Loading...
Warehouse District Master Plan EDA ApplicationTHE CITY OF DUB ~ E Masterpiece on the Mississippi MEMORANDUM October 29, 2007 TO: The Honorable Mayor and City Council Members FROM: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager SUBJECT: Resolution Approving the Submittal of an Application to the EDA for Financial Assistance for a Master Plan of the Warehouse District Economic Development Director Dave Heiar recommends City Council approval of the submittal of an application to the Economic Development Administration (EDA) for $75,000 in financial assistance for a Master Plan of the Warehouse District. This application requires a 50% match. This City's share of the 50% match would be $15,000, with the Iowa Department of Economic Development providing $25,000; the Warehouse District Property Owners providing $25,000, Dubuque Initiatives providing $15,000, and other private sources(local banks) providing $20,000. I concur with the recommendation and respectfully request Mayor and City Council approval. r ~~ Michael C. Van Milligen MCVM/jh Attachment cc: Barry Lindahl, City Attorney Cindy Steinhauser, Assistant City Manager David J. Heiar, Economic Development Director THE CTTY OF r ~,,.• ~"U$ E MEMORANDUM Masterpiece on tlae Mississippi. October 25, 2007 TO: Michael Van Milligen, City Manager FROM: David J. Heiar, Economic Development Director SUBJECT: Resolution approving the submittal of an application to the EDA for financial assistance for a Master Plan of the Warehouse District INTRODUCTION This memorandum presents for City Council a resolution approving the submittal of an application to the EDA for financial assistance for a Master Plan of the Warehouse District. BACKGROUND The Dubuque Warehouse District has been a topic for discussion for the last few years with the revitalization of the area nominated as one of the Top 10 community projects in the Envision 2010 process. The Warehouse District has over 1 million square feet of underdeveloped space which has the potential to be a neighborhood where citizens can live, work, and play all in one area. Since being nominated in the Envision 2010 process, many things have occurred which have prompted the creation of the Warehouse District Revitalization Strategy. The first was the formation of the Warehouse District Envision Committee in January 2006. This group has met on a monthly basis to create a shared vision for what the area is to become. The group created a vision statement which guided the creation of the Revitalization Strategy. The committee has over 50 members which is the largest of the 10 envision committees. The City has also begun the process to nominate a subarea of the Warehouse District to the National Register of Historic Places. This recognition will make several buildings eligible for State and Federal Historic Preservation Tax Credits. This financing program has been tremendously successful in Iowa and across the country and will need to be accessed to properly revitalize and preserve the area. With several projects already addressing the vision of the Warehouse District, the property owners saw it was important to develop a strategy to complete the vision of the Envision Committee. Four property owners; John Gronen, Tim McNamara, Tony Pfhol, and Bob Johnson formed the nucleus of a property owner group dedicated to creating such a strategy. They asked for help from the City, Dubuque Main Street, the Business Accelerator, and Greater Dubuque Development to formulate the strategy. The Warehouse District Revitalization Strategy was adopted by the City Council by Resolution 425-07 on August 6th, 2007. A major component of this strategy was the development of a Master Plan for the district. DISCUSSION City Staff has been working with several organizations and property owners of the district to find funding sources for the Master Plan project. The Economic Development Administration has a planning assistance program which will provide grants to eligible entities for up to one half of a project's costs. The Economic Development Department has prepared the attached EDA application defining the purpose and scope of the Master Plan project. The application requests $75,000 of federal funding. The EDA will only fund 50% of a project that it helps fund. The timeline for the project is tentatively scheduled to begin in January 2008 and be completed by October 2008. There are several other funding sources for the Master Plan other than the EDA grant that should be noted. The following is a tentative list of the proposed funding sources: EDA Grant Assistance $75,000 Iowa Department of Economic Development $25,000 Warehouse District Property Owners $25,000 City of Dubuque $15,000 Dubuque Initiatives $15,000 Other private sources (local banks) $20,000 The City's match is in the current budget. The Planning Department has a CIP for hiring a consultant to prepare streetscape and architectural design guidelines for the Downtown and Warehouse Districts. This activity is part of the proposed Warehouse District Master Plan and will provide the City's match toward this project. RECOMMENDATION I recommend that the City Council approve the attached resolution approving the submittal of an application to the EDA for financial assistance for a Master Plan of the Warehouse District ACTION STEP The action step is to approving the submittal of an application to the EDA for financial assistance for a Master Plan of the Warehouse District and to authorize the Mayor to sign the application. Attachments F:\USERSWdejong\Warehouse District\EDA Planning Grant\Memo approving EDA Grant Application.doc RESOLUTION NO. 523-07 A RESOLUTION APPROVING AN APPLICATION FOR FUNDING ASSISTANCE FROM THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION. Whereas, the City of Dubuque is interested in revitalizing the Dubuque Warehouse District; and Whereas, the City of Dubuque is interested in creating a Master Plan identified in the Warehouse District Revitalization Strategy adopted by the Council with Resolution 425-07; and Whereas, developing a Master Plan for the area that will help define the timing, land use, and end result of the Warehouse District, and Whereas, the Economic Development Administration (EDA) has funding opportunities for communities to complete planning projects. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DUBUQUE, IOWA: Section 1. That the City Council of the City of Dubuque hereby approves the application to the EDA for funding assistance. Section 2. That the Mayor is authorized to sign, on behalf of the City Council, the application for the EDA funding assistance. PASSED, APPROVED and ADOPTED this 5th day of November, 2007. Roy D. Buol, Mayor ATTEST: Jeanne F. Schneider, City Clerk F:\USERS\Adejong\Warehouse District\EDA Planning Grant\Resolution approving EDA Grant application.doc APPLICATION FOR Version 7/03 FEDERAL ASSISTANCE 2 D 2 0 SUBMITTED Applicant Identifier 1 1. TYPE OF SUBMISSION: 3. DATE RECEIVED BY STATE State Application Identifier Application Pre-application I~ Construction ~ Construction 4. DATE RECEIVED BY FEDERAL AGENCY Federal Identifier Non-Construction ~ Non-Construction 5. APPLICANT INFORMATION Legal Name: Or anizational Unit: Cit of Dubu ue, Iowa Y q Department: Economic Development Organizational DUNS: Division: Address: Name and telephone number of person to be contacted on matters Street: involving this application (give area code) Prefix: First Name: 50 W. 13th St. Mr. Aaron City: Middle Name Dubuque M. County: Last Name Dubuque DeJong SAate: Zip C de Suffix: o 01 5522 Country: Email: USA adejong@cityofdubuque.org 6. EMPLOYER IDENTIFICATION NUMBER (EIN): Phone Number (give area code) Fax Number (give area code) _ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ (563)589-4393 (563)589-4221 8. TYPE OF APPLICATION: 7. TYPE OF APPLICANT: (See back of form for Application Types) ~ New ~I Continuation ~ Revision C. Municipality If Revision, enter appropriate letter(s) in box(es) See back of form for description of letters.) they (specify) ^ ^ Other (specify) 9. NAME OF FEDERAL AGENCY: Economic Development Administration 10. CATALOG OF FEDERAL DOMESTIC ASSISTANCE NUMBER: 11. DESCRIPTIVE TITLE OF APPLICANT'S PROJECT: ~~_~~~ Master Planning project for the Dubuque Warehouse District TITLE (Name of Program): Local Technical Assistance 12. AREAS AFFECTED BY PROJECT (Cities, Counties, States, etc.): City of Dubuque, Iowa 13. PROPOSED PROJECT 14. CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS OF: Start Date: Ending Date: a. Applicant b. Project 112008 11/2008 Iowa 1st District owa 1st District 15. ESTIMATED FUNDING: 16. IS APPLICATION SUBJECT TO REVIEW BY STATE EXECUTIVE RDER 12372 PROCESS? a. Federal ~ THIS PREAPPLICATION/APPLICATION WAS MADE a Yes ~ 75,000 . . AVAILABLE TO THE STATE EXECUTIVE ORDER 12372 b. Applicant PROCESS FOR REVIEW ON c. State DATE: 25,000 d. Local 15,000 ~ b. No. (rJ PROGRAM IS NOT COVERED BY E. O. 12372 e. Other ~ ~ OR PROGRAM HAS NOT BEEN SELECTED BY STATE 60,000 FOR REVIEW f. Program Income 0 . 