Retail Site Selection...

Posted by dave in Taking Care of Business on January 31, 2007 | No Comments

Back in 2003, the Kent City Council listed defining the Kent retail market as one of it’s top priorities. Shortly thereafter, the City worked with the Kent Chamber to perform a preliminary market scan. The quick scan revealed Kent as an underserved retail market — meaning Kent dollars were leaking out of Kent and being spent elsewhere. Over the past couple of weeks, the City has picked up where that study let off and hired a firm that is used by leading retailers to help them locate their new stores. They’ve started running the numbers for us, with the idea of better defining the retail opportunities available in Kent — and then they use their retail contacts to match us with those retailers that they think will do well here. The name of the firm we’re using is Buxton company. Here’s an article that appeared in a Retail Trade magazine that listed Buxton as one of the top retail firms in the country. I don’t have the data back yet from Buxton but it’s good to hear we’ve hired one of the best.

Retail Site Seeing

By Elaine Misonzhnik

Before Apple Computer Inc. launched the first of its wildly successful stores in McLean, Va., in May of 2001, George Blankenship, then head of the company’s real estate division, sat down with executives at Asterop, Inc., a site selection software provider, to talk about location strategy. Careful not to repeat the mistakes of Gateway, a business rival whose brick-and-mortar retail venture proved to be an under-thought fiasco, Apple turned over its customer files to Asterop and asked the location intelligence provider to analyze what markets it should target.

“It was a very big step for Apple and if you have [in-depth market] information in a report, as well as a map, it really helps the board of directors because it’s an objective third party looking at this,” says Kathryn A. Huber, president of Asterop. “In retail, the cost of one bad store is huge.”

A few years later, retailers are lining up to choose site selection services, fueling the growth of an entire industry. In addition to Asterop, there is MapInfo, SRC, geoVue, Buxton, Prediction Analytics, Sites USA and others. Even the CoStar Group, historically a provider to the office and industrial sectors, launched a retail product line this May. But such an abundance of choices raises an existential question — how do you know that any one of these providers is better than the rest? Ikea, Borders Group and Home Depot, for example, like MapInfo. BJ’s Wholesale Club and Big Lots have chosen geoVue. Rite Aid uses Prediction Analytics. PetsMart works with Sites USA, while The Container Store and Pier 1 Imports prefer Buxton.

According to Steve Greene, chief operating officer of Camille’s Sidewalk Cafe, an expanding franchise that is working with Prediction Analytics, the real value of a site selection service is not that it can pick a good site — an experienced real estate professional can do that as well — but that it can compare two locations that look equally good. The software can give you income, population and other demographic growth trends helping show why one might be more profitable than another.

“Let’s say there is another site we are just not sure about, but we think it might work,” Greene explains. “What we’d like to find is not the very best site, but the almost perfect site that has lower rents and maybe a better chance at succeeding.”

In fact, some real estate brokers use several site selection services in tandem to take advantage of the best features of each. Cliff Molloy, co-chair of GVA Worldwide’s Retail Practice Group, relies on MapInfo for customized maps, geoVue for site photos, Sites USA for demographics information and CoStar for traffic counts.

“We use [a number of services] to put together all of the information a client needs,” Molloy says. “They all do some things well and some things not so well. So we use them all.”

Mark Zygmontowicz, managing director of analytical services sales with MapInfo Corp., believes it’s hard to choose a clear winner when it comes to intelligence providers. The differences in the quantity and quality of data are negligible.

For example, SRC, Buxton and Asterop all incorporate psychographics into their platforms. Another supposed point of distinction — drive times based on actual road networks, not just on nebulous radius projections — has popped up in multiple software packages as well.

“You are going to hear a lot of the same vernacular,” Zygmontowicz says. “The main difference between providers in this industry is their reputation and the length of time they have been in business. Anybody can grab a demographic file; it’s what you do with it that matters.”

Not that MapInfo is ready to cede the title of market leader to one of its rivals. The company, one of the oldest on the scene, in operation since 1986, claims that it provides the most in-depth site selection analysis and is adept at using psychographic data to match retailers with their optimal locations.

“It all starts with understanding the customer. It’s lifestyle information, measuring the relationship of the contribution the customer makes to the retailer based on lifestyle composition,” Zygmontowicz explains. “What sort of interests do these customers have, what sort of leisure activities do they pursue. It gives a rounded profile of the customer as opposed to strictly demographic-based analysis.”

In fact, it seems that the best way to differentiate the players is by what they do beyond the software. Some offer consultancy services on top of their data and technology.

Buxton, for example, has a track record serving as a retail consultant in urban planning initiatives. Through its CommunityID product, the company has helped Buffalo, N.Y., San Diego, Calif., McKinney, Texas and Sunnyside, Wash., determine retail strategies including what chains to target and how to reel them in.

“It’s the same thing as we provide for the retailers, just kind of reverse-engineered,” says Todd Walls, executive vice president of business development with Buxton. “I think we have close to 200 cities who have signed up with us, whereas our biggest competitors maybe have 10.”

CoStar’s foray into the retail sector is about providing immense amounts of data, including full-pan photos of 1.9 million different retail properties. It has also populated its database with every existing location for the top 3,000 retailers in the U.S. Its service is aimed both at retailers looking for new sites and for owners researching potential acquisition or development opportunities.

The company also has plans for expanded functionality in the second and third generations of its retail product, which will be unrolled in the next two years.

“For retailers, this kind of information can make or break you,” says CoStar CEO Andrew Florance. “There are a lot more information requirements and a huge potential market for us.”

Meanwhile, geoVue’s strength is with franchises. The company helps clients figure out how large of an expansion they should undertake, where the new stores should be located, the amount of sales volume a particular franchise should be experiencing and the dangers of cannibalization within any given area.

“When you are getting into hundreds and thousands of locations, you have to be smart about where you put them,” says Rudy Nadilo, geoVue’s CEO. “We are the backbone of Cereality — before they even sold their first franchise, they worked with us. We helped them identify how many territories in the U.S. would help support their franchises and then we worked with them to find the specific locations. Now they make their franchisees clear any locations with us. And that’s a selling point to a franchisee because nobody wants a bad location.”

GeoVue is also advising Dunkin’ Donuts in its current expansion and works on behalf of Buffalo Wild Wings and Friendly’s.

Prediction Analytics, an Experian company, has been around the longest of any of the firms. Though officially founded in 2002, Prediction Analytics is the successor of an earlier site selection service, Pangram, which was founded in 1982. The company’s vice president of sales and marketing Doug Scott describes the firm’s approach as “holistic, transparent and interactive.”

