jump right in because it's 2:30 and I know that we have a lot to talk about today. Um, so first off, I just Is it okay to approve the minutes um from last month's meeting? >> Yes, I'm good with them. >> Council member Jackson, you good? >> Yes. >> Thank you. All right, then we're going to jump right in because the first subject is one of my favorites to talk about right now. Uh, food trucks. One second. >> Yeah, thank you. Um, so yeah, I I'm Eric Gates. I'm with the planning department. Um, this is a presentation to go over food truck regulations at Aurora. Uh, their benefits that they provide to the city, some of the difficulties and issues we've had with food truck operations, um, and some recommended solutions and improvements to the code for these issues. Um, presentation was put together by myself, uh, Trevor Vaughn, uh, manager of licensing, um, Josh King and code enforcement, who couldn't be here today, unfortunately. Uh, and then Cindy Perry with business development. Um, and then Council Member Lawson uh, was the sponsor on this item. Thank you, Council Member Lawson. >> Hey, Eric. Um, yep. >> Council member Lawson is on if we could give the floor to her to introduce the item and express. Yeah, thank you. So, thank you um committee for allowing me to bring this chair to the committee and to discuss this issue. Um I understand that food trucks and I'm not anti- business or anything like that, but the food trucks that um I've been getting many complaints in my ward specifically on how food trucks are being um not pailing to the issues like the the licensing just being everywhere. um big lots, if everyone knows where that is on Chambers and Hamen, um that has been a really big concern for food trucks in the area with the amount of food trucks that are there. um the allowing some compliance issues that have occurred um within since the food trucks have been allowed and I understand it's the property owner who is allowing this because it's their property but there has to be some consistency on the issue in terms of following the compliance being you know to neighborhoods because it is adjacent to ne nearby neighborhoods and also just following the rules and I think there's too many in this particular area in this retail center. Um I can you know I didn't bring all of the complaints that I've received. Um I know that there are some in Ward 5 and particularly who like the food trucks in the area because they think that they bring um business to an area that has it's kind of blighted and Hampton and Chamber Chambers is blighted. So, the reason I wanted this to be brought forth is to maybe look to see if there's come some kind of compromise in how food trucks were dealing with food trucks, especially in retail centers, uh, specifically when they're just popped up anywhere like along Chambers and Smoky Hill, there was a a food truck that just was there and when Trevor went to go and look at it and asked them, they didn't have approval of the owner. So, there's some many issues with this. I really think that there should be a limit amount of limit on the amount of food trucks that are with maybe I don't know looking at the presentation how um in a retail center depending on the size the one at um Hampton and Chambers I know that there's been a lot of issues and I've gone in there myself in different types different day the weekend the evening and I've seen some things that have not been in compliance. So that's my introduction. I thank you for allowing for for me to bring this forward and for a discussion and um hopefully we can come to some kind of compromise if this can move forward or not. That's all I have to say. Laura, >> thank you. Okay, Eric. Thank you. >> Thank you. Sorry to jump ahead of you there. Um so yeah, getting into the presentation. So, um, I'll just start with a brief overview of the current standards for food trucks, um, in the UDO. So, currently, all food trucks must have a license from the city of Aurora and the state of Colorado. Um, uh, they can only operate between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. Um, there are a number of standards related to the location of operation as well. So, they must be 175 ft away from uh any restaurant entrance um unless given permission by from the property owner or their designate. Um they must also operate 50 ft away from any single family property uh unless they're operating in accessory to a business for patrons of that business um and don't have a generator or billet or noise standards. Um, and then for uh any other private or school property, they need to have written permission from an owner or representative. Uh, for city-owned property, they're generally only allowed in the right of way, um, unless approved or authorized by the city manager. Um, and they must be, if they are in the right way, uh, be in a legal parking space, uh, and serve customers from the side opposite of the ride ofway. um they are required to remove trash uh generated within 25 ft of the truck uh wherever they operate and maintain a trash receptacle. Uh and then finally, current use specific standards do reference some code that has since been uh repealed in the UDO, but the trucks ultimately would still need to comply with our general um noise standards. Uh so next I just wanted to go over each of the presenters roles in the regulatory process here in Aurora uh for food trucks. Um starting with business development. So I'll hand it over to Cindy. >> Good afternoon. Um so from a business development perspective um we're looking at um food trucks in particular as a potential incubator. Um they're they've been um noted for their placemaking abilities, but in this particular role were we're understanding that there have been some complaints from from businesses um that are being impacted. So, you know, we're we're here to um help voice kind of both sides of the business story. >> Thanks, Cindy. Um and then for for planning, um we primarily are dealing with reviewing uh the food truck operation and location for just general UDO compliance. Um we would also be managing um and generally taking the lead on any UDO code updates um as they go through um the city approval process um uh in relation to you know food truck specific standards. >> I don't know. >> Next I'd hand it over to Trevor for licensing's role. >> Okay. >> Thanks. Um yeah, Trevor von and licensing and I think our primary role is just making sure that uh these trucks are appropriately licensed and uh working actually pretty closely with code enforcement in regards to uh enforcing the same elements um just resource-wise and and uh that they're located and have proper uh property permission to be on site. And so I've got some slides that I'll go through as we get there. Um, and then like I said, uh, Josh with code enforcement couldn't make it. Um, but you know, code enforcement's generally involved in the actual, um, day-to-day, uh, enforcement of our policies for, um, the food trucks, responding to any, you know, concerns that we may get called in as well. Um so next I'll hand it back over to Cindy um just to discuss you know some of the um benefits that food trucks do provide. Um yeah. >> Yeah. So um as I mentioned in my opener food trucks when when they're operating optimally are a wonderful tool for placemaking. They they attract uh foot traffic which can help a center. Um they often serve as a a community gathering space. Um they do provide potential tax revenue and and here in Aurora we we logged about 850,000 in revenue for 2025 from um existing uh food trucks. And also, as I mentioned, it's it's a great tool for incubating future brick and mortar. Um, and you know, partnering with SBDC and and other uh partners to kind of encourage that entrepreneurial growth within Aurora, >> Cindy. Um so yeah wi with that said you know um we do want to start getting into some of the um difficulties we've seen um with the current standards. Um so from planning's perspective uh generally the code just speaks to the operation of the food trucks. Um and as a result, there's no uh clear delineation between temporary a temporary food truck and a truck that is operating within our required time frames um but being kept in the same location permanently. Um the code doesn't um specify where they should be stored after operation. Um and then the food truck definition is also fairly loose. um it makes it difficult at times to clearly define what is or isn't um as as the definition puts it designed and equipped to serve food and beverages. Uh so for example is a car with a cooler designed uh to sell prepackaged items. Um and then finally, we have seen uh an increasing interest from the development community um to have sites dedicated to a rotating selection of food trucks um with permanent seating and gathering areas um what we will be calling food truck plazas and I'll describe those in a little more detail further on. Um but right now the code only really contemplates food trucks as uh a temporary accessory use. last time. >> I will hand it over to Trevor. Uh Trevor, just let me know when you want me to swap slides. >> Okay, we'll do. All right. So, some of the issues we're encountering with regards to the complaints we're hearing about and what we see uh out there in the world is um regards to the large congregations, the food trucks in specific locations and some of the impacts that kind of come along with that and and also in relation to their uh permanency when they're located there, even though they're really designed to be temporary in nature. Um including no limit on the number of trucks at a location. So there's but also there's not necessarily a real clear path uh to how to have kind of that large congregation which is uh what Eric referred to as some type of path for plazas uh or parks uh which we do see in a lot of other cities throughout the country. There