had their health & safety inspection, and have a few minor repairs to make (fire extinguisher, ADA signs & privacy latches for restroom).  They intend to operate the business for a few months, and if they are as successful as they are projecting they will then expand into the vacant property at 38958 Proctor.  They also intend to have espresso available for their customers, although this equipment was not in place during the initial H&S inspection.  The owner, Robin Dean, discussed this business opportunity with me prior to moving in.  I advised against the espresso concept noting that there are 5 coffee shops within shouting distance of his shop, but he is dead set on having coffee with his antiques and apparently doesn’t mind the extra cost in plumbing, permits, county health inspections, etc.  Mr. Dean has been notified by Noryne that if he is going to install a commercial espresso machine in the future, he will need a permit and inspections (city and county) to do so.  I’ll keep an eye on it as well…

Sandy Gold Swap:  This business (39080 Pioneer) will open its doors March 1.  Made first contact with the owner, and told her to call if there’s anything I can do to help…

Rip City Glass:  Another new retail establishment (a head shop, essentially) has moved into the Junker Building at 39080 Pioneer.  This business has received its initial health and safety inspection, and is currently waiting for their business license to be processed.  The main repair indicated on the H&S inspection was for an ADA ramp for the back of the building, which the property owner has committed to provide.  The owner tells me they intend to open their doors as soon as they receive that license, so they are mildly hounding Mr. Paola to get the ramp constructed as soon as possible.

Public Information:

• Social media:  Facebook followers = 3,079 (+13) // Twitter followers: 118 (no change) // only post that generated any traffic last month was the notification about the Parks survey.  If Facebook is an indicator of the response of the general public, the overwhelming choice for a new facility is a dog park! (44 comments) – I actually had to remove 3 posts this month due to personal attacks; I believe this to be an anomaly (anytime something is posted about the Sandy PD, stuff seems to get dredged up from 2 or 3 chiefs ago), but I’ll keep monitoring it.  It appears to me though that some of our younger residents just aren’t capable of disagreeing with someone without insulting them.  Sad, but true.
• Current copy of Sandy Business Insider – G:\Economic Development\PIO duties\Sandy Business Insider\Sandy Business Insider – Mar 2013.pdf
• Current copy of H2O bill newsletter –  G:\Economic Development\PIO duties\Water bill newsletter\Mar 2013.pdf

ED Committee:  no meeting in February.  There have been a few changes to the makeup of the committee which I believe will make the discussions more interesting.  First, the gentlemen at the Sandy Inn Best Western asked me if they could have representation on the committee.  My view has been that if you want to be on the committee, you’re in, provided you have something relevant to add to the discussion.  Jeremiah and Heetan have been good community citizens, and as the lone hotel in town, they certainly have a vested interest in the economic development of Sandy.  As such, I added a seat to the committee for Jeremiah Heiser, giving us a grand total of 13 members.  I don’t plan to add any more seats, as I don’t want the committee to get too unwieldy.  However, I believe this to be a good and proper move.

Also, in place of Karey Milne (who was going to be the SACC rep in lieu of an executive director), we have added Hannah Smith (co-owner of TCBY) as the SACC representative on the committee.  Hannah is the ED chair at the Chamber, and rather than duplicate efforts by having a Chamber ED committee as well, the Chamber Board felt that having Hannah attend our meetings would be more efficient.  I have had a few conversations with Mrs. Smith, and I believe that her voice will definitely complement our meetings.

