CC MIN 02152022 - Laserfiche WebLink

In response to Councilmember Arkin, Interim Assistant City Manager Ott stated the timeline for building the new parklets will be truncated by a couple of weeks because of having a pre -approved design, providing restaurants more time to have them ready for the beginning of May. In response to Councilmember Arkin, Interim Assistant City Manager Ott clarified the downtown resident for the advisory group lives on First Street and was selected by the PDA. The non -downtown resident was Dave Selinger. In response to Councilmember Arkin, Interim Assistant City Manager Ott clarified other parades such as the soccer parade could be incorporated into the proposed schedule using the emergency vehicle accesslane. In response to Councilmember Arkin, Interim Assistant City Manager Ott confirmed the PDA is confident in its once -per -month recommendation between its capacity issues and the desires from a majority of retailers. In response to Councilmember Narum, Interim Assistant City Manager Ott clarified the reason for Concerts in the Park being proposed for Weekend on Main off weekends is concern for PDA's ability to deliver on all of these events in addition to staff concerns about traffic and parking with both events occurring simultaneously. If Main Street is closed for the Hometown Holiday Parade in December, they could work to expand the closure window for the whole weekend. In response to Mayor Brown, Interim Assistant City Manager Ott stated any change from the current water barriers would involve a conversation with Traffic Engineer Tassano and the PPD because the barriers would have to be strong enough to stop a vehicular impact. Traffic Engineer Tassano stated he is not familiar with the City owning any of the sawhorse barriers she described. In response to Mayor Brown, Interim Assistant City Manager Ott did not know the exact number of retailers added to downtown over the past year. Mayor Brown opened the public hearing. Bryan Bowers, PDA President, thanked the City Council for considering its request to bring back Weekends on Main. He stated there are competing stakeholders with differing opinions of what the program should look like going forward. He added residents also want Concerts in the Park to return, leading to PDA's monthly recommendation. The PDA wants to fill the blank space during the day and engage the retailers. Because of the Main Street closure for the Hometown Holiday Parade it made sense to try and take advantage of a December Weekend on Main. He stated the PDA would love to have a conversation with the City about parking enforcement. Andre Pegeron requested Weekend on Main weekly. He stated Main Street is where you want to see people. He commended the ideas on programming but stated he does not need it, preferring instead that there be no cars. He added every car taken off of Main Street adds a table or two per restaurant or more walking space. He stated the City does not need to throw the weekly concept away because it did not work for retailers. He suggested the installation of retractable bollards as barricades as a one-time budget expense and not an annual one. Jaime Zile stated she needs a way to get customers to her store easier. She thanked the Council for considering having Weekend on Main only once a month because having them weekly hurt her business. She requested better signage, noting customers come from different locations and often out- of-town. She requested using some of the $100,000 sponsorship to better direct customers to downtown off of Del Valle Parkway and Santa Rita Road to eliminate a bottleneck. She wished a more tenured retailer was selected for the advisory group. City Council Minutes Page 12 of 16 February 15, 2022