there's usually some standards around that and and what those look like uh to assure health, safety and and uh fit within the community. Uh there is uh some limits in our current code on operating time frame uh which we which I mentioned in regards to they're kind of setting up permanently and not necessarily returning regularly to the commissary. Um state food code for food trucks says they shall return regularly and I use quotes regularly because that's the standard that's in the food code. The problem with regularly is it's not defined as to what that means. Is that daily, weekly, monthly, yearly? um it's just not made clear in the state food code. Um and so what we're seeing is these trucks sometimes never leaving the site and we've also seen in some circumstances where I I think trucks have have sat for a year or longer without ever uh moving from the site. uh along those lines and we'll often see uh some structures being constructed along with the food truck uh fire safety issues uh not just from the permanency but also when they locate in these large groups. They're they're oftentimes locating too close together or blocking hydrants um and uh causing some fire hazards. And then also wastewater issues because they're not leaving the site. they're not properly dumping their waste water back at the commissary like they're supposed to be into something that has a grease trap or grease interceptor and just some general appearance issues along with it. So talking about needing some clear regulations and path for pods and plauses. Um we have a book that the American Planning Association put together that we were looking at as a team where we see some very common themes with regards to regulation of food trucks and numbers on locations and how plazas work. Um, and so there are some choices there for for council to consider. Uh, they do appear to draw positive activity as Cindy touched on. Uh, really these aren't nec these are positive activity generators. Uh, usually more than not, uh, they they bring some people to an area, particularly if you look late in the evening on through East Kfax where the food trucks are located. They're oftentimes lighting their locations. There's not a lot of uh, questionable activity kind of going along with them. They add some natural surveillance and and can really uh as Cindy mentioned be place generating activity. So next slide. >> So some examples kind of what we see. This was a food truck. Uh you can see they just put up some tent structure for dining kind of these permanent structures. Uh and you know there's their water supply. uh not really the right way to to do things, but just from that permanency and having dining um you know and and not clear standards, they just start constructing this stuff that was not not necessarily allowable. Um but just kind of highlighting that. Go ahead and go to the next slide. Uh here's another site. This is currently in operation 1800 South Havana. We probably have some fire issues here or we do because of the spacing between them. We've got some license issues with a number of these weren't licensed. This is a property owner that uh is charging rent here and finds that they're good cash flow, but obviously some concerns here with traffic flow, parking, you know, even impacts beyond the site and and the ability for trucks to relieve regularly because you they're so close together you couldn't even get in there to tow them out. So, we know that these uh these uh these are not moving location. Um, go ahead and go to the next slide. >> You've been muted. >> Uh, this is our Chambers and Hampton location. Um, where these are licensed food trucks. They're, um, we did issue notice for them to space out a little bit. Getting an echo here. Um, and >> to mute themselves. >> I muted them, whoever it was. Um, and so, uh, we had had some issues here with a few trucks unlicensed. I think the op the owner of the site or or the place manager here is doing better about checking them, but again, uh, really allowing a large number of trucks to locate here. We have had some complaints from neighboring restaurants, uh, you know, potentially impacting their business and I think neighbors as well. Just putting this out here as an example. Go ahead and go to the next slide. Um so when we talk about some of these permanency where when they're not leaving they're kind of putting some of these structures or tables in place here. Um we haven't had site plan amendments or anything for these structures. Uh so I think what we would recommend council look at is is making these u elements move more regularly actually in a nightly basis to address some of this. Going to go to the next slide. Uh this is the wastewater issues. This is one we saw uh where this truck because it just kind of parked there went ahead and opened up their wastewater tank which is uh violations of a number of codes and was dumping directly into the storm drain. Um we do also hear about some issues with these trucks dumping in car washes and such like that and and obviously a real concern when they're not regularly leaving the site that they're properly dumping their wastewater. Go and go to the next slide. Uh this was a situation down at uh Chambers in Hampton where the school bus was brought in. This was not a food truck. Um it was brought in for uh dining uh purposes and they started using this as basically like a dining car. Um which uh really I don't think was the intention of the food trucks at that point. Ideally they would hopefully transition to owning a restaurant, one of our retail spaces. Uh but uh as far as the appearance here um this was uh just just brought in there and we did instruct them to remove that. Go to go to the next slide. Uh so covering for Josh here as I mentioned we work closely with uh code enforcement and enforcing the requirements around food trucks. Uh we have a specialist here in licensing that's kind of the lead and and basically has begun to memorize the food trucks off the top of her head and whether they're licensed and have permission to be there. She's very good at that. Um the part of the issue code enforcement sees that they they regularly deal with is storage of these uh vehicles in residential areas. A very common complaint uh that they receive. Um they're allowing them to be stored in residential areas. The way the code's written, it talks about commercial vehicles. So, if they just simply screen out the name on the side of the truck or if there's no name on it, uh then under the code, it's being allowed within that residential area, uh despite it essentially being a commercial vehicle. Um they've seen some situations with blocking traffic while operating, especially if they're setting out tables and chairs, um or if they're in a bad spot. And uh just what I mentioned is about the uh clarity and policy for outdoor seating setups. As you saw there, uh the construction of some structures, placement of uh picnic tables which are a little bit more permanent than um perhaps the portable setups with uh you know with a foldout table and chairs. So, uh just uh seeking I think um clarity on on council's policy regarding those setups. Okay. Thanks, Eric. >> Thanks, Trevor. Um so next I will hand it back to Sid uh Cindy um to discuss um you know some of the difficulties we see from the business development side of things uh and for the operators themselves. Yeah, I think um the the first two bullets on this slide really address common themes that we've been hearing even through our retail strategy, which is, you know, how we're communicating our processes and the process in general. Is there a checklist? So there seems to be uh potentially a lack of awareness of what their requirements are and you know we we've talked a lot about it on this call but um potentially um you know clarifying some some of the issues that we've seen to make those code requirements more clear and to work better for for more more groups. Um licensing it's not easy right? These are typically not sophisticated um businesses. They don't have consultants. So, you know, understanding the variety of licensing is often a challenge. So, occasionally the inclination is to just ignore it and and not deal with it. Um, and you know, I think Trevor mentioned this, the majority of operators, quite frankly, are fantastic and they they they are really wanting to do the best work. Um, and and those are not the people that are coming to us and and asking us how do we do this? What do we need to do? Uh, we did something wrong. How do I fix it? So there are some some actors out there that that may not be ideal and I think you know by by addressing some of the co code issues um we can we can tighten that up. I already mentioned sales tax that's an opportunity. Um, clearly there is competition with with brick and mortar and potentially the the code can, you know, protect those businesses that have invested a lot more dollars in in brick and mortar. But, you know, again, back to what our role is, we really want to create an environment where we kind of grow our own here. And if we have talented restaurant tours, this is sometimes a great um avenue food truck and then they move into brick and mortar and we have that ecosystem in place. But we want to be very sensitive to not compete or or hinder our existing brick and mortar. >> Thank you, Cindy. Um so yeah so um getting into next steps uh in the interest of addressing current issues uh that that we see um and that we receive complaints about as quickly as feasible um we are proposing to split up code updates for food truck regulations uh into two phases. The first phase would address food trucks um as they're currently allowed to operate um as temporary uses. Um so in general these changes would aim uh to limit the number of trucks per lot and provide greater guidance uh for the storage outside of