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HomeMy WebLinkAboutcoa.cclc.min.040109COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF APRIL 1.2009 Vice-chair, Mark Goodman called the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m. Commissioner in attendance: Bill Dinsmoor, Andrew Kole, Fred Ayarza and Roger Haneman. Excused were Terry Butler, Don Sheeley and John Starr. Staff: Kathy Strickland, Chief Deputy City Clerk Nancy Lesley, Special Events Coordinator: Nancy said she handles marketing money for existing events. This year they would like to pursue three new events. The money for the three new events which is totally different, it is not for an athletic event. Nancy said the events would be downtown events or called core party events. We are thinking of Halloween and during the XMAS holidays. We only have ideas and thoughts. You have the businesses downtown and they would partner with the CCLC and get their input. We need to figure out what works and what doesn't work. Nancy said we were also thinking about something along the lines of a street fair in July with a beer garden and band. We need something to liven up the downtown. Our idea is to do something during the week. The focus should be family oriented. The other idea was Halloween so that children can wear their costume for more than one day. The requested $50,000 has to be split among the three new events and additional promotion of old events. Andrew said summer is where the event should be focused. Andrew said he wants to ask for $100,000 to fund events under an umbrella. Andrew asked what their budget would be for the single events. Nancy said they are talking to the hotels and we would tie it into a hotel promotion. Fred said everyone is in favor. Summer is number one, XMAS would be number two and Halloween should be on the back burner. We need fun things at XMAS to get the family back downtown at XMAS time. Andrew said the CCLC has asked for this many times. Bill asked if they had targeted markets when requesting the funding. What was your focus? COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF APRIL 1, 2009 Nancy said in general we need to bring more people from Denver to here. We have no marketing funds to work with the airlines. We also targeted Utah. Nancy said we would spend $30,000 to $35,000 for the downtown events. Fred reiterated that the summer event should be #1 and XMAS next. We need to start early enough on the XMAS event to get everything accomplished. Bill said we need opportunities to bring people here and have an experience in their lodging stay and retail experience. The Aspen Goes Bazaar worked. Bill said we need to advertise for the drive time. There needs to be coordination with the lodging and the retail community to bring synergy to businesses. Fred said clearance of businesses inventory is important. You need to provide opportunities for customers. Andrew pointed out that piece meal funding is the worst marketing you can do. Fred asked what CCLC did with the $40,000 in years past. Bill said street signs, art project, etc. It was funding so that people didn't have to go back to city council and ask for funding. Andrew said the ACRA is getting $200,000 for advertising. Andrew said $20,000 for XMAS would help to blow the town off the charts. Halloween doesn't mean that much. Bill pointed out that Halloween also has weather concerns. Bill asked what sporting events you spend $20,000 on. Nancy said the cycling criteria and the triathlon in May. Nancy said we have a special events budget and marketing budget. We spend between $65,000 and $70,000 on marketing. The marketing includes the ARC, golf and trails. COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF APRIL 1, 2009 Bill asked if they had goals for the participant events. Nancy said we have participant numbers that we want to achieve yearly. Events on Saturday bring people in Friday and they stay overnight and the event is Saturday. Andrew said no one is helping the downtown retailers in their events. Mark said two events make sense. After Thanksgiving and late September or October. The event could be tied in with the leaves changing. Nancy asked the CCLC if they wanted to move the summer event to the fall. The board agreed that a fall event would be better than a summer event. Bill said we need the best idea to make it fit. Roger said most events in the summer pull people in all summer. Not just one day. The fall would be better for a new event. Bill suggested the first week in October to dovetail the Golden Leaf. Nancy said the golden leaf is the last week of September. Roger said Nancy is good at participating events and why not do more of those events. Nancy said it s important that we create memories and if they don't have that they won't come back. Roger also pointed out that Halloweens are local. Mark said everyone that comes here has a great time. A few embellishments are great. It is getting them here that is the problem. Fred said he spent 40 years making Thanksgiving to XMAS great. We had to make it happen between Thanksgiving and XMAS. There are major opportunities for Aspen. Whether the retailers do discounts or rent rooms is a fact. The month of December is big in this country. It is a matter of everyone getting together. Carolers definitely are a part of XMAS. Andrew said if we can attach our name as being the best area for XMAS it will be a great thing. Nancy said they will come back in June after they have put a plan together. Drew Alexander, planner -Jennifer Phelan, Deputy Director for Community Development Jennifer handed out a modified version of the municipal code regulations. COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF APRIL 1, 2009 Jennifer said as an example Belly Up wanted to sell hotdogs adjacent to their premise. We would need to have constraints on the area size. Presently there is no vending on the public right-of--way. On Public amenity space you can have tables and chairs. What we don't have is a code provision for outdoor merchandise wares. We don't enforce unless it is a written complaint. Drew said with outdoor merchandise you need to maintain wheel chair access. Andrew said we need a marketing plan for the City. As an idea we could advertise half off and as part of that we would allow retailers to be outside in the evenings. This could be a pilot program. Bill said an issue is who polices the event. Our charge is somehow getting a representative of the retailers here to see what they need. Bill said we need retailers to step up and say what works. Roger asked what percentage of retailers have the amount of space to do outdoor sales. The malls are different because they have enough space. Bill said if you don't have adequate space then you could give up two parking spaces in front of your store. The board felt that the ideas should be part of the ACRA package. Mark said it is problematic with a written complaint. People don't want their name on a piece of paper. My personal feeling is if we are doing an event with a coordinated effort it is good. Having individuals do things is not the property way to go. It has to be coordinate, policed and enforced. If we do the pilot program at a certain day and certain hour that is the way to go. Andrew said he is having a marketing meeting with the ACRA. Their present theme is every day is a weekend. Roger said we need to discuss definitions and ideas. COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF APRIL 1, 2009 Fred said we need to help the merchants in town and be fair to everyone. Fred said several years ago meetings occurred and we had 150 people together and they started throwing our ideas. Bill said the 15`h meeting we need to invite businesses to brain storm on ideas how to get patrons into their stores. We need to discuss whether retailing in public spaces is appropriate and we need a merchandise pilot program. Drew said dining outside creates more vitality in town. If the city allowed businesses to do something outside your doors what would it look like, how many days and how many hours. Square footage would need to be identified and if it possible to give up parking spaces for a particular day. Bill also suggested the ACRA send a blast to all their businesses reminding them of the next CCLC meeting. Meeting adjourned at 10:30 a.m. //~~ _ ~ //~ Kathleen J. Strickland, Chief Deputy City Clerk