Project work: 

• ·         destination hotel – still in holding pattern – remaining in the loop as to status updates on this project, but nothing new has been reported in several months.
• ·         i3 fiber project – All-sector plenary meeting on morning of March 10^th at the Community Center – feedback from all three groups (ED, digital divide, education) combined into overall strategy – NetCity will forward us this information within the next 2-3 weeks
• ·         PPLIP – waiting for weather to improve and/or wayfinding signage to be installed

Conferences/training:  We had a check-in meeting for the Ford Institute Leadership Program in late February so the RDI (Rural Devl Initiatives – the group that does the actual training) folks can see how we’re progressing and do some follow up training.  Our project is moving along very smoothly – so smoothly in fact that they literally said “Keep doing what you’re doing” and let us out an hour early.  We have been communicating regularly with the Action Center, including a formal presentation to the SCAC Board of Directors by myself and Dawn Loomis of MHCC to show them where we’re at.  Our Kickstarter fundraising project will formally begin in a few weeks, where we hope to raise approximately $4,000 for the cause (considering that the AntFarm raised over $32,000 this way, I am very optimistic that our goal will be not only reached, but exceeded)  – I will publicize this heavily through the City’s electronic avenues when the time comes.

Next conference is the Broadband Communities conference in Dallas in April, 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 – looking forward to it!

Commercial Properties (vacancies, new businesses, etc.):  Sadly, after a very short run, it looks like the Coffee Station has closed its doors.  They currently have a sign on their door that says “closed temporarily”, but that sign has been there now for a week and a half.  My sources say that they will not be opening up again anytime soon, although a formal request for information has so far gone unanswered…

Building activity is in full swing at the former Priester’s location.  We have confirmed that this is actually Stephanie’s Restaurant moving back to their old location.  I attended a primary health and safety inspection with Terre, and there is plenty of work to do to get this location up and running.  The new owner, Carlos, has run into some financial difficulties working with Stephanie, and claims that there was some fraud involved in the sale of the business.  This may impact the timeliness, and ultimately even the feasibility of the project.  No word yet on what becomes of Stephanie’s current location once it becomes vacant – it has been speculated that Ria’s Bar might be interested in expanding, but I have not been able to confirm this yet.

I have attended a number of health and safety inspections with Terre in the last couple of weeks, and this is improving my understanding of building code immensely.  I will continue to do this until I am intimately familiar with the main sticking points of these inspections so I can help advise businesses prior to being inspected on what the building inspector will be looking for.

Tickle Creek Antiques (a consignment antique store):  This business (Paola properties) is now licensed and operational.  Kjersti (owner) is quite energetic and full of ideas, so it will be interesting to see how this business grows.

Sandy Gold Swap:  This business (Paola properties) is now licensed and operational.

Sweet Cakes by Melissa:  Unfortunately, this move has been postponed indefinitely due to the media circus surrounding this business.  Since Sweet Cakes made national news a few weeks ago by denying service to a same sex couple, they have been receiving an outpouring of support from like-minded patrons.  The increase in business has resulted in an increased demand on their time and energy, and they have determined that they simply do not have the available time to consider a move at the moment.  The Kleins told me that once things get back to normal, they will re-evaluate their situation and contact me if they are still interested in moving to Sandy.

Ray Custom Services LLC:  Yet another business that flew in under the radar, located at 35900 Industrial Way #400.  This is a mom ‘n pop shop that manufactures food carts.  They have submitted for a business license and had their initial health and safety inspection.  Waiting on a few repairs before Building Dept. will give the go-ahead to open up shop…

Kimberley Brown, Attorney at Law:  This business (Schuler Building) is now licensed and operational.

Public Information:

• Social media:  Facebook followers = 3,064 // Twitter followers: 118 // only two posts that generated any traffic last month – the log truck accident on 362^nd & Skogan, and the gas leak at Fred Meyer (18 and 31 comments respectively).  Slow month.
• Other outlets:  n/a
• Current copy of Sandy Business Insider – G:\Economic Development\PIO duties\Sandy Business Insider\previous issues\2013\Sandy Business Insider – Feb 2013.pdf
• Current copy of H2O bill newsletter – G:\Economic Development\PIO duties\Water bill newsletter\Feb 2013.pdf

ED Committee:  January 15^th, 2013 – A short, half-meeting (only 6 members showed up), but a robust discussion.  We discussed the perception that Sandy is “bad for business” and determined that, while some of this perception is from days past, there are examples from recent builds where business owners felt they were given bad information, or asked to make expensive changes to their designs based on speculative reasoning.  In addition, the mayor has heard several complaints of shortcomings in customer service skills and a lack of empathy from planning department personnel.  I feel it would be appropriate to talk with these business owners and get their direct feedback, and have added this to my “to do” list.