operating hours. Um this also includes clarifying signage screening uh commissary requirements um and residential storage requirements. So in your packet you received a document um with proposed amendments to our current uh food truck standards um and language uh as written in the UDO. Uh so the following two slides are going to detail the specific recommendations we have for code changes. Um so first we proposed to update the definition of food trucks itself uh to provide clarity on what counts as a food truck. Um those changes aim to limit uh trunk and and so-called hotbox operations um and to prevent mobile dining rooms like the um school bus example Trevor had shown. Um this aims to limit or sorry uh um and then we also propose to limit trucks to one truck for 15,000 square ft of parcel parking area outside of specific um temporary use permit allowances um and the proposed food truck plaza use which I again I'll discuss a little bit more in detail later. Um, and then we also propose to limit trucks to one per 200 feet of rideaway when they're not operating on a private parcel. Continuing on, uh, we recommend um, requiring greater accountability from the property owners um, who are allowing these food trucks on their property. Um that would mean that they could also be cited for food trucks not being moved to storage each night um or allowing you know excessive numbers um following the code update. Um we recommend requiring trucks to be moved to a screen storage location each night uh and removing all associated equipment from the operating location. Uh we recommend adding language requiring trucks to be attended at all times when not stored. And then finally, we would recommend prohibiting uh the storage of food trucks in residential neighborhoods um as as residential homes can't be used as commissary. So, and then on this side, we have some alternative regulatory changes to consider. Um these aren't really in our our main um recommendations, uh but they are measures that we've seen in other municipalities. Um, and so we just wanted to give you that as something additional rule to think on um, if you're not satisfied with our initial recommendations. So, for example, an alternative to the one truck per 15,000 square ft of parcel parking area would just be a simple two trucks per parcel limit. Um, that would be regardless of the parking lot size or parcel size. Um, another common regulation is a limit on consecutive days or days per year that any individual food truck can operate on the same parcel. Uh, so for example, limiting trucks to no more than five consecutive days um or a certain number of days uh per year on the same lot. Uh it's worth noting that could be difficult to regulate on the ground. Um but again, we do see it in other places. And while we don't have any regulation or recommendations for our current residential and restaurant setbacks, um this is another potential avenue for reducing impacts to neighborhoods or brickandmortar businesses um that you may consider. Um so yeah, the these alternatives were included as comments in that draft markup um not as the actual red line uh recommendations. Okay. Uh and getting into the second phase of of updates um would be to establish a new permanent use category for food truck plazas. So uh food truck plazas are something we've seen in other municipalities. Um like Austin, Texas, for example, has quite a few of these. Um they are areas with permanent or they are permanent sites um built for a rotating variety of food truck vendors. Um they include permanent outdoor seating areas for customers, permanent bathroom facilities. a lot of the time. Um, portable water and hookups for food trucks and a commissary. Um, so the image on this slide is an example of one of those plazas. Um, we've already seen some interest from the development community in developing sites that would fit this um, category. Um, but right now finding a path for approval is is difficult due to the lack of any kind of standards for um, a permanent food truck use in the UGL. Um so if we do pursue code changes to allow um a food truck plazas, uh there's a number of things to consider. Um what zone districts should they be allowed in? What guest parking requirements will be needed? What landscaping uh including site border and internal landscaping should be required? Who will handle waste management? How will fire life safety needs be met? Um and uh if we allow this as an accessory use to existing buildings and existing um brick and mortar uses um can certain facilities like bathrooms and kitchens be shared uh and how will shared parking be counted? Um and then what uses and districts can these be accessory to uh if we go that route as well. Um, so while our analysis and recommendations for food truck clauses aren't as far along as the changes that we proposed for phase one, uh, we do have the following general recommendations. Um, and we do recommend allowing these as a way to offset those additional restrictions that we proposed in phase one. Um, so we recommend requiring permanent on-site bathrooms. Um, allowing on-site storage if a commissary and screen storage yard is provided. um requiring a waste management plan with the site plan, uh establishing customer parking minimums, uh and establishing minimum setbacks and buffers for the trucks themselves from property lines. Um and the new use would need to consider traffic flow, lighting, noise impacts. Um and then finally, any uh architectural standards would need to be applied to the structures on the site that are permanent. Um like any awnings or bathroom facilities, that sort of thing. Um and then coming to the end here, uh this is our current goal timeline for these updates. Uh so we we would aim to further refine and finalize that this first ordinance language in May, um with the goal of getting through the city adoption processes in June and July. And then that second ordinance on the food truck plazas uh would need some public outreach and we'd hope to have that conducted um and get a draft ordinance created by the end of summer. Uh and then from there we'd aim for city adoption of the food truck plaza use um by the fall or by the end of the year. So based on all of this and I know there was a lot here um some of the questions we have for peed um are there other existing issues that have not been discussed? Uh, are there other potential regulatory improvements you'd like us to research? Um, and then should staff pursue the attached code amendment changes to address current issues with food truck operations currently allowed in the city? Uh, and should staff draft regulations to allow uh the establishment of food truck plazas as a permanent land use? >> Thank you. And that's all I have. >> All right. Thank you so much for that. um presentation. So, I have a lot of comments on this, so I'm not going to go first. I will first ask Council Member Bergen, do you have any thoughts or feedback on this? >> I do. Thank you, Chair. Um I first of all, I acknowledge that there are some issues um obviously, especially um in W 5 that are happening that need to be addressed. Um my question for Trevor is on those uh where I guess I wanted to know how what number of code enforcement complaints have you received and what is the result of those complaints? I mean do you shut them down? Do you give them warnings and has it helped? >> Uh yeah, as far as number, I'm trying to think about how usual how often we see it. I don't know that I have a good count on it or a good way to sum that up. I'll have to take a look. But um um kind of depends on the site. Uh you know this that particular site at Chambers and Hampton I know we've been getting quite a bit of complaints on it. Um I think mainly around the appearance of it. Um you know sometimes what people report is hey there's a truck here. Is it licensed? I did one today and it was appropriately licensed and and there um it kind of depends on the part of the city too is what we found out is whether people complain about it or not. Um there seems to be a little bit more acceptance of it in the northwest part of the city and northeast but >> Trevor >> do you actually have the number of complaints and what the result was >> so I don't have a count >> yeah and I and I I'm actually in agreement with some of the recommendations. I do have concern obviously, you know, as Cindy Perry mentioned, uh, a lot of the times these are incubators for people to start, um, as entrepreneurs and then end up, you know, actually having a brick-and-mortar restaurant. So, I understand that part of the the that side of the equation where, you know, revenue and and so forth. So, we don't want to stifle business. But then I also understand council member Lawson's point about compliance and the complaints that she gets. But I think we're we're going off with new code without even understanding how many complaints we have and what have we done about it. So my my concern is if you didn't enforce compl if you didn't go out and um code enforcement for not tax and licensing but um code enforcement. If they did not address the issue, how are we supposed to know that that would have not solved it? Uh I'm not sure I fully understand what you mean by that question. Um >> so so if you get complaints and and it goes through the I assume council requests get put in. Um and so and maybe council Lawson might know the answer, but if a council request goes in on a complaint, have you have you felt like code enforcement actually did what they were supposed to do? Did they did they issue a warning? Did they shut them down? Did they or or is it just recurring and they're not really addressing the issue? >> Yeah. No, we we address the issue either licensing or code enforcement very frequently. It is my staff that goes out on that and a lot of times it's like, hey, is this thing licensed? And so