“You can apply first-hand knowledge of the site to make changes to the data,” Scott says. “You can say ‘There is a new office complex coming up down the road that will be using my customers, so I am going to increase the level of employment because I know it’s there.’ You have a way to combine the art with the science.”

The advantage of both Asterop and SRC is that they are global companies, so a retailer who wants to enter a new market or a real estate developer angling to build a mall overseas can get the same level of information on Tokyo or Berlin as they would on Kansas City, Mo. SRC has contracts with Singular Wireless, Yum! Brands, Inc. and BP, while Asterop services Bare Essentials, Abercrombie & Fitch and Crate & Barrel.

“That’s one of the powers of this technology. One of our clients is Ford Motor Company and the challenge for them has been that they didn’t want to learn a different technology every time they wanted to do an analysis for a [new] country,” says Olivia Duane-Adams, executive vice president of marketing with SRC.

Sites USA offers the cheapest basic service: for under $100, you can run a program that will supply you with a map of your chosen area and a comprehensive market report. Company president Todd Smith also puts a lot of emphasis on making it easy for customers to handle their own data.

“We have built tools that effectively look at what the retailers’ needs are and then incorporate those tools to meet their [specific] demands so they don’t have to rely on us for analysis,” Smith says.

Life in 3D...

Posted by dave in City University Stuff on January 30, 2007 | No Comments

One of my favorite catch phrases for Kent is “Life in 3D.” That tag line stuck with me because it seemed to reflect the fact that Kent has something for everybody; it’s not a flat, 2 dimensional place. Kent’s got depth, some variability in its landscape of people and things to do, that isn’t often found in other cities of our size. A lot of it has to do with the social history of Kent, and of course, the presence of a liberal arts University. Kent’s got this juxtaposition thing going on with spiked green-hair twenty somethings helping “blue” haired ladies across the street. That’s unmistakably Kent. This has nothing to do with today’s blog post about how Fayetteville Arkansas paid high school and university students to do a 3D virtual model for downtown redevelopment, but I like to surprise you.

Before reading any further, the first thing you need to do is check out this link to see the 3-D mashup that these students developed for redevelopment projects in downtown Fayetteville Arkansas. Then you can read the articles about the project and imagine what we could do here in Kent with our downtown, if we could combine the talented students from Kent State and Roosevelt High School.

http://www.cast.uark.edu/local/cadis_crate_06

Article from Fayetteville Newspaper

Imagine being able to look at a map of downtown Fayetteville and view 3-D images of what the buildings look like and how proposed new developments would fit in with the surroundings.

Two Greenland High School students are helping to make such maps reality. Sophomore Celi Birke of Fayetteville and junior Lorianne Gillespie are among the students working on the maps through the Community Asset Development Information Systems, a partnership between the city of Fayetteville and the University of Arkansas Center for Advanced Spatial Technology.

Snow Winters, a multimedia designer for the center, supervises the two Greenland students and others working on the project. Some of the other students involved in the initiative include Stephen Reyenga, Scott Ha and Kongmeng Xiong.

They work out of the Environmental and Spatial Technologies, or EAST, lab in Ozark Hall on the UA campus. Gillespie said they get paid $ 8 per hour, which is a good salary for a teenager.

The students plat specific areas defined in the city’s Downtown Master Plan, such as the square, Dickson Street and surrounding areas.

As part of their job, Gillespie and Birke go around taking pictures of the buildings on Dickson Street and the downtown area. They use those photos and aerial images to figure the dimensions of the buildings and create a 3-D model on their computer.

The programs include technology that calculates the buildings ’ height and length, so they can make buildings to scale.

On Wednesday, for example, Gillespie was reviewing her model of the strip of bars and other establishments from Hog Haus Brewing Co. to Gypsy Bar along Dickson Street east of West Avenue.

Birke was also cropping photos of First Baptist Church at College Avenue and Dickson Street for another model.

Some editing of the photos is necessary for the computer models, Gillespie said. For instance, they take out power lines and trees in the photos and other objects not attached to the facilities.

Birke and Gillespie said they each got to know the town better as a result of their job.

“ We’ve learned a lot more about Fayetteville, ” Birke said.

The most surprising thing Birke said she learned about was all the condominium developments on Dickson Street, and how the street is becoming a popular and trendy place to live.

Also, because they deal with issues such as building height and placement, the students know more about city codes than the average high school student. Birke said she noticed Fayetteville has many regulations designed to retain aesthetics.

“ I think Fayetteville cares more about appearance than some (communities ), ” she said. “ We’ve learned a lot about the regulations. ”

During the course of their work, the EAST Lab workers have made drawings showing how planned buildings such as the Divinity project and Underwood Plaza would fit in with their surroundings on Dickson Street. They also did a simulation showing what the downtown planning area would look like if all buildings were at their maximum height allowed under current zoning regulations.

Some of their illustrations were displayed at a Ordinance Review Committee meeting on June 29.

Tim Conklin, planning and development management director for the city, said the goal is that once the students are finished, maps complete with buildings will be turned over to the city. Officials can then update them as buildings change.

Article from Land Development Magazine

University of Arkansas (UA) students and researchers have found a way to model 3-D representations of a downtown area to address questions of growth and development. Their cutting-edge work attracted the attention of the search engine giant Google and the company SketchUP, which currently are examining the way the students used the software to create such large data files.

The work resulted from what Snow Winters and Malcolm Williamson, two researchers at the UA Center for Advanced Spatial Technology, call a “3-D Mashup,” a merging of the geospatial techniques used for accurate mapping and the 3-D visualization and animation techniques for detailed visualization. They combined the talents of students in two summer workshops, one called Creating Realistic Animation through EAST (CRATE), and the Community Asset and Development Information System (CADIS).

Students involved in this year’s project included university student leaders Caitlin Stevens and Steven Reyenga, and high school students Scott Ha, Celi Birke, Lorianne Gillespie, and Kongmeng Xiong. Four students from Upward Bound also worked on the project.

Tim Conklin, planning and development management director for Fayetteville, Ark., and John Goddard, the coordinator of Fayetteville’s geographic information system, wanted the students to focus on downtown Fayetteville, where development projects for several buildings are currently in the planning stages.

The students gathered architectural, geospatial and photogrammetric data for 1,500 buildings in downtown Fayetteville, and used the information to create accurate 3-D models in SketchUp software. They took 100 of the buildings and used a technique called phototecturing to give the buildings extra details such as windows, sconces, and more. The incorporated building footprints and elevation data using aerial laser imaging and ranging, which gives extremely detailed horizontal and vertical geospatial information, to precisely locate each building.

