April 07, 2021 8:30 AM - 11:30 PM
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Good morning. How are you today? Good. I need to change my background cause I'm in, um, Howlett mountain now. Hey, you're you get around? Do you not? I know yesterday we were meeting with pilot mountain. Then I had another picture behind there. Like, do you need us to get you a Zeb pitcher? You know, I have some in my, um, in my folder, so let me see if I can pull one up, make it, let 'em in your chaos. I'll do an alright. This morning, all are so impressed with all the work that's been done on that spreadsheet. I tend to forget from once a month on what work's been done.
Well, everybody's really great at sending the information in, um, now, and, and I'll go ahead and tell you before is the one area that, um, I'm not having a lot of success in and it's just now gotten warm. It was so wet and cold was the eight characteristics of a great mainstream. And we just aren't filling that out. Like I wanted to say one of the thing I'm going to do is just to put it out there on the website for the everybody, and kind of like a survey or questionnaire and ask everybody to fill it out and send it.
You know, it went from everything cold and wet, wet, wet, and now it's turned off more. Amanda and I had even spoken to a few nonprofit groups and stuff and you know, hoping that okay. Or the church and the church has sent it to the churches, you know, like, okay, get your Sunday school class out on a pretty fun day or, or whatever. And I'm just, I haven't, that takes a little bit more time, you know, and I'm just, haven't really gotten feedback on that one.
Redo that. Yeah, that's good. That's okay. I think that's a good way to do it. I think that's what Paul, what Mountain's going to do as well. All right. I can not. I'm having a brain freeze here. What County lives is moved? All our photos and stuff around what County are you guys in? Wait, wait. That's what I thought. I should've done that. We had a lot of weight camp cities work in this program. Let's see if she moved yet. She did move the pictures around. So I have no idea what this is going to look like. I'll pull it up. Let's see. Oh no, I don't want the <inaudible> one
That's right. That's right. No, look so, see and guessing here what these are going to be now I'm up there among the people there. Let's see what this, Oh, it's back to that again. Huh? Interesting. I'm looking at, I'm assuming that these are the photos that you sent in with your application.
Oh my gosh. My car yesterday that I wasn't even sure. It was probably like, what is that? It w it was definitely pollen, but boy did it look it's a lot. Yeah. Weird, but, okay. Um, where's the good one. This one never shows up. Right? I do it if I can add that. Oh, that did. Okay. How about a late thing? What does pretend today? That that'd be a one and little river. That's right. That's right, right. Future little river park. We'll go with that one today. Here I am. Um, I'm wanting to kayak this afternoon anyway.
Right? That's that's the schedule. That was the change to me in June. And um, I w I didn't wanna, you know, touch base on some, what we need to be working on in between. I know, complete continuing to fill out forms and, uh, Damien from Doria, I've already started updating some more inventory today, just because of our buildings change. We've got some vacant and that won't. And so I've got no, I've got to work on that from Michael this afternoon. And, um, also to find out why you guys are, how things are going with COVID. Do we need to schedule a, um, a virtual meeting? Is it too early to try to anticipate when that might be? Uh, I think right now you guys are shooting for August as the, a meeting, uh, you know, for everybody getting together, but feel me in has anything changed.
The first or a in person meeting. It was supposed to be in Kingston, but then Leon couldn't, uh, he couldn't, he couldn't gather everybody in downtown, I guess, keep distance or whatever. Um, but the a hundred or so people so that, you know, they dropped out and then we kind of went real operated real quick and find a replacement. So, but who knows if that's actually gonna happen? I mean, I hope it does, but we'll see.
Well, I'd say the numbers are, you know, aren't coming down. Like they started and then, you know, people have stopped getting immunized or whatever in the room people were getting together and they've stopped dropping. Right. So right now we'll just wait, because we're talking about different times. It may be in may. So it looks like fall of may right now, maybe or virtual meetings. Yeah.
It would be good to kind of flesh that out because, um, I've kind of put in there what people have sent me and some may be considered partners and some may not. Um, I know we've got more people now that are excited about wanting to be part of the program. More of the businesses are wanting to get plugged in. And so I'm excited about that. Um, and, uh, and I don't know when we'll go live here. Um, Ms. Hannah, tell me when we start recording, but, um, the, um, you know, we've talked to a few businesses since our last meeting and people are wanting to get involved in businesses
Good, good list. The SWAT analysis. Wow. That's really good. Um, I w one thing is we could go back through that community assets and Mark, which ones are downtown too. I think you've got days. Nevermind. I see it now. I see it. Wow. That's fantastic. Great. So we can see these clustering, uh, things here.
Well, I know what's weak, uh, is the, uh, rental. Yeah. And I think he can really help me with that, of course, factors that go into well, and, and I went back and this is so true. I listened to Diane Young's presentation from the conference, talking about that rental rates. And a lot of that is that's internal for you guys and us, you know? Well, when I went off to the local level, if you publish that too much, then people think, Oh, that's the rental. There's just so many factors, but internally, you know, well, this building's going to rent for this square foot, because it would say like the mailbox, this one's gonna rent for this much per square foot, because it's so it's really hard. I know when I'm doing the, um, retail surveys and looking at all that, and I kind of chart it sometimes, and I go, here's the average, but here are all these factors. So were you able to attend, um, Diane Young's presentation? Yeah,
Wait, we got books, man. I wish I'd had that one. Wouldn't that not be a lot of time? Would it not? I just, just like, man, some of these tools, you know, which we've had on, but, um, yeah, she was very good. She, yeah, she not only speaks the language she's done it, you know? So that might for, yeah. I would say go back through that and go, I need to do this that we're really recommending it there. Evie training that everybody take a look at that again. Or if they haven't seen it to look at it. Yeah.
For you that, I mean, it's just save so much time. Yes. I'm sober. I'm all about that. All about that. Um, uh, we've got, you know, Michael is on, he's still working, but no, Michael, is there anything in particular you're thinking about before the meeting starts? Cause, um, I, I told Michael that you guys have a meeting at 10, so you're going to be shutting down. And, um, anything that migrant, you might have that in particular we need to be working on or questions before now or before the June meeting.
Uh, one of the questions that I just have is in terms of, um, I know something that you use actually have is business or building uptake brands. Um, and I was wondering if you can let me know between now and then, uh, sooner would be verbal. What other communities, um, might be using that in conjunction with the mainstream, uh, program? Um, it's something that we're exploring here. I know the city of Raleigh has extensive building plans, specifically. It allows for the town to provide funding or interior, um, infrastructure improvements to help, uh, repair structural damage installation of APC units. Um, things that go beyond your precise. That's something that we're going to be posing as part of the budget cycle. Um, but one, if it gets through, we'll be actually crafting the language associated with the plan. Um, and we, if we have a better understanding of other communities that have something similar in place,
We can send you the downtown incentive. God that that's the local, that's what the main street directors plug in is local grant. Okay. Um, some of that may be on our main street, rural planning center site, under resources and all, but I can, I'll make a note to send you instead of lists, um, you go back and forth because we provide that guide. But school with government, it's really funny. It's like, you're not supposed to be doing all these things. You probably met Michael. They were like, knew you're not supposed to be doing that. And one of our planners, we read a meeting where Tyler Mulligan spoke. This is in Western North Carolina area. And he said, well, how many towns of how many have been challenged on that? And he said, nobody. So unless somebody challenges that I don't think it becomes an issue. But when I was working, when we had the small town main street program, I give this example all the time we pushed the facade grant.
Well, this little, the talking to property enters, they got kind of a weird look about them. And I said, okay, I'm sensing, something's going on. They said, Sherry, we'd love to do besides we'd love to fit that beside that. But right now it's not off the sod that I'm worried about. It's my roof kinda caving in. If my plumbing up it's electrical, I want to do this is the return on the investment is so hard. So what they did is this little town had some money that had been gifted to them by a corporation that went out of it. That's basically said, we're leaving. Here's your party. Yeah. So that's what they did. They, they did a cat. What they call the capital improvement grant. It couldn't go for cosmetic, but it could go for upgrade and Wilkesboro. They implemented one of those as well. But you know, we just might just say, it's up to you guys, if y'all want to do w w we're not going to be that school, the government going no, no, no, no.
