{"id":110,"date":"2014-04-15T02:03:37","date_gmt":"2014-04-15T02:03:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/reports.cityofsandy.com\/economicdevelopment\/?p=110"},"modified":"2014-04-15T02:05:46","modified_gmt":"2014-04-15T02:05:46","slug":"economic-development-monthly-report-march-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reports.cityofsandy.com\/economicdevelopment\/2014\/04\/15\/economic-development-monthly-report-march-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"Economic Development \u2013 Monthly Report \u2013 March  2014"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b><\/b><strong>General notes:<\/strong><b>\u00a0 <\/b>It is noted with great enthusiasm that the Sandy City Council will be<b> <\/b>discussing<b> <\/b>the possibility of changing current municipal code to allow food carts on private property at the April 21<sup>st<\/sup> Council meeting.\u00a0 I have been watching Tracy\u2019s progress on obtaining community input regarding this question, and have helped him in this endeavor in a couple of ways.\u00a0 I brought the issue before the Sandy Area Chamber of Commerce during our February board meeting, and the directors were for the most part extremely pro-food cart (there was only 1 director who was opposed to the idea, and her opinion seemed to be that Portland allowed them and she hates Portland, ergo she hates carts).\u00a0 The thing I heard the most was that \u201cSandy needs more food choices\u201d along with a lot of grumbling about the quality of Sandy\u2019s restaurant scene.\u00a0 I also tracked down a recent study done by the City of Beaverton on this very topic and got the ED Director Beaverton to forward me the results of that survey, which I then forwarded to Tracy.\u00a0 Again, the public in Beaverton seems strongly in support.<\/p>\n<p>For what it\u2019s worth, I am strongly in support of Tracy\u2019s idea of trying this out for the remainder of the year.\u00a0 I lend my support for the following reasons:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I agree with my fellow Chamber directors that the overall quality of Sandy\u2019s restaurants, while improving with the addition of the Tamale Factory, is still somewhat lacking.\u00a0 It would be nice to have some alternatives.<\/li>\n<li>I\u2019m not sold on the idea that food carts directly compete with sit-down restaurants like Two Bros. or Thai Home.\u00a0 If I want to \u201cgo out for dinner\u201d, I\u2019m not going to a cart no matter how good it is because that\u2019s not \u201cgoing out\u201d for dinner\u2026I want to sit down, relax and have an experience.\u00a0 There might be a small amount of indirect competition, but since when did we as Americans become so averse to a little competition?<\/li>\n<li>I\u2019m also not sold that carts somehow offer unfair competition to brick and mortar restaurants.\u00a0 First, it\u2019s a different experience.\u00a0 Second, if you don\u2019t think cart owners have overhead to deal with, call Ray\u2019s Custom Services (a Sandy business that builds food carts) and ask Ray how much one of his carts costs.\u00a0 And to that end, if a restaurant owner is convinced that carts are unfair competition\u2026.well, there\u2019s nothing stopping them from opening their own cart, is there?<\/li>\n<li>Finally, commercial kitchens generally cost between $30K and $50K to install in a building.\u00a0 This is one of the main reasons why we haven\u2019t seen a new restaurant in Sandy for a while.\u00a0 Bunsenbrewer would love to install a kitchen, but they can\u2019t really afford it.\u00a0 Same with The Beer Den.\u00a0 This would offer some brick and mortar establishments an alternative to food services as well as incubate and help develop future Sandy restaurateurs, because if the cart does really, really well, is a brick and mortar restaurant far behind?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><strong>Commercial Properties (vacancies, new businesses, etc.):<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Mike\u2019s Tire Service:<\/span>\u00a0 This business is almost in the clear.\u00a0 Mike has been issued a certificate of occupancy pending completion of a final task \u2013 to paint the enclosure around his exterior paint compressor to match the building per code.\u00a0 He has until May 1st to comply per Building Department orders, and we have no reason to believe he will not comply.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Connect Wireless<\/span>:\u00a0 This business has announced its intent to move into the one empty space in the \u201cmini-mall\u201d that currently houses TCBY and Papa Murphy\u2019s in the Fred Meyer parking lot.\u00a0 Considering the asking price ($5,104\/month for 2,450 SF with a 5 year term), I was uncertain if this space would ever be filled, but I am of course happy to be wrong in this case.\u00a0 We are waiting on building and mechanical permits from this company before wheels start turning \u2013 we anticipate permit apps to start rolling in in May.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Trail Pals:<\/span>\u00a0 This business is moving into the back of Barbara Sah\u2019s building (the one next to City Hall).\u00a0 They are a mostly on-line parts retailer for horse trailers, and anticipate very little if any walk-in traffic.\u00a0 They have had a number of fire\/life safety inspections, and are down to just a couple of minor fixes (raise bathroom sink to 29\u201d, provide addtl mirror in bathroom) before receiving the \u201call-clear\u201d.\u00a0 More on this business as I get to know them\u2026<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Thrifty Dollar:<\/span>\u00a0 This business snuck in under the radar in March and is already open for business.