17. IS THE APPLICANT DELINQUENT ON ANY FEDERAL DEBT? g. TOTAL 175,000 ~ n Yes If "Yes' attach an explanation. ~ No 18. TO THE BEST OF MY KNOWLEDGE AND BELIEF, ALL DATA IN THIS APPLICATION/PREAPPLICATION ARE TRUE AND CORRECT. THE DOCUMENT HAS BEEN DULY AUTHORIZED BY THE GOVERNING BODY OF THE APPLICANT AND THE APPLICANT WILL COMPLY WITH THE TTACHED ASSURANCES IF THE ASSISTANCE IS AWARDED. a. A thorized Re r ntative ~efix First Name Middle Name r. RoY D. Last Name uffix Buol Title .Telephone Number (give area code) Mayor 563 589-4110 . Signature of Authorized Representative .Date Signed rrevious Damon usaoie Authorized for Local Reproduction Standard Form 424 (Rev.9-2003) Prescribed by OMB Circular A-102 EDA Grant Application Dubuque Warehouse District Master Plan Part 1: Section B 1. The project will be located within Census Tract 1 within the City of Dubuque, Iowa in Dubuque County with the benefits being received within Census Tract 1. Specifically, the Dubuque Warehouse District is an area from 12th Street on the north to 5th Street on the south, White Street on the west and the Hwy 61-151 corridor on the east. 2. Census Tract 1 encompasses the majority of downtown Dubuque. The unemployment rate is 5.3% (43% greater than the national average), per capita income is $14,545 (67% of the national average), vacancy rate for housing is 20.9%, and the poverty rate is 24.9% (over twice the national average) for the census tract according to the 2000 Decennial Census. The project at full build-out after planning will be a $200 million investment in the area over 10 years and will create many new employment, housing and commercial space opportunities for the residents and employers in the area. Section C 1. The scope of work for the project will consist of developing a Master Plan for the Dubuque Warehouse District. This plan will define the intent for the district as a mixed- use neighborhood that preserves history, respects the environment, recruits a talented workforce, and continues to make Dubuque a great place to live for many future generations. The scope of work for the Master Plan will include the following analyses: 1. Land use suggestions 2. Phased redevelopment of the District 3. Parking infrastructure needs 4. Street, water, sewer, and technology infrastructure needs 5. streetscape design guidelines 6. Market Analysis 7. Marketing package to facilitate occupancy 8. Green redevelopment 9. Architectural renderings 2. The components of the proposed investment will be the creation of a master plan for the Dubuque Warehouse District which includes the scope of work identified in Section C Question 1. Section D 1. The CEDS for the region was developed by the designated Economic Development District for the region, East Central Intergovernmental Association (ECIA) and addresses a five county region in Northeast Iowa. The CEDS has several goals and objectives and the Warehouse District master planning effort is an activity identified in the CEDS and is a vital element in the CEDS goals and activities. Below is a description of how the Warehouse District will help to achieve the CEDS goals and objectives. - Increase/Expand the Economic Segments in the Region The Warehouse District will promote tourism and recreation in the region because this area was once the Millworking Capital of the U.S. in the late 1800's and early 1900's. The area is being nominated to the National Register of Historic Places and there are plans to incorporate a museum to tell the story of millworking in Dubuque. This museum will promote tourism in the area as well as complement the future retail opportunities for visitors and residents. The Warehouse District is also home the Business Accelerator program which assists small business startups. The program consists of finding inexpensive office space for a new business and then in agreement with the property owner, the business has expansion rights to more space adjacent to their current space for future growth. The property owner agrees not develop the reserved space for anyone else for a defined time frame (typically 10 years). This allows the business to grow incrementally without having to move their business to an entirely new location. This innovative approach has already been utilized in the Warehouse District by two technology companies as it is attractive to rapidly growing industries. The over 1 million square feet of vacant space in the Warehouse District is an opportunity to utilize the community's existing resources. Redeveloping the buildings in the district will cause less urban sprawl in the suburban fringe of the community and promote redevelopment as a green development technique to alleviate environmental concerns. - Create a Skilled, Highly Educated, Permanent, Full-Time Workforce for Business and Industry In today's business climate, attracting a skilled, highly