Get that back in your taxes because it's one of the best investments that I've ever seen a community do. I mean, you're, you're getting a, a match plus, you know, like taxes and they will, and will it, would it be a benefit? Um, also in addition to this, to just put it out there on the listserv. Yeah. Yeah. You can do that. I'll send you that, but God, honestly, I don't think I've updated it since November of 2019. So there may be some other yep. Yep. There may be some, um, especially during COVID, there's been some things, not so much towards building improvements, but just, you know, things to help businesses. Um, and you guys are getting the, a at the ARP funding with Tabata questions, asking about being able to spend that. And there was a really good article from school of government yesterday about what you can do and know with those fines. So, um, yeah, so I was on a webinar the other day with that and I, I just forwarded it to the, to the manager, um, you know, cause um, money would be coming in from yeah. Yeah. People are already looking at <inaudible> for that money. So,
Well, the only other thing I had was if you can pass on my thinking is to everybody regarding the, uh, the conference, um, the, the information that was conveyed was incredibly valuable. Um, and that was on Theresa Auscare. Seeing the presentation that ed McMahon did with leverage NC and then this one, now it's regular occasion and I'm going to Google finding all the videos as speeches and everything else. I,
Sure. I'll pass that along, along to Liz and them and yeah. See you guys know we're getting ready to go live. Okay, great. Thank you. Thank you, Hannah. Did you have anything that you saw all the information I sent over yesterday that I need to be other than all of it? Um, put some emphasis on
As far as, uh, as far as that all goes, um, I think you guys are kind of right where you need to be right now. Um, and things are looking good and hopefully, you know, by the end of summer, we can be there for the visioning forum and stuff in person and be able to knock that out.
Debbie Lynn and Manteo and do it like in a week timeframe, if, if possible. Um, since that, the long draft first here yet for that, and that is going to be a little haul for you. That's okay. Right now I'm ready to go anywhere as everybody's ready to get out there. I just came back from Asheville this weekend. Have a nice visit. I did, I can't walk. My daughter wore me out walking, hiking, so she had explants. Oh, my gracious. That's a year. My coming on board. Good morning, mayor. How are you today? Yes, we're doing great. Thank you. Um, it's it's right at eight 30. Um, we'll get started just, just a moment, but I did want to let you know that, um, uh, Sherry and Joe have, um, meetings today. So we will have to end it on time. Uh, probably just right before 10, give them a chance to get to the other meeting. So, uh, sometimes we run a little long, but, but today we know you got another, another meeting to attend, so we'll try to stay on task.
What are the responsibilities of being a member, NA a mayor and representing the town, the league that's an important meeting, an important meeting, correct? Um, well, I'll go ahead and get started. Um, just want to welcome everyone today. Um, we are into our da C uh, program. Now we had the kick off of the downtown associate community, um, program in January. Uh, we've had our organizational meetings since then, February, March, and this is our third organizational meeting, our fourth meeting for the year. So we're excited about where we're going with that. Um, just a couple, um, things we're going to be looking at some of the forums. Uh, some of you may be new and joining us, we're going to be looking at some of our forms that we, uh, have been filling out to get those complete is very important for us in our organizational piece to make sure and know where everyone is in this process, all the different players, um, and who we need to pull in to this.
So we're going to continue with that also, our next meeting. Well, not being until June, we'll not have a may meeting. Um, we had discussed it a little bit before we came online, um, worrying and I'm real excited about the opportunity when we have our, um, visioning session for everybody to be able to get together in person. I think that's going to be real important that it's in person because so many of our meetings, all of our meetings have been via zoom. And, uh, I'm very thankful for that. And at the same time, it's difficult to really build some of those relationships, um, that I think are going to be needed, um, to get that out there on the street. And I spent several days working on this pro project and pulling people together from downtown cause people are starting to call us and they're excited about what we have going on.
So we want to make sure that we have that and we can get together for that meeting. So it looks like we were hoping may it looks like it's just going to be a little bit, a little bit longer down the road. Um, today we do have, um, sharing and chart. They are with the main street program. If you haven't met them in the past, Jerry's on the Western side of the state and Chuck's, he's in Greenville. So, uh, we're glad to have them back today. We have, um, uh, a lot of our stakeholders are online and as well as our mayor, mayor Bob Mathenia with us today. And as he just said, he will, he's got another meeting he'll be leaving to go to in just a few minutes. We also have our, um, planning direct or my voice has already gone Michael Clark and our town manager, Joe Moore, um, and frequently we have our, uh, some of our elected officials. They will be, um, on, uh, Facebook and on public input as well. So we want to thank everybody for attending today. Um, and so I'm going to just turn this over to the mayor. Mayor, did you have anything that you would like to say before we, uh, kick off the meeting, uh, to Sherry and Chuck?
Well, everyone welcome you on board. I'm sorry. I had to miss the last meeting. It's just, um, I do have a lot of commitments if I think you might understand, but I appreciate everybody's input and this patient, and just looking forward to continuing to move forward. And by the way, have you seen the, uh, the old Raleigh distillery, uh, video that features downtown's everyone?
Yeah, I've got a presentation pulled up that we're going to run through. And, um, I guess at some point we can, we can review that, um, that strategic planning sheet as well, kind of dive into that a little deeper. I'm not really sure how long this presentation's gonna take maybe 20 minutes or so, but, um, yeah, so I would just, like I said, I have it pulled up so I can take the share screen.
Kick off these needs. Uh, this, this time we're going to address economic vitality and go in a little, little bit deeper and see what that really means as far as, uh, what that means for you in main street. Um, first again, just to review kind of who we are and what we do. Um, we're main street, rural planning center. Um, we are part of the department of commerce and, uh, we're the lead agency for workforce community and economic development. Um, this capacity to provide downtown revitalization and planning assistance to communities. Uh, and you know, you guys are aware that we do have the eight, um, proper prosperity zone planners, as well as, uh, you know, the main street team. So we are able to, um, provide services to communities that are not in the main program as well. Um, provide local regional market analysis and get into that a little bit deeper as to what that means.
Um, small area planning, that's pretty self-explanatory downtown design services for our partners, with you and CG and help you come up with, uh, economic development strategies within the context of historic preservation. Uh, we administer the, um, main street America program for North Carolina. And, um, when we have money, there's the mainstream options grant program that sometimes as much, hopefully this year we'll get some. So this is our flow chart, basically got our, our new secretary of commerce, Michelle Sanders, um, straight, um, seems very supportive of these programs. Um, we've got our assistant secretary, um, Kenny flowers, he's, uh, over the rural economic development team and, uh, Mike Sherry's supervisor, Liz param, and, uh, Darren Rhodes manages the, uh, uh, rural planning program.
Again, um, what we try to do is we're, we're inspiring placemaking through, um, asset based economic development. And, you know, with the goal of all of that is to have achievable, measurable results so that you can track your progress and see how things have improved. Um, as far as the program is concerned,
Again, this is Scott, what do we have? 67 main street communities, uh, right now. And they're in blue on that screen, um, got 13 or 14 small town, main streets still in the program. And we've got seven, uh, communities that are working through, uh, the DAC program, uh, white mills, a little bit ahead of y'all, but it to be surprised or surprisingly they've been in the program a year, well, two years longer than you actually, but, you know, through the COVID thing, into the mix and their, um, lack of ability to, I guess, meet in this capacity, um, you guys are probably actually right about where they are anyway. So, uh, you know, you're, you're doing great. And as far as sharing our concerns, that'd be one that's progressing pretty, pretty nicely.
All right. So, um, again, uh, we administer the main street America programs. Uh, this is a program is created by the national trust for historic preservation in 1980. Um, the, the main main street four point approach was created. Um, it was rebranded from the national trust to, uh, main street America in 2015, six States, 30 communities were selected to start. And, uh, we were one of those States and we had five, uh, communities that began the program in 1980. And if any of you have been to any of these communities, you probably have, uh, they are still very active in the program. And, you know, it's working very well for, for all of these communities.