Using developer-supplied CAD drawings for the proposed buildings, they were able to show how some of the planned buildings would affect views and shadows and the overall look of the downtown area. By doing this, they pushed the limits of the software.

Nobody had ever used this much data in their software, Winters said. The software company, SketchUp, studied how the AU team used the software and wrote new software to handle the large data sets. They also discovered some software glitches in the process, which they then modified. One of the challenges the group faced was making the large file sizes of the data sets accessible to the average computer user. To see the CADIS/CRATE 2006 project please visit

http://www.cast.uark.edu/local/cadis_crate_06

About Fayetteville

Fayetteville was named one of America’s Most Livable Cities in 2004 and 2005.
Fayetteville has been claimed by Money Magazine as one of the “Best Places to Live in America” and ranks #7 on Forbes 2005 list of “Best Places For Business And Careers.
Fayetteville MSA ranked #1 for job growth by “Milken Institute” in 2003
50 Fabulous Places to Retire in America, 2nd edition by Ken Stern
The city was also featured in “Lifestyle Magazine”, “Southern Living” and “The Best Towns in America” – a where-to-go guide for a better life

It’s time to get Kent on the same “best places” lists. I’ve got a call into Roosevelt and Kent State right now. I’ll keep you posted.

Big City Lessons in Revitalization...

Posted by dave in Taking Care of Business on January 29, 2007 | No Comments

In my Friday post, I talked about the forecast for the retail industry as it relates to the prospects for new retail in Kent. The news wasn’t exactly great for Kent because we sit in an region that has seen big parts of the once healthy manufacturing base dry up and move out of town — and fewer high paying jobs means less income to spend in retail. But other cities in the same situation have found ways to fight back, and although those tend to be bigger cities, the lessons are the same for us in Kent. Here’s a good article about how adaptive reuse has become the buzzword in revitalizing older cities.

Old Dirt, New Uses
Shopping Centers Today
January 2007

Baltimore is in Maryland, and Sacramento is the capital of California, so the two are nearly 2,400 miles apart. Yet, in terms of retail development, they could not be closer together. This is because both cities are home to adaptive reuse projects involving retail that are changing their landscapes significantly.

In Baltimore, a partnership of Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse and H&S Property Development Corp. is working on redeveloping the 65-acre HarborEast site along Baltimore Harbor into 3 million square feet of residential, retail and office space. In downtown Sacramento, meanwhile, Thomas Enterprises plans to redevelop the 240-acre Union Pacific rail yard site, which is adjacent to and roughly equal in area to the city’s downtown.

As a general development concept, adaptive reuse is nothing new. It could be argued that ancient civilizations were practicing it thousands of years ago whenever buildings or even entire cities were redone. Modern adaptive reuse, however, represents a broad spectrum of real estate projects, from the reinvention of a hole-in-the-wall as a stylish coffee shop to the multimillion-dollar redevelopment of entire districts of underused areas and structures. The Baltimore and Sacramento projects are of the latter type, of course.

By no stretch are they the only large or retail-intensive projects of this kind under way in the U.S. But they are good examples of how the urge to redevelop places all but abandoned is proving to be a boon for retail. More than that, a successful adaptive reuse project can change an entire neighborhood for the better, bringing new life and financial rewards for all involved.

“Retail is a big part of the energy and vitality of any urban neighborhood — grocery stores, coffee shops and cafÉs, wine bars and stores, and on and on,” said Bill Struever, president and CEO of Baltimore-based Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse, which specializes in large adaptive reuse projects in urban settings. “A strong adaptive reuse project is going to be a magnet for a core of successful retailers who weren’t there before. Many retailers love being in older buildings, and many shoppers love them too.”

As with any real estate proposition, location is the foundation of everything else, and these two projects have a fair amount in common in that regard. Both boast strong demographics.

Considered a city in decline just a decade ago, Baltimore is a far-flung part of a now fast-growing conurbation centered on Washington, D.C. There has been a lot of redevelopment in Baltimore’s Harbor District in recent years, and HarborEast has been a part. Besides being a convention and tourist draw, the Baltimore Harbor District now also has a residential base. The Baltimore Harbor District claims a daytime population of nearly 12,000, according to Struever Bros., a figure calculated from the 15 million who visit the city every year, the 200,000 office workers in the nearby downtown daily, and the district’s 6,500 hotel rooms.

The Sacramento metro area, too, has grown in recent years, fed especially by an influx from other, more expensive parts of California. According to Thomas Enterprises, the rail yard redevelopment site will benefit from the current population of 1.64 million within a 30-mile radius, and the average household here earns about $70,000 yearly. These numbers will continue to grow, observers say.

Both sites are rich in local history, which is very nearly a sine qua non of successful adaptive reuse — historic sites tend to leave behind more-interesting raw material, after all. Baltimore’s waterfront, with its wharfs and brick warehouses set among narrow streets, is reminiscent of a time when tall ships sailed in and out of this, one of the busiest ports on the East Coast. The Sacramento site, though less dense with surviving structures, harkens back to the early days of railroads in the West. In fact, the Union Pacific rail yard marked the Western terminus of the famed first transcontinental railroad, completed in 1869.

Both projects demonstrate that adaptive reuse, at least on the scale of these projects, is the purview of specialists. “You have to work with what’s there,” Struever said. “You need to adapt an old building to a new use and a new use to an old building. It’s creative in a way that ordinary development isn’t.”

This is by no means the first adaptive reuse project for Struever Bros. In Baltimore it has redeveloped historic brewery complexes in the Brewers Hill neighborhood and undertaken historic renovation at Greater Fells Point and Locus Point, both on Baltimore Harbor. In Boston the firm is redeveloping Fenway Park and surrounding structures, and in Durham, N.C., it is working in the American Tobacco Historic District, among other projects in various regions.

Thomas Enterprises brings experience as a developer of master-planned communities to the table in the Railyards project, as it is called. The 1,500-acre Boulevard mixed-use development, in Orlando, Fla., containing office, residential and about 550,000 square feet of retail space, and the 800-acre Rim project, in San Antonio, most of which will comprise retail, are among the firm’s current projects.

Thomas Enterprises faces some environmental issues with Railyards, relating to lingering contamination. The firm declined to discuss the issue, but division of the responsibility for remediation has held up transfer of the site. Negotiations continue as of this writing.

Plans call for seven brick structures the railroad company built at the site in the late 1800s to become the Central Shops, the retail hub of the redevelopment, which will also include a performing arts center. One of the buildings is to be made into an open-air marketplace for California wines and regional specialty foods.

