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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03182009Workshop~ ~~ ~E,~AST1A~j~ HOME OF PELICAN ISLAND SEBASTIAN CITY COUNCIL TOURISM WORKSHOP MINUTES WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 2009 - 6:00 P.M. CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS 1225 MAIN STREET, SEBASTIAN, FLORIDA Mayor Gillmor called the Workshop to order at 6:00 p.m. 2. Vice Mayor Hill led the Pledge of Allegiance. 3. ROLL CALL City Council Present: Mayor Richard Gillmor Vice-Mayor Jim Hill Council Member Andrea Coy Council Member Dale Simchick Council Member Eugene Wolff Staff Present: City Clerk, Sally Maio Airport Director, Joe Griffin Growth Management Director, Rebecca Grohall MIS Senior Systems Analyst, Barbara Brooke-Reese Absent: City Manager, AI Minner (excused) 4. WORKSHOP ITEM A. Tourism and Eco-Tourism for the Betterment of the Community B. Sebastian River Area Chamber of Commerce Update on Tourism Efforts Mayor Gillmor asked Beth Mitchell, Executive Director, Sebastian River Area Chamber of Commerce to lead off the program. Ms. Mitchell gave a brief presentation, describing the amenities of the Sebastian area such as the Indian River Lagoon, gateway to the Scenic Highway with the Chamber building being a designated visitor center, with a two minute video. She described the Scenic Highway extension proposal and said she would be requesting a resolution of support of the Council in the near future. She went on to describe the St. Johns River as a designated American Heritage River. She then showed a two minute video of the area's eco-heritage. Ms. Simchick gave credit to Bob Barbour, Barbour Multimedia, who produced both videos for the Chamber. City Council Tourism Workshop March 18, 2009 Page Two Mayor Gillmor asked what we can do to increase tourism and Ms. Simchick suggested opening up the floor to guests in the audience at this time. Harry Tanner suggested brown historical signs on I-95 for the Historic Districts and Historic museum, signs on both sides of Main Street pointing to the Historic Museum at 1235 Main Street, and that Jake and Jim Sunnycalb would like the City to find a place for them to exhibit their train year round along with replicas of historic buildings. Cindy Falco suggested that we market day trips to Sebastian in other areas of Florida, work with travel agencies and local businesses, hire a marketing firm, and said we need something immediately. Kristen Beck, Kayaks, Etc., suggested developing day trip packages for people to participate in various activities in Sebastian, an annual Kayak Paddling Festival in September/October because the area is rich with kayaking opportunities, locating signs to kayak launch sites, and that the City establish additional safe sites for launching. Ms. Coy asked if the kayak launch was still on the Main Street project plan. Ms. Beck suggested targeting people in Orlando and Jacksonville. She then responded to questions from Mr. Wolff relative to businesses working together to package trips to Sebastian, suggesting getting a coalition of like minded businesses who can have an all in one phone and website. Ms. Simchick suggested linking with other websites such as Sunny's Wildlife and the Audubon Society and Ms. Beck said they had some links. Ms. Coy suggested an annual all water related event in Sebastian and Ms. Simchick said it could be started with a 5K. Ms. Beck said she will be seeking help for the Paddlers' Rendezvous in September/ October. Louise Kautenberg, thanked Council for holding the workshop, cited how Disney was able to market a "world", said there are multitude of activities here for people, we need to forget there is a season and market what we have every day, said Sebastian is known internationally for its fishing, suggested a catchy phrase like "there is something fishy going on in Sebastian", and talked about geocaching possibilities in Sebastian. Jim Sunnycalb suggested a welcome to Florida sign with a webcam on a site with information about Sebastian, discussed the train set which can be a draw and be placed inside or outside, perhaps on the porch around the Chamber. Mayor Gillmor suggested a humongous fish that people could stand next to. Richard Baker, Pelican Island Audubon Society, suggested placing portapots on spoil islands to protect the environment and have them all the way down the Intracoastal for kayakers and canners, described multi-state canoe trips in the northeast, said birding is becoming more popular than golf as a pastime, suggested making birding tours 2 City Council Tourism Workshop March 18, 2009 Page Three available, said the State Buffer Preserve is suffering due to lack of State enthusiasm because it is not well used, and urged people to use the park, talked about the Goby Festival there this weekend and urged the City to get behind it and advertise the preserve Ms. Coy asked if they could entice the National Audubon for a local event, and Mr. Baker said they had come to Vero Beach community center, and they would need a meeting place with four or five rooms for breakout sessions. He further described the Pelican Island Wildlife Festival and the many people from out of