And also kind of, uh, I guess, keep in mind when you, when you look at a new-born or a Solsbury or, you know, a Shelby, these, these communities have been at this for 41 years, they've been at it for 41 years. So you guys are just starting, don't get discouraged if it seems like it's taking a little bit too long, or it's not happening fast enough for you, this program is, is it's a marathon. It's not a sprint. Um, there is no finish line. So it's just, it's a never ending program that within 40 years, you know, who knows what downtown's up, you all, uh, you guys are in the downtown associate community. And again, that is dead as the only pathway into the designated main street community program. Um, we've, we've found over the years that there were other ways to get into the program.
Um, sometimes it'd be w when communities come in without this, um, this, this base, uh, you know, this base, I guess, this core group or the, you know, the base understanding that, you know, the organization has to be strong and the organization foundation has to be, you know, strong, just like building a house or something. Um, you can't build a house on, um, a foundation that's not starting. So that's what this program, I believe wasn't Sherry came up with this program, um, to, to help communities to not only, um, get everybody, you know, squared away. But as far as the DAC, this, this is kind of a test run, you know, it's to see if we believe that that you guys can, can move forward with the program. And it's also to see if th if this is something for the community, if this is something that you guys can get behind, or, you know, maybe in a couple of years after you go through this, you realize, man, this might not be for us right now.
So that's kind of why we, why this has been set up the way it is. And, um, we say two to three years, but it's mostly going to be a three-year process that third year you'll see much less of Sherry and I, but, um, you know, we, we will always see even when you're, you know, designated we're there for you guys. So, um, main street approach. And again, you know, we've talked about these points, I believe we'd gone over design and promotion. Uh, this one is economic vitality on next time, we'll probably touch on the organization a little bit. Um, so what is economic vitality and what does it mean it's basically, uh, knowing and understanding your existing economic assets in your town and doing what you can to strengthen them and make them stronger. Um, and it's about expanding and diversifying, you know, your, your economic base of your community. Um, if you have, you know, particular industry in your downtown and that's all you have, and then that industry goes away. Um, we've seen that over the years with, um, you know, towards like the centers of the state and, you know, kind of out towards the Western side, like when furniture manufacturing kind of dried up, that was one of the few things that, you know, a lot of communities based their entire, you know, economic existence are. And then when that went away, they were kind of watched for some years.
One of the goals for, uh, for downtown development, with relation to economic vitality, uh, we want to increase the tax base, increased the loan demands and things like that. And the financial institutions enhance property values, of course, uh, generate additional sales. And, um,
Obviously we want to create and retain jobs because if you look at your, at your downtown, and if you think of downtown as a, as an industry in and of itself, it's probably the biggest industry in your town, as far as having the most jobs, uh, where the most people, um, make their make their living, but, you know, it's everything combined would, would, would bring in that, um, that total guess your other largest employer in the area would probably be either a school system or a healthcare system. But when you look at the number of people that work downtown versus the number of people that work in that large employment center, it's probably pretty close if not more so it's downtown. So we like to think that that is an industry in itself, the responsibilities for the economic vitality. Um, again, you've got to understand your current economic conditions, what, what you have, what you need, what you're lacking, um, support for new businesses, you know, again, like what, what business makes the most sense in, you know, in what area?
Um, so we've not really gone too heavily on the business recruitment side. We kind of let that go. Um, based on, you know, your economic data, when we, when we are able to, uh, put together a market analysis for you, that'll give you a good starting point to, to kind of figure out some, you know, different, uh, economic opportunities in your downtown. Um, again, it's new uses for buildings. Um, you know, what do you do with that, that sore thumb that's on the corner of it's been vacant for a while. Well, what can we put in there, or what can we do to the building? What does the building need to be ready to be used? You know, does it, does it need a lot of investment or does it just need cleaned out? You know, is it set up for a restaurant? Does it have hoods?
You know, we just, it's all into, you know, each building is, is individually is an individual opportunity, right? Um, again, we're looking for, um, you guys too, to kind of monitor the financial side of things, as far as, um, you know, um, you know, building investment and opportunities there. And then we also have to, you know, to monitor the district and, you know, look for anything that's, that's changing or any current trends that are, that are coming or going. So again, to determine the economic conditions of downtown, again, we do a marketplace snapshot that, that kind of helps you figure, or at least gives you a good starting point. And, um, these property assessments, that's kind of what, uh, Theresa's working on now, as far as, uh, the property inventory, this is why it's so very important to have that inventory done, because you have pretty much all the information that you need about your buildings, right there, you know, on a spreadsheet, as far as the, you know, the financials, the conditions, everything like that.
So this is just an example from downtown pilot mountain. I did not, uh, upgrade or redo this, but just to let you know, this is, you know, you have a central business district in Zebulon and, you know, it does have boundaries. So your goal is to, um, basically know exactly what's going on within your boundaries of renowned top. Excuse me. So understanding the current economic conditions, what does that mean? Well, it means, uh, tax values, uh, parking, uh, basically a parking inventory along with your business and building inventory know where all your spots are, because whenever someone's going to say, well, there's not enough parking, there's not enough parking, but there probably is there probably not enough parking directly in front of their store. Um, I need to know the number of employees and residents, residents in your downtown, um, the demographic profile, what, you know, who's your target audience? What are, who are you trying to attract downtown? Um, what, what sorts of businesses appeal to what's prominent in your demographic profile?
Again, downtown businesses and, and user surveys. These are all going to be part of, of what we help you guys information that we help you gather over the next year or so. And then hopefully we can have that market analysis to kind of waiting on the, uh, the new census data for that, because, you know, it's, we don't really want to get into it too heavily and then request that the population numbers are wrong. So we're kind of holding off on any market accounts. So till those numbers
So time to build the team. So who the volunteers and who do you want working on this, this economic vitality point. And, you know, we're not to the point yet where you have your strategies and your vision, and we don't know quite how you're going to set up your, um, your work plan. Uh, if we're going to do it in a siloed approach where there's a design committee and economic fatality committee and a promotion committee, or if we're going to do it, which w what national has been encouraging and sharing, I kind of feel that this is probably a better model is to, to take it. But, um, you know, as far as strategy based, and you just take a committee per strategy, and every one of them works the four point.
Um, you know, who do you want working on this economic vitality stuff? Well, you, you know, you have the town GIS folks, um, because that's going to provide a lot of that financial data it's going to can provide a lot of the square footage, data, anything like that, same thing with County tax records, um, retirees are great for serving businesses. May, you know, maybe they're looking for a reason to get out and walk around and they can go around and possibly help you collect some of this data, um, marketing majors, uh, any anyone that can kind of help interpret the results of the surveys and, and this demographic data and see as real data. But I don't believe we're going to be using as re uh, for the, for these, uh, market snapshots any longer. But, um, we, you know, you need to find somebody that can make sense of it,
You know, state staff. And again, we will, we will do the market analysis, but again, we're waiting better, um, more accurate up-to-date numbers, um, local photographers. If you have somebody that's interested in taking photos, have them document the buildings downtown, um, have them, you know, help help you out. And, uh, maybe they just want some practice and, you know, best times a day of lighting and whatnot to go out and take some, take some, you know, practice shots, have them do it for your buildings. Um, and if you can get the history basically of, of the, of the properties, um, within the building inventory, that would be fantastically. What was, what was the building originally used for? Was it used for next? When was it built? You know, what, how long did it serve as what it was? And if you, if, if you get also photos of these buildings, they're really great to have displayed, like inside the building somewhere so that we can give people that, that sense of, wow, this building has been standing here for 130 years.
All right. So what else do you, do you support existing businesses and what does that mean? Well, we, um, basically educate existing businesses. You basically educate them on the program and educate them on, um, w what they can do to help, um, I guess, fill a gap if you will. Uh, Naomi on our team likes to use an example that came out of her market analysis, uh, in few places, Marina, when she was there, um, basically said that they needed more, uh, opportunities for shopping and more opportunities for shoes, but there, there wasn't a, um, a demand high enough for an, you know, just a shoe store to open, but she was able to convince one of her merchants to add a shoe section. And that actually turned into the majority of that, that, that merchants business became a shoe store as they kept expanding it.
