Agenda - 06-21-2016 - 5-a - Minutes

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3 1 Dwight Bassett said many office spaces are looking to go smaller, which also allows for 2 flexibility. He said an open floor plate is most desirable, so that companies can customize. 3 Commissioner Price asked if the existing vacant spaces can be upfitted to something 4 different. 5 Dwight Bassett said there is a little less than 200,000 square feet available, and the 6 most flexible space is Dawson Hall. He said the vast majority of what is available is Class B 7 office space. 8 Council Member Cianciolo referred to the North Carolina fund and asked Steve Brantley 9 if the example he gave of $1,000 given per job created is typical. 10 Steve Brantley said it is discretionary, and the 100 counties in North Carolina are divided 11 into three tiers (1, 2, and 3)for economic development. He said Orange County is always a tier 12 3 category as an affluent county. He said companies are typically given more funds if they take 13 their business to a lower tier county. 14 Council Member Cianciolo said this incentive does not sound like one with a great pay 15 off. 16 Steve Brantley gave an example of a company that visited Chapel Hill three times to 17 considered expanding here. He said this company went to Raleigh and has grown much more 18 than expected. 19 Council Member Cianciolo asked if there are incentives that would be the most attractive 20 to offer. 21 Steve Brantley said the most immediate need is to find space, or product, that offers 22 more than 5-10,000 square feet of office space. 23 Council Member Parker said this is a known need, but what kind of incentives can be 24 offered up since a spec office building is not likely to be built. 25 Dwight Bassett said a strong job market is needed in Orange County. He said at least 26 $2000-3000 for each job created would be the strongest incentive, and this would make Orange 27 County more competitive with other counties. He said this would be a beginning and an 28 investment, so as to get future net gains in the long term. 29 Mayor Hemminger said clients want better roads. 30 Chair McKee said the County meets regularly with the Department of Transportation 31 (DOT), and Orange County staff will be meeting with DOT in July and he can bring this up then. 32 Mayor Hemminger said she feels that these projects are not a high priority for DOT, at 33 least not in this decade. She said this is because Orange County is a tier 3 county. 34 Steve Brantley said Orange County competes against Alamance County, but Chapel Hill 35 would not. He said Chapel Hill would compete against other municipalities such as Cary, etc. 36 He said he felt that the process of removing barriers to more product space for the County is 37 underway. 38 Council Member Palmer said a good start would be re-zoning and an effective bus 39 system. 40 Commissioner Jacobs said a lot of time has been spent talking about start-ups moving 41 out of Orange County, but many of these are looking for flex space, not office space. 42 Dwight Bassett said that is correct. He said the Town council drafted a commercial 43 development strategy. He said one of those outcomes was allowing for advanced 44 manufacturing flex, the target of which is flex, research, advance manufacturing, and even 45 maker space. He said there have been intense conversations with University of North Carolina 46 (UNC) on this plan, and UNC will be a great partner. He said the longer-term need is for land in 47 places like Millhouse Road. He said staff has been working to be ready for the time when this 48 opportunity presents itself.