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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-10-23 - Minutes - TOWN AND GOWN ADVISORY COMMITTEE Oct. 23, 2023 | 3:00 p.m. Virtual Meeting Via Zoom Members: CITY COUNCIL & COMMUNITY MEMBERS REPRESENTATIVES • Teresa Turk City Council Member • Brandon Gibbons U of A Student - Off Campus • Jack Avery Community Citizen at Large • Annie Dowling Community Citizen at Large • Alan Wilbourn Exec. Dir. Of Communications, Fayetteville Public Schools CITY OF FAYETTEVILLE STAFF REPRESENTATIVES • Susan Norton Chief of Staff Committee Co-Chair • Lisa Thurber Director of Communications and Marketing • Jonathan Curth Director of Development Services STAFF RESOURCES WILL BE CALLED UPON AS NEEDED UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS REPRESENTATIVES • Laura Jacobs Chief of Staff/Committee Co- Chair • Mark Rushing Associate Vice Chancellor, University Relations • Scott Turley Associate Vice Chancellor, Facilities • Cael Losenegger President, Associated Student Government • Kolade Olatunde President, Graduate Professional Student Congress Meeting Video: http://reflect-fayetteville-ar.cablecast.tv/CablecastPublicSite/show/8043?site=1 1. Call to Order Jacobs called the meeting to order at 3:01 p.m. 2. Roll Call In attendance: Teresa Turk, Brandon Gibbons, Jack Avery, Annie Dowling, Alan Wilbourn, Lisa Thurber, Jonathan Curth, Laura Jacobs, Mark Rushing, Scott Turley, Cale Losenegger Absent: Susan Norton, Kolade Olatunde 3. Approval of Minutes Curth moved and Turley seconded approval of the July 24, 2023 meeting minutes. The minutes were unanimously approved. 4. Approval of Meeting Agenda Turley requested to add an item on the natural gas pipeline. Prior to the meeting and via email, Dowling requested to add an item regarding local purchasing, and Avery advocated for the item’s addition. With these additions, Avery moved and Turk seconded approval of the Oct. 23, 2023 meeting agenda. The agenda was unanimously approved. MEETING MINUTES 2 5. Old Business: None 6. New Business a. Welcome Brandon Gibbons and Annie Dowling, reappointed committee members (10/1/2023 – 9/30/25) Jacobs welcomed Gibbons and Dowling back to the committee and thanked them for their service. b. Dickson Street Entertainment District parking changes Justin Clay, City of Fayetteville Parking Manager, discussed the role of parking in a downtown environment and reviewed recommendations from recent parking studies. He covered rate changes for city-owned/managed on-street and surface lot parking in the Dickson Street entertainment district. This includes changes to long -term or “all day” parking in core areas, free 2 -hour parking in certain areas during morning and lunch hours and a shift to pay-by-license plate system. He also reviewed changes parking permits across the entertainment district. Clay’s presentation materials are available to view here. Gibbons asked how the updated parking plan accommodates someone using Uber to get home. Clay clarified that there are no changes to existing accommodations; a designated Uber area is currently in place and will remain. Gibbons asked if someone can leave a car overnight; Clay affirmed that there aren’t penalties for leaving a car overnight if someone is unable to drive home. Avery asked if analyses on areas where people are currently parking 8 or more hours are only considering peak hours or if overnight parking is incorporated in the analysis; Clay confirmed that the timeframe considered was 8 a.m. to midnight. Turley asked if Clay has a sense of who is parking vehicles long term and whether Clay thinks students are using core downtown areas for long-term vehicle storage; Clay said he thinks there is a high volume of student parking taking place prior to 2 p.m., when paid parking takes effect. He added that the goal of these changes is to free up availability in core areas by shifting longer -term parking to secondary areas where demand is lower. Turley noted that an all -day rate for the City may be less costly than purchasing a parking permit from the University. Jacobs added that there is an opportunity for consistency with privately -owned parking lots in the area. Clay indicated that the maps in today’s presentation do not incorporate privately-owned parking, but that the City does look to cooperate with private lot owners. Turk noted that it would be helpful to users if City and University mobile apps for parking were the same; Clay confirmed that the two organizations currently use different mobile apps, and that the City is seeing strong adoption rates for ParkMobile, its new parking system. Jacobs said she would check on the parking system/app for the University. c. Pedestrian Safety Month updates Dowling advised via email that she was unable to participate in this month’s Pedestrian Safety Month activities. Jacobs encouraged other members of the Advisory Committee to become engaged in this work, specifically suggesting collaborating with the 3 University’s ASG committee. d. City/UA communication around housing needs and enrollment projections: Curth provided an overview of housing needs across Fayetteville. He discussed how rapid population growth (including student enrollment), increasing housing costs and a lack of new housing stock has created a housing shortage across the city. Curth advised that Fayetteville has about 50,000 housing units, with extremely low vacancy rates. Meanwhile, the population is growing around 4,000 people per year and more than 1,000 new housing units are needed per year to keep up with current population projections. Curth added that about half of Fayetteville households need housing at a cost below current average rent. He said City staff are