the resolution is yes, it is, you know, or they did go out and get uh permission to be at. Sometimes we get it from uh property owners themselves where hey this food truck had showed up out here un unpermitted and we chased them off. Um a lot of it is proactive enforcement actually will go out and and say hey you got a license where's your permission to be here you know kind of what's going on and so we do bring it to conclusion. Uh, I will say there was one issue uh that I have separated from this dealing with a very sophisticated out ofstate vendor uh that you may have seen news about in Denver with the bleach that we dealt with them. Um, they were sophisticated enough to know how to get away with being bad guys um and have done it in multiple states. But I kind of think that's a separate issue. Usually when we make contact with these, we'll we'll bring them we're able to get them to to into compliance. Okay. So, is the primary I guess the primary complaints is is they're not supposed to be there or they're allowed to be there by the property owner who owns owns property but they're just doing they're they're like not managing the waste or they're >> Yeah. >> What's what's what's the real problem? is is people not liking the the amount of people that are showing up. >> Yeah. Yeah. And I I I'll turn it over to to Council Member Lawson here in a second, but I think generally that's what's happening and why I said, you know, part of where in the city sometimes matters is that um I think there's concerns, you know, with particular, >> you know, um you know, as far as what it looks like, how it is, but I think there's also some safety concerns that we have with the setups from the standpoint of like where I showed you with 1800 South of Anna, where there's not a good traffic flow with it. We know the trucks don't leave and we've heard from the health department the longer they sit there the higher the likelihood of health violations but not just health violations but then you know the wastewater issues the appearance issues the start construction of these structures that kind of go along with it some fire safety issues that uh just start to develop >> over time and so then we're trying to figure out how to deal with it. >> Yeah. And I I they should I I think that was the whole intent is that they come in temporarily and then they leave, right? And then and it sounds like some of them are just staying permanently. >> Oh yeah. And I think that's kind of kind of the primary issue that's generating a lot of the complaints is, you know, first of all the large numbers and the fact that they just don't leave. And so, you know, is it really it's not really a temporary use at that standpoint and how do we handle that? Okay. Okay. Um, I mean, like I said, I'm I'm good with making some changes. I want to make sure we don't stifle competition, but I certainly understand we got to address issues that are causing safety issues that certainly the waste water is really concerning. Um, and that type of thing. I just I and I like the idea of the plazas. I know that's going to take a lot longer to to deal with. Um, so I'll let somebody else go. >> Council member Jackson. >> Thank you, Chair. Um, yeah. I just wanted to quickly make sure I understood the complaints. Um, are you seeing them coming from residents, from the property owners? Um, I'm just curious like why residents would complain about food trucks taking up like a parking lot if they're just patronizing it. And I speak from experience with like what happened at La Plaza. You know, I I did did see the food trucks kind of take over the parking lot and things like that. Parking became difficult. So, but I'm just trying to understand better um what the issue is with uh food trucks maybe being more stationed in parking lots. Is that coming from private property owners? >> Yeah, I usually the private property owners can address the issues right on their own property and should, you know, and and say, "Hey, you came in. You aren't supposed to be here." Uh we definitely see circumstances where they just pull in without permission. Um, but again, you know, the property owner can take care of that. They're usually just notifying us that, hey, I chased this truck off. Leaz is a good example of that. Uh, you know, I think we in a lot of these circumstances have just taken kind of a a soft uh somewhat soft approach enforcement wise because, uh, you know, there might be some residents that say, "We don't like the appearance of it." Um but again it's um you know whether they you know they have some choices whether they go onto that site or not. So I think generally it's usually about the appearance of those trucks. >> Okay. >> Um and the rest of it is kind of things we see almost more victim I don't want to say victimless crimes but you know I think we see community risk that's with that not necessarily something that's uh generating a complaint. you know, just trying to head off what we talk about the wastewater issues, the food safety, the fire safety, um, you know, traffic concerns, you know, as traffic flows to the lots and and so sometimes you'll get complaints on that, but I think, you know, to your point, Council Member Jackson, I think you're right on is like, um, you know, other than the appearance, oftentimes people aren't going to call about those types of concerns. >> Okay. Thank you for that. And then a couple more questions. Um, I appreciate um kind of the strengths of food trucks. I think they're fun. you know, they they can bring a lot of vibrancy to communities, a lot of different food options. Obviously, we can collect taxes off of it. Um, so I am just worried about the rapport that maybe going in. I hear that we were more lenient in the beginning and now we're kind of pulling back um and and now enforcing rules, which is always hard um to kind of do it in that in that order of operation. So, I just really want us to be, you know, who is our point person? Is there somebody who who's a spokesperson for the food trucks um in Aurora? Is there, you know, a business we're seeing consistently trying to get some sort of relationship going just to make sure they understand? And with that, maybe having a grace period. Is there going to be a grace period of rolling out these regulations? How long will that grace period be? How do we make sure that the community is up to date and so they're not having to be shut down and have fines that come on later on? Um, so just some of that kind of transitional period um is is what's on my mind and just understanding what the complaints around food trucks are because um I know we did have I'm I'm not um getting the same emails uh that council member Lawson is and I know that there were some folks that came to public invite to be heard who were um pretty vocal about supporting food trucks. So I'm just wanting to understand the complaints better to make sure the rules and regulations we create are appropriate for those complaints. >> So chair if I may. >> Yes. >> Janine Restad, the director of planning and business development. I'll take uh the part of your questions and comments about rapport with food trucks owners. We have basically a two-prong approach. We have the small business development center that has a number of clients that are food trucks. So, trying to ramp up our work with them through the SBDC to make sure they're aware of licensing changes in any code requirements. And then, of course, uh working with uh the property owners is Cindy Perry, our business development manager, and her team in the retail uh division. So, it's a two-prong approach. And Trevor, we we haven't talked yet about grace period, but that is something we can look into. >> Okay. Thank you. And that's all my questions. >> Okay. I'm going to jump into some of my questions because I have quite a few. So, I've been doing a lot of research on food truck parks and I looked at a lot of cities that have some really great best practices. Portland, Raleigh, Madison, um Austin as well. And I'm curious where the city came up with the idea for 15,000 square foot parking um requirement per truck. When I looked up what the average was, it was one truck per 2500 square ft, 2 to four trucks for 10,000, 5 to 8 for 20,000, and 10 to 15 per 40,000. So I feel like the 15,000 is um excessive. Then in fact, it looks a little bit like it's sort of a ban without being a ban because it would be really hard for more than one truck to operate. And often these trucks pair together. You know, you might have a Mexican food truck with another, you know, ethnic food truck. And so um I I am concerned about the 15,000 square foot um notification. I think that's just a little bit excessive. Um, when we look at current setbacks, um, it's 50 for residential and 175 for restaurants. That's pretty average when I did my research. Um, 100 square foot from schools, so I think we're probably good there. When we looked at the hours of operation, um, I also had a couple questions about that. Um, 7 to 10 Monday through Friday. That seems fine, but I'm curious if we thought about making it a little bit later on weekends, like 11, um, just to be a little bit more friendly for the businesses. And um there are a lot of standards as far as how far trucks should be from one another. Um I think it looks like the this the suggested standard based on everybody I researched was about 10 to 25 ft in between per truck. So I wondered if we could look at something like that. I know um the one on Havana obviously they're a little closer than that. Um but I feel like that's an opportunity as well. And then um you know, we talk about um licensing and all the things following rules. Um and I have suggested this before, but I'm going to suggest it again. I feel like we should potentially look at doing a food truck day. Um we could do it maybe twice a year where these