So that, that's just one on one way, how these, um, these market analysis in this, this data can help, you know, a business and can help you figure out what these businesses need to, um, kind of host the, uh, business improvement seminars through, um, probably your local community college has some sort of, uh, business training, um, you know, reach out to them and get through business owners together and who knows what they can offer, you know, that we will eventually be, um, I believe doing destination trainings for, for downtown businesses. Um, I don't know when that's going to start, but we are all facilitators for a destination training. So we, we can actually probably help post one of those, um, you know, one of these, uh, business as well, um, communicate your market opportunities. You know, if you don't know what's missing, you can't tell anybody what you need and nobody's going to be able to figure it out. So you use this data to figure out what you need and market that.
Of things, but promotion and economic vitality or, or, you know, kind of, kind of, they go hand in hand. There's, they're very, um, I guess, similar in the way that, you know, you almost have to, to market your opportunities, um, the same way as promotions is marketing, you're downtown you through these, the economic vitality of the market, the opportunities for, um, for development in your downtime, and, uh, also, you know, improving the physical environment through design and where that crosses over with design is, uh, you know, that economic vitality is probably going to be more of the building rehab itself. The design is obviously, you know, what, the standards, the building will live up to the secretary of interior standards. And again, you can see how these points all sort of tie together.
Who do we need on this? Who do we need working on this? Well, chamber of commerce is always a good resource, again, the community college. Um, if there's, you know, some business organizations that would like to come in and work with your businesses, that would be great. Um, interior designers, they, they put all kind of work on the design committee. And again, though is the building is, is designed properly and it's great. It's going to be worth more money. It's going to be more valuable and it's going to be a better asset to your downtown. So that's where, again, that all ties in,
And also bring in the branding consultants. I don't know if you guys are, are going through, going to go through a branding effort or anything like that. Um, marketing consultants, you know, how do you, how do you get this promotion of your downtown businesses? How do you get it out there? How do you folks know that, Hey, we we've actually got a cool little downtown, come check it out.
And again, the promotion side of it, you know, you're gonna run your shop, local campaigns and things like that. Those all tie in to help. So finding new uses for existing buildings and or vacant land. So what are you going to do here? Well, we got to look at, you know, any codes and ordinances and, and, you know, we talked about this a little bit. How, um, kind of back in the seventies, I want to say it was everybody kind of the, you know, the trend was no more living downtown, get everybody out in the suburbs, let's get that outta here. But unfortunately, you know, we figured out is that that really killed the poor of the community because there was no one really living downtown. And there was nobody patronizing those businesses because we were all in the suburbs all going to the malls and whatnot. But, um, You know, as, as, as time progressed, we realized that that's probably not the best idea to not allow residential downtown, why, you know, why that ever went away. Not really sure, but, you know, go through your ordinances and make sure there's not some, you know, weird ordinance there for many, you know, 1978 that prohibits you from, you know, using the upper levels of your forwards or having a residential or, you know, having a different use in the downtown,
Can consult with your investors. You know, that you guys know who the players are in your downtown. You guys know who, um, basically is going to help them and possibly work to fix up the buildings and maybe who isn't, but, you know, consult with them, get them to buy into the program, then get them to understand that when they do these projects, that they're there, they're not only helping their own pockets, they're going to be helping, you know, the town and the community as a whole. And, um, w when you, when we, um, take the, what is the economic vitality training at the end of this month, isn't a chair. Is it like the 28th or something like that? April 28th. Okay. So if you guys attend that we will, we will dig into this a lot deeper. And Liz is a big fan of economic vitality, and she will, she will take you much deeper than we will right here. So who needs to be the volunteers working through this? Okay. We've got, obviously the town planning department, um, town, economic development department, uh, your realtors, your investors, and your developers. Basically, these are the folks that you really need on your team that are gonna have the, the ideas they're going to have the background knowledge as to what can and can't be done. So <inaudible>,
Um, we'll talk about this a little bit earlier, um, before the meeting, developing financial incentives and capital improvements, um, for, for, you know, for building rehabilitation and, and business development. So what does that, um, basically we're looking to develop, uh, you know, grants loans or possible use tax credits. And I can't remember, do you have any historic properties in downtown Zombieland or a district?
Okay, great. So quick, the whole district, I'm sorry, it's being proposed right now as a national historic district. Okay, great. Yeah. So once if that goes through, which, you know, hopefully it will, then you, you guys will be eligible for the tax credit projects and things like that, which are just a huge incentive to, to re uh, excuse me, to rehabilitate buildings the right way, um, grants and things like that. We talked about that a little bit, and there are, uh, you can do facade grants, you can do, uh, infrastructure grants. The only thing, what I would encourage is make sure if you're going to give a grant to a business, you know, and, and again, you know, we, we have our issues with, uh, Tyler Mulligan about these, these grants, but if you're going to do, uh, you know, an infrastructure improvement grant or a facade grant, just, just make sure that when you give that money to that business, that, or to, to the building owner, that, that improvement stays with the building, that they can't take it with them, that they can't say, okay, well, you gave us this money and we're going to, we're just going to pull this up and take it over to when down, you know, we're not, we're not make sure that with whatever you give, you know, whatever incentives you give, stay with the building.
So who do we need here? Well, we need grant writers. Um, Theresa probably got some experience there and some bankers, um, you know, people who understand the financials of things, um, research people. So, you know, who look at looking up, um, w what potential brands will work in the area, um, what, what are other communities doing? And, you know, we can help provide a little bit of that, but so many of our communities do these grants. Um, again, that's probably just, just a, um, a forum question and, and hopefully, you know, you'll get some good information out of it. Most of the folks are pretty, pretty responsive to the forum. And, um, you know, later as that, um, as that national historic district comes online, you will definitely need some tax credit specialists, because I'm going to tell you right now, I know enough to be, uh, I know enough to confuse you about the tax credit process. So, um, you're going to need to talk to some folks that really understand that, and there, there are developers in, in, you know, in this state that, that work with all tax credit projects, um, Diane Young is a great resource for tax credits. Um, so, you know, we, we do have some folks that we can steer you to for, for that assistance, so that we don't confuse the everliving light fighter. Yeah.
Okay. So this is, uh, an annual statistical practice form. Basically, you're going to, you're going to track this stuff from the beginning of the fiscal year, and these, these are the, this is the information that we're going to ask for, um, at the, at the end of this fiscal year, this is where we get all those wonderful numbers that, uh, that we tell you of the investment that has been made through this program over the years. That's, that's how we have those numbers, because our communities report back to us and we're able to keep track of all. So, you know, when we say, what is it 3.5 billion since the beginning of the program? That's how we know, because we, our programs have been tracking these from the beginning.
Oh, here we go right here. This is just, um, this is just for fiscal year 2019 through 2020, there were 360 over $360 million in, in investment in downtown, um, downtown programs within the main street program, 242 buildings rehab, 398, facades improvement improved, um, 260 new businesses, 1200 over 1200 new jobs and eight over 84,000 volunteer hours. And I forget what the number, what we w
So function, uh, responsibility and skill set, basically for, for someone working in, in, in this area is what you're going to monitor, basically the economic performance from downtown. And it uses some of these, um, some of these tools that we have as far as, uh, you know, tracking your baseline activity. Um, and, and that's all part of the, you know, the, the building inventory and things as well, but, you know, you track any investment that goes in, you keep track of your volunteer hours, you keep track of everything like that. And you advocate for that healthy business mix, so that you're not dependent upon one single, or, you know, a couple industries.
And again, always tell your story. And, and again, in the training was, we'll dig deeper. So who do, who can we have for this? Well, you know, retirees are always looking for something to do and the state involved they're, they're usually pretty good to, um, hit up for volunteers, um, travelers, you know, who's been to other main street communities, but what have you seen there? What would work here? What makes sense? Um, Theresa once, once we start moving around again, um, you will have the pleasure of being, uh, basically ushered into other main street communities across the state for our regional meetings and, uh, for our directors meetings and things like that. So you'll get a first, I, you know, first person view what some of these communities are doing and, um, you know, I can't wait for that to happen, you know, and I'm, I'm sure you've been to a lot of these communities, but, you know, it's just, it's nice to get out there and really, again, look at it through visitors eyes, and then, you know, go back to your own community and look at your own community with visitors eyes and, you know, see what, what can be done.