We also discussed whether or not Sandy commercial property owners are charging reasonable rates for their properties, and I was strongly encouraged to let the Chamber take the lead there.  It would be reasonable to collect that information on surrounding communities for business recruiting purposes down the road, but any mention of this subject by local government would likely be taken poorly by property owners (the term “strong-arm tactics” came up a lot).  Finally, we discussed the idea of a rapid response team as presented by Catherine Comer, and the group strongly encouraged me to continue down this path.

George Hoyt has been trying to convince Alan Fleischman to join this committee to represent commercial property owners, as we have no representation from that sector.  Alan and I recently discussed this, and while he’s not exactly sure why we need to have an ED Committee “now that I’m here full time”, he doesn’t seem opposed to the idea either.

Project work: 

• destination hotel – still in holding pattern – remaining in the loop as to status updates on this project – now that elephants at Rosalyn Lake have been confirmed, it might be wise to mention to Wendy that pachyderms should be visible from the planned hotel site…
• i3 fiber project – nothing going on with this project in February – all sector meeting scheduled for March 10^th at the Community Center
• PPLIP – Same as last month …nothing really to report here until the weather improves.

Conferences/training:  Training classes for the Ford Institute Leadership Program are now complete, having finished the 4^th and final one on January 11^th and 12^th.  Our project is unofficially entitled “Extreme Makeover:  Sandy Action Center Edition”, and we are planning to actually have a bus parked outside of the SCAC’s front door upon completion so we can yell “Move! That! Bus!” when we’re done (if you’re familiar with the show).  We are planning to use some of the bookshelves from the old library for the interior makeover, saving the project money as well as getting those things out of storage.  Seth is also going to set up the City to be the “bank” for the project, as Ford requires us to use a not-for-profit organization as the financial go-between for their projects.  Project is looking to be completed by June 30^th.

Next conference is the Broadband Communities conference in Dallas in April (the follow up to the one I missed in VA because of my sleepover at JFK), although I plan to check the OLLI schedule as soon as I get a free moment to see if there’s anything coming up that I might benefit from.

Commercial Properties (vacancies, new businesses, etc.): We are now officially down to 17 vacant commercial spaces in Sandy.  I finally made contact with owner/realtor for the property at 39400 Pioneer, Suite 2 (formerly Priester’s BBQ).  Mr. Park told me that he intends to open a Hawaiian-themed restaurant in this space by January 2013.  However, there does not seem to be any current construction activity at this property, so I treat this with some skepticism.  In any case, since this seems to be what the owner of the building plans to do with this space, I have taken it off of the current active directory.  More to come…

Tickle Creek Antiques (a consignment antique store):
The store is still under construction on the interior, and I assume will be opening soon.  I received a call over the weekend of 12/8 from the owner stating that she would like to go over logistics with me and make sure “all of her T’s are dotted and I’s are crossed”.  I am informed by the building department that they have yet to see a business license application from her, so I have left her a message stating that this is priority #1.  I will walk her down a business license app and a business welcome packet as soon as I hear from her.  After receiving a completed license and the requisite $41, I will schedule a walk-through with Terre.

Sweet Cakes by Melissa:  I have been in initial discussions with the Sandy owners of this Gresham business about moving them into the property at 39070 Pioneer Blvd. (corner unit, Junker Bldg.)  Met with Melissa’s husband at their shop on Friday, 12/8 to discuss basic needs and logistics.  Supposed to meet with Melissa as well, but one of her children went in for emergency surgery earlier that week, so we will need to reschedule again sometime in the next 2 weeks or so.  Husband sounds positive about the move, and would like to schedule a walk-through with Jack Paola as soon as possible to check out the space.  I plan to do this later in the week…

