HomeMy WebLinkAboutDraft Minutes - Economic Development Committee - 05/14/2024
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SOUTH BURLINGTON
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES DRAFT
Tuesday, May 14th, 2024
The South Burlington Economic Development Committee held a special meeting on May 14, 2024
in the South Burlington Library Conference Room, 180 Market Street, South Burlington and by
remote participation.
Members present: Sriram Srinivasan, Ken Linge, Rebecca Kilian, Chris Carrigan, Michael Biama,
John Burton (remotely), and Thomas Bailey (remotely).
Members absent: None
Others present: Ilona Blanchard (City Staff Support Member)
1. Ken Linge called the meeting to order at 5:11 PM. Ilona outlined the emergency procedures for
the space. Each member introduced themselves to the committee.
2. Thomas Bailey introduced a motion to approve the meeting minutes from February, March, and
April. John Burton seconded the motion. All members were in favor, and the motion passed.
3. City Update:
a. City Plan Update: the city council is initiating a process to review the purpose of each of
the committees and its strategic alignment with the city plan and goals of the council.
During this process, the members of each committee may remain on the committees
should their terms expired during this review period. The chairs of each committee are
invited to a meeting with the city council on the 29th of May at 5pm. Member Chris
offered to attend the meeting with the Chair Tom Bailey.
b. ARPA Update: New members of the city council will receive an orientation on the process
in May, a decision will need to be made on how the ARPA fund will be spent by
December of 2024.
c. Illuminate Vermont: The attendance was 1,500 people on Friday, 2,900 on Saturday.
Widely viewed as highly successful. The City will be looking to have another Illuminate
event in the future.
d. Regulating Parking on Market Street: The city is in the process of presenting new
regulations for parking on Market Street to make sure that parking is available for
commercial businesses opening on Market Street.
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e. Food Truck Pilot: The city is considering a pilot program that would enable food trucks
on Market Street.
f. City Green ongoing study to answer the question Where and what is it? How big is it?
g. Thursday morning, May 16th, at 9am the South Burlington City Center Collaborative will
be meeting to grow its membership. This is a main street organization that will be critical
to the creation of a vibrant and healthy downtown.
4. Economic Development Strategic Plan Brainstorming: Ken introduced the topic and opened it for
discussion (“brainstorming”).
a. Chris introduced the idea of vision casting as a first step that helps paint a picture for
where we want to be in 10-15-20 years.
b. John Burton met with Dominic Endicott, who described creating a roadmap for success,
largely similar to the vision casting exercise described by Chris. This is a good strategy to
create a strategic economic development plan that doesn’t just sit on the shelf without
appropriate funding.
c. Both Srini and Ilona discussed the importance of aligning the comprehensive economic
development with the goals of the City Plan that has been adopted by the City Council.
d. Ken Linge presented the idea of lobbying the city council for $100,000 in ARPA funds to
create a Strategic Economic Development Plan. Other members offered opinions that
were generally supportive of this idea. Critically important to this request will be the
support of allies in the community, on the city council, and in various groups with an
interest in the community.
e. Ilona Blanchard compiled the comments of various members to read: “Develop a plan to
support economic development by leveraging, and retaining organic and encouraging,
recruiting new growth that is in line with the City Plan and Community Vision through
smart investment in realistic outcomes.”
f. Srini introduced the following motion:
“Replace in its entirety the committee’s original request for ARPA funds with a request for
$100,000 to create an economic development plan that will support economic
development by leveraging and retaining organic economic activity as well as encouraging
and recruiting new economic activity that is in line with the City’s Comprehensive Plan
and Community Vision through smart investment in realistic outcomes.”
All members voted in favor of the motion.
g. Ensuing discussion around the format and content of how this motion is submitted to the
City Council. Becca distilled the discussion down to a few simple items, scope of work,
timeline for when the work will be completed, and itemized list of costs. Mike agreed to
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draft the revised ARPA recommendation and request for funds for review by the Chair
and submission to the council.
5. Chris provided the committee with an executive summary on the Exit 14 Scoping Study which
will be included with these minutes.
6. Tom Bailey introduced a motion to conclude the meeting. Mike Biama seconded the motion. All
members in favor. Meeting concluded.
Respectfully Submitted
Michael Biama, Clerk