AGENDA OLD TOWN DEVELOPMENT BOARD MEETING

City Hall, Exhibit Hall, 4th Floor April 6, 2017

1. Call to order

2. Approval of March Minutes 3. Officers’ Reports

• Chairperson’s Report i. Expenditures – review March expenditures

ii. Poetry Project Proposal iii. ArtScape Update iv. Art Mural Project Update

• Vice Chairperson’s Report

4. Standing Committee Reports

• Design Committee • Economic Vitality - Greatness Program • Organization • Promotions

5. Downtown Manager Updates

• Virginia Main Street Information and Training Planning • Other

6. Old Business

• Façade Grant Application Review

7. New Business 8. Public Comments 9. Adjournment Next meeting – The next OTDB meeting be MAY 11, 2017 at 5:30 p.m. in City Hall, 4th Floor

Exhibit Hall.

Draft Minutes

OLD TOWN DEVELOPMENT BOARD Rouss City Hall, 4th Floor Exhibit Hall Winchester, Virginia

March 2, 2017 5:37 PM

Attendees: Scott Dawson (Chair), Cory Garman (Vice Chair), Kathlene Courtney, Elizabeth Minor, Andrea Smith, Scott Spriggs, Drew Van Laeken. Downtown Manager Jennifer Bell. City Manager Eden Freeman. Absent: David Cavallaro (Notes taken by Sarah Acuff Chapman)

Call to Order Approval of Minutes

• Approval of February meeting minutes – Unanimously approved Officers’ Reports

• Chairperson’s Report – Scott Dawson o Discussion regarding the audio recording of meetings. Eden requested that they continue to be

recorded. Other boards are recording meetings. o Expenditures Report – review February expenditures – no questions.

• Vice-Chairperson’s Report – delayed to later in the meeting Standing Committee Reports

• Economic Vitality – Scott Dawson o Greatness Program Photography. Chose a photographer at last meeting. Already contacting

businesses. [Cory Garman arrived]

o Façade Grant. Still have funds available: $1644.10. Maximum is $1000 per business. Need to spend by June 1, have matching funds, and only Greatness Program businesses are eligible. Options: 1: Reach out to existing Greatness Program businesses. 2: Approach new businesses for Greatness Program 3.0. Suggestions? Discussion.

[Scott Spriggs arrived] Decide to update application and reissue to current Greatness Program businesses. New deadline and OTDB will review at board meeting.

o Remaining Greatness Program funds expenditure discussed. Funds remain as not all businesses did web ads., did not pay to boost ads and did not do OTWBA paper ad. Idea to do summer ads before funds run out June 30. Any other suggestions? Previously voted to allow Jennifer to determine how to spend funds.

• Design – Cory Garman o Nothing to report at this time for Design or Vice Chairperson’s report.

Downtown Manager’s Updates • Chocolate Escape survey results. Great response from businesses. Drew shared that the weather was

amazing and was their best weekend so far this year. Hard to gauge how many because of chocolate escape. Jennifer shared that parking numbers in the garages doubled and attendance about 1000 people.

• Celtic Fest on March 11. Special Event Contractor event. Schedule and poster distributed. New venues this year. 147 North, Winchester Brew Works, Joe’s Steakhouse. Showing Brigadoon at Handley Library. OTW Leprechaun Hunt in downtown businesses. OTW organizes the hunt. Great response from last year. Need volunteers to help deliver balloons to locations on Saturday.

• YDC Jingle Bell Run rescheduled for March 11. There will be road closures in the morning. • March 16 Old Town Farmers Market Pot Luck. Board members are invited to attend. Appreciate

volunteers for the market. Location is Kitty Hockman’s farm. She is a market vendor. Pot luck is for returning vendors, prospective vendors, and volunteers.

• First Friday Art Reception this Friday 5-7 p.m. Would appreciate having an OTDB member host.

• Virginia Main Street Regional Rev Up at the Barns of Rose Hill on March 20. OTDB members invited to

attend. • Event Rack Cards distributed. Produced by Full Circle Marketing.

Old Business • none

New Business • Virginia Main Street Grant Opportunities. Deadline is March 10 for the Downtown Improvement Grant.

