CC Min 2012-05-21 - Special - Laserfiche WebLink

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Susie Peyton, a resident since 1993, said she helped work on the community committee to help with the parks and she expressed hope that the community here today speaking to Council can be more involved in the process. She expressed her pride, love, and willingness to help do what is best for downtown. She values that the Council allows the community to get involved in this process and why this is being rushed. She asked Council to let residents help Council do what is best for this town. Sandra Hess spoke about her family-owned property and how they have a vacancy and would like to have retail tenants. She commented that office space is more expensive to build out and they support a vital downtown and would like to build more energy, but few retail tenants come by. She said there is little office interest for the downtown but she does appreciate Council's openness to options. Michelle Fraedrich, representing multiple property owners, said tenants want to be downtown for the opportunities where they can walk and patronize retail. She said there are a lot of companies looking to see what Redwood City can offer them and said companies could help support the City and also benefit the community through innovation. She thinks this is an innovative idea and she supports it. David Wozneak, a private law enforcement non-profit business owner, said that interest is low and they have had an offer from a small credit union, but current zoning does not permit it. He opined that the proposed offer would bring in more foot traffic which is a good thing and having a restaurant is not the answer to everything. He does not think that retail is the answer to everything. John McClellan, with Colliers International, said he represents finro buildings on Broadway that are priced competitively, but are vacant and he opined that it is a myth that office space will price out retail. He believes office and retail spaces will complement one another and spoke in favor of limiting the change to five years. Brett Webber, with Colliers and a resident since 1985-86, said they are working daily to make downtown better and they do not want to see vacancies. He spoke in favor of having people downtown by allowing nonretail entrepreneurs in, as they will buy food, and he also questioned how much it helps to only bring retailers in if the people are not here. Eric and Laurie Lochtefelt each spoke in turn to congratulate the City Council and spoke in favor of siding with fellow operators, making the Downtown Precise Plan work, and keeping retail in the downtown area. He appreciated the proper discourse. Laurie Lochtefelt said she is all for retail downtown and she is real estate broker and invited others to see her if they are having problems with renting, and she will make sure it gets rented. Nancy Radcliffe, a former retailer, opined that this has been a great meeting with finro developers excited to come to Redwood City because of our Precise Plan. She SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL May 21, 2012 MEETING MINUTES PAGE 14 MINUTE BOOK NO. 64 Page No. 133