Construction has yet to start on Railyards, but retailers are expressing interest already. Earlier in the year Bass Pro Shops signed a letter of intent to be the first national retailer there. “It was exactly the kind of experience we wanted to bring to the Railyards,” said Suheil J. Totah, vice president of development at Thomas Enterprises, according to published reports.

For one thing, Bass Pro Shops is known as a destination in its own right. The sporting goods retailer says some 78 million customers visit yearly, even though the chain operates only 33 stores. “Bass Pro Shops will attract customers from across northern California,” Totah said. The agreement is only a starting point for negotiations, so it is still unclear what Bass Pro Shops’ exact position at Railyards will be.

HarborEast is fairly far along in creating and leasing retail space. It includes locals, such as wine merchant Bin 604, and Handbags and the City, which came over from another part of the city. On the national side, HarborEast has a Cingular Wireless, a City Sports and a Whole Foods.

Struever says interest in adaptive reuse projects often begins among local retailers first, and then nationals follow. “Usually, we start with local retailers, because we’re in edge neighborhoods at first,” Struever said. “But by the time we’re done, national retailers, who’ve discovered the buying power in urban markets, are also interested. The mix of the two makes for a much more interesting retail experience than anything you might find at a mall.”

Giraffe Spotting in Kent...

Posted by dave in Dream Big Kent on January 27, 2007 | No Comments

Watching a news report this morning, I saw a story of a 68 year old woman who is on a personal quest to raise one million dollars in charity walk-a-thons. So far she’s raised some $600,000 walking a total of 3,000 miles for Breast Cancer alone. She said she’s no fitness nut, as a matter of fact, she didn’t start walking until she was 60, and she said it’s not a matter of whether someone “can” or “can’t” — it’s whether they “will” or “won’t.” As stewards of this Kent community, we face challenges every day — the question is are we keeping the Kent legacy alive for the next generation to enjoy? Is it because we “can’t” or “won’t” ? Here’s a few giraffe’s that are.

If you’re not a 4th grader in Kent, or don’t have one in your family, I’ll let you in on their secret: Giraffe’s are what you call people that “stick their necks out” to do good things, even at the risk of being mocked or criticized.

I know a bunch of 8 year olds that want to take their turn at being a part of Kent’s future. Kent’s fourth graders, across the Kent School District, have been preparing presentations on creative ways to revitalize the downtown Kent area.

The culminating activity will take place on Monday, January 29 at the Kent Stage from 9:30a – 11:30a.m. The mayor, city council members, and other distinguished guests have been invited to view students’ displays and hear their ideas.

They have three main themes: (1) restoring the old hotel, (2) restoring the old clock by the gazebo, and (3) having more family-oriented activities in the downtown area.

This revitalization project is part of their everyday hero, Giraffe Project theme, where students “stick out their necks” to make a difference in the community. It also promotes volunteerism among the students.

I can’t wait to see what our local flock of giraffe’s come up with. I’ll keep you posted.

Retail Forecast for 2007...

Posted by dave in Taking Care of Business on January 26, 2007 | No Comments

As we work to spur new retail investment in Kent, we track trends in the retail industry to see where the opportunities will exist and what challenges we face. A new retail forecast calls for “more of the same in 2007″ which according to one retail consulting firm means the hot markets stay hot and the cold markets are likely to stay chilly. Apparently, one of the determining factors for how hot and cold your market is manufacturing sensitivity — meaning if you live in an area that depends on manufacturing, you’re going to have a cold retail forecast as the manufacturing sector is anticipated to continue to slide. The report didn’t mention Kent, but Ohio is referenced: “Michigan and Ohio have gotten their noses bloodied a bit because investors are not as interested in those older, industrial locations,” says Haddigan. This is the retail reality we face in revitalizing Kent.

2007 Forecasts More of the Same

Jan 3, 2007 3:51 PM

The 2006 holiday sales numbers, which posted the weakest growth in four years last week, are a sign of what’s ahead for the United States’ retail market in 2007 – a year of modest expectations. Experts expect retail real estate to remain a stable investment, but it will no longer yield the high returns as experienced in 2004 and 2005.

California remains the top market as far as demand and pricing goes. Average cap rates are at 6.33 percent, while the Midwest region is near the bottom because of troubles in the manufacturing sector. Cap rates there range between 6 percent and 8 percent.

The top five destinations for retail investment this year, based on population growth, will be Washington, D.C., Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Houston and Las Vegas, according to the 2007 Real Estate Forecast produced by brokerage firm Grubb & Ellis. This mirrors last year’s forecast, when Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Phoenix, Ariz., Dallas/Fort Worth and Las Vegas ranked in the top five.

Top 5 Markets 2006 Top 5 Markets 2007 Cap Rate

(12-months average)

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C. 6.1 percent

Los Angeles Dallas/Fort Worth 7.2 percent

Phoenix Los Angeles 6.2 percent

Dallas/Fort Worth Houston 7.2 percent

Las Vegas Atlanta 7.2 percent

Source: Grubb & Ellis

On the operating side, owners can expect another year of modest rent increases, says Robert Bach, senior vice president for research and client services with Grubb & Ellis. In 2006, he says, asking rent increases across the nation averaged 3.5 percent. Outperforming markets included Dallas/Fort Worth, where asking rents rose 10 percent, to $22.25 per square foot. Also, Orange County, Calif., Jacksonville, Fla. and Nashville posted 10 percent increases in asking rent, reports Grubb & Ellis.

“We are still in an expansion cycle,” says Bach. “Retail sales have held up pretty well through 2006 and there weren’t any factors to cause any markets to really sink to the bottom or rise to the top.”

Meanwhile, the two factors that are causing investors’ headaches – the slowing housing market and the mixed forecasts for the national economy – won’t have as much of an impact on the retail sector as many fear, cites Grubb & Ellis. The firm estimates that employers will create an average of 100,000 new payroll jobs a month in 2007, compared with 135,225 per month in 2006, that will keep cash registers ringing.

But job growth and economic health vary across the nation.

“Overall, I think the economy will continue to muddle through and create jobs,” Bach says. “But the manufacturing sector has weakened, so that can have an effect on retail spending and development in manufacturing-sensitive areas.”

Bernie Haddigan, managing director of the national retail group with Marcus & Millichap, an Encino, Calif.-based broker says, coastal and sun belt states and densely populated areas will continue to do well in 2007.

“Michigan and Ohio have gotten their noses bloodied a bit because investors are not as interested in those older, industrial locations,” says Haddigan.