These are annual grants. If we have a project idea, we can apply. If not, be aware of opportunities available for the future. Community Business Launch example. Other communities use this grant to foster entrepreneurs to fill vacancies downtown. Downtown Improvement Grant mentions marketing funds. Greatness Program 3.0 could use. 1:1 for grant matching funds. If $20,000 approved in budget, could apply for $20,000 in grant funds. Suggestions? Idea to do a video update- to profile businesses – write stories, take photos. Question about infrastructure needs downtown, like holiday decorations. Can include in future budgets. Eden shared that she will be presenting the budget to council on April 28 and can try to find money for the project. Can discuss these grants next year during the budget planning meeting. Is it worth the effort now to try and put something together? Action Item: Send email tomorrow about an Economic Vitality meeting next week to brainstorm and work on the grant. 72 hr. public notice required so either late on the 8th or early on the 9th. Other grants available also. Design services available through Main Street. Action Item: Send list of grants to board members.

• Art Mural Support. A downtown business owner is working on a mural project for their building. Jennifer and Scott Dawson are meeting with them next week and will report back at next month’s meeting Cory shared that it is the Winchester Mural Project. Idea is to beautify Indian Alley. Eden shared that City is the process of redoing the sign ordinance.

• Poetry Proposal. Shenandoah Valley Poetry Alliance. John Berry. April is poetry month and would like display poetry in kiosk downtown. Action Item: Invite to attend OTDB meeting to present proposal.

• Shen Arts asked Andrea to invite the OTDB to the opening reception for ShenArts ArtScape on April 18 at the MSV. Someone will be coming to the April meeting to formally invite the board to attend.

Public Comments • Bonnie Landy from OTWBA. Chair of the Executive Board. Distributed poster proposal and event posters

for consideration. Four posters; Egg Hunt, Back to School, Spooktacular, Plaid Friday. Asking for design input/feedback and financial assistance. $50 per poster for design fee. $85 per poster for 75 prints. OTWBA will distribute to businesses. Question if Greatness funds can be used. Jennifer said that the designs would need to tie to great businesses or something similar. One poster is in this fiscal year’s budget. The other three are the next fiscal year with has not been approved yet. Technically do not have funds to vote on since not approved. Eden said to let her know what is requested and she can consider it while putting the budget together. Money in FY17 Greatness Program for design. Greatness is for the 38 participating businesses. Egg Hunt is for everyone, but does include those businesses. Bonnie said if given a list, she could make sure each Greatness business gets a poster. Motion to include the Easter Egg Hunt poster printing and design into the Greatness Program 2.0 budget. Scott Spriggs so moved. Seconded. No Discussion. Motion approved unanimously 7/0. Action Item: Scott Dawson, Jennifer Bell, Bonnie Landy will meet to discuss revision to include something about Greatness. Cory Garman moved to recommend that the board approve the funding $405 to support the remaining posters for Old Town Winchester Business Association event. Seconded. Motion approved unanimously.

• Matt Gerboth – Resident. Just curious about what goes on at OTDB meetings. Motion to adjourn. Seconded. Unanimously approved 7/0. Adjournment 6:46 p.m. The next OTDB meeting will be Thursday, April 6, 2017 at 5:30 p.m. in City Hall, 4th Floor Exhibit Hall.

March 2017 Expenditures

Professional Services/Special Events (31-66) BudgetedMarch

Expenditures Current BalanceMonthly Retainer - April $6,666.67W-03-17 Event Expenses $2,316.82W-04-17 Event Expenses $1,831.49

FYTD Account Total $202,000.00 $10,814.98 $52,687.08

Professional Services/Other (31-70) BudgetedMarch

Expenditures Current BalanceWeb Content Management for Feb $300.00

FYTD Account Total $13,940.00 $300.00 $6,292.00

Local Media (36-01) BudgetedMarch

Expenditures Current BalancePROMOTIONS Radio Ads - Chocolate Escape $500.00PROMOTIONS Facebook Ads - Chocolate Escape $21.33