Coffee Station:
We had another business open up in downtown Sandy in December that came in completely under my radar.  Coffee Station has opened up shop in the Café Coco site adjacent to Tovar’s Auto Repair.  It is owned and operated by San Francisco transplants Andrew Muff and his German girlfriend Marieke Dorf.  They brought two of their friends up from SF as employees, and all four are now Sandy residents.  Coffee Station serves Stumptown Coffee, thus preserving the Stumptown brand in Sandy even after the bookstore closes at the end of the year; they also serve homemade pastries, soups and sandwiches made by one of their employees who trained as a chef.  They seem to be very invested in their business, which will be necessary to survive in such a saturated market.  However, if this business can survive, it would fill a retail space that has proven difficult to fill over the years.

I suggested to them to consider box lunches for the ski crowd as a possibility for a long term revenue stream – if they have a classically-trained chef at their disposal, why not take advantage of that fact?  To do this, I suggested introducing themselves to the ski shop owners and taking them down a sample lunch or two and a stack of menus in return for some recommendations (as luck would have it, Andreanne Rode stopped in this morning – I ran this by her, and she thinks it’s a great idea)

Public Information:

• Social media:  updates on the PPLIP, library events, First Friday, AntFarm Café and Bakery Kickstarter program, SandyNet outages, new public loo, tree lighting reminder, SHS students to visit Germany, more library events, craft bazaar at local church (by request), Boring grade school entering vote by e-mail contest to win new PC lab (by request), Warren Miller film at SHS, city website outage, new business announcement (Coffee Station), ad for Planning Commissioners, Sandy Transit public meeting, SHS/Kiwanis food drive, another library event, another SandyNet outage,
• Other outlets:  n/a
• Current copy of Sandy Business Insider – ..\PIO
  duties\Sandy Business Insider\Sandy Business Insider – Dec 2012.pdf
• Current copy of H2O bill newsletter – ..\PIO
  duties\Water bill newsletter\Dec 2012.pdf

ED Committee:  Does not meet again until January 15^th.  We have identified that having a commercial property owner on the committee might be a good thing.  Still trying to identify who that might be…

Project work: 

• destination hotel – still in holding pattern – remaining in the loop as to status updates on this project – market study complete; now waiting on hotelier to make ultimate decisions
• i3 fiber project – meeting spaceslocked in; sent out letters to all invitees to sector meetings scheduled for Jan. 10^th & 11^th and March 10^th.  Have received a few responses (mostly positive) – got one from Jerry Knowlton wanting to back out claiming technical ignorance; once I explained to him that we in fact wanted business owners who might not be so technically savvy so as to learn how to market to them, he caved and is now planning to attend.
• PPLIP – The project continues…we are seeing a downward trend of parking in the lot, we assume mostly related to the weather.  We are curious to see how lot usage is affected by (a) sunshine, and (b) wayfinding signs.

Conferences/training:  The only training I had this month was the fourth of five weekend meetings of the FILP.  The meeting was held at Welches Middle School, and it was here that we decided on our group project.  Amazingly, our project will be to benefit a Sandy organization (the Sandy Community Action Center) that actually services the entire mountain community as its food bank.  We plan to replace the shelving inside the SCAC, as well as do other work (cleaning, painting, etc.) that the director of that organization would like us to do.   I understand that you have a close working relationship with an SCAC board member – perhaps that board member might be willing to talk to myself and the library director about what might be the best way to present our ideas to both the director and the board?