I was sitting on the sidewalk of Hendersonville over the weekend. And, uh, as you do look at things differently, uh, as you're sitting there and looking at where the parking spaces are and their flower arrangements, and everybody's going, what is wrong with that person? You know, looking up in the sky and looking around and sitting there all day. But, uh, you do look at things differently. You talk to the light fixture every day, and, uh, that's the best way. And I'm glad you said that John, because this group, anytime they go out somewhere, I mean, this is a team that you have, all the stakeholders are online right now. When they see something that they like, it they'll snap a photo of it. Then we get to that visioning session. Then they'll have their information. Cause if you're like me and a few months, you'll go, well, I know I like that, but I can't remember why. And if they'll be gathering this information, when they see something and just take a photo and then bring it to that visioning session and, and, uh, that'll help tremendously after,
Uh, who else can we tap? Maybe your stay at home moms, you know, something like that, something that they can do while they're, you know, taking care of the kids, you know, track to track, volunteer hours, or keep tabs on something, um, journalists, they're great for helping to, you know, tell your story and advertise that downtown. And in a social media consultant, I don't know how great you guys are with your social media. I don't personally do it very much, but it is a fantastic tool to get the word out about your community. I do have, um, an Instagram account and I'm pretty much friends with all of our downtowns on it. And, uh, it's just kinda neat to see how they, you know, how they will, uh, advertise their downtown through, you know, social media, more hidden cities is particularly interesting and good is they, they will have a post out and know maybe one day it'll be a boat. Maybe the next day, it's always stirs, you know, but it's something to get you interested and make you want to go down there and visit.
All right. So since 1980, we've got some more numbers for you. This is the number I referred to earlier, almost 3.5 billion since 1980, um, almost over 6,400 buildings, rehabbed over 7,000 facades improvement or facade improvements, 6,235 new businesses or net gain. So over the years and you know, businesses come and go, they open and close 6,235 net gain businesses. That's pretty impressive. Um, over 26,000 net jobs, both full-time and part-time work created since 1980, that's, that's more people than a small city and, um, you know, over, uh, 1800 public improvement projects. And that would be like parks, sidewalks, streetscapes, anything like that. But again, we need, it's so important that we track this number. So basically economic vitality, all this people's economic development, I'm not going to read through this entire flow chart for you up there for a second, so you can see it. And, um, yeah, th this is all part of it. And this all has to be tied together to have a positive economic,
And th this is a good reminder that as we do go through the process and I do it myself, I forget the mute, but please mute when you're not speaking. Then of course, when it's time for you speak, I always, again, forget that back on speaker, but, um, uh, I think it's taken care of now. I think I got it. Thank you.
Do you have any questions on that? That, that was a lot of data and it was, it was a pretty quick introduction to economic vitality, um, but be glad to answer any questions anybody has or, um, anything like that. And then if not, we can move on to, uh, reviewing our strategic planning sheet.
Chuck, I have a couple of questions I have about I'll let everybody else go first. And, um, also we'll see if we've got any, uh, questions that have come in off of the public input side, um, as well. Do we have anyone here on the zoom call that has any questions? Um, again, unmute yourself. If you've got any questions, please ask Hannah, do you happen to see anything, um, on the public input side?
All right. Check questions that I have is, you know, we know that the simulation is a lot different size than New York city. And with COVID, a lot of people moved down to the large cities. How do we see or think that COVID may impact some of the small towns and people wanting to live downtown, and we're still small enough that it's not an issue, or do we think we're going to have to make changes there as well?
Um, early, as far as the long lasting effects of the COVID, but as far as the, you know, people wanting to get, get out of the, um, you know, the larger urban centers, I think that really positions most of our small towns to maybe have some opportunity to expand and grow. And I don't, I don't know what it's like in Zombieland right now, but I know in Greenville, and it seems like just about every piece of land that was available is now under construction. And just about every house that goes for sale is sold within a day, or, yeah, I'm not really sure if that's just isolated here or if that's everywhere, but if there seems to be a lot of influx of folks coming to smaller community,
Maybe again, when we're looking at our charter opportunity, right. To grab some of that. Um, and then, um, you know, when we're looking at downtown, we have, as you said, inventory, I'm watching vacant businesses become, you know, occupied and vice versa. How do we, how is the best way for us to go about selecting or looking at that right mix so that we don't get too heavy? And how difficult is that going to be when someone comes in that wants to open that next, you know, or that, that 10th or whatever, or that feels whatever, and we're going, we're getting, you know, we're a small community we're getting kinda overloaded here. How do we control that?
Well, I don't necessarily know that you do. I think if, um, you know, if somebody wants to move in three coffee shops and they, they, you know, three coffee shops open right next door to each other. Um, I think, you know, kind of like, I guess, I guess the laws of nature will, will take effect and the stronger ones will stay in the weaker ones will mot and, um, you know, w what you're going to, where you're going to get that idea of what what's missing and what's lacking is from the community surveys. Um, when you survey the folks that utilize your downtown, and when you survey your business owners and things like that, that's where you're getting to get, um, kind of your, your, your baseline ideas of, Oh, well, we could really use a boutique or, you know, whatever the, the cases, but that, that data's going to come from what the community is really looking for. And, you know, for the most part.
Yeah. Thank you very much. That's a great segue check to remind. I just wrote it out as you're going through this presentation is to century. So the consumer survey that could be something to be done between now and the June meeting is get those surveys out an idea of, you know, like this, light's what they'd like to say. And also just to add chucks. Um, but Chuck was saying, and Theresa's question is, as far as controlling is really, as we've worked through this process of identify, the types of businesses is to have a plan and working with property owners and really educating this property owners. Cause sometimes, you know, you have property owners that go, I need my building to rent nail, and I want it I'll rent it to anything and anybody. And then a few months later, they've got a situation where they're renting it again, because that building didn't have bank, our business didn't have the staying power.
So we really encourage, as we're working through this process is forming that relationship with property owners who may have buildings that are available to sit down and go, what is the highest and best use for this property? What, you know, what could we put here based on consumer surveys, hopefully the retail data that we will be able to collect, to give to you to say, here's, what's missing here based on retail leakage, supply, and demand. So again, it's just sitting in a really form and a plan to work with, um, your business owners and your property owners to fill up the gap.
Um, some of these asks on the chat, uh, from a timing perspective, are there any opportunities to take advantage of any COVID relief funds to support these types of efforts? Um, I'm gonna kind of toss it back to Theresa and Michael a bit with it. It's a RP funds. I do not know all the act, what the acronym is for, but, you know, you will, I think be getting some funds that, um, which you can formulate a plan. I think y'all were asking about what other sands Tams are looking to do that, correct. Yeah. And I think once we know what those bonds are and the amount of those funds to be able to look at, and that is the purpose of them to be able to look at how they will be distributed and where those needs are.
Yeah. Good question. Good question. Yeah, it is. It's great that people are aware of it. Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. Uh, uh, anything else have anything, any other comments? Um, that's that's all I have is, well, as far as comments right now. All right. Are we ready to go onto the next piece? I think so. There's no more questions. All right. So do we want to pull up the screen to share the, um, spreadsheet from last time? And I can do that if I've got control, if I've got that, I can pull it up from my end. Okay. Um, I say, hopefully I won't have as much problem as I did yesterday.
All right. So last few times that we've gotten together, then maybe asset economic drivers, you got a think I've been filling this out independently, which is great without us having to fully you've gone back and reviewed it. So I want to community asset Theresa, after you sent this over and you'd put the D beside everything, I went ahead and highlighted it this morning. Okay. And the reason for that is to see clusters. This is going to impact the vision. When you start looking at creating a vision for downtown, you can look at this and go, wow, look at this cluster of businesses here, you know, Whitley galleries, the thoroughfares that, you know, get, get around through town, I guess, simply blush bridal shop. So what can we, what can we focus on maybe in this area to help create the vision for downtown looking at your cultural asset, a little bit of a cluster right there with things, um, natural and recreational. You don't have as many right downtown, but there are on the outskirts. So these are draws to your community because they're right there, right there, asset belongs, but not, not downtown institutional. Um, and then your community and human assets as well. And tying those back into, um, stakeholders and partners for you, and then the governmental assets, um, to everybody able to see that well, enough to review it, to see if there's something missing in any of these categories that we do need to add anything. It looks pretty thorough.