FYTD Account Total $12,509.00 $521.33 $4.61

Postal Services (52-10) BudgetedMarch

Expenditures Current BalanceCity Hall Postage - February $1.40

FYTD Account Total $500.00 $1.40 $474.19

Telecommunications (52-30) BudgetedMarch

Expenditures Current BalanceWork Cell Phones for February $71.54

FYTD Account Total $830.00 $71.54 $321.41

Travel/Meals, Lodging, Registration Fees (55-40) BudgetedMarch

Expenditures Current BalanceLodging for VMS Directors Retreat Lexington $201.68

FYTD Account Total $1,900.00 $201.68 $1,060.04

Office Supplies (60-01) BudgetedMarch

Expenditures Current BalanceChocolate Escape Paper $21.88Notepads $8.54

FYTD Account Total $375.00 $30.42 $344.58

Food & Food Service (60-02) BudgetedMarch

Expenditures Current BalanceReception Supplies $14.49Reception Supplies $16.03

FYTD Account Total $430.00 $30.52 $200.75

Other Operating Supplies (60-14) BudgetedMarch

Expenditures Current BalanceChocolate Escape Balloons $63.18

FYTD Account Total $4,558.00 $63.18 $3,768.68

Ratio of budget to all investment: $12.51

Ratio of budget to private investment: $7.22

Ratio of budget to public investment: $5.29

Estimated market value of time 2: $975,140

Hours contributed since 1997: 37,376

Businesses to date: 516

Jobs to date: 2,122

Five year cost per job: $9,043

Physical Improvements1

Cumulative investment to date: $128,990,852

Cumulative rehabilitation projects: 627

Average Investment: $205,727

Cumulative investment to date: $67,516,726

Cumulative projects: 113

Average Investment: $597,493

Notes and Sources

The 2015 Virginia Main Street economic impact study 30 Years of Impact: How the Main Street program has revitalized Virginia communities was

researched and published by Virginia Commonwealth University’s Center for Urban and Regional Analysis. One outcome achieved was the correction of

duplicate and invalid entries included over the 30 years of reporting for the program. Though some communities may notice lower cumulative numbers

than in pre-2015 reports, the data is correct.

www.oldtownwinchesterva.com

jennifer.bell@winchesterva.gov

All figures are from the Virginia Main Street Database (VMSD) except

where noted.

1 All monetary figures have been adjusted for inflation using the Consumer

Price Index.

Scott Dawson, Chairman

Winchester Old Town Development Board

Jennifer Bell, Executive Director

(540) 535-36612 Independent Sector, Giving and Volunteering in the United States, 2015.

Independent Sector’s value of a volunteer hour is based on annual Bureau

of Labor Statistics average hourly wages and increased by 12% to account

for benefits.

Cumulative Program Statistics

Winchester 2016

Public Investment

Economic Impacts on Main Street

Program Funding for Main Street

Private Investment

Value of Volunteers

Created, Retained and Expanded

Five Year Leveraging 1

0

50

100

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1985 1988 1991 1994 1997 2000 2003 2006 2009 2012 2015

# J

ob

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Job Creation Trends

$0

$50,000

$100,000

$150,000

$200,000

$250,000

$300,000

$350,000

$400,000

$450,000

$500,000

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

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ollars

Budget Summary

Other

Grants

Fundraising

Contributions

Service Dist.

Membership

County Govt.

Local Govt.

Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development

Virginia Main Street Program | (804) 371-7030 | mainstreet@dhcd.virginia.gov

Cumulative Program Statistics

What all the Numbers Mean

Virginia Main has developed the following series of benchmarks and performance indicators based on the data which it has collected since 1985 and based on guidance from the International Economic Development Council’s Economic Developer’s

Reference Guide. All dollar figures are adjusted for inflation.

Program Funding for Main Street

The Budget Summary Chart shows the organization’s actual budget revenue by funding source over the past five years.

Five Year Leveraging: Generally, most economic development programs should evaluate performance at around the five year mark. Less than five years can be too early to truly assess the value of economic development programs which require time to mature. Beyond five years the data becomes more reliable, but for some performance indicators like leveraging and cost per job, longer stretches of time may not reflect a contemporary view of the program’s current performance.

