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Brays Oaks Management District Business & Economic Development Committee met Sept. 6.
Here are the minutes provided by the committee:
The Brays Oaks Management District Business and Economic Development Committee held a meeting via Zoom video conference on September 06, 2023, at 10:00 am.
District Board and Committee members present: Sheri Cortez, Ralph Rieger, Sylvia Rivas, Ronald Plotkin, Cindy Chapman
Staff members present: Xavier Herrera, Josh Hawes, Cosme Garcia
Public present: Sylvester Reeder III – Houston One Voice, Wilfredo Santamaria – METRO, Casey McKay – METRO, Tony Foster – METRO, Barbara Hite – District K, Brenda Jackson, Aimee Mobley Turney – Office of Rep. Gene Wu, Shavonnah Roberts Schreiber – SNR Creative
Committee Chair Sheri Cortez called the meeting to order at 10:03 AM, and the committee meeting adjourned at 11:16 AM.
THE COMMITTEE CONSIDERED THE FOLLOWING:
1. Call to Order
2. Public Comment
a. No public comments were received.
3. Minutes of 08/02/23 B&ED Committee Meeting
a. Committee meeting minutes submitted for reference.
4. District Updates & Recommendations
a. Development Properties
i. Committee Chair Cortez advised that the Brays Oaks Crossing sign at the W. Airport development was approved. Committee Chair Cortez will share groundbreaking information when available.
ii. District J is aware of a Food Truck parking lot across from Turkish House. The plan is to have a 300 sq. ft. restroom built.
iii. A retail space is planned next to the Indian community center across from the Turkish House. Committee Chair Cortez is working with the developer to determine what type of retail will be in the space.
b. METRO projects update by Wilfredo Santamaria
i. Mr. Santamaria, Casey McKay, and Tony Foster gave an update on the W. Bellfort Park & Ride. METRO plans to build a 1 million sq. ft. 6-level parking garage with 3,029 spaces, 8 bus bays, with transit-oriented development opportunities.
1. Timeline
a. Construction contract award - September 2023
b. Construction start – November 2023
c. Construction completion – November 2026 (estimated)
ii. Mr. Santamaria advised that follow-up questions may be sent to him. Additionally, he stated Executive Director Herrera can help committee members contact Mr. Santamaria as well.
iii. Committee Cortez advised that she will be in contact with Mr. Santamaria on behalf of the district.
iv. Mr. McKay believes this will be the largest park and ride garage in the city.
v. Committee Chair Cortez inquired if the project could be done sooner than November 2026. Mr. McKay stated that the phasing of the project probably wouldn’t allow for the project to be completed significantly sooner than the estimated date.
vi. Committee Chair Cortez inquired if there is an economic development component to the project. Mr. McKay states that transit-oriented development opportunities are planned for the area and that they would like to discuss the issue further with the district.
vii. Mr. McKay advised that an e-mail to Mr. Santamaria in support of the need for transit-oriented development in the area would be helpful. Committee Chair advised she would follow-up with an e-mail to Mr. Santamaria.
viii. Committee Chair Cortez inquired as to what type of security will be provided. Mr. McKay advised that METRO will provide security, but he was not sure if a third party security agency would be engaged.
c. Ruffino Redevelopment
i. Mr. Reeder gave an update on the Ruffino redevelopment environmental justice grant application. Houston Voice Once should be advised of EPA’s decision by the end of September.
d. Branding – SNR Creative
i. Mrs. Schreiber gave an update to the committee regarding a plan to set up a subcommittee with stakeholders to review ideas for community events and engagement. Committee Chair Cortez advised that a subcommittee will be a more expedient method of discussing these items, as opposed to having a workshop with outcomes that will have to come back to the committee for discussion before ideas can be forwarded to the board for consideration.
ii. Committee Chair Cortez advised the committee to contact Executive Director Herrera if they are interested in being on the subcommittee. Details of the deliverables and staffing events will be discussed in the subcommittee.
iii. Mrs. Schreiber advised that the subcommittee would also help to make decisions on the request for new deliverables and where the inventory should be stored. iv. Executive Director Herrera will work to set up a subcommittee meeting date. v. Director Chapman inquired if the meeting would be virtual or in-person. Committee Chair Cortez advised that the meeting will be virtual.
vi. Committee Chair Cortez requested that Mrs. Schreiber provide bullet points of what should be discussed. Mrs. Schreiber advised the following should be discussed: expectations regarding deliverables, expectations regarding events, and how to create a system to keep the district engaged with the community. Committee Chair Cotez advised that the committee needs to discuss roles and responsibilities.