educated, permanent, full-time workforce can be a difficult task, especially for amid-size community that must compete with the nation's metropolises. The Warehouse District is seen by the Dubuque community as an engine to attract educated, professional workers to the region by offering an urban atmosphere to live, work, and play. Having this living choice available to people considering taking a job in the region could provide the quality of life components that they seek. Additionally, commercial office space will be a vital component to the Warehouse District providing space to new and existing companies as well as to young entrepreneurs wanting to locate in Dubuque. - Facilitate the Improvement and Maintenance of the Housing Stock and Housing Supply in the Region The housing market in the region is missing a significant component: an urban area with market rate apartments or affordable condominiums. The Warehouse District would provide these housing options. Having these options avaliable will make the Dubuque area a more attractive option when recruiting talent to the area. 2) The Warehouse District is located in Census Tract 1 which is the most economically distressed tract in the community. The poverty rate for the area is more than twice the national average and owner-occupied property values are only 57% of the county average. The area would benefit greatly from the revitalization of the warehouse district in providing increased employment opportunities and increased property values. The area had a major employer leave. Regency Thermographers, aprinting company, closed in January 2007 and eliminated 137 positions. They were located in the Kirby building which is situated in the heart of the Warehouse District. The public infrastructure is in disrepair in the area and many of the buildings are beginning to deteriorate because they are not generating income to facilitate continual maintenance. Section E By creating a Master Plan for the Warehouse District, the City will most certainly satisfy the EDA's "Investment Policy Guidelines". Once the Master Plan is developed and implemented, the Warehouse District will create higher-skill, higher-wage jobs. At full build-out of the Warehouse District, it is estimated over 500 jobs will be created by companies locating in the area. The district has already recruited one technology company to locate in the district and another technology company is structuring a lease in the district. Most of the jobs being created pay over $50,000/yr salaries (which is considerably higher than the approximately $33,000/yr county average) and these companies expect to double and triple in size over the next four years. The Warehouse District will continue to be a draw for these types of companies and entrepreneurs to the region. However, without a Master Plan for the district, it is difficult to "sell" the concept to businesses, entrepreneurs and potential developers. Businesses really like the urban atmosphere of the area, but are hesitant to act now because they see the area as what it is currently, not for the vision of what it is to become. A master plan will illustrate this vision and assist in recruiting companies and entrepreneurs to the District. The technology companies that are considering moving to the Warehouse District are hiring employees that want to live close to their work. These employees like the urban atmosphere and seek similar housing choices. The Warehouse District is seen as a place for market rate apartments and condominiums. This will generate increased property taxes, sales taxes, and income taxes in the area that do not exist today. It will create the `critical mass' in the area to jumpstart the area's economic engine. The Master Plan will also provide a roadmap for which the City can begin to improve the public infrastructure in the area. Future projects identified by the property owners are estimated to be $146 million of private investment for the area. Combined with public investments, over $200 million is expected to be spent to revitalize the district. Section F The Master Plan would incorporate in an area of the region that satisfies several of the funding priorities of the program. The following are descriptions as to why the area qualifies for funding. Dubuque's Census Tract 1, which the Warehouse District resides, has an unemployment rate of 5.3%, according to the 2000 U.S. Census. That is 1.6% higher than the national average. This master plan will facilitate redevelopment and continued job creation in the area. The per capita income level for the area is $14,545 according to the 2000 U.S. Census. That is 74% of the