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VEAC Notes 2-9-2021 Vail Economic Advisory Council Notes Tuesday, February 9, 2021 8:00 AM – 10:00 AM _______________________________________________________ AGENDA Link to Packet Materials Attendees: Johannes Faessler, Bob Boselli, Alison Wadey, Brian Nolan, Brian Stockmar, Caitlin Murray, Chris Romer, John Dawsey, Jonathan Reap, Lori Pohl, Mark Gordon, Matt Ivy, Matt Morgan, Michael Connolly, Michael Lange, Sarah Franke, Morgan Hill, Will Cook TOV Staff: Patty McKenny, Mia Vlaar, Tammy Nagel, Kathleen Halloran, Liz Gladitsch, Jeremy Gross • Vail Mountain Update, John Dawsey (10 minutes) • 29” of snow, 84 MPH winds on Sunday creating closures and delays, Mountain at capacity for first time since holidays. • High face covering compliance • Finance Report, Kathleen Halloran (5 minutes) • Dec: New numbers had come in so below does not reflect packet materials • Sales: 19% down, YTD $25M, ending down 14.6%, $4.3M YOY • Real Estate: Record $10.3M up 42% from 2019, 66% of sales were over $2.5M • Construction: $2.1M vs. $2.5 • Parking: Pass sales down, but daily sales up 21% YOY • Total: $65M, up 4% from budget and 12% YOY, sales tax bringing that total number down • Business Relief Program: TOV Grant Award Program, Mia Vlaar (10 minutes) • Town Grant Award Program (GAP): 500K funded, repurposed from Commercial Rent Relief Program, grants ranging from • Eagle County (EC) Program vs. TOV GAP Program: • Number of TOV businesses participating in EC program – 26 • Modeled after EC, got specific info from EC on this, which is why we went to 50 FTE’s. not onerou application. • TOV Businesses can still apply for GAP if they received EC funding • Mid-week Lodging Incentive/Vail Gift Card Program, Mia Vlaar, Liz Gladitsch (10 minutes) • $75K funded to increase mid-week occupancy while increasing TOV business sales revenue • $30K going to market Front Range for a 4-week time frame • 1,000 $25 gift cards going towards promotion • Estimated ROI: $525K in room revenue • Entertainment District, Tammy Nagel (20 minutes) • TOV creates entertainment district. Out of that comes Common Consumption rea • Common area within entertainment districts approved by liquor board, controlled by promotion association • Area specified in purple in packet but note that this does not apply to any area with vehicle traffic. East meadow drive is going to be difficult due to that barrier • Next step is a presentation to Council on 2/16. Resolution and ordinance to follow. • First reading by April 6th in anticipation of Polis not renewing executive order on public right of ways. • Faessler: do we need to rally businesses to support the effort at council? Nagel: Yes, we would welcome the insight and desires of business community. • Nolan: we can work to engage with Donovan to address the language in the law. • Restaurant association is working with the governors office to extend the current rules and exceptions. • Arrebelle is operated as a resort complex. That type of license can not currently participate in promotional associations. The state is working on redefining the rules to allow them to operate like an optional premise. • Event operations will operate similarly to how they have. A special event liquor license would be issued for an event footprint and the promotional association would halt use of that area for those dates. • Resolution should be presented in March for review. • Public Health Update, Will Cook (10 minutes) • Continuing to see all 3 indicators improve. Watching the variants closely. UK Variant spreading rapidly. The South African variant is showing more resistance to vaccines. • Vaccinations will likely be a seasonal shot in the future like the flu vaccine. 2,250 first doses scheduled this week. Prioritizing 70+ year old’s. Remaining doses being split into 3rds. 65-69 year old’s/educators/front line workers. • Johnson and Johnson undergoing FDA EUA. Might be available as soon as March. • Boselli: Are the test we currently do pick up the variants? Cook: That is a different type of test. We are working on getting that testing capability now. There are thoughts that one of the variants moved through aspen. • The new dial V2.0 is active. Now evaluating on a 7 day period instead of 14 day. Can move faster into loosening restrictions and can also move faster to tightening restrictions to slow spreads and shorten the length of an outbreak. • 5 Star Certification Program, Morgan Hill, Chris Romer (15 minutes) • With the new dial V2.0 we are now hovering near yellow status. We are solidly in the new orange at the moment though so looking to move forward with 5 start program as quickly as possible. Application for businesses almost ready to launch. • Working on the program to make sure it can run efficiently. There will be some field audits built into the program. • Looking for info on who Town of Vail inspector will be. • Certain measures might be prohibitive to businesses. Such as 10’ table distance, ventilation requirements. For restaurants, being in level yellow without a 5 star program is likely better than blue with 5 start because of the extra ventilation, table spacing, etc. Requirements. The business with the most to gain is indoor venues. • Can we plan for events under blue for summer? Certain aspects of business could be certified and others not. Ie: hotels with restaurant not participating but events could apply • Sooner Patty and Morgan can get together to activate, the better. • Morgan doing training for inspectors in next few days • TOV, think about who main point person is and total staff working in program. Need at least 2, maybe 3 from Town of Vail • Town Manager’s Report, Patty McKenny (10 minutes) • Request for feedback at next meeting from this group about amplified sounds ordinance and how it changes between bands outside vs. special events • More engagement open for West Vail Master Plan • Economic Development Updates (10 minutes) • Economic Indicator Dashboard, Mia Vlaar • New dashboard created to make it easier to read and highlighting the most important indicators. Dashboard sent to group for feedback • CSE Update, Jeremy Gross • Most winter events have postponed to later dates. Taste of Vail, Vail Film Festival and Powabunga, all scheduled for late March/April have moved. Shamrock Shuffle, ambient music, scavenger hunt are continuing through season. • Looking towards late spring/June for a busier event season. Most traditional events are being planned but are awaiting public health guidance. • VLMD Update, Liz Gladitsch • Presenting 2021 detailed plan at VLMDAC meeting on 2/15 • Other Business (5 minutes) • Week by week sales tax reporting – has been sporadic and consistencies don’t tie to full month or all full month has been thrown into one week. Currently not accurate data coming through • Consider moving back to Same Store Report: Taking 5 or so businesses from each category and report back an average in that way instead. • Kathleen to reach out to Same Store Report group to start this up again • Ali: Restaurants are concerned about large groups requesting reservations during Spring Break. Consider more messaging about safety protocols in place for Vail • Johannes Future meeting agenda item: Invite someone (Heath Harmon?) – On an update of what life might look like here 6-12 months out, once everyone is vaccinated for long term planning. Next Meeting Tuesday, March 9, 2021 8:00 – 10:00 AM, Zoom Meeting