Investors, Haddigan says, are staying in prime markets and concentrating on centers that are anchored by high credit tenants. That is a shift from 2005 and early 2006, when properties in secondary and tertiary markets would entertain multiple bids.

Average cap rates for multi-tenant retail properties hit bottom in the first quarter of 2006, at 6.61 percent, and slowly rose throughout the rest of the year finishing at 7.12 percent, according to Marcus & Millichap.

But investors will be not be flooding the market. Haddigan expects another year of declining deal volume in 2007. In 2006, there were $41.43 billion worth of retail property transactions in the domestic market, down 18 percent from $50.50 billion in 2005, according to Real Capital Analytics.

Meanwhile, real estate investors continue to look for higher returns in developing markets in Asia and Eastern Europe.

Asia’s GDP growth is projected to reach 7.9 percent in 2007, according to the international financial services firm Credit Suisse, while Eastern European countries will experience growth rates averaging between 5 percent and 6 percent. The global rate of growth for 2007 is expected to be 4.9 percent.

By Elaine Misonzhnik

Ohio and More Brain Drain News...

Posted by dave in Taking Care of Business on January 25, 2007 | No Comments

U.S. Census Bureau

Released 12/22/06

Top 10 states ranked by domestic in-migration (July 2005 to July 2006)

Texas	218,745
Florida	165,757
Arizona	129,987
Georgia	120,953
N. Carolina	104,133
Nevada	53,105
Tennessee	50,383
S. Carolina	47,950
Washington	43,089
Oregon	34,332

Bottom 10 states ranked by total domestic out-migration (July 2005 to July 2006)

Connecticut	-16,944
Maryland	-25,610
Ohio	-48,153
Massachusetts	-49,528
Michigan	-65,123
Illinois	-68,661
New Jersey	-72,547
New York	-225,766
Louisiana	-241,201
California	-287,684

Understanding Why People Are Moving

Why did over 22 million Americans move to a new residence between March 1999 and March 2000? According to two recent Census Bureau reports, they were driven by a desire to own a home, pay less for housing or live in a better neighborhood.

“The desire to live in a new or better house or apartment was the most common reason cited for a short-distance move — one in which the mover remained in the same county,” said Jason Schachter, author of both reports, Geographical Mobility: March 1999 to March 2000 and Why People Move: Exploring the March 2000 Current Population Survey.

Another 16 percent of the 43 million Americans who moved over the one-year period did so because of work-related reasons such as job searching and a desire for a shorter commute.

“A new job or a job transfer was the most common reason cited for a long-distance move, that is, moving from one county to another,” said Schachter.

Fifty-six percent of all moves made between 1999 and 2000 were within the same county, compared with 64 percent from 1997 to 1998. Nineteen percent of all moves made between 1999 and 2000 were from one state to another, up from 15 percent of those made between 1997 and 1998. An additional 20 percent who moved during the recent one-year period moved between counties in the same state, unchanged from the earlier period.

The reports also found:

Overall, 43 million U.S. residents, or 16 percent of the population, moved to a new residence during the one-year period.
Four percent of all 1999-2000 movers relocated to the United States from abroad.
Moving rates decline with age, at least until very advanced ages — about one-third of people in their 20s moved while only 4 percent of those aged 65 to 84 did so.
Nearly 33 percent of renters compared with 9 percent of homeowners moved during the one-year period.
The South was the only region with a significant population increase as a result of internal migration between 1999 and 2000, showing a net gain of 227,000 people.
Twenty-one percent of those living in households with incomes of less than $25,000 moved, compared with 12 percent of those living in households with incomes of more than $100,000.
Among those who moved during the one-year period, 26 percent moved for family-related reasons, such as a change in marital status or the desire to establish one’s own household.
Among people living in households with incomes under $10,000, 33 percent moved for family-related reasons and 11 percent for work-related reasons.
For those living in households with incomes of more than $75,000, 23 percent moved for family-related reasons and 20 percent for work-related reasons.
The percentage of people who moved for work-related reasons increased in tandem with their educational level, from 14 percent for high school graduates to 28 percent for those with a masters degree or higher.

The challenge for us is to mine that data, and carve out our little niche in Kent to reverse these statewide trends.

The 127th Session of the Ohio General Assembly Has...

Posted by dave in General on January 24, 2007 | No Comments

It’s official, the 126th session of the Ohio General Assembly is over, and the 127th has begun. Obviously, with the change in the Governorship, there’s a lot of speculation over what the 127th session will bring, but only time will tell. In the meantime, we hope for the best and we rely on the Ohio Municipal League (OML) to keep us informed of issues that affect us. Some cities actually hire their own professional lobbyists to track and advocate legislative positions. We don’t have that luxury here in Kent, so instead, we try to take full advantage of the services offered by the OML and Ohio City Manager’s Association (OCMA).

Without the benefit of our lobbyist, OML fills that role for us. Here’s a summary of who the OML is and what they do for us:

THE OHIO MUNICIPAL LEAGUE AND IT’S SERVICES
The Ohio Municipal League was incorporated as an Ohio non-profit corporation in 1952 by city and village officials who saw the need for a statewide association to serve the interests of Ohio municipal government.

The Ohio Municipal League is governed by a Board of Trustees, elected by the membership. The Board consists of all past presidents of the League, as long as they are municipal officials, and 28 Trustees elected for two-year terms. Of the 28 Trustees, at least one must be: the mayor of a city or village; a city manager; a fiscal officer or finance director; a solicitor or director of law; a member of a municipal legislative body, other than the mayor. The Board is the policy-making body and appoints an Executive Director to manage the League under their general direction.

Any city or village, by proper action of its legislative body and payment of the annual membership fee, may become a member. When an Ohio municipality becomes an active League member, all of the elected and key appointed officials are eligible to use the available services.

LEGISLATIVE REPRESENTATION
The OML represents the collective interest of Ohio cities and villages before the Ohio General Assembly and the state elected and administrative offices. An official legislative policy is developed every other year by a process that begins with the legislative committee and ends with the approval of the League’s legislative policy statement by the membership at the annual conference.

Numerous bills affecting cities and villages are introduced each session. While the Ohio General Assembly is in session, weekly legislative bulletins are sent to municipal officials by regular mail and e-mail. These are supplemented by “fax bulletins” usually outlining some specific or fast action required. Legislative directories with Senators and Representatives addresses, phone numbers and committee assignments are provided to our members. And the first of each year, the League conducts a legislative conference where Senate and House leadership speak and the Senators and Representatives attend as invited guests.