vii. Executive Director Herrera inquired if SNR’s task order 3 will need to be amended, per SNR’s submittal of an amended task order 3. Mrs. Schrieber and Committee Chair Cortez advised that because a subcommittee will handle the discussions there will be no need to amend the current task order.
viii. Mr. Hawes stated that any changes to contracts require board approval and the submittal of a new 1295 from the contractor. Since an amendment to the current contract is not necessary, further action is not required.
e. Event policies and procedures
i. Mr. Hawes advised that this item is a discussion regarding policies and procedures for staff attending events. Potential guidance may include which events staff are required to attend, such as district created events; staff should not attend election related events since management districts are apolitical entities; 72-hour notice for non-district events for staff and EV1 Pro (events that are not hosted by BOMD); holiday events on a case-by-case basis with notice; cases where only EV1 Pro should attend.
ii. Committee Chair Cortez advised that in the past the Executive Director attended district events. Committee Chair Cortez stated she was not clear on what non-district events are, since her understanding is that any event within the district are district events. Mr. Hawes advised that if the district’s logo is on a flyer used to advertise an event, it may be a district event, however there are some cases where the district may provide support funding and staff are not expected to attend.
iii. Director Rivas advised that in the past she has received notifications of special events that directors should attend. Director Rivas stated she has not received those types of notifications recently, but she will glad to represent the district if her schedule allows.
iv. Committee Chair Cortez advised that in the past the expectation was that directors would receive emails regarding community events. Further, Committee Chair Cortez was under the impression that either the Executive Director or Director of Services would attend events and report back to the committee, which is not the current practice because there is not a policy in place.
v. Director Chapman advised that it may be helpful to have a calendar of upcoming events. There may be a disconnect; the district does advertise events on the district’s Facebook page which may or may not be distributed to the board.
vi. Committee Chair Cortez mentioned that the district should have representation from staff at events that are related to economic development, for example, the ribbon cutting for the new library.
vii. Director Plotkin inquired about name tags for directors. Committee Chair Cortez advised that the district has them and one should be created for Director Plotkin. viii. Mr. Hawes advised that events within the district are advertised through social media at the request of community members and organizations within BOMD. Additionally, everyone should confirm that they are signed up to receive BOMD notifications through the BOMD website.
ix. Committee Chair Cortez advised that this is an opportunity to suggest which types of events staff should attend. Such as annual HOA meetings, Super Neighborhood (SN) meetings, and other community meetings.
x. Director Chapman advised that either Executive Director Herrera or Director of Services Garcia attend the Westbury SN meetings.
xi. Mr. Hawes advised that directors will have to decide which types of meetings take precedence, residential or commercial.
xii. Committee Chair Cortez advised that she would rather staff attend a ribbon cutting at a park or events such as the HPD event at S. Gessner Station where the district spent $3,000 dollars.
xiii. Mr. Hawes advised that a policy is needed because the expectations from each district are unique. A policy will help the staff find a balance between attending events and conducting the day-to-day operations of the district.
xiv. Committee Chair Cortez will reach out for further input and will create guidance on events to be discussed by the committee.
xv. Director Rivas advised that she has invited Executive Director Herrera to address the Brays Oaks SN.
xvi. Committee Chair Cortez advised that there may not be as many events happening in the district like in the past, which may have caused a decrease in opportunities for visibility.
xvii. Committee Chair Cortez advised that this item should be on the next committee for discussion, with the hope that a document containing policies and procedures can be discussed.
f. Permits & Platting
1. Permits
a. Executive Director Herrera reported the number of residential and commercial permits for the month of August.
i. Detailed report available in committee packet.
ii. Director Cortez reviewed older permits in the report.
1. 10605 S. Gessner Rd (3,500 SF new warehouse)
2. 10470 W. Bellfort (4,225 SF washateria buildout)
3. 11451 Bob White (1,200 SF hair salon)
4. 11822 S Gessner (gas station)
2. Platting
a. Executive Director Herrera reported the platting activity for the month of August.
i. Director Chapman advised that the people involved with the property at 12500 Dunlap, 6007 Densmore live nearby and the land is slowly being cleared and will probably be developed for residential.
g. Business PIP
i. Committee Chair Cortez advised of no updates.
h. Business Incentives Program
i. Executive Director Herrera advised if there are no objections – staff will recommend Solugen, Inc.
5. Adjourn
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS:
• The committee did not have any recommendations.
https://www.braysoaksmd.org/who-we-are/board-materials/