food trucks could come, they could get licensed, they could do all the things that they need to do, make sure that they're good to go, pass any um inspections they need. If we have it all in one place, if and make it easier for the business owner, they might be more willing to show up and participate in something like that and stay up to date on all of their um requirements. So, those were my initial thoughts. As far as food truck plazas, I got a lot of them. I think my concern is if it's going to take a while for food truck plazas to be implemented because we have to come up with all the codes, but we limit their ability to sort of survive over the summer by placing a a lot of requirements on them without offering an alternative. I worry that we could be um limiting business as well. So, I think there's a lot of things to potentially think about when it comes to this. Um, and then we have some raised hands. So, >> would you like us, excuse me, to address >> Yes, please. Especially the 15,000 that seemed like an outlier. Well, if you're comparing to the jurisdictions that allow the food truck pods or the the more organized um I'm very familiar with the Portland, Oregon where they would use vacant lots versus ongoing business enterprises. So, and Eric and Trevor jump in at any time. Some of that is looking to limit still allow them but limit and protect existing businesses. making sure that we are not exacerbating the complaints that have been brought forth to council member Lawson. So, it it it is the two-step process of making sure that we're protecting businesses, addressing the issues and concerns with code, and then taking that second step to do the food truck pods. um with the time the timeline for looking at the food truck pods. This is one of several code projects that the current planning team has. So, we need to make sure that they are keeping up with their case loads of development review and then dedicating the time to do engagement with businesses because we would want to go for instance to BAB to talk about any code amendments for the food truck pods. Uh Eric and Trevor, if you have anything to add on those issues. >> Yeah, on the the um number per parcel, I we did see some examples of that. I think uh what we saw kind of common was you'd often see two per parcel. Um and actually that 15,000 uh square feet is actually less restrictive. And using Chambers and Hampton as an example, that Big Lots parking lot, um that's over 75,000 square feet. uh that parking lot. Uh so you're already talking uh um I was just taking a look at it. Five or six trucks there. I didn't really count that one art par out parcel. Um just based on that 15,000 square foot requirement. So if you did two per parcel, then they'd only have two there. Whereas 15,000 square feet kind of then grows with the size um of the parcel. So that was the thinking behind that was to try to uh not do a one-sizefits-all uh just make it make it relative to the parcel. But regardless, you know, I think all the things you mentioned are valid feedback. One thing that just helps us is just having clear uh direction as far as what council's policy is as far as how you want this implemented and how you want to do it. And just I assume that for these um these regulations they would not apply or there would be exceptions for things like Havana nights or um our own Aurora Fest and that sort of thing where where we bring them together. >> Yeah. Permitted events. So, if you think when we do permits, you know, and and forgive me for bringing up the temp use permit process, but I mean, at least when you're looking at temp use permit process, you're looking at things like traffic flow and all of that, you're not as concerned uh necessarily about permanency and and kind of what gets built around there. You're you're thinking about it as that event and as a controlled event. So, that that's where we're clear in the we'll be clear in the code that those permanent events are the exception to that. >> Okay. And then um I think that was it. I had something but I forget now. So when I remember I'll ask it. Um but for now we have a bunch of people with their hands up. So first up was Council Member Lawson. >> Thank you Chair Wells. Um I just wanted to address the question um regarding the complaints. And I find it kind of interesting that city staff um did not bring those statistics uh because as much as I've been complaining about the food trucks that have been coming from constituent complaints, um I think we should have had those here. Um I would have brought them myself. But what we're hearing is from residents. It's not just appearance. Um it's not just appearance. It's loud music staying over the time frame, the getting in and out of the rows of food of traffic. I've even been in there and almost got my car hit multiple times. And I go over there in the evening. Sometimes I go over there on a weekend to kind of see what's going on, what's happening. Um Trevor, you failed to admit that a while ago there was some illegal activity going on. And I'm not just talking about with the food truck that you're talking about where police did have to go out because of some illegal human trafficking, things that shouldn't be going on. Um I think the owner um there has been a lot of not licensing. So it's not just appearance. And the reason why those food trucks move from the corner of chambers is because of the complaints of just getting in and out of that that particular area. So, I'm focused on Ward 5, but I know this is occurring over in Ward 4 and their food trucks moving in different every a lot of different areas. Um neighbors, there might be some people who love them. There's the individuals that came to the council meeting. Yeah, they love them, but there's people in that Mallewood neighborhood that complain to me all the time. Um, at my town halls, I hear about it. So, I It's not just me just going in. I've even filed some complaints, some CRS um because of what I've seen um and the time, you know, from not following what their compliance. I mean, like I said, some of them stay open past 10:00 um on, you know, and I mean, if they're supposed to be closed at 10:00, then close at 10:00. be be a good neighbor to the residents that surround this area. So, that's what I've been hearing. I've submitted a ton of council requests and um I think it's just to not bring that information here about the amount of complaints that we I have presented and just from my own experience with the food trucks. Um I think that that was just kind of um something that should have been brought to this committee. So, um, that's what I've been hearing from my con from the constituents and other people who are on here may be hearing from different constituents, but that's what I'm hearing. The e the activity that goes on that maybe police and everything can't go, but the loud music doing all this stuff, that's not being a friendly neighbor at all to people who live in the surrounding area. So, that's why I think there should be a limit. And also too on Parker Road and um Parker Road in Quincy here, Parker Road, they have only two at the Denver Mattress Company. That's how many they have. And it works pretty well. I'm not saying having two, but just be good neighbors and follow the rules and also too not have so many and be able so people when they navigate and go to the Dollar Tree or whatever they need to do, they're able to navigate without people just getting hit or your car getting hit. And that's some of the stuff I've experienced. So, thank you for letting me speak, chair. >> Absolutely. Um, next up was Mayor Promkums. >> Sorry, had a little trouble getting to my mute button. Um, so a couple questions that I had were just related to a few of the specifics that were mentioned. Um, namely the prohibition on residential parking. So, I understand the issue of folks needing to go back to a commissary for, you know, cleaning and supplies and all the other things they need to do. However, not all commissary locations are going to have truck parking that folks can also store their vehicles. And so, some folks may be storing their food truck. In fact, I've certainly lived in neighborhoods where this has taken place. Their food truck at their home. Um, and it's not creating a disruption to the neighborhood. Um, right. Folks just know like that's my neighbor's work truck essentially. So, I think that there could be some real issues with basically saying if you run a certain type of business, you can't park in your own neighborhood. Um, so I would just want us to think a little bit about what those impacts might be to the business owners if we were to completely forbid uh parking in neighborhoods when not operating. Um, and then the other one was just with the mobile dining cars. Like I wonder if there's some opportunity rather than saying these may not exist that those kind of adaptive reuses of, you know, old buses, right? There was uh Wampost used to have a bus that they used to sell plants out of. Um and so maybe we look at more how can we put some standards in place versus an outright ban um for those types of uses. And then for the plazas, I'll reserve my com my questions for when when that comes forward. Thank you. >> Thank you. Next up, uh Council Member Bergen. >> Thank you. I got to get off my phone and get on the real thing. Um just follow up. Well, I want to say thank you to Council Member Lawson for um for her comments. So, it helped me understand the complaints that were coming in. Um and those were certainly troubling. My question is on I mean I think there should be some regulations on especially in in the residential areas. Um, for sure. If a metro district um had or an HOA sponsor an event, do they did you say they get a special license to do that? Is it like a special event license, Trevor? >> Yeah. Uh, just a temporary