Port Allen Community Development Corporation

Meeting Minutes
Port Allen CDC Board of Directors Meeting

Date: Monday, December 11, 2006
Time: 6:05 PM - 8:10 PM
Place: Port Allen City Hall
Port Allen, Louisiana

Board Members Present: Vice-Chairperson Liz Holmes, Reynard Douglas, Terrell Joseph, Tabitha Gray, Gary Hubble, Joyce Jenne, and Virginia Gough

Board Members Absent: Susan Langlois, Lynn Bradley, and Frances Alexander

Guests Present: Aharon Varady, Kathryn Perry, and Lu Cutrera

Type of Meeting: Regular monthly meeting of the Port Allen CDC Board of Directors

I. CALL TO ORDER
Vice-Chairperson Liz Holmes called the meeting to order and introduced members and guests. Susan Langlois’ letter of resignation was accepted, bringing the number of board members to nine. A quorum of five members was present.

II. READING AND ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES
The CDC Board approved the November 13, 2006, meeting minutes after a motion and second by Mr. Douglas and Ms. Gough.

III. OLD BUSINESS
A. Election of New Chairman and Treasurer-Vote was tabled for next meeting when the Nominating Committee will present nominations for Treasurer and Chairperson. Term lengths for the initial board members were provided in the meeting handout (1 year: Frances Alexander, Virginia Gough, Tabitha Gray, Joyce Jenne; 2 years: Terrell Joseph; 3 years: Lynn Bradley, Reynard Douglas, Liz Holmes).
B. Web Site Status-Purposes of the web site are information sharing, fund raising, and marketing for business development. Aharon Varady gave board members the site address (portallencdc.org) and user information to view the draft web site. The web site includes the mission statement, CDC history, meeting minutes, school status, listserv, and a calendar for upcoming events. Board members were encouraged to provide photos and ideas for additional content.

C. Shaw Admin Agreement-Shaw will continue to work on administrative tasks such as meeting agendas and minutes and web site set-up. Longer term work will include assisting with the proposed annexation plan, the Planning and Zoning Advisory Committee, revitalization of the Ferry area, and education improvements.

D. Annexation Update-Shaw is close to completion of the Port Allen Annexation Plan report. Zoning recommendations include a downtown overlay district, mixed use, and Planned Unit Development (PUD). The city will need to make decisions based on utilities, costs vs. benefits, desired future land use, and future budget needs. The inclusion or exclusion of Port Allen High School needs to be addressed as this issue was raised by more than one Council member. Shaw will provide a report abstract for the next CDC meeting.

IV. NEW BUSINESS

A. Planning and Zoning Advisory Committee Opportunity
The Board made and seconded a motion (Joseph/Jenne) to discuss acting as a Planning and Zoning Advisory Committee. The Board voted 7-0 to serve as this Committee, and Ms. Holmes will put an item on the next Planning and Zoning Commission meeting agenda (January 31, 2007). The CDC will then take the Planning and Zoning Commission concurrence to the City Council. Shaw will tell the Mayor of the CDC’s interest when Shaw presents the annexation report.

B. CDC Status Change
The CDC serves as an educational organization until it creates a development plan. The CDC’s 501(c)(3) application says it “plans to create a revitalization master plan and then a strategic plan for use in implementing the master plan.” The application also states “Fund raising activities are proposed and will be implemented once the board completes its planning efforts and has a strategic plan in place.”

The general consensus was that fund raising cannot start until there’s a definite plan on how to use those funds for specific revitalization tasks, especially in light of past experience with Dow Chemical grant requests. Once the plans are in place, the 501(c)(3) forms will need to be updated to request revision to the CDC status.

C. Shaw Contract

1. Financial Statements
Shaw will provide monthly budget updates to the CDC.

2. CDC Master File
Chris Guerin brought the CDC “Master File” to City Hall. The files will be housed with Shaw until further notice.

V. THE FERRY
Shaw informed the Board that after discussions with the Moore Planning Group, the Ferry planning work will be done by Shaw. Shaw proposed to develop a continuum of options ranging from doing nothing to developing upper scale condominiums or commercial. Developing individual lots and renovating historic properties would require rezoning and/or a development overlay district. Capital outlay (state) funds may be available. Shaw will present the development continuum at the next CDC Board meeting. A group of representative property owners will assist in reviewing the development options. The following groups of property owners will be represented: (1) homeowners (Douglas); (2) owners of rental properties (Holmes); and (3) owners of unoccupied houses/vacant land. It was agreed that the brick homes would not be considered for redevelopment efforts at this time.