And I suppose it's hard to review on that screen. Okay. We've got the economic drivers and these are your, you know, somewhat they're their community assets. But, um, but these are more that we talked about the main drivers as far as employment. Um, they, they, they are a little different from assets sometimes that they're still assets. Okay, great buddy. See anything on that that they want to add. Okay. And, um, for somebody to say something, what were we just talking before the meeting started about a new distillery? Oh yeah. I think it's well, as on, um, and there, there is old Raleigh distillery and our economic assets.
Yep. Got that on there. That's going to be a good economic asset. We don't know whether it'll be an economic driver yet, but we know it's an economic asset, Sherry. This is Joe, just to the distinction. There's another distillery that lick live spirits. Okay. Oh yeah. Right there. Probably clarify to add the distillery in there or something like that. Okay. I'm going to put that, but my spirits add that says distillery. Okay, great. Your town hall on museums. Not quite in that downtown district, correct. Right on that periphery. Okay. Share. Do we just get, we just got a comment that says we'll need to remove hardware.
Adnams is retiring, is retiring. And, um, so that's gone up, that will be a tremendous loss to our, to our downtown. I'm going to do this for now on any chance of another hardware store coming in. Well, not at this time, we would love to see that. Um, and, um, let's see what we can do to get, you know, another business in there. But, um, yeah, we're, we're sad to see them go. They've been there for quite a while to have, and maybe it may not be the time to ask this what type of, but you know, um, some businesses, they say they retire and then somebody does say, wait a minute, I'd like to buy it. Have they tried to market it? Or do they not want to this time? Um, I'm not sure that they have had, um, what they felt right for that, that building. And, um, we had had some conversations with them and we need to have more. And, uh, but they are open to, you know, doing something great for the downtown and wanting it to be the right fit,
Okay. Okay. So shuck and I were working in, um, I think it was white where this gentleman, his family did not want to, you know, they're, they're like we don't want to do this. It was a clothing business, a men's store. And he really hated to give it up, but like everybody, he deserved to retire. Correct. And somebody may come in and they, they reopened it as a clothing store and just built and built on what was already there. So I know that they are retiring, but we'll leave it over there for right now hopeful. So let's, you know, you guys, I think spent a lot of time filling this out as much on your own, looking at the strengths, weaknesses opportunities. And then we say threats and challenges. Um, you know, you stretch got a pretty good list here. Friendly people are noted for it. The women's club helping with beautification, your location. Of course, that's a good strength. Ball-park community park, Frisbee, disc golf, sports community with recreational league legacy businesses. Um,
We need to, like you said, we'll need to add the others, but yeah. Um, yeah. I have one eye on, unfortunately that's Hey, historic buildings. That's great. Um, got an alley network connecting Eastern and Western parts of towns and think right. Work with alleyways, art, cancel active civic organizations. Um, the scale of downtown layout laid out as a railroad town walkable. That's absolutely a bus, um, good stock, residential and circling downtown major funnels coming into downtown, um, grant opportunities. Yep. Mixed use development is allowed downtown, which is outstanding. That's one less hurdle, um, engaged citizens and building owners, which is obvious and evident by today. School system, several major employers nearby boys and girls clubs. Anything else in that step that maybe you go, wait, we need to add this as this tramp.
Don't hesitate to ask or add. All right, well, I'll move over to this weakness side, which are typically harmful to achieving the objectives. Um, waste time, the wayfinding and identifying walking distances. That's a weakness and that's internal perception of not enough barking. And I know Theresa, you said you were up in Hendersonville. Do you notice those big blue signs that said parking? So find the parking space. I love that project because it's easy and it's quick, you can very visual historic buildings in disrepair. Simon, do we have enough, uh, promoting the community perception of being in the boondocks? You guys are not in the business.
You're not perception. Yes. Yes. Perception, lack of community, newspaper, ordinated marketing for businesses, lack of public space within downtown like flexible space. You know, we've seen a lot more of that. COVID, you know, there, there have been some positives with COVID and this is one of them is creating those flex spaces more wayfinding internally, downtown, like children's activities, crosswalk there, a lack of, and more keep coming up the wayfinding. I think that was the doubling up on that, um, air. Uh, and some of that wayfinding, you know, we talk about, you know, you may not be ready for a full fledged, um, wayfinding program, but we'll call it kind of the guerrilla tactics is before you implement a wayfinding program, I think Raleigh did this years ago and I thought it was very effective that he put posters on, uh, on the light poles and things saying this far to this place, this far to this place.
But what it did was it was a visual cue and it kind of got just, it's sort of like sidewalks when you build stuff up. I always say, don't put in sidewalks, just watch people's split patterns and then put in this, it might be a good thing to do in public places, but that's the same method with the wayfinding before diving into full fledged really funny is really to identify, do something fun, quick and easy. Um, before you tackle that project, you've got some great opportunities, um, buildings to rehab being in the Duke boondocks, that it's an opportunity as well as the weakness may be parking perception. You know, I'm going to get back to this one. So the opportunity, um, a lot of our in your wake County, a lot of those towns around there, I think people would prefer to live close to Raleigh, but not right in Raleigh because you do offer that smaller accounts feel.
So I think there's that as absolutely a great opportunity to look at parking perception, lighting downtown future Greenway connections to interconnect. Absolutely. That is such a great economic driver. Be able to interconnect to those Greenways housing and neighborhood medical center. I think that was something that's coming online pretty soon for you all as well. Um, physically connect residential to downtown. Yes. That's a great opportunity. She's a look at the more you can get people walking and connect things the better. I think I've shared with, y'all moved a little back to my home town. Um, so enjoying being able to walk from where I live to downtown because the sidewalks are pretty connected. Plus, um, 64 to 64 upgrades to interstate opportunity, expanding grant opportunities, branch of wait tech, their school system. It was also listed as a strength while ago. So yes, um, several major employers nearby the resources that are, that you have, um, potential to use under utilized green of public space within downtown outstanding.
So as I'm reading this off enough, do have a reason for reading this off. As long as you're reading this off is to think about the, when we come back and we do a visioning forum, some of these things, Hey, you may define your economic development strategy based on the assets and strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. And some of the things that are listed in here become action items. A lot of times when we're doing this in person, we'll go through, but sidewalk connectivity, that's a design feature, upper floor, residential development that is economic vitality to go through. And then that becomes part of the plan that we help you create opportunity being a railroad town and how to exploit it and enhance it, transit bus that accesses downtown commuter routes. And somebody said this last time, I thought it was a really good point, which stopped not far from downtown, I think, yeah, you need to have that creating a pedestrian friendly downtown Mr.
Pearson. I think that's, um, very important to what you're doing there pursue historic rehab tax credit. You can do once you have a national registered district and a potential to create more green space. Anything else that you see this opportunity that's not listed here yet? Um, I see, um, talking about residential development, but, um, one of the things that we just said are parts of the right direction or send us photos of upstairs of the Devin and building. And so an opportunity, um, is available to have, as we just, as you just spoke about, um, additional residents above businesses downtown, that may be something, an opportunity for us, uh, while we're in this transition phase. Um, it's, um, it's a large space upstairs. So, you know, there's those, um, type that into fact, you already had that affairs. Yes, absolutely. Identify what could go into those upstairs spaces. Um, also under, um, strengths, I think for the community. And, uh, we have some representatives on here today is our, um, Eastern regional center. It provides a lot of opportunities for, um, local residents. Um, we they've always are existing us with meeting space. Medical facilities are just a great place. Um, there's, COVID testing out there, um, and in the area. And I just think that, um, that is a great resource that, that we have for the area. Absolutely.