use permit for, you know, big big events when you got it. Yeah. >> Okay. And then um on the parking, I know I get complaints um on trucks that are parking in residential neighborhoods that are so they're probably, you know, operate that business, but then they store them in the neighborhood and we do get the complaints um that they're they're um parking um on the streets and and not moving. But um I appreciate all the discussion. Thank you. Uh, Council Member Hancock. >> Thank you, Chair. Um, to uh, Council Member Lawson's point about these food trucks, I'm all for entrepreneurship. I'm here for it every day. But what I'm seeing are food trucks popping up in unusual places. And as I had expressed to you, uh, Trevor, I sent you some photos of food trucks popping up in, uh, storage places and we parking lots in the back off the street off off 225. I'm concerned about how we're able to monitor and regulate these places because it was after 11:00 when I drove by this place. It was popping over there. And so I, you know, I'm very interested in making sure and it's it's right smack into in the middle of condominium area and a business area. So I'm concerned about us being able to monitor and regulate these things so that we don't have incidents that occur. And there's no bathrooms, there's no place to dump the water, you know, there there's sanitation issues and all of that. And they've set up picnic tables and lights like it's semi-permanent. So, you know, we I think it's important for us to take a look at these things and to consider that, you know, the outreach to the neighbors, the businesses, the impact that is going to happen there, all the things that everybody has already said. But, um, I agree with the some of the questions that have been posed. And I've been to Austin and Portland and other places, and the food truck scene is amazing. You have some great opportunities for eating and collaboration and community and all those things. I certainly don't want to shut that down, but I think it's important as soon as we get somebody that has E.coli or some other kind of food born thing, then it's going to be a problem for everybody. So, I think us getting ahead of it and managing it and monitoring it is very important. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um I would be curious to see too um maybe complaints by ward if that information is possible. I know my ward um is dying for additional food trucks and part of that is because we don't have anything out here and so food trucks fill a need for us to have alternatives or options for um dining. So I would be curious by ward what that looks like. Also, I know when I was on Buckley um the other day, we were talking about food trucks um and they also are like, "We would love to see more in the surrounding area because we're limited for restaurant options." So, I think there's um a lot of opportunity for us to sort of look at this and figure out what the best way um to move forward is. I feel like the proposal as is needs some we need to do some work on it. Um just to first of all I think we need our questions answered so that we can make an educated decision um before we move forward. Any thoughts from um Council Member Bergen or Council Member Jackson? >> Um thank you chair. I I think some of the suggestions are good um that were brought up in the phase one. Um just uh I mean I think I understand now a little bit better on how many how many food trucks um if it's in relation to a large area. Um I I think the main thing is what if we do make these changes is enforcement. I mean because like it doesn't do any good to put these requirements in place and then and then not really um enforce it. So the noise I mean I don't know that goes through police versus code enforcement I imagine. Um those noise complaints um about loud music. Um certainly any kind of illegal activity would go through police. The traffic um I think that does need to be addressed. Um in terms of uh access in and out um so maybe location of where those you know even in those large parking lots like where they actually are positioned. I think that makes sense. Um so that that as council member Lawson said you know people can actually navigate their way through to the destination that they were aiming for. So, I mean, I think I'm I'm pretty good. Um, uh, I I don't know after today, after hearing all the comments, are we um, chair, are we just expecting to have like a more finalized version? >> Um, I would like to see some of the suggestions worked into what currently is proposed. Um, I think there was some stuff that we still have questions on. I don't have the presentation up right this second, but um when we're talking about, you know, operating hours, um how many square how many trucks per square foot um just I think we might need to adjust some of those a little bit um to fit the conversation. Same thing with setbacks. Um you know, are we do we want to increase those a little bit um as far as the residential space? So, I think there's just some outstanding things that we could still adjust on it. >> So, would it be >> Oh, sorry. >> Would it be helpful just so we have direction on what you want to see coming forward? So, we'll get complaints, we'll get them broken down by ward um for operating hours, you trying to we want to be respectful that a lot of times there are nearby residences. Um, we can do a little uh analysis of local jurisdictions, not the food c food truck pods, but just these individuals to see what they do uh to try to benchmark where we are similar to what we've done with other projects if that would be useful. >> Um, I think so. Like I said, I could see I think 7 to 10 makes sense for Monday through Friday. I'm just wondering if there's some wiggle room for, you know, Friday, Saturday type of thing where people are generally out later and may be eating later, therefore would be visiting the trucks later. Um, so that was just my thought with the with the hours of operation. >> May I say something about the hours? Um, I think I mean I understand like 7 to 10, but I think that actually invites people just staying all day and not moving and maybe I don't know if that's part of the problem is that you're saying 7:00 a.m. till 1000 p.m. and then they're not they're just staying 5 days a week or 7 days a week. Um, so I I almost I get like breakfast food trucks. Is there any way to differentiate like breakfast food trucks, lunch food trucks, and dinner food trucks? Or do they all, you know, or do the food trucks do all three? May I don't know. Um, so maybe just some some more information on that. I am concerned and I think you mentioned um 200 ft when it's not on private property. So again, not being right by residences. So, like early in the morning or late at night, I I think that would be important to make sure that we protect our, you know, our residential neighborhoods. So, thank you, >> Council Member Jackson. Sorry, you've had your hand up. >> No, you're good. Um, I agree that I think some of the feedback that we're getting should be incor that we're giving should be incorporated. I do struggle with the no more than two food trucks uh per parcel. um just because you do usually see food trucks grouped together. I wonder if we're worried about residential interference if that can be written into there because you know there are some areas out in war 2 where maybe it's a destination spot for uh people who are working or driving uh to work out there and it's literally just food trucks. Um I think that could open up a space where you could have more than two per parcel. um and they might need to even be closer together because they there'll be less space um alongside the roads and things like that. So, I just think there's got to be more more research done. Um I don't think we're vote I looked at the questions that were asked at the end of the presentation and I think we're just um we're identifying these existing issues um from the presentation. >> Um Trevor, did you have a question? No, I just a follow-up comment to council member Bergen's uh comments about the hours of operation. There are some that kind of vary their operations, but I think you're you're fairly accurate in that uh it does in a lot of these circumstances invite them to be there during those time periods, the whole time periods uh while you know and and just operating at those locations rather than varying it. What we've did seen a number of jurisdictions particularly locally, you know, Denver and Boulder uh was a 4-hour limit. Uh the problem there would be enforcing that be very difficult because you're out there having to try to track it. So it'd be probably pretty reactive to to address that. Um some some places use the number of days limit. We've seen that locally as well. So you operate in the same spot for x number of days and then you need to you know move or switch the trucks out. Um you know we hadn't we hadn't proposed those. I don't think those were necessarily around kind of the complaints that we hear. Um I think generally kind of what we're hearing lately is more around and and our concerns more around the congregation of them and them never leaving from the site you know to address the things that they address. Um the just to clarify there is not a two per parcel. That was something we'd seen. Uh the as a result we were proposing one per 15,000 square feet of parking area. So it was more dynamic with that. Uh you know chambers in Hampton that would be you know I said five to six food trucks there. Uh which seemed a little bit more controlled. Um, you know, otherwise for a food truck pod, we'd talk about that proposal about here's how you need to lay that side out in order to manage those number of trucks and perhaps as a result to having that more permanency uh with those locations. >> All right, thank you. It's a hot topic um today. So, not