\u00a0 I spoke with both the husband of the owner and the owner herself, and for now they plan on re-selling used clothing and small house wares, a retail approach similar to Goodwill or the Sandy Action Center\u2019s thrift store.\u00a0 The store is sparsely stocked, and the quality of the items for sale is not very high, but this seems to be improving by the week as the owners move more stock into the store.\u00a0 The owners have also recently responded to initial contacts from Sandy Main Street and expressed an interest in both First Friday and getting involved in the organization generally.\u00a0 More to come\u2026<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">AntFarm Cafe<\/span>:\u00a0 Our friends over at Sandy\u2019s favorite youth-oriented non-profit decided to get involved in First Friday this year, and actually took our advice!\u00a0 We suggested that, along with this wonderful new caf\u00e9 they had to promote, they should really look at FF as an opportunity to promote themselves by explaining to the community what it is that they really do, which is mentor kids and young adults by introducing them to the outdoors and the working world.\u00a0 They responded with some fantastic displays depicting their different programs, and did a little fundraising as well in addition to offering some awesome gelato.\u00a0 Later in the year, it is SMS\u2019s hope that we get some FF activities going on in the barn (their outdoor HQ down by the Big Apple) as well\u2026<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Sandy Area Chamber of Commerce<\/span>:\u00a0 An update on the Chamber and its future new home\u2026we (the Board of Directors and a relocation task force) have met several times regarding this issue, and we finally feel like we have a solid direction.\u00a0 Initially we discussed several possible new homes for the Chamber, including moving to a different suite in the same complex (Dan Martin offered us an opportunity to move into the old Edward Jones office for a substantial cost savings), looking at an opportunity to partner with the Sandy Historical Museum by moving into their building and renting space from them, and a low cost alternative (the Giusto trust property below where SandyNet is currently located).<\/p>\n<p>The Guisto trust, while very inexpensive, would have required a substantial investment to upgrade the property to the point where we would not be embarrassed to bring members to it, so we discounted that idea fairly quickly.\u00a0 We felt the partnership with the museum would have been very advantageous to both organizations, and were eager to explore that possibility.\u00a0 However, museum staff, while very courteous toward us, did not seem eager to share their space.\u00a0 While taking a walk-through of the property, we were told that the conference room space upstairs that we were interested in was \u201ccompletely reserved for additional future displays\u201d and was essentially a non-starter.\u00a0 We were shown space in the basement of the building, and were told that maybe the museum would be able to provide us about a 60 square foot space that is currently occupied by a mountain of books about 6 feet high<\/p>\n<p>(see pic at bottom of report \u2013 the space offered is the space between the grey filing cabinet and the support beam \u2013 the books are the boxes with clear plastic tarp over them)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As you can see, the space offered will just not work for any sort of office enclosure, much less the professional office space that the Sandy Area Chamber of Commerce requires.\u00a0 Another issue was access &#8211; the only access to this basement space was through either an old freight elevator or a stairwell that was quite cluttered, unfinished and difficult to navigate.\u00a0 And quite frankly, while museum staff was polite, the \u201cissues\u201d that this partnership had in the past did come up more than once.\u00a0 Several SACC directors (more than a few) could sense that there are still some hard feelings associated with that period of time on the part of some museum board members, and that we as an organization really weren\u2019t completely welcome there.<\/p>\n<p>We discussed our options at length over the course of several board meetings and one meeting specific to finding a new home, and we really liked the concept of a renewed partnership with the Sandy Historical Society.\u00a0 However, as much as we believe that such a partnership would have indeed benefitted both organizations, we just didn\u2019t want to ruffle any feathers and make anyone uncomfortable.\u00a0 We have elected to accept Mr. Martin\u2019s generous offer and begin contract negotiations with him regarding his space.\u00a0 We plan to have our move completed by the end of June 2014 if negotiations end positively, which we do anticipate.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Bunsenbrewers<\/span>:\u00a0 Currently has two plumbing permits open for minor fixes, but both are well within time allotments allowed.\u00a0 Is currently in good standing with Clackamas County Health according to Ms. Leben.\u00a0 Has started offering food (microwavable only \u2013 mostly snacks and appetizers), and early indicators are that customers see this as a positive, although they are patiently awaiting Council\u2019s decision on food carts (rumor has it that they intend to start a partnership with a local food cart in the future if this is allowed).\u00a0 Is now selling and filling growlers as well as pints and kegs.\u00a0 Every time I visit this establishment, there seem to be more and more people in it.\u00a0 Whatever it is that Aaron is doing, I recommend he keep doing it. \u00a0\ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sandy Main Street<\/strong><b>:\u00a0 <\/b>We are currently organizing First Friday right now, and Aubrey is hard at work planning for a series of community visioning meetings that we will be hosting in June, beginning with a walking tour of downtown in late May.