And then we have looking after threats or challenges, these are external to your organization or your downtown district. These are things that you probably don't have some control over, but you need to be aware of them. And again, if there's a possibility to partner with those folks who do have control over these to partner and say, Hey, let's talk about how, you know, we can work together to, to benefit mutual that will be mutually beneficial, but the threat that you have threats that you have listed state highway running through the main street, large trucks, the speed of vehicles, I think last time we talked about, Hmm, could we work with the state in, um, doing, uh, doing some alternatives, like putting stops on through the downtown district? So that's an example of maybe working with that partner, um, and a situation that you may not have control over water and sewer infrastructure.
We're absolutely hearing so much about that across, not just the state, but us right now. So, um, it's important to look at that partner with those who have that control address the truck traffic through downtown St. That goes back to the first one, getting people involved and civic organization and commitment, um, today without 24 on the zoom call. So that's a great start and you 24, maybe go out and recruit one more person as we move through this program, uh, walkability in general, due to that state highway, working with deity to achieve the pedestrian safety difficulty in closing out, always mess this up Erindale Avenue for events due to state highway and dog changed in yards outside of how is it? Um, yeah, that's, that's, that's the first one I've heard of on, on a threat and a challenge there. So, but there's something to be very aware of.
Anything else that you see that's an external threat or challenge to your organization and project that's more of an external threat and challenge quiet group this morning got a very Brown diverse group online today. So yeah, I know. Yeah. And again, Theresa, you make this available where people can add or send you information, correct. Absolutely. What I can do after this meeting, I can send out what we have and give people a chance to kind of look back through it and see what we can come up with is this, this will probably be the last time. Don't you think Chuck, that we bring this up before we do the visioning forum?
I think it is anyway, last time we bring it up, we will definitely dust it off for the visioning. Yeah. Yeah. So let's look at bank holders and partners, then stakeholders. And like we keep emphasizing that every single one of you on this call today is a stakeholder, every single person that lives in XebiaLabs, or even on the outskirts of Zeppelin, proper or stakeholders, you want to live in a thriving community you want, and I say, this kind of like, reluctantly, you do want this tax by used to go up. Um, it does benefit because when taxpayers go up and city can provide more services as well. And, you know, it's, it's, it's a good, it's a good thing that incremental growth there. So what we want to identify and specify, and that's what Theresa gone back and done for us, which is great. It's Theresa did this work where she added specific names and specific businesses, the organizations.
And then we wanted to put up P beside those who are currently partnering with the town of Nebula on, on projects that events and things right now. So forced, the town of Depula is a current partner. You're you're right. The one that we ended early last time. So this, uh, with the group that's online is real important. This is an area that really needs the most help. Um, I've taken information that others have sent me and, uh, really, um, he'll help me on this one. Uh, everybody that's out there because I know there's a lot to add and change. Um, and this was based upon feeling in from our last, our last meetings. This is where we had to stop short last time. Thank you. So for County East wake County, regional, they're currently partnering, um, property owners, hats off to property owners. You're key to this working key to this being successful.
Um, the best work comes from the property owners who advocate for this program and that list of those five towns that were up there earlier, the property owners who really made advocate for those programs early on. So if you see any key property owners that we are missing, that are current partners, and it's okay to list things that you go, Hmm, they're not currently partnering with us, but, but we need to put them on this list because they're definitely stakeholders who want to reach out to. So again, it's important that you see, think of key stakeholders who are not partnering. Let's put them on the list somewhere. Um, business owners who are currently, and I guess this is highlighted because the business is going out of business, but, um, business owners pays beside all the business owners. I'm just gonna let you all look at the, can you see the screen well enough to rebate?
Okay. Are for me to sell my an so where they're not paid at the, okay, what you do is continue to invite them to meetings. Hopefully they'll come out for the visioning forum when we get to do that and bring them along. And I think, um, if there's any that are on the call that don't have P side, I've let us definitely let us know. Right? If you have peace, please let us know that, Hey, Teresa Germano architecture is trying to open our business downtown. We're in construction right now. So we're looking probably end of may. Oh, great. Great. Thank you very much.
I'll add you as a stakeholder and partner. Thank you for architecture. We don't want to be a park projector. Sorry. Wonderful. That is awesome. Okay. Now looking at your local and don't hesitate to speak out like Michael just did and let us know, but, um, local industries and corporations right now, we don't have a P beside the, again. It's okay. But you don't because these are choosing to work on to become the partners they have. And this becomes more clear after we develop that strategic plan where you have your economic development strategies and put together the action because you go, cause you put together your actions, you start thinking, Hmm, who do we meet in on this? Oh, we might need Dranamo architecture to help us be part of our design review committee. You know, we need folks to understand secretary of interior standards and, you know, we'll, we'll thoroughly review something.
Um, so there we go. We have, we have them on board. So again, some of these corporations, um, us foods, maybe they donate food to, you know, your events. Um, my cats come downtown and do a demonstration and kids love that. My children always been bought love meeting folks like that from BB and T data center, you know, all of these are potential partners, utility companies. Are there any other utility companies that need to be listed? Um, like internet companies have a specific internet company. Um, but you also have for local corporations. Um, we might want to be here shortly corporation.
I'm sorry. What was the first part of that life? Sciences? My color blue and, um, Sherry under, um, property owner. Actually, I thought I had added it, but I don't see it. Um, Renee Baker parish <inaudible> parish is in P a R I S H a two to, to ours. Are they currently partnering? Yes, we've got Renee online today. So we met with her earlier, um, this, well last month, I guess Tom flies, but, um, recently, and, uh, we're excited about, about, um, her and her business and, um, employees working with us at dancing. Good lift. Really good lift. Thank you for going back through and adding specific to this. This is exactly what we're looking for. Technology companies may, may not have any in the area, but financial institutions. Oh, we do have realtors down here. I'm sorry.
You're right up in the hat or under realtors. That's where, that's where I had it. I was looking for it. All right. We do have it broken down and all these categories, which is good. It's good. All right. I love it. So you only know his garden club, I'm just scrolling. So somebody says something. We also had state farm just moved downtown insurance. Absolutely. Let's to do I have insurance category. I didn't see one. Yeah, they have just moved down there, um, near the stimulant drug across. I saw that yesterday when I was down there, you know, I having state farm insurance lists that we get this question on listserv a lot who can provide special event insurance. And, um, I remember looking for special event insurance and actually came back to my local insurance place with less expensive than going out to national trust offers like special event insurance, which is good. But again, having partners with your insurance company and I had insurance at different companies based on our needs for our organization when I was on the local level. So really great to reach out to your insurance company and, um, you know, have them involved and <inaudible> for quite a while. So they've just moved into the three Oh eight North of Randall. So it's always good to have a business in there and had their flags lying. And I just like farm yet. They have Jake there.
Uh, so funny that those commercials, how they get in your heads, what else? This is a great list, but Hey Theresa? Yes, ma'am good morning. Renee Baker and everybody's whale. Um, I wanted to, um, let you guys know that at one 14 Randall Avenue has closed, um, the gentleman's name, um, well they're partners, but, uh, I know Mike Lombardo, I got to know him fairly well through the transaction. He's a great guy. So he'll be moving his business into one 14. Um, and the name of it is the fall line, which I thought was very interesting. He did some research, um, on <inaudible>, um, realized that we were located on the foul line. It was good. So that is, that is great. One 14 month rental. So that'll be, that'll be nice to have somebody on that block. Yeah, I'll be right there beside the alley too.
So that'll, that'll be great. We definitely need to talk to him that, um, I'm excited. I'll share his contact information after the meeting. Fantastic. Yes, that will be, um, Sherry, Chuck that is beside the alley, uh, reactivation area there on, um, North of rental. So we can't wait to get you out there. Um, got art out there. Um, the deck has been real active in that town for, uh, other businesses, um, down there, thous beers meter. I mean, I can go on, but I don't always leave someone out, but, um, I think that's going to be an exciting area. And I think he's probably pretty smart that if I was going to locate a building, being there beside that, that alley that's been reactivated, it's got so much going on, would be where I'd want to be. So he apparently did do his research and I said, great location, wonder, and what is his business? What will be his business?