sure we solved anything yet, but I do think we have some suggestions that maybe we can um do some more digging and then come back in the next meeting or the meeting after and hopefully have something that we can u move forward to a council meeting. Um next up, oil and gas. >> Thank you, Chair Wy, and good afternoon, council members. My name is Jeffrey Moore. I'm the manager of the city's energy and environment division. Let me share my slides here and I'll make this very brief. Um this is a clarifying uh ordinance that we're bringing forth. Uh everyone seeing the slides. I take that as a yes. >> Very good. Thank you. Um all right. The oil and gas advisory committee was established by council in 2015 to uh provide advice to council on matters related to oil and gas development in the city. Also provides a place for residents to come and learn more about oil and gas in the city and provide feedback as well. The the committee currently meets quarterly. There are three categories of members on the committee. The first is five citizens of Rurora meaning residents and those must be residents of Aurora. The second category is three representatives of the oil and gas industry that has operations in Aurora. And then third is three individuals who are surface or property and mineral owners that typically that is filled with representatives of the development community. Um the council resolution on committees uh which was passed last year, resolution 202578 um reiterates city code which says that unless specifically stated otherwise that all board and commission members must be residents of the city. As the ordinance was originally written that created this committee, it did not specifically state that industry members and landowner members did not need to be residents even though that was the original intent. Obviously, the first category is residents. The second uh two categories uh by their their type were not intended to be residents specifically. So, we believe there's some uncertainty in this uh in the categories of membership and we just want to clarify that. Uh again it was not the original intent of the ordinance to require the industry representatives or property owners which again generally is developers uh representatives of developers to be residents of the city. The proposed amendment would clarify these exceptions by making them explicit. That way we will be in compliance with city code in the resolution and also provide certainty to the volunteers who serve as members of the committee. Uh and the two things highlighted in yellow there are literally the only changes that are being made. The industry representatives and B uh are not required to be residents of Aurora. And then for C surface or property owners, we would add while preference will be given to Aurora residents and companies located in Aurora. Surface or property owners are not required to be residents of Aurora or in the case of a company not to be located in Aurora. And that is it. Uh we'd love to know if you have any questions or if we may move this forward to a council meeting. >> Great. Thank you. Um Council Member Bergen or Council Member Jackson, do you guys have any feedback? >> I'm good with moving it forward. >> I'm okay with moving it forward. I have no questions. >> Okay. And it looks like um Brad Pierce, you had a question. >> Yeah, this is Brad Pierce, chair of the oil and gas advisory committee. We did review the changes proposed by staff and we voted unanimously to approve those changes. So, just wanted to reinforce what Jeffrey Moore said that we're uh in supportive of the changes. One other little tiny thing, we do have a vacancy on our committee still from an industry person and my first quarter report of the activities of our committee is included in your packet. That's all I have for you. Thank you. >> Great. Thank you so much. Um, and I'm for moving it forward. So, I think we're unanimous there. So, it can move forward um to council. >> Thank you so much. >> Great. Thank you. Um, next up, our retail strategy. Should I start us off, Janine, or >> or Cindy? >> Yes, please go ahead. >> I I won't be uh say too much. I just want to say that uh the staff has done a tremendous job in the three meetings that we had with our stakeholders. And so obviously we just recently finished our last um stakeholder meeting with uh with the um committee and had a lot of really good um discussion, a lot of good recommendations for us to move forward on an implementation plan that hopefully will help us bring some more vibrant um retail and restaurants to our city. So, I'll turn it over now. >> Thank you very much. Um, so my name is Cindy Perry and I am the manager of business development um in planning and economic devel or business development. So, real quick, we're going to give a a quick update on the uh retail strategy steering committee, kind of what the buzzwords were and what comes next. And then just kind of a added bonus today, we're going to give a brief sales tax update for 2025 using our finance department's data. Um I don't know if anybody from finance is on the call, but if there are detailed questions, um we can we can tag team on that. So in terms of the retail strategy, we um completed the three steering committees uh just this month. We already have a a draft implementation plan that the team is looking at internally. Um that implementation plan is kind of our roadmap if you will and it's it's very detailed tasks that align with the framework that C city council authorized back in January. Um and it's based on a lot of the feedback that we heard from our steering committee. The intention is to update that annually. It is not a plan that sits on the shelf. Um, we'll come back, review it, see what's working, see what needs to be tweaked as as we go through that. So, I think this is really kind of the meat and potatoes. You know, these are some of the key themes that we heard from our steering committee. Clearly, there's a whole bunch more, but these really rose to the to the top. um efficient and predictable process. You know, I think process and clarity of process was a key theme that includes development review, licensing, permitting. So just to give an example of some of the action items that may come out of that, you know, we'll convene a working group of internal and potentially some external stakeholders to really refine what um revisions may be um kind of that lowhanging fruit for for early years and then kind of a longer term play um plus a whole bunch more in the implementation plan. We kind of heard some of this in in the food truck um discussion, but clean and safe, whether it's reality or perceived is is um very important to to brokers, developers, and to the business community and to the consumer. So really refining um programs and messaging that help us to address that. An example might be to have a tenant round table and identify, you know, what what those pain points are. Um, we've talked about crime forms and a whole bunch of other ideas that that came directly out of that. Marketing and communications is, you know, something that's really important for for any business. And if you think of Aurora as a business, we have to message in the same way. So we we have some work to do to to continue to build our business brand. Um some of the ideas that came out of the committee or targeted social media strategy. How are we how are we telling our story? What are some of the wins and successes and are we reaching the right audience? So we have a business audience and we have our consumer audience and those types of messaging are very very different. So we're not waiting around on this one. We're already meeting with communications. I think uh tomorrow in fact. So we really want to get the the ball rolling on some of these um ideas as soon as possible. Um we're going to ICSE next month. I was just checking to see if it was this month. So next month we'll be at ICSE which is the international shopping center group. It's it's multinational. So you know making sure that we have our messaging on brand for those national tenants. we would have a different message for kind of our more localized Colorado-based um partners. Um another top topic of conversation, not surprisingly, is yeah, incentives are great, you know, so they're really valuable to to close gaps. We're seeing a lot more gaps in today's economic environment. Um but incentives don't always have to be financial. So, you know, putting together a package um for future council consideration for incentives was also important to the committee. So, where do we go from here? Um I already mentioned that we have a draft implementation plan. We're going to vet this very carefully with our our internal and even external partners. The plan itself does identify all of the partners that would be involved in a particular task and we want to make sure that we don't get out ahead of that. So, we're vetting that um early on. Um the plan will assign a lead staff likely from the business development team. doesn't mean that we're doing all of that work, but you know, I see our responsibility in in this division to make sure that we maintain momentum on all of the action items and that, you know, we're we're managing that workflow. And then, uh, we would absolutely love to present an annual report to city council to peed kind of summarizing those accomplishments. um update the status and make any tweaks at this time. At that time, we really want to tie in, you know, key performance indicators with this plan to make sure that what we're doing is leading to results. You know, I will I will frame that statement with business development takes time. Um but we really need we can track progress very early on. There should be some really early wins. So, we hope to track that and bring bring those reports back to um this committee