state who attended. Ms. Simchick said thirteen people from St. Lucie Audubon Society had come to her home and Jim Sunnycalb took them to various parks in the City for birding, suggested getting these birding sites on the next Chamber map and asked Mr. Baker how people could join the Audubon Society. He said people could call 567-3520. Steve Philipson, Airport Lessee, described his new kayak sales and rental business at the Sebastian Municipal Airport adjacent to Dale Wimbrow Park which has a launch site onto the St. Sebastian River, thanked the City for the occupational license to conduct his business, and said the Chamber was doing a great job with its website. He described the site verobeach.com which lists all current recreation activities in Vero Beach and suggested a website like this in Sebastian, said the St. Sebastian River was a pearl, said Kayaks Etc is doing an excellent job, that the City has many recreation opportunities, that he would like to create a streaming video of people paddling the St. Sebastian River, and said those same people were the people who were skydivers, kayakers, liked yoga at Kashi Ashram and those businesses could be connected. Ms. Simchick thanked Mr. Griffin for helping Mr. Philipson get his business going and noted the new attitude toward business. Bruce Zingman, Friends of St. Sebastian River, suggested incorporating a new shadowbox much the same as exists near Riverview Park East that can be changed once per month with activities and City calendars, bird of the month, etc, and perhaps put in a webcam. He asked what had happened to Welcome Wagon, and urged renewal of some way to welcome newcomers. Ms. Simchick suggested it be located near the restrooms, perhaps a locked corkboard, and asked who would change the information. Mr. Zingman said SPOA would help. Michael Float, Sebastian Area Historical Society, said he had lived in Roseland since 1993, talked about the museum and the 12 member Board, bringing schools and groups to the museum, and said Sebastian was the jewel of Florida much like Savannah is the jewel of the south. He suggested bringing back the Old Train Depot which is stored in a field south of town and utilizing it again in the vicinity of the tracks. He said Sebastian needs a catch phrase, citing how Martin County had a contest for theirs, talked about Riverboat tours, and responded to questions from Mr. Wolff relative to how the museum would draw people. Mr. Float said the museum is not hands on like a science museum and people spend approximately 30 minutes to go through the displays and are City Council Tourism Workshop March 18, 2009 Page Four particularly interested in the photo archives which preserve and share the history of Sebastian. Mr. Wolff said we could bundle a museum package with Mel Fisher, McLarty and the Sebastian Historical Museum. Ms. Simchick asked Mr. Float to show the new historic walking trail that is being put in place and is her pet project, she described how the walking tour could be made child friendly by providing a pirate mask to each child and at each stop there would be an additional embellishment added such as mustache, squid lips, earring, etc. She said a map such as this could be put in the kiosk in the park, and we could get the traditional brown historic signs on I-95, noting our in-house sign shop did the historic district signs. In response to Ms. Simchick, Mr. Float said people could volunteer for the Historical Museum by calling 532-5984. Indian River County Commissioner Peter O'Bryan, commended Council for conducting the workshop, said he had attended a leadership seminar which advised having BRAG - Big Hairy Audacious Gall, suggested a week long City of Sebastian Ironman Kayak Festival with fishing, photo contests, 5K paddle race; contacting Marriott to build an Eco Hotel in Sebastian with all the amenities; a summer blow out package advertised in Hometown Friday mornings with certificates and create an urgent demand for them; streaming video using a Mr. Indian River County shown from a webcam in various recreational locations to entice people in the cold north; said he will follow up on I-95 historical signs; suggested mile markers for US 1 using a pelican to identify locations of businesses. He urged the City to be bold and creative and for billboards think Ron Jons. Mayor Gillmor called recess from 7:25 pm to 7:42 pm. All members were present upon reconvening. Ruth Stanbridge, Indian River County Historian since 1997, discussed eco-tourism, and described all the amenities in the Sebastian area such as the named historic districts, Indian River Lagoon being an estuary of national significance, the St. Sebastian Greenway project, rails to trails, St. Johns River, etc. She said she had worked with Beth Mitchell for many years and commended her for creation of international publicity for the area and cited future opportunities such as the Working Waterfront project. She urged that the City be careful with the $ 3.6 M grant they will be receiving and cited her role in the vote. She urged them to make it work, citing what Appalachicola had done by creating a college program within its waterfront to show people how to build boats. She noted that there