\u00a0 The visioning meetings will be focusing on what citizens would like to see in their downtown in 10, 15, or 20 years, and how to get this information to the right people.\u00a0 We continue to build content into our new website (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.sandymainstreet.org\/\">www.sandymainstreet.org<\/a>, if you haven\u2019t seen it yet), and hope to have this mostly completed before the City starts migrating to the new platform for their website.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Project work:\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b><i>The Mayor\u2019s \u201cBusiness-Friendly\u201d Task Forc<\/i>e \u2013 <\/b>The \u201cHow to Open a Business in Sandy\u201d Guide is now complete pending any tweaks Tracy would like me to make to it, which I will be happy to do at his request.\u00a0 I have taken a lot of feedback on this project, and all of it has been quite positive.\u00a0 Many thanks to everyone who gave this a once-over, and special thanks to Lois and Grant for staying with me on this, bumps in the road and all.\u00a0 All in all, I am very proud of how this project turned out, and I sincerely hope it helps a few businesses.\u00a0 The task force has also morphed into a regular monthly meeting between Administration, ED, Planning and Building, and this has so far turned out to be very beneficial to all involved.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong style=\"color: #000000;font-size: medium;font-style: normal\">Conferences\/training:<\/strong><b style=\"color: #000000;font-size: medium;font-style: normal\">\u00a0 <\/b>[OCCMA 2014 Manager\u2019s Conference].\u00a0 On 3\/26 and 27 I was in Stevenson, WA at the Oregon City\/County Managers Association spring conference as Sandy\u2019s only representative (Seth had something else going on).\u00a0 The programming this year was not that useful to me, but as always, it was the networking that made the trip worth it, and network I did.\u00a0 There was a presentation on the second day that I did find fascinating regarding succession planning [which basically means long term planning for the retirement of key people in the organization and recruiting young workers to replace them].\u00a0 It is interesting to note how difficult it is for some cities and counties to find qualified people to work for them in this day and age.\u00a0 Millenials don\u2019t typically want to work in rural areas (and certainly not for $12\/hr if they have master\u2019s degrees \u2013 believe me, those student loan payments are tough!), and cities like Tillamook and Florence are having a hard time.\u00a0 We, on the other hand, are reaping the benefits of planning for this.\u00a0 Although we have lost Scott, Marlyn and Martin in recent times, and will be losing Beth shortly, we have also gained some great young talent in Caroline, Andi and Thomas, as well as some slightly more \u201cexperienced\u201d talent in Lisa and myself.\u00a0 This is a great mix of youth, education and experience, both direct (Lisa) and indirect (I knew owning my own business would come in handy someday!), and a mix that other municipalities are struggling to find right now.\u00a0 So pat yourself on the back, Council!\u00a0 We\u2019re way in front of the curve here\u2026<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/reports.cityofsandy.com\/economicdevelopment\/files\/2014\/04\/20140220_145153-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-112\" alt=\"20140220_145153 (1)\" src=\"http:\/\/reports.cityofsandy.com\/economicdevelopment\/files\/2014\/04\/20140220_145153-1-300x168.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" srcset=\"https:\/\/reports.cityofsandy.com\/economicdevelopment\/files\/2014\/04\/20140220_145153-1-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/reports.cityofsandy.com\/economicdevelopment\/files\/2014\/04\/20140220_145153-1-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/reports.cityofsandy.com\/economicdevelopment\/files\/2014\/04\/20140220_145153-1-500x281.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>General notes:\u00a0 It is noted with great enthusiasm that the Sandy City Council will be discussing the possibility of changing current municipal code to allow food carts on private property at the April 21st Council meeting.\u00a0 I have been watching &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/reports.cityofsandy.com\/economicdevelopment\/2014\/04\/15\/economic-development-monthly-report-march-2014\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","hentry","category-uncategorized","post_format-post-format-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reports.cityofsandy.com\/economicdevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reports.cityofsandy.com\/economicdevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reports.cityofsandy.com\/economicdevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reports.cityofsandy.com\/economicdevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reports.cityofsandy.com\/economicdevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/reports.cityofsandy.com\/economicdevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":115,"href":"https:\/\/reports.cityofsandy.com\/economicdevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110\/revisions\/115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reports.cityofsandy.com\/economicdevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reports.cityofsandy.com\/economicdevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reports.cityofsandy.com\/economicdevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}