I think it's going to be a bar. Um, um, I'm not sure, like, should I haven't talked to him specifically yet. I need to get some more details so far. And it's the fall line? That's a double entendre, right, right. Michael, can you have more details on that? Uh, yes. It's going to be a bar, but it's going to be specifically focused on history. Oh, okay. I love it. Every time we do this, we've been, we've been about three of these in the last two weeks. I go, I want to go there. I'm ready to go. I'm so random visitor. I'm already formulating chalk that after we leave Ash for a, we just might as well, go ahead. Do these kickoff then August not kick off the visioning forum. So I'll go wait. That's right. This is really exciting. Um, uh, I, I think Chuck and I, we can, you know, unless you have anything major to add any questions this, um, we don't want to hold you more than so we said we would occasionally we've got another meeting. There were comments in the chat, in the chat. Okay. We've got
Okay. Um, uh, compare foods is coming to the corner of their Walgreens, um, is it will be at the corner of Gannon Avenue now, um, is, is, you know, we were talking about districts and so it's right outside of the, um, DAC district, but it's in the, you know, the overlay district now. So, um, so I believe I don't have that pulled up, but, um, but that's going to be grow good. It's a large building is right there on the corner and now we'll have someone in there. So thank you for being on that. Um,
Sounds like good things are happening. And, uh, we have here, uh, as far as to add a business benefit, funeral home, I'll get, I'll get that added on. The outskirts was Gannon is, is, uh, comfort master probably should be added under a corporations. Um, and then we're talking about it's in the 70,000 square foot building. So, um, we can add, we can add that one. Wonderful well between now and then I would say now and June re review this cause to think this is the last time we will really go through this until the visioning forum. And, um, I think we meet with you guys in June again, right? Show that I'm on. I'm going to stop talking, let Chuck, and you guys wrap it up. I mean, this is, this is great. What I'll do is if I have your email and somebody probably going, I'm tired of getting your emails.
Um, others, if I don't have your email, please send, let me know that you're interested, uh, T piner@townofdebbielynn.org. Um, and I, what I will do is send this out again to all of it. Um, we can not keep adding the stakeholder. One is the one that has kind of the area that I feel like we need the most work in. And, uh, so particularly pay close attention to that. This is a great group to help with this. And so I'll get that out to everybody. Um, and, uh, I'll ask Hannah and Michael, um, Hannah, do you see anything on public input that we need to address?
Okay, great. That would be, that would be great. And hopefully, um, as well, and I can add the business and then hopefully Kevin, if you can, um, again, send me an, uh, an email to T pine or at <inaudible> dot org. If I don't have your information, um, then I'll, I'll get this out to you as well. And I'll go back and, um, pull those that are in the public comment. If they've got additional businesses algo and Jerry, what I'll do is, uh, from what you have, I'll let you, when we complete it today, I'll let you send that back to me and then I'll keep adding to that one. So we'll keep it fresh. And, uh, I'll get back through those comments and add business. That'd be great. Um, Michael, did you have anything in particular that you'd like to see us, um, address before we lead today?
Again, I know that we have to kind of cut it well, not kind of short cut on time today, but, um, I think we've still got a lot, a lot of work to do as you say it. And, and, um, we'll keep working on this, everybody who's on the call watching online. Um, if you have ideas, suggestions, comments, make sure you definitely reach out to us so we can incorporate those. Also look, the other business owners know, uh, of this group. Um, we want to make sure that this is all inclusive, that everybody has an opportunity to participate. Um, because we realized that different people have different skillsets ideas, suggestions, and when we come together, um, communicating that information, making sure that it gets included in the documentation, information and plans are moving forward for our downtown, you know, uh, resulted in a much better downtown than, than if Theresa and I and Sherry and Chuck are just kind of putting this together. So we want as much participation as possible. It won't work if it's just us putting it together. Yeah. Yeah. And I, you know, I'm really, again, thankful for all of those that have, that have, um, joined us today and, uh, it, like, it makes it much more fun and having your input and otherwise, because like Michael just said, we, we miss things. We don't, we don't get it all. And it's not as comprehensive. I thank you.
Uh, uh, Chuck, Sherry, we thank you for today. You have anything else that you'd like to add or does anyone have anything else in general? And, uh, I know, like I said, Chuck and Sherry we'll have to probably leave as soon, but if you have anything, I'll let you say that first and then I'll take any comments.
Yeah. Thank you everybody for your, for your attention and your attention to detail on this, this planning effort is, um, I'm excited for you guys. Um, fantastic. And I'll also, we'll get those surveys out to you and sometime maybe, you know, between now and June, maybe try to get some of those surveys, you know, you know, answered and addressed and have a good idea of possibly what, you know, what direction we could go in some, some instances. Um, and other than that, just, just keep working on that, uh, property inventory, and they can get that as complete as possible. And, uh, other than that, I will see in gym, yes, Dallas, uh, love words of information. I just put the one 14 East pant street on the contract. Yes. Per day. That is for the old bakery was going to go to the Carter's bakery that is on the contract. And I was had a question is, is my real estate firm listed this as one of the real estate firms on your list?
I D I, I may have missed it. I, it's not, I wish it were, if you would do that, if it's not appreciated, I don't know what I'm going to find out more about the sale of what he plans to go there. But I do know that he's quite an MBA. He's the same guy that bought the pawn shop and the, the wine shop over next to gage cleaners. So pretty big. Yeah.
Today, I felt like I was very vocal at the last meeting, but, um, I was taking pictures, uh, at the corner of bans and white straight. Um, my home place is on one corner and my father's business was on the other corner, which has a beauty shop. You don't know that beauty shop is listed as one of our businesses or not, but the, uh, gentleman drove up the side of me and wanted to know why I was taking a picture of that house and that business across the street. And he said that you did not take a picture of my business
They offered to do anything to help me with the project downtown. And, um, I even thought about a gift card for maybe a button sensitive or something. So I haven't gotten that far, but our pots pots are beginning to be planted. And we just have, we're just so excited about this new project, lots of love payment.
That's great. And I probably need to get up with you and talk with you about that a little bit more as well, but, uh, thank you about Mr. Sanchez. I don't think I have him. I have, uh, some other locations, but I don't think I've got him on the, um, that particular list. I'll add him and I'll give him a call. Anyone else?
Yes. Theresa. This is Darrell Blevins down at the Eastern reasonable center. I just wanted to chime in for a second, just to, um, this is my first meeting, really excited about what you guys are doing and just wanted to make you aware that we have, um, Wayne County, um, commissioners, um, develop a social and economic vitality, uh, division. And we have a individual that will be working out of these regional center and focused in, on economic vitality in the Eastern part of the County. And his name is Tyler Daniels. Um, I think it would be a great fit for one of the committees that you guys are planning on incorporating around social and economic vitality. So, um, really, um, looking forward to, you know, being a part of this and, um, Tyler's still on the call, I think. So, um, more to come from that, uh, we'll, we'll definitely be reaching out to you guys and seeing how we can, how we can assist with some of this work.
Great. Great. Thank you, Daryl. I appreciate that. Thank you for all that you've done. And Tyler welcome. I'm so glad we were able to connect and, uh, and that you were able to join us today. So we're excited and I'd love to meet with you at some when it's convenient for you and see if we can't get together.
When we close for the day, I will be sending out the information, um, that we have in the spreadsheet. Um, send that out to everybody this afternoon. Uh, and again, please, this is, this is a work that we're putting, everybody's putting together and, and please make comments we, that we need your input. And, uh, it needs to be as a diverse, a group as broad a group as possible because as they were talking, we will eventually break down into smaller groups working on specific areas and, um, your interests, knowing your interests, knowing, uh, uh, where your passion is, is going to be important. Sorry, thank you so much for continuing to be a part of part of this. And I'm glad to have Jeff again in our non, our, uh, our, uh, civic organizations, our nonprofits involved, and, um, again, it's Brits like yourself and Jeff had us out speaking the other day, so anytime we can get fantastic. And, and, uh, Michael, just to let you know that we're very excited about the development, the interactive, um, website, so that worked out well. Well, thank you very much, everyone. Uh, you will not going to be meeting in may. We'll be meeting in June. Anybody have anything else to add? All right, well, have a wonderful week. Thank you so much. Thank you.
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