is an effort underway to bring Amtrak back down the east coast of Florida which could be a boon to the area, and noted the old train depot could be brought back to use as a station. Ms. Simchick asked if one of the two at-large members on the Working Waterfront committee that they will appoint, could be fisherman, and Ms. Stanbridge said it should be one or two. Mr. Hill thanked Ms. Stanbridge for all she had done for Sebastian and agreed it would behoove us to go back and look at the old train depot as we had in the past. 4 City Council Tourism Workshop March 18, 2009 Page Five Ms. Stanbridge said we might get help with relocation. Ms. Simchick asked if it should be placed near the tracks, and Ms. Stanbridge responded that in 2001 the Amtrak idea was dropped as a priority after 9-11 and if they were to bring the depot back it should be in walking distance from the tracks. Ms. Simchick said she and Mr. Hill had attended MPO last Saturday and there was discussion of the return of Amtrak. Mr. Hill said he heard many compliments regarding Sebastian at that meeting. Amy Speak, said her husband was a commercial fisherman, she was very excited about the Working Waterfront and loved Sebastian. C. Discussion Sebastian River Area Treasure Hunt Mayor Gillmor discussed the idea of treasure hunt much the same as had taken place in Key Largo where he had lived. He described the process of getting people out and going into small local businesses and supporting them before there are none left. He said each participating business would pay a fee to participate, get clues to a phrase which people would obtain when they visited each business, it would be a five week program and winners would then be enrolled into a pool fora $5,000 grand prize which would be awarded on the 4th of July. He said the City could pay to advertise, it would bring in daytrippers and hopefully impact businesses, comparing it to Light Up Night. Ms. Mitchell said the Mayor had approached her in the fall and the Chamber tourism committee had met on this several times, further described the five week program stating if they can get about 40 businesses to participate at a cost of $75 for members and $100 for non-members they can raise the $5,000 grand prize, but it is contingent upon Council saying yes and businesses participating. She said if Council agrees they can then contact businesses, and if they hear the interest they won't spend the advertising money. Mayor Gillmor said he had spoken with Nicole at the Treasure Museum and they said they would put up a piece of eight. Ms. Mitchell said for the record that invitee Holly Dill of the Environmental Learning Center said she could not attend the workshop due to a prior commitment. Ms. Mitchell responded to questions from Mr. Wolff about the objective of the hunt, why the $5000 amount and was it to lure people to participate. He said he liked the idea but was concerned for businesses which are struggling and might not be able to afford the cost to participate and asked how it might be advertised for less money, suggesting Pelican Brief, Your Hub, the Sebastian Sun. Ms. Mitchell said the Chamber has a media kit and there is free publicity availability, and it had not yet been considered where to advertise outside the area. Mr. Wolff said $1000 per week was too high and we need to be creative. Mayor Gillmor suggested newspaper and inserts for $300-400, and radio. Ms. Mitchell said the hunt was to be in the fall but it was changed to provide an activity for the summer season. City Council Tourism Workshop March 18, 2009 Page Six Ms. Coy said it would be important to get outsiders, and it may be a burden and risk to vendors, and it may not be the right time to do this while businesses are struggling. Ms. Simchick said it may be a burden on the Chamber because of the time frame, would hate to see one of us or a business owner win the prize, and perhaps this could be a long term plan and this year is not the right time. She said rather than spend $5,000 to advertise the treasure hunt she would rather put up two billboards, which will be discussed at CRA next week, or kiosks with walking trails. Mr. Wolff said it is frustrating not to be able to do something more immediate, and it would be a hassle for businesses to give out clues with no sales and would like to think more about it. He said he liked the idea but would like it to be more inclusive. Mayor Gillmor described the mini version of the treasure hunt the Art Club held two weeks ago and said it was very successful, noting 200 had participated. He agreed there may be some businesses such as auto parts that might not benefit. Mr. Hill said it was simple and as described. Ms. Mitchell said time has been invested in this and she would need an answer by next week if they are to continue, if Council says yes they have 2'/s months to put it together but if they find it not doable they won't proceed. Ms. Coy said she was willing to talk about it at CRA next week. Ms. Mitchell said she will have handouts for the next meeting. Ms. Simchick said she wanted to see a one page proforma next week and Ms. Mitchell agreed. D. Billboards Mr. Hill suggested a small committee of three to seek locations. Ms. Simchick