Economic Development – Monthly Report – November, 2012

Commercial Properties (vacancies, new businesses, etc.):
There are currently 19 vacant commercial properties in Sandy as of November of 2012 – most are on the City’s commercial property database (3 are not due to difficulty contacting the property owners – I am working on this and have just received info for 1 of the 3 and new contact info for the other 2).  This is one less than last month – Jack Paola has a renter currently moving into the property at 39090-A Pioneer.  She will be having the grand opening of Tickle Creek Antiques (a consignment antique store) on December 7 of this year, and will make this grand opening a part of First Friday.  She intends to sublet space to eight people at this location for consignment sales of antique furniture and other goods.  Long term prospects for this business are probably not that good, as I can see a lot of logistical problems with subletting a relatively small space to so many different consigners.  We’ll keep our fingers crossed, though…

On the down side, it appears that the current owner of Some Bookstore (39080 [?] Pioneer) will be retiring at the end of the year.  It is unclear what shall become of the bookstore – according to Mr. Paola, the owner is currently advertising the business as being for sale on Craigslist.  I have thus far been unable to find this ad…

Public Information:

• Social media:  updates on the PPLIP, stolen Sandy Fire sign, emergency kits (FEMA), updates on Candidates Forum, Trick or Treat Trail, lost dog, ODOT meeting, Sandy Apartment Finder, 1^st Friday, Hurricane Sandy relief, Holiday Tree lighting, Yellow Pages opt out
• Other outlets:  n/a
• Current copy of Sandy Business Insider – ..\PIO duties\Sandy Business Insider\Sandy Business Insider – Nov 2012.pdf
• Current copy of H2O bill newsletter – \\Server001.cityofsandy.dom\Data\EconomicDevelopment\PIO duties\Water bill newsletter\Nov 2012.pdf

ED Committee:  The ED Committee met for the second time this month.  There were a number of unplanned absences this time around, so I need to increase the number of
reminders I send out (especially to our private sector members), and perhaps see if there are members who would like to be relieved of their responsibilities, as I have several pending inquiries as to available committee seats.  The majority of time in this session was devoted to Catherine Comer of Clackamas County ED – she came to speak to us about the importance of having a rapid response team ready and available to talk to businesses considering Sandy as a new home.  Two or three committee meetings from now we will invite Catherine back to do formal training in this area.  This segment went much longer than anticipated (committee members were very interested in this topic) so most of the agenda items were pushed off until next meeting.  We did briefly discuss the question of what to do about Sandy commercial property owners that have significantly overpriced their properties.  More discussion is needed here as well, but one suggestion was to see if we can get a downtown property owner to join the committee who is willing to talk about this problem…

Project work: 

• destination hotel – remaining in the loop as to status updates on this project; market study complete – now waiting on hotelier to make ultimate decisions
• i3 fiber project – introductory letter sent out to all City residents week of 11/12.  Most of the actual work (printing letter & envelopes, stuffing envelopes, etc.) was outsourced to Cool Printing for a substantial savings over the staff time it would have taken to do this mailing – also moving forward with the NetCity portion of this project (all sector meetings have locations and dates; working on completing sector lists)
• Sweet Cakes – I have taken a look at one of Jack Paola’s properties (the old used appliance store across from AEC) for a possible future location.  Next step is to visit Melissa at her store in Gresham and discuss the pending move; have her look at the property to see if it will work for her needs.  Will schedule this for the week after Thanksgiving…
• PPLIP – The project goes marching on – we have now done 8 drawings and given out half a dozen prizes.  It is too early to tell whether or not this program is having an effect on parking in this lot, but participants love it and businesses are getting their money’s worth via advertising (we mention and thank each donor as their prizes are given out).  Signs from the forthcoming wayfinding program should help increase usage of the lot as well – we are tracking usage on a weekly basis, so we will be able to confirm this in real time.

Conferences/training:  This month was supposed to include the one conference I have been looking forward to for months – the Broadband Fiber Communities Conference in Danville, VA (the conference suggested by Councilor Pietzold).  Unfortunately I was waylaid in NYC en route to the conference by a freak weather occurrence, which ultimately shut down JFK Airport and caused me to spend the night in the terminal.  Fortunately, this same organization will be having their next conference in April 2013 in Dallas.  I transferred the fee for the conference in Danville to the Dallas event, for which I am already registered…

I was also in Eugene from the 16^th through the 18^th of November for the Conference of Communities, a sub-section of the Ford Institute Leadership Program.  Programming
at this event included basic training in negotiating and improving communications skills.  More to come…

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