Ratio of budget to all investment: A ratio that compares the total amount of all direct investment downtown recorded by the local Main Street program for the past five years with the total amount of local Main Street program funding from all sources for the past five years. The figure given essentially completes the sentence, “For every dollar that goes into the local Main Street budget in this community, another $ of public and private investment occurs.” Ratio of budget to private investment: A ratio that compares the total amount of direct private investment in building improvements downtown recorded by the local Main Street program for the past five years with the total amount of local Main Street program funding from all sources for the past five years. The figure given essentially completes the sentence, “For every dollar that goes into the local Main Street budget in this community, another $ of private investment in building improvements occurs.” Ratio of budget to public investment: A ratio that compares the total amount of direct public investment in public amenities and improvements downtown recorded by the local Main Street program for the past five years with the total amount of local Main Street program funding from all sources for the past five years. The figure given essentially completes the sentence, “For every dollar that goes into the local Main Street budget in this community, another $ of public investment in building improvements occurs.” Value of Volunteers Estimated market value of time: The estimated value of a volunteer hour is published each year by The Independent Sector research group. Hours in each year are multiplied by the appropriate value and adjusted for inflation to current dollars. Hours contributed since: The total number of volunteer hours contributed to local Main Street projects. VMS started to collect this data in 1997, so data for older programs is partial. Economic Impacts on Main Street The Jobs Creation Trends Chart shows the number of new full-time equivalent jobs (heavy line) within the Main Street district since the beginning of the organization’s participation in the Virginia Main Street program as reported by the local Main Street organization. It also includes a dashed exponential trend line to give a general sense of the direction of jobs creation is going. (This may be omitted for organizations exhibiting downward sloping job creation trend lines).

Created, retained and expanded: A created business is one that is new and all its jobs are recorded in the data base as new. A retained business is one that opted to remain in its current location or another within the Main Street district, rather than going outside the area. VMS does not count any of the businesses jobs because they are not new. However, the retention of a business is recognized as significant economic development work on the part of the local Main Street organization, and is counted. An expanded business is one that has added new jobs while remaining within the local Main Street

district. Both the business and the jobs are included in the total. VMS recognizes that this method will result in some overlap; it is within an acceptable margin of error considering the constant flux of the downtown and the imperfections of communication about business behavior. Five year cost per job: Generally, most economic development programs should evaluate performance at around the five year mark. Less than five years can be too early to truly assess the value of economic development programs which require time to mature. Beyond five years the data becomes more reliable, but for some performance indicators like leveraging and cost per job, longer stretches of time may not reflect a contemporary view of the program’s current performance. The cost per job ratio compares the total amount of local Main Street program funding from all sources for the past five years with the total number of jobs created within the local Main Street district for the same five year period. The figure given essentially completes the sentence, “The local Main Street program spends about $ for every job that is created in the local Main Street district of this community.” The average for all economic development programs is around $6,000. The average for Virginia Main Street programs in 2004 was about $3,000. Physical Improvements Private Investment. Cumulative investment to date is the total dollar amount (adjusted for inflation) of exterior, interior, signs, new construction and other improvements to privately owned buildings, within the Main Street district since the organization entered the Virginia Main Street program. Cumulative rehabilitation projects is the total number of exterior, interior, signs, new construction and other improvements to privately owned buildings within the Main Street district since the organization entered the Virginia Main Street program. Average investment is the average dollar amount (adjusted for inflation) spent on any given exterior, interior, sign, new construction or other improvement to privately owned buildings within the Main Street district since the organization entered the Virginia Main Street program. Public Investment. Cumulative investment to date is the total dollar amount (adjusted for inflation) of streetscape, utility, new facility/amenity, signage and other improvements to public spaces, within the Main Street district since the organization entered the Virginia Main Street program. Cumulative rehabilitation projects is the total number of streetscape, utility, new facility/amenity, signage and other improvements to public spaces within the Main Street district since the organization entered the Virginia Main Street program. Average investment is the average dollar amount (adjusted for inflation) spent on any given streetscape, utility, new facility/amenity, signage or other improvement to public spaces within the Main Street district since the organization entered the Virginia Main Street program.