commended Mr. Wolff on his work on billboards at the last meeting, said she was not in favor of any one business being on any billboard, and suggested one billboard north and one south. Mr. Wolff said maybe Disney Orlando is a good place to advertise and have it be a general Sebastian campaign. He said we can contact CBS Outdoors, Lemar, and Clear Channel. Ms. Simchick recommended the three member committee be Beth Mitchell, the City Manager, and a third party. Mayor Gillmor said he would like to coordinate something with a website as Mr. Wolff had recommended, and Ms. Coy said the Chamber had tracking on its site. Mr. Wolff said it needed to be a stand alone site and be a separate tracking. Ms. Coy pointed out that these are not our videos and may have copyright issues. Mayor Gillmor noted the 6 City Council Tourism Workshop March 18, 2009 Page Seven Chamber is allowing us to use the videos on our City site. Mr. Wolff suggested a site such as verobeach.com. Ms. Simchick said she assumes the Chamber is our visitor center and is the appropriate destination for visitors. Mr. Wolff asked how it would be tracked and Ms. Mitchell said it can be tracked individually, they have 15 domain names and it would track back to their site. Mr. Wolff said if it takes you back to the Chamber site what would that do for businesses which are not members of the chamber. Ms. Mitchell said the Chamber needs to generate revenue for its operations and if the City decides to set up a separate website it would dilute what they are doing. After some further discussion, Council agreed that Chamber site would be used for the tracking. E. Public Input -Previously addressed F. Council Discussion Ms. Simchick recapped the quick fixes and short term items discussed tonight and what can be discussed at the next CRA meeting. Short Term Fixes: • Lock box at the park for information • Billboards • Historic signs on I-95 • Museum signs on US 1 and Main Street • Updating Chamber map and including information from other organizations such as Michael Float to contact Chamber • Need for free advertising by the Press Journal and other media She then listed Long Term Fixes: • Kiosk in front of Chamber per Mr. Wolff's idea • Sign on US 1 north near Riverview Park directing people to the "Splash Park - Scenic Route Next Right" maybe done in-house • Wireless Line • Train Depot • Revisit Master Plan for the CRA • US 1 Corridor Beautification Ms. Coy said for the benefit of Ed Biershenk that Sebastian was not getting much press and asked that we not be forgotten. Mr. Hill said he liked the targeted quick fixes and he liked the Treasure Hunt, said many people are working hard to market the City and we should not compete with them or with organizations which are doing economic planning, perhaps write a check but not compete. He cited Ruth Stanbridge's book "Special Places to See", noted he had lived here for twenty years and it is a special place. He again urged the City to work with these groups to make this happen. Mr. Wolff said he hoped we worked out some things, was disappointed more people in the community didn't attend but thanked those who did. He said there are fantastic opportunities for entrepreneurship with bundling services, said there seems to be a lot of synergy, but there is a limit to what City staff can do because they are strained and the Chamber has a busy schedule. He expressed concern for the visitflorida.com and how 7 City Council Tourism Workshop March 18, 2009 Page Eight little information there is on Sebastian and said perhaps someone could be hired to put some content into it. Ms. Mitchell said visitflorida.com is an arm of the governor's office and Nicole Capp said she can look into it and update it. Ms. Mitchell said it will be looked into and noted the Chamber is applying for TDC funds which can be used, so the City should not spend money to hire someone. Ms. Simchick asked how much it would cost the City and if it was worth having cityofsebastian.org being a member and said the City Manager could follow up on at the CRA meeting. Ms. Mitchell advised the City that it needs to post its parks and recreational opportunities on the City website. Mr. Wolff agreed and said we need to do more with the website in other areas as well. Ms. Mitchell said several years ago the Chamber and City talked about kiosks and offered that the Chamber take ownership of the kiosk project and bring back a proposal if the City can cover the expense. Mr. Wolff said they can get volunteers for the kiosks. Mr. Wolff asked what about people who want to have brochures at the kiosk but are not members of the Chamber, and Ms. Mitchell said again she will report back with a proposal for the kiosk project to the City. Ms. Coy said some people are members of other chambers other than Sebastian and maybe they can join the Sebastian Chamber. Mayor Gillmor asked if we are in consensus to bring back these two items to the CRA meeting and everyone agreed and Ms. Simchick added "and everything, the signage". 4. Being no further business, Mayor Gilliams adjourned the workshop at 9:11 p.m ed t h arc , 2009 Regular City Council Meeting. R and .Gillmor, Mayor ATTEST ~ Sally A. Maio, MC -City Clerk