HomeMy WebLinkAboutEDC 2020-04-09 minutes.pdfCity of Maple Ridge
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
REGULAR MEETING
The Minutes of the Regular Meeting of the Economic Development Committee, held on-line via ZOOM
Thursday, April 9, 2019 at 10:00 am.
____________________________________________________________________________________
COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT
Dominic Kotarski, Chair Community at Large
Camilla Brown Community at Large
Chrislana Gregory Community at Large
Al Hogarth Community at Large
Tom Meier Community at Large
Councillor Yousef City of Maple Ridge
STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT
Wendy Dupley Staff Liaison / Director, Economic Development
Bruce Livingstone Business Retention and Expansion Officer, Economic
Development
Karen Hansen Administrative Assistant, Economic Development
Kathryn Baird Tourism Coordinator, Economic Development
REGRETS/ABSENTS
James Zelinski Community at Large
VISITORS
Carla Guerrera Purpose Driven Development and Planning
1.CALL TO ORDER
There being a quorum present the Chair called the meeting to order at 10:00 am
2.AGENDA ADOPTION
R20-03
It was moved and seconded
That the Agenda of April 9, 2020 be adopted
CARRIED
3.MINUTE ADOPTION
R20-04
It was moved and seconded
EDC Minutes
April 9, 2020 Page 2 of 4
That the Minutes of March 5, 2019 be amended #4 to add the words “subject to cost” to the
last sentence, and
That the Minutes of March 5, 2020 be adopted.
CARRIED
4.NEW AND UNFINISHED BUSINESS
A presentation was made by Carla Guerrera of Purpose Driven Development and
Planning with regard to ideas on how to develop the waterfront area of Maple Ridge or
utilize her organization’s processes and expertise to explore possibilities with other
challenging lots.
R20-05
It was moved and seconded that Council explores opportunities to develop the waterfront
areas of Maple Ridge.
CARRIED
5.STAFF LIAISON UPDATE
Discussion – Business Recovery and Resiliency Action Plan (BRRAP). Wendy to lead the
discussions regarding the planning and implementation of a recovery and resiliency plan for the
City of Maple Ridge. Some background information was provided with the agenda package.
6.Review of Actions Plan tactics identified by the committee and Next Steps (Karen/Wendy)
6.1 Create a Mayor’s Task Force to focus on ERRP:
Consider makeup of committee, mandate and details. Several members of the EDC
have indicated their willingness to participate in such a task force.
R20-06
It as moved and seconded that the suggestion of a Mayor’s Task Force be taken forward for
consideration by Mayor and Council
CARRIED
6.2 Have the mayor appear on social media with a challenge that will benefit local
businesses and to talk in general about supporting local business. Continue to promote
Shop Local.
6.3 As more vacant lease space opens up look at into effective ways to fill locations left
vacant by businesses no longer operating in a timely manner: e.g. by making the
navigation through City Hall more expedient. Other ideas?
EDC Minutes
April 9, 2020 Page 3 of 4
6.4 Extensions to property tax payments deadlines. Perhaps a couple months past the July
deadline was suggested.
6.5 Reducing property tax could be considered. Perhaps no increase in taxes. The
committee understands that the percentage of the property tax municipality has vs the
province, plus also understands that any reduction would have revenue implications
and affect abilities to adopt stimulus initiatives.
6.6 Leaving property tax as is so that the City has money to start larger projects that employ
more people.
6.7 Development – no charges on extensions on development permits past one year.
6.8 Business Licenses – can these be suspended for those businesses who couldn’t operate
at this time? As per the backgrounder provided; it is worth noting that no enforcement
is currently being undertaken on outstanding accounts. Business licensing operation on
a calendar year, all renewal notices were sent out in November 2019 and the
outstanding renewal numbers are relatively small. The license fee itself is small at $110.
6.9 Ask BIA to encourage landlords to speak to their tenants individually about options.
6.10 Have the BIA to take a leadership role in coordinating discussions with their landlords
to obtain a consensus on options for tenants in difficulty. For example: Defer rent?
Forgive rent? For how long? Until when? Should interest accrue?
6.11 Look into other communities and who we can model after.
6.12 Initiate a municipal grant fund matching program to support resiliency in Maple Ridge
small businesses (less than 10 employees), The grant would provide matching funds to
support businesses developing a much stronger website presence website with e-
commerce capabilities. When a similar situation occurs again they can easily switch
from storefront to online. Ongoing, it would provide another option for revenue
generation for these small operations.
Next steps were for the tactics identified to be circulated for review and then referred to the
City senior management team for further review and discussion.
7.ROUNDTABLE
Nothing to report.
8.ADJOURNMENT
EDC Minutes
April 9, 2020 Page 4 of 4
Chair, Dominic Kotarski
/kh