OML staff testifies before legislative committees, coordinates testimony of municipal officials, prepares amendments, and meets and confers with legislators and their staff regularly.

Through its membership in the National League of Cities, the OML is able to keep Ohio’s municipalities alerted to activities in Washington. Cities that are members of the OML are eligible to become direct member cities of NLC; only direct member city officials may serve on NLC Committees. FIELD REPRESENTATIVE

SPECIAL PROGRAMS AND SERVICES
Legal Advocacy Program Workers’ Comp. Group Rating Pool – Ohio Municipal Joint Self Insurance Pool – OML Long Distance Phone Plan GAP Program –

TRAINING PROGRAMS
Regular Training Activities:
Regional Seminars for Veteran and Newly Elected Municipal Officials
Municipal Leadership Training Academy
Mayors Court Training (year round)
Income Tax Seminar (Annual)
OML Annual Conference
Annual Conferences of Cooperating Associations. RESEARCH/INQUIRIES

Sample ordinances from other Ohio cities and villages
Sample municipal policies
Municipal charters
Elected and appointed officials salaries
Ohio Revised Code
Ohio Administrative Code
Ohio Attorney General Opinions
Ohio Court Decisions
U.S. Code Service
Federal Register
Department of Taxation Reports
Publications from other State Municipal Leagues
National League of Cities Reports
Publications of National Organizations representing municipal officials

The City staff also track important bills using the state’s database system, which is accessed at the link listed below:

Track Legislation, Find Your Representative or Look Up Your Representative

Here’s a sample of the legislative bulletin provided by OML:

Final actions of the 126^th General Assembly:

RED LIGHT CAMERA BILL VETOED
As you probably know, in one of final actions of his administration, Governor Taft vetoed HB 56, a bill that would have effectively blocked the use of photo-technology to increase public safety around busy intersections, school zones and high speed areas. This support for Home Rule by the Governor is greatly appreciated. We do not expect discussions over the use of this technology to dissipate in the 127^th Session of the General Assembly. We, in fact, look forward to that discussion. We vowed from the early days of consideration of that bill to work with supporters to fashion a bill that ensured the fair usage of those devices, as long as such a bill showed respect for local law enforcement, public safety and Home Rule.

Unfortunately, HB 56, as drafted in its many veils by the General Assembly this session, attempted to practically bar the use of such cameras. Should the General Assembly attempt in the 127^th to create more uniform fairness than already exists, we will look forward to that effort and hope that such an effort is more successful at being constitutional and more straightforward than this last attempt. Or we will, once again, oppose the bill.

Once again, we appreciate Governor Taft’s decisive action on this matter.

TAFT WALKS AWAY FROM SB 117; STRICKLAND VETOES IT
Governor Taft would have let a bill that would bar municipalities from suing manufacturers on a nuisance basis for the damage caused by their products. The bill also contained provisions to change the Consumer Sales Practices Act to limit potential awards to consumers for non-economic damages. It is this latter provision to which the Governor had concerns. No problem. Governor Taft’s taking no action, evidently, left open the door for newly-elected Governor Strickland to veto the bill within the ten day window allowed for such action.

With the General Assembly’s 126^th Session over, the veto by Governor Strickland cannot be overridden. Since the House is no longer veto-proof with 53 Republican seats, as opposed to 60 such seats, and the changes in the CSPA and opposition to lead paint-municipal suits dividing on partisan lines, both issues will have a hard time rearing their heads in the 127^th General Assembly.

We will have to see if there is some legal challenge to this action. In the recent past, the switch between governors has led to some anomalies. Governors have simply left office without picking up or receiving bills from the General Assembly at the end of a term. Without that reception, the “ten day clock” never started running and therefore such bills just died. During the “Six-Day War” following the 1974 elections, bills desired by Democrats could not be sent to the Governor, because a Lt. Governor, still President of the Senate and a Republican, refused to sign them and send them along to a Democrat Governor for signature. However, the big difference between the General Assembly and the Governor is that the General Assembly lives and dies by the parameters of a session, which must end December 31. The Governor is simply the Governor for four years, beginning at 12:01 a.m. January 8 of this year. The validity of the veto will turn on the question of when the Governor’s office received the bill and started the ten day clock ticking.

HB 690, ENABLING LEGISLATION FOR THE MINIMUM WAGE, IS SIGNED
Governor Taft signed the legislation that will serve as a starting point for the minimum wage increase passed by voters last November as Issue 2. It is clear that the minimum wage in Ohio is $6.85 as of Janaury1, 2007. It is also clear that the new minimum wage includes all public employers in Ohio, including municipalities.

However, there is come confusion and contentiousness that will still have to play out on some of the details of this constitutional amendment. By signing HB 690, Governor Taft put in place a law that allows some exemptions from the wage (primarily home-health care workers and some recreation workers, the latter of which may affect some municipalities) and record-keeping, that supporters of the amendment say the people of Ohio did not vote for. This may lead to legal action by the supporters of the amendment. Additionally, since the amendment takes effect January 1 and HB 690, without an emergency clause, takes effect around April 1, Ohio employers, both public and private, will be a bit in the dark as to the exact details of the amendment for the next three months.

As to employees who are not subject to the overtime rules of the Fair Labor Standards Act, HB 690 relaxes some of the record-keeping requirements not completely spelled out in the amendment. We do not expect these provisions to be the key concerns of the amendment’s sponsors. The provisions related to exemptions seem more the focus of their concerns. We will keep you informed on this matter as the issue becomes clearer.

HB 9, THE OPEN RECORDS BILL, SIGNED BY THE GOVERNOR
HB 9 was signed by the Governor. Under provisions of the bill all public officials or their designee’s must take a three-hour Open Records course each term of office, provided by the Attorney General or his designee. Redaction or denial of public records must include the reasons or such redactions or denials. Redactions are considered a denial of access to the records in question. Public offices may ask a records requester for their name and that their request be in written form. However, it should be made clear by the office that such information is not an obligation. All local records commissions plans for retention, disposition or destruction of public records must be submitted the Ohio Historical Society for review. After review, OHS is to submit such plans to the State Auditor for approval or disapproval.

The bill allows for a mandamus action, as does current law. However, the bill provides for “statutory damages” at the rate of $100 a day, up to $1000, from the day the mandamus action is filed. Those damages are to be awarded by the court on all successful actions, unless the judge finds, essentially, that “reasonable” or “well informed” public officials would not clearly know that the records in question were meant to be open. The bill also allows journalists to still have access to information regarding concealed-carry gun licenses, but journalists are only permitted to see that information, not write down the information they see.