VI. EDUCATION/SCHOOLS
No discussion.

VII. TENTATIVE AGENDA FOR NEXT MEETING
The next meeting date is Monday, January 8, 2007, at 6 p.m. at the Port Allen City Hall. This meeting will be a working session to discuss the Ferry development continuum. Tentative agenda items are listed below.
o Election of New Chairman and Treasurer
o Web Site
o Annexation Update
o Planning and Zoning Advisory Committee
o Ferry Development Continuum

VIII. ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 8:10 PM (Gough/Gray).

The Port Allen Revitalization Plan (2002), originally prepared by LJC Planning and Design, can now be downloaded as a PDF. The draft plan formed the basis for the citizen revitalization taskforce which became the Port Allen CDC. Download the plan here (20mb download).

West Baton Rouge Parish Schools accountability results for the school year 2005-2006 are now available (download, 723kb). Subgroup performance scores are here.

Date: Monday, November 13, 2006

Time: 6:15 PM – 7:30 PM

Place: Port Allen City Hall

Port Allen, Louisiana

Board Members Present: Vice-Chairperson Liz Holmes, Lynn Bradley, Frances Alexander, Reynard Douglas, Terrell Joseph, and Virginia Gough

Board Members Absent: Tabitha Gray, Gary Hubble, Joyce Jenne, and Susan Langlois

Guests Present: Aharon Varady, Kathryn Perry, Camille Manning-Broome, and Brent Soileau

Type of Meeting: Regular monthly meeting of the Port Allen CDC Board of Directors

I. Call to Order

Vice-Chairperson Liz Holmes called the meeting to order and introduced members and guests. A quorum of six members was present.

II. Reading and Acceptance of Minutes

The CDC Board approved the October 9, 2006, meeting minutes with one minor revision (Bradley/Alexander).

III. Old Business

A. Election of New Chairman—Vice-Chairperson Holmes appointed Reynard Douglas and Frances Alexander to join Virginia Gough on the Nominating Committee. The Committee will present nominations for Treasurer and Chair to the Board before the next Board meeting.

B. Bylaws

1. Number of Board Members

A discussion was held on the required number of Board Members. The current number of members (10) is within the range specified in the bylaws (no fewer than seven, no more than 13) and the Board did not see a need to change the membership number in the by-laws. Shaw will check the minutes to see who drew 1, 2, and 3-year term lengths after the first term.

2. Board Member Residency

Six of the ten CDC board members reside in Port Allen so the residency requirement is met (no less than 50%).

C. Web Site Status—Aharon Varady will call Barry Brewer, City Clerk, for a purchase order to pay the web server ($10/month or $120/year). Mr. Varady asked CDC members to think about logo designs and concepts. Ideas included the old ferry, new city hall, new gazebo, or posting pictures of Port Allen on the web site. The Web Site Committee will obtain a purchase order, acquire web space, solicit content, and set up a link to the Downtown Redevelopment Plan.

D. Shaw Admin Agreement—Mayor Lewis signed the Shaw/City of Port Allen agreement. Shaw will continue working on website development and meeting agendas/minutes. The CDC will discuss longer term items when Lu Cutrera is present. The CDC would like to know the contract term and receive statements on a regular basis to monitor the contract balance.

IV. New Business

A. Planning and Zoning Advisory Committee Opportunity

Brent Soileau discussed the EBR Planning and Zoning Advisory Committee in case the CDC wants to set up a similar committee. Committee members serve at the Planning Director’s discretion and advise him on zoning and subdivision regulation changes. Members must live in Baton Rouge and be knowledgeable about zoning issues. Members include real estate agents, landscape architects, engineers, lawyers, and homeowners associations.

The Board discussed having the CDC act as a Planning and Zoning Advisory Committee. The Board was unsure about the role of the committee as Ms. Holmes is currently the Chairman of the Port Allen Planning and Zoning Commission. No further action was taken.

B. Annexation Update

1. Report

The annexation report will be finished just after Thanksgiving.

2. Meeting with Mayor and Council

The Mayor and Council had some questions at the Council meeting regarding the following topics: 1) the scaled back annexation plan; 2) the exclusion of the Port Allen High School; and 3) including the northwest side of LA 1. The Mayor requested that Shaw complete the report and meet with him before doing another Council meeting presentation.

V. The Ferry

Work is ongoing. No other details were presented.

VI. Education/Schools

Ms. Gough presented the 2005-2006 Accountability Results for West Baton Rouge Parish. The elementary schools improved but Port Allen High School was downgraded to academically unacceptable.

VII. Other Business

A. Membership

Vice-Chairperson Holmes asked Shaw to call Ms. Susan Langlois regarding her continued interest in being a board member. Tabitha Gray indicated her continued interest via email with Shaw.

B. CDC Status

Ms. Holmes wants Shaw to start the process to change the CDC’s status from an “educational” organization and clarify matching fund requirements.

VIII. Tentative Agenda for Next Meeting

The next meeting date is Monday, December 13, 2006, at 6 p.m. at the Port Allen City Hall on Court Street. The Board will elect a new Chairman and Treasurer and discuss fundraising, the Annexation Plan, and the Ferry.

IX. Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 7:30 PM (Gough/Joseph).