statewide average and 67% of the national average. These statistics clearly show the income levels in this area are significantly lower than other areas. The poverty rate for the area is 24.9%, which is double the national average and over triple the poverty rate for the county. Low income families are concentrated in this area and this project investment will help in revitalizing the area economically. The Warehouse District will be a major infill development project for the community that will benefit the environment. Creating new housing and commercial development in the city will ease the stress of taking open land for development on the outskirts of town. Living in the downtown area lessens the need for automobiles because goods and services can be accessed nearby. Section G We most certainly have the capability to administer, implement, and attract private sector investments in the area. The Port of Dubuque, which lies only four city blocks away, has seen nearly $300 million in private investment that is completed or committed. A major highway separates the two areas so the benefit of the investments have not yet spread to the Warehouse District. Developers, property owners, and public agencies have shown strong interest to invest in the area. They have committed to invest $200 million over the next 10 years to revitalize the area. Section H The project (developing a Master Plan) is scheduled to begin in January 2008 and be completed by October 2008. Section I No private employers will benefit from this project because these funds will only be used for the master planning of the Warehouse District. Section J 1. Yes 2. Yes Section K Estimated Non-Construction Project Budget Personnel $ - Fringe Benefits $ - Travel $ - Equipment $ - Supplies $ - Contractual 175,000 Other $ - Total Direct Charges $ - Indirect Charges $ - Total Estimated Project $ Cost 175,000 Section L 1. Non EDA funds expected to be received for the project include: Iowa Department of Economic Development $25,000 This funding is dependent on approval of an application for assistance. Warehouse District Property Owners $25,000 This funding is informally committed to the project. This funding will need a written commitment. City of Dubuque $15,000 This funding is in the current budget. Dubuque Initiatives $15,000 This funding is committed to the project. Other private sources $20,000 This funding is dependent upon fundraising efforts for the project. 2. Yes. 3. The necessary fundraising, application approvals, and other approvals need to be received for the funds to be totally committed to the project. This funding will be finalized upon approval of the $75,000 EDA grant requested herein. 4. No. 5. No. Section M -Not Needed Section N -Not Needed Part II 1. The project will be located within Census Tract 1 within the City of Dubuque, Iowa in Dubuque County with the benefits being received within Census Tract 1. Specifically, the Dubuque Warehouse District is an area from 12th Street on the north to 5th Street on the south, White Street on the west and the Hwy 61-151 corridor on the east. 2. Economic Distress Levels a. The region is eligible for funding because Census Tract 1 meets the criteria for Unemployment. The unemployment rate was 1.6% higher than the national average for the area according to the most recent decennial census (the 2006 American Community Survey does not go down the tract level). b. The region also meets the Per Capita Income criteria. The per capita income for the 2000 Census was $14,545 compared to the national average of $21,587, or 67% of the national average (the 2006 American Community Survey does not go down the tract level). c. The area has also had a major employer leave. Regency Thermographers, a printing company, closed in January 2007 and eliminated 137 positions. They were located in the Kirby building which is situated in the heart of the Warehouse District. 3. The area is located in an Iowa Enterprise Zone and is planned to be included in a City of Dubuque Urban Renewal District. The goals of these districts are to create investment and new employment opportunities in the areas they cover. 4. Not Applicable 5. The 2000 U.S. Decennial Census was used for the unemployment and income statistics for Census Tract 1 in the city of Dubuque, Iowa. The most recent ACS databases do not go down to the city or tract level and are not an accurate representation of the statistics for the project area. Part III The per capita income for the project area is not more than 80% of the national average which translates to a maximum investment rate for the project of 50% according to Exhibit III.A.