Did your business participate in St. Paddy's Celtic Fest?

On a scale from 1 to 5, did you see an increase in foot traffic to your business?

Did you see an increase in new customers?

Did you see an increase in sales from the same weekend last year? If so, please indicate approximate percentage.

On a scale of 1 to 5, what is your overall rating of this event? My business is located:

Did you do any publicizing of this event?

Did you see an increase in St. Patrick’s Day associated spending this year? (For example: gifts, gift certificates, reservations)

Please add any Comments or Suggestions on what to keep or what to add next year.

Yes, as an entertainment venue 4 Yes More than 15% 4

On the north end of the mall Yes - Social Media No

Yes, as a hunt location 5 - (Large Increase) Yes No increase 5 - ExcellentOn the south end of the mall Yes - Social Media Yes

Sales are excellent with this event, but were down alittle from last year due to the extreme weather change. Other than that we @ Once Upon A Find feel this is a great event for Old Town.

Yes, as a hunt location 1 - (No Increase) No No increase 3On the north end of the mall Yes - Social Media No

This year, we had a decrease in our sales and traffic by about 20%.

Yes, as a hunt location 1 - (No Increase) No No increase 3 Secondary district No

No 2 No No increase 5 - ExcellentOn the north end of the mall No No

No 1 - (No Increase) No No increase 1 - Poor Secondary district No No

Yes, as a hunt location 1 - (No Increase) No No increase 1 - PoorOn the north end of the mall Yes - Social Media No

Please note that we had no one come in looking for the leprechaun. Only one person noticed the leprechaun in the shop and then asked what it was.

No 2 No No increase 4On the north end of the mall No No

Yes, as a hunt location 1 - (No Increase) No No increase 1 - PoorOn the south end of the mall Yes - Social Media No

I had two people come in for the hunt but did not spend anything... other then that traffic was way down from last year plus not a good Saturday at all. No activities were on the south end of the mall to bring people down here.

Yes, as a hunt location 1 - (No Increase) Yes No increase 1 - Poor Secondary district Yes - Social Media No

Yes, as a hunt location 3 Yes 3 Secondary district Yes - Social Media

We believe the weather was a MAJOR factor in the low turn out. It was cold, damp and windy. Not may people out and about. The Chocolate Gala was warm - doors were open and folks were out in the masses. We had a HUGE turnout for that event. Event was well planned and publicized by OTW - Mother Nature shot us all down!

Yes, as a hunt location 1 - (No Increase) No No increase 3 Secondary district No No We did not have one person participate in the hunt.

No 1 - (No Increase) No No increase 3On the south end of the mall No No

Yes, as a hunt location 4 Yes 1-5% 3On the south end of the mall No No

We participated in the leprechaun hunt that was to start at noon but did receive the clues until 12:30. A bit awkward for those that came in early

Yes, as a hunt location 1 - (No Increase) No No increase 2On the north end of the mall Yes - Social Media No see below

I was quite disappointed in the turnout for this festival. The chocolate escape was so much better. Maybe it is more of a drinking event and clubs/bars/restaurants do better, but my sales for a Saturday event were horrible!!!! Only 2 people even came through for the scavenger hunt!! I did post on facebook and tons of word of mouth weeks prior to the event. I am not sure what advertising was done for the event but I can tell you none of my employees who live either on the mall or within several blocks never even hear about the festival except for me telling them!! And the age range for my people are 25-65. I also have a thought for next year, what is the possibility of having the event actually on the 17th I believe it will be a Saturday? I know this past St Pattys was celebrated on the actual day in downtown Annapolis as they do every year. They have a live radio broadcast from one of the bars, they have a beer garden, giveaways, costume contests. Several merchants are involved besides just the bars. I know downtown Annapolis is easily 5 times the size of our downtown but it is similar to us in historic value, tons of shops and restaurants, cobble stone streets and patrons have to park and walk to enjoy it . I don't know if it is a practical thing here but maybe it is worth a thought. Hope you don't mind my feedback....Thanks