providing in -depth presentations to City Council reviewing this information along with recommendations for next steps to support targeted growth, infrastructure liabilities and implications for land consumption. Curth’s presentation is available here. Jacobs advised that the University is working towards a projected freshman class enrollment of 6,800 students for Fall 2024. Currently the University has received 17,512 applications for admission; of those, 11,237 have been admitted, however, admission doesn’t necessarily indicate actual intention to attend. Jacobs introduced Jeremy Battjes, University of Arkansas Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs , who spoke to housing projections and new patterns of students responding to applications and housing contracts. He said the University currently has 6,300 beds and will add approximately 1,300 beds via local housing entities, for new and returning students. Battjes discussed the process for estimating the number of beds needed each year and mentioned the University’s housing growth study. He noted seeing more interest from returning students in getting University help with navigating challenges with finding housing in the community. Turk asked if freshman receive priority for the 7,600 University beds; Battjes said it depends on where you are in “line” for the contracting process. Returning students are encourage first to find off-campus housing, but they have avenues for securing University housing if that is their preference. Turk asked why the University is growing so much when it’s ranking has dropped; Jacobs said the two are unrelated. Enrollment growth is in response to the upcoming nationwide projected “enrollment clif f.” U.S. News and World Report changed its ranking methodology, dropping some factors where the University previously ranked very favorably. Jacobs said the University has shifted its focus to allocate more resources to help its poorest students achieve positive outcomes, which is a new factor the rankings are now considering. Turk asked if the University has considered restrictions for freshman bringing cars; Battjes said it’s something that will need to be addressed as new structures are built. Dowling asked if students must purchase a parking permit; Jacobs said they do if they park on campus, noting that there are parking permit options available across campus at a variety of price points. Rushing said that despite growth, incoming classes have brought impressive academic records. There are more Arkansa ns on campus today than the total number of enrolled University students 20 years ago. Losenegger relayed that University administration does a lot to help students succeed, and not all those actions are captured in national rankings; he prioritizes meeting this University’s students 4 needs over focusing on achieving higher rankings. Losenegger also noted that the housing issue is one where the University and City need to collaborate on finding a solution. Turley asked Curth about minimum parking standards for multi -family housing developments; Curth said the baseline is one parking space per bed. Avery asked what the greatest barrier is today for builders looking at single -family and multi-family units; Curth said that there is no one, single barrier. Land, labor and lumber are all important factors in a builder’s decision to produce new housing un its. The City has no control over land, labor and lumber. Where the City has influence is over development and zoning code. Avery asked if Fayetteville’s building codes are more restrictive than other towns in Northwest Arkansas; Curth replied that buildin g code is set at the state level, with cities being able to adjust them to increase safety or accommodate community values, such as water quality and tree canopy protection. Jacobs suggested having a representative from the Northwest Arkansas Council to give a progress update on work it is doing specific to this issue. She also suggested future agenda items covering updates on the different housing studies currently underway. e. Recommendation for using compostable balloons: Turk relayed community concerns about use of balloons around celebrations taking place around the beginning of the University school year, particularly sorority house events. if there is any guidance being given to those groups encouraging use of compostable or environmentally friendly balloons, or other solutions. Jacobs added that the high school and local businesses also use balloons and could use alternate options. Battjes said the student affairs division could look into alternatives. Turk asked to have this topic at the next meeting for follow-up. Turley said he would talk with the University’s sustainability division about this topic as well. f. Assigning a proxy: Jacobs reminded committee members about assigning a proxy if they are unable to attend a committee meeting where voting is taking place. g. Local purchasing: Dowling suggested prioritizing local vendors for making City or University purchases, where policies allow. Gibbons added that local purchases help reduce unnecessary pollution. h. Natural Gas Pipeline: Turley discussed the University’s high-pressure natural gas pipeline, and directed members to learn more by going to pipelinesafety.uark.edu. 5 7. Public Comment/Other Discussion: Mike Johnson asked if there would be messaging to the public about the City’s parking changes. Thurber confirmed that information would be shared with the public in advance of parking changes being enforced. Gibbons commended the Weekend Starts events. 8. Next Meeting and Adjourn The Q1 2024 Town and Gown Committee meeting will take place on Jan. 22, 2024, via Zoom. The meeting was adjourned at 4:18 p.m.