Except for a provision changing the timetable for a study committee on public advertising methods and obligations, the provisions of HB 9 have an effective date of nine months after passage, which makes it around October 1, by our calculation.

Established in 1991 as the result of a state law change, this program offers members of the League who qualify for and join the pool an opportunity to reduce their annual workers comp premiums. In addition the members receive assistance with claims administration from GatesMcDonald and Company, the plan administrator.- In 1984 the OML established a Legal Advocacy Program funded by voluntary contributions of the members. This program allows the League to serve as the voice of cities and villages before the Ohio Supreme Court and the US Appeals and Supreme Court by filing briefs amicus curiae on cases of special concern to municipal governments.As part of the outreach to members initiative, the OML has instituted a field representative program. A part-time employee of the League schedules visits to assist local officials in understanding how to better utilize the services of the OML. Our field representative will answer inquiries, provide minor technical assistance and inform members of important League sponsored and endorsed programs, training opportunities or pending and passed legislation.

Ideas To Make Your Government Better...

Posted by dave in Services News on January 22, 2007 | No Comments

In my last City, I borrowed an idea that I first discovered in the private sector, called “Product Wishes”, and adapted it to the public sector by creating a web page called “City Service Wishes.” The premise was, if you could design City services any way you wanted — what would you do different? I don’t have a website devoted to that here in Kent (YET), but in the meantime I wanted to give you a chance to be City Manager for a day and tell me what you would do different.

The idea is to create a place for our customers to submit their ideas about City services. If you have ever said “If I was in charge, I would…”, then this blog is for you.

When resources are tight, it is more important than ever to understand our customers needs and to find new ways to do more with less. We’ll never be able to afford to do everything but we also can’t afford not to listen to new ideas.

The idea is to give our customers a chance to let their own ideas about City services be heard directly by the managers of those services. While every idea may not take root we are hopeful that this will prove to be invaluable in our efforts to serve you better — and if we’re lucky it may even produce a genuine service break-thru.

If you are considering submitting an idea, please try to avoid focusing on what is “not wanted” — instead tell us what “is wanted.” We welcome each and every idea but think of this as your chance to design your City services from scratch so focus on your ideal “City services” rather than limiting yourself to the existing services only. We do however request that you try to avoid making suggestions that require technology or equipment that has not yet been invented, , e.g., water system that doesn’t need water pipes.

This is also not the time to worry about how much it might cost or how difficult it would be to implement. We will worry about those issues later — for now just try to think about how City services could be changed to serve you better. With this in mind, we want to capture those ideas that are floating around at 30,000 feet, e.g., collect trash, garbage, and recyclables in the same truck — so don’t let yourself get bogged down at ground level, e.g., fix the pothole on my street. We are not disregarding those ground level problems but for now we want to think big.

Once an idea is submitted it will be forwarded to the appropriate manager to think about. We’re hoping that by posting the ideas on-line, your idea may stimulate another good idea from someone else. City services are community services so we are hoping to foster a community dialogue.

So get posting!

ps. If you think your idea is really good, and would work in other cities, here’s your chance to cash in. Read on…

The Better Government Competition (BGC) is an annual citizens’ ideas contest for improving governmental effectiveness. As one of the Pioneer Institute’s signature initiatives, the BGC provides an unrivaled opportunity for citizens, scholars, public policy leaders and business people to identify, analyze and present proposals to make government more efficient, and more effective. Ideas that have earned recognition from the BGC have inspired change at every level of government, and have saved Massachusetts taxpayers more than $400 million.

The theme for Pioneer Institute’s 16th Annual Better Government Competition is Building Competitiveness at the State and Local Level. We seek ideas to improve the quality and efficiency of government, strengthening our economy for both businesses and individuals. As ever, we welcome proposals for the reforms at the state level. We’d also like to encourage the reform of county and municipal government operations. Entries can describe ideas that have already been implemented, or innovations not yet undertaken. They can address any aspect of government: improved delivery of government services (including education, public order, housing, transportation, environmental protection, general regulations, etc.); fiscal reforms; and efforts to encourage business development and job creation.

Initial submissions should be 5-10 pages in length and include the following information:

§ a summary of the idea/entry

§ the problem it seeks to solve or has solved

§ a detailed description of the solution

§ the results it can or has produced

§ any current application of the idea, and its potential for Massachusetts

For a more detailed version of the competition guidelines, please go to:

www.pioneerinstitute.org/crg/competition/BGC_guidelines_07.pdf

The grand prize winner will receive $10,000; runners-up will receive $1,000 each for their proposals. For questions regarding the competition, please contact Shawni Littlehale at 617-723-2277 or by e-mail at slittlehale@pioneerinstitute.org.

Good Luck!

Facing Extinction…...

Posted by dave in Philosophic Ramblings on January 19, 2007 | No Comments

Scientists are now reporting that red heads (the real ones, not those born in a bottle) are facing extinction within the next 100 years. If the scientists are right, Dan Smith (Chamber Director) and I are among the last of our kind. Dan and I privately joke that us red heads are slowly taking over Kent, but now maybe we should start a campaign to save ourselves before we go the way of the Dodo bird. As funny as this all sounds to you non-red heads, the science is real. See how much more time Dan and I have.

The Life of a Red Head

For as long as I can remember, my red hair attracted attention — if I had a nickel for everytime someone called me “red” or “carrot top” I wouldn’t need to write this blog for a living.

In my early years I didn’t give my hair color too much thought, but I still remember the older ladies at the grocery store telling my mom how they loved my hair. I’ve always done well with the “blue” hair crowd.

When I was about 8 years old, my hair struck again as a creative newspaper photographer asked me to take a break from our walk through the park to kneel down in a bed of red tulips. I didn’t necessarily appreciate the aesthetic quality of the shot, but I do remember him asking my mom to keep a look out for cops because standing in the middle of the tulip beds was definitely off limits. The photo made the front page of the Rochester newspaper, in color of course. This was the first time when my hair color gave me a chance to do something I wasn’t supposed to do. Thanks to Opie and Richie Cunningham, I had an image to live up to – the good kid.

Of course, during those teen years, when all you want to do is blend in with everyone else, I wished for anything but red hair. I learned that bullies have a natural predisposition against red hair but fortunately, I was tall enough to keep most of them at a distance physically, but it definitely left an imprint on my psyche and gave me more reason to wish for boring brown hair. I never did appreciate the fact that in my senior year in High School I was voted “best hair.” To me, it was just another reminder of my burden.

It used to drive my wife crazy that women (unfortunately mostly members of the ”over the hill” gang, not the nice young supermodels) would just randomly walk up to me and tell me how much they liked my hair, ignoring the fact that my wife was standing right next to me.