and to council. So, I'll do a real quick um sales tax briefing. And again, this is from finance data. Um so, the good news is that sales tax, you know, year-over-year is up um 4.7%. The challenge with that is cost of living and inflation exceeds you know the the revenue that we're seeing. So while positive you know we still have a lot of work to do in terms of increasing that revenue um this particular slide shows after sales tax incentives and before sales tax incentives. So what that means is, you know, if we're attracting, you know, an interesting concept, and I mentioned those financial incentives to help close that gap, the sales tax that says before sales tax is the 317 and 306 million is after um we take take those uh incentives into consideration. So we have seen growth. Our our goal is to increase that growth trajectory. Um, this slide kind of shows you can look on the left side of the column and you've got green for going up, red for maybe not so much in the different categories. Um, you know, there's there are unique situations each year for for categories. So, you know, we look at these as trends, not as oh my gosh, or you know, we don't have to continue to work with eating and drinking places because they're doing great. um we just we we use this to help inform kind of our programs and policy recommendations to to council. So I I'll I'll give you an example. Beer, wine, and liquor stores, you know, surprisingly people aren't drinking as much as they used to. So we have seen a different trend in that category. So, you know, this might be a great opportunity for our team to partner with SBDC and do, you know, very very direct outreach to those, we call them nakes codes, but those business um categories that we see some kind of upward or downward trends. Same holds true for, you know, ones that are doing great like clothing, you know, clothing stores. So, we want to make sure that we're we're touching on all of the different, you know, businesses and, you know, could ga get a gauge of what their experience is. Um, so restaurants and lodging, um, this kind of pulls that out. This is, uh, a popular question that we get. Um, and and there there are some downward trends in restaurants. It's tough. It's tough right now. So the the reality is or how we we approach this is, you know, let's get with restaurants and find out, you know, is it is it the regulatory environment that's impacting them? Is it is it the labor market? They can't hire quality people and retain them. So their their customer service is declining. So, it's really incumbent upon our team working with SBDC to get out there and understand what those issues are so that we can come up with programs that that counter what the the businesses are experiencing. So, that's all I have for today, but happy to answer any questions. >> Thank you so much. Uh, Council Member Bergen, >> I just Yeah, I just wanted to add on there some of the things um from from the three meetings that that did come up. Um, process of course was huge on the development just getting things done faster. One of the things was um maybe doing a fasttrack on similar use businesses and I think I might have mentioned that last meeting. Um and then also on the clean and safe um area, you know, making changes to lighting, to cameras, um facade improvements was very big, especially on some of the vacant retail um strip centers. Um so I I think staff is going to be working on implementation plan for how can we help those um those businesses with facade improvements, whether that be an incentive or or whatnot. Um, and then the marketing kept that came up pretty strongly as Cindy mentioned um that we market the city but we don't necessarily market ourselves very um well or specifically to um the industry to show them um you know what's available and where they might be a good fit for us. So, I think that's that's huge that we're going to work on that and SB uh CD I think um also came up with a lot of opportunities for us to help educate. Um and then I just want to mention I am on the management and finance committee and um we get the sales tax report every single month and unfortunately um year-to- date we are down 2.9%. Um so not necessarily going in the right direction. industrial and electronics which was really good in 25 is actually not good in 26. So um hopefully that the uh economy will turn around and we'll see improvement there but just wanted to give some context. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh Council Member Jackson, do you have any comments? >> Um yeah, thank you chair. Thank you uh staff and uh council member Bergen for uh you know taking lead on this presentation and the data is really interesting. Um with hearing that our uh sales tax is down this year is there is there kind of a tiered approach to this of like if if sales tax is where we want it this is these are the things that we'd like to move forward. if sales tax isn't where we want it, if it continues to decline, like how are you all preparing to make those um adjustments based on revenue from sales tax? >> Yeah, I think um you know, we we look at this data quarterly. Um Council Member Bergen has a a little advanced preview for Q1. I haven't seen those numbers yet. But um so for example, you know, right now we are in a down economy. We're we're hearing that, you know, finance is tough. So I think our strategy recommendation would be now is the time to really start marketing for when the economy rebounds. So we want to be the first ones that that the business community or tenants think of when, you know, the the financing frees up. if we're in a fantastic economy, you know, I think we we really focus on um I don't want to say elevating, but but making sure that you know our our businesses are of high quality and that we are growing the quality of our existing businesses. So, it just kind of depends on on what the situation is. >> Thank you. That was my only question. >> All right. Thank you so much. We appreciate the update and all the work that you guys are doing to attract new businesses to come to our city. Just remember, W 2 is the best, so they should move to my ward. Just a little plug there. >> Um, uh, next up, it looks like we have housing UDOS's updates. >> Yeah, we just have a a couple minutes left. Um, you want me to pull up my slides real quick? Uh let's see. But in general, uh it's been a busy month communicating. Um, as I wait for that to pull up, uh, as you know, uh, we had a council study session on April 6, and I thought that went, uh, well, and we got good feedback, uh, from the council, and there's a lot of things to consider with those policy discussions that we introduced, uh, to you all. And so, you know, with regard to that, uh, we we are working on what I call kind of a companion piece to uh, effectively that presentation. And so, you know, with the presentation, you certainly have the benefit of of the presenter talking and providing background about those things. And so that's the purpose of the companion piece is to have a lot of that uh background and and direction of of how we got to where we got with some of those proposals so that you can sit with you and you can think about uh what those mean and when people ask questions you'll have a little more context to that. So hopefully you know that'll be coming out next week in that regard. Uh we also met with the homebuilders uh kind of gave them a high overview of of the proposal or of the process and proposal and and certainly um um we have a representative from that group on our development roundt as well and so they're certainly familiar with our work there. um we were able to produce a follow-up uh memo uh for the council for the questions we did receive on April 21st and so those relate to the direct questions that we received at or after that study session. Um and we also made that presentation at planning commission as well. So, kind of getting everybody up to speed with where we are and you know, so that said, again, I'm I'm looking forward to being able to release the companion piece soon. And also, uh, you know, if there's any questions or concerns or or things, I think we're we're always open to setting up, uh, a quick call, a quick meet in person to chat about uh, these issues or these um, proposals as there's a lot of considerations. And so, we're happy to talk through, talk about concerns, talk about questions you're getting. And so please feel free to ping myself and we can set up a time to do that. So uh that's what I have in our abbreviated time. >> Thank you so much. Um no questions. So I'm going to move forward to asking about the next meeting because I didn't see any updates um further down the agenda. So May 27th at 2 p.m. Does that work for everyone? especially for council member Bergen and Jackson. >> That works for me. >> That does work for me. Is that going to be the set um ongoing meeting as the what is that the fourth Wednesday or one two? >> That's what I have the recurring meeting as the fourth Wednesday. um when I look at my calendar >> and that works pretty much um for me for the year except for June 24th. Um some of us will be at CML at the conference. >> Okay. >> Yeah. One >> we'll start we'll start working on June dates as an alternative um now so that we don't get to into June and then we're trying to squeeze one in. So, um, council members Bergen and Jackson, if you guys could send over some alternative times for June, >> um, then, yeah, then we can try and get that scheduled ahead of time so that we're not scrambling at the last minute. >> Okay. But then for the rest of the year, I can count on that fourth Wednesday. Okay. All right. Thank you. >> Absolutely. >> All right. Well, it's 4 o'clock and in the interest of everybody's time, um, we'll adjourn the meeting. Thank you for coming and we'll see you next month. Thank you.