I suspect every red head has similar stories to tell. And now, according to the scientists, we have someone else in common…extinction.

A recent report by the Oxford Hair Foundation in the UK has caused shockwaves: redheads, it says, are dying out, and could become extinct as soon as 2060.

The two main factors involved in this demise are genetics and migration. The gene that gives rise to red hair-and often pale, freckled skin-is recessive, which means it is easily dominated by genes for other hair colours. So if, for example, you have a brown-haired mother and a red-haired father, you are most likely to have a brown-haired child.

Out of existence
In order to have a red-haired child, both parents must be carrying the gene. However, you can be a carrier without actually having red hair yourself, which is why a red-haired baby can sometimes come as a bit of a surprise. With only around one percent of the world’s population naturally blessed with titian locks, the theory is that the gene is simply being diluted out of existence.

Erik Sistermans is a molecular geneticist at Radboud University Medical Centre in Nijmegen:

“What’s happening now is that due to migration from other countries, there are less red-haired genes and more dark-haired genes coming in. But if you go to Ireland or England, and also some Scandinavian countries, you’ll see more people with red hair there than you will in China or Africa.”

Mostly found in Scotland
There are always exceptions to the rule of course, and it is possible to be a redhead and have darker skin that can cope with a hot climate. But it will come as no surprise to learn that rain-soaked Scotland has the highest proportion of redheads in the world-around 13 percent.

Dr Sistermans, like some other experts, believes that 55 years is much too soon for redheads to die out completely.

“I think it will take longer. It will depend on many factors, including the amount of migration and the exact mingling of the different groups-if they don’t mingle, then you’ll still have red hair.”

Finding models
While looking for redheads to interview for Dutch Horizons, I stumbled upon an unusual art project. Bart Rouwenhorst is an artist who paints models (that’s people, not tiny aeroplanes). He had the idea of doing a series of 15 paintings of naturally redheaded women, but at first had some difficulty finding them:

“When you start really looking for something, you find out how rare it is. And no one is half a redhead-you’re either a redhead or you’re not.”

However, word soon got around, and in the end almost 300 redheads contacted Bart through his website, expressing their interest in the project. Since there was no way he could paint them all, Bart decided to take a group photograph, and invited all the redheads to take part.

Redhead sisterhood

The venue was the small town of Asten in the southeast of the Netherlands. All around the town-on the bus, in the streets, in cafes-there was a real sense of fellowship and sisterhood as redheads, all wearing green, acknowledged each other with smiles and struck up conversations.

On the stroke of noon, the flame-haired participants-together with dozens of Dutch press-congregated in the town square, which the mayor of Asten had had specially cleaned for the occasion. In fact, the whole town entered into the spirit, with local shops offering deals on henna shampoo, red wine, tomato soup and buns with orange icing. As Bart was hoisted aloft in a crane to take his photos, directing the ginger group below (very politely) through a loudhailer, opera singer Annelie Brinkhof (a redhead of course) let rip with an aria. All in all, it was quite an experience.

But what about red-haired men? While evidently they are vital for the production of future redhead generations, they are by no means an automatic choice of mate for red-haired women. And even though the list of famous male redheads is impressive-Christopher Columbus, William Shakespeare, Vincent van Gogh-they can’t quite seem to shake their negative image, even with Robert Redford on their side.

Evolution
So if redheads carry on mingling with people with genetically stronger hair colours, could science intervene to help stop their extinction? And should it?

Dr Sistermans thinks that in, say, 80 to 100 years time it will be possible for genetic scientists to influence factors such as hair colour. But that doesn’t mean that they should:

“We are doing genetic research in order to cure people with genetic diseases. If you use it to change hair colour, in my opinion you are misusing the knowledge that you have. Then it gets very dangerous . what about big noses or small toes? Where’s the limit?”

Dr Sistermans believes nature should take its course:

“Things appears naturally and disappear naturally, that’s evolution. Of course it’s a pity, but we shouldn’t make a big problem out of it. There will always be people with red hair, they won’t disappear completely-every now and then, someone will emerge with red hair, so in the future it will perhaps be even more special and more beautiful.”

Listen to a radio interview on this topic.

The Scientific Report

Kent Planning Commission...

Posted by dave in Services News on January 18, 2007 | No Comments

People will come up to me and say “Why on earth did the City allow XYZ new business to open for business?” Often, I actually share their opinion, but the reality is, the City has certain statutory requirements that we can ensure are upheld, but dictating what business can go where is usually well beyond the City’s control. Sure, we’ve got some zoning control, but that just makes sure manufacturing, retail and residential stays where it’s allowed — it doesn’t mean we have any say as to which retail can go in a retail zone. And frankly, when I say “we,” it’s really “they” — with they being the Planning Commission. The City staff have an advisory role but at the end of the day, development decisions are made by your fellow citizens. Read more about the Kent Planning Commission.

The City Planning Commission is a body of five members appointed by City Council. The Commission is supported by a staff of professional planners and engineers.

The Kent City Charter, Section 61(b) reads as follows with respect to the Planning Commission:

Section 61(b). Planning Commission

The Planning Commission shall consist of five (5) residents of the City appointed by Council who shall serve without compensation. Council may also appoint ex-officio, non-voting members by ordinance. A member of the Planning Commission serving on January 1, 1978, may complete the term of his or her original appointment, but in the event of the death or resignation of such member, Council shall fill the vacancy for the unexpired portion of the terms of that member. Subsequent appointments shall be for a term of five (5) years and the expiration of the terms shall be on a one-year staggered interval basis. No one shall be appointed for more than two (2) full terms consecutively.

The Planning Commission will have all the rights and powers granted to it by the laws of Ohio or ordinances of the City or this Charter.

The Planning Commission shall adopt such rules and requirements for plats and the laying out of allotments as is deemed necessary and advisable, subject to Council approval. Such rules and requirements shall be placed on file in printed or typewritten form in the office of the Director of Public Service.

The Planning Commission may control, appoint, or employ such architects, engineers or other professional service and may appoint such clerks, draftsmen or other subordinates as are necessary for the performance of its function. The expenditures for such service and employments shall be within the amounts appropriated for such persons by the legislative authority of the municipal corporation and such legislative authority shall provide for the expenses and accommodations necessary for the work of the Commission. (Amended 11-5-85.)

The City of Kent Planning Commission meets on the first and third Tuesday of each month. All members, appointed by Council, serve as volunteers.

Here’s the Planning Commission Schedule for 2007: