Good morning, everybody.

We will go ahead and call this meeting of the transportation role in the committee to order.

Thank you.

We have a forum.

There's no legislation, so we don't need a forum on these no excused absences.

For uh council members Bishop and Davis, and I believe Councilman Starr is gonna be coming late.

He had a ribbon cutting, and I'm sure others will trickle in as well.

Uh this is our fourth of four previously scheduled meetings uh pertaining to the proposed closure of Burke Airport.

Uh up to date.

We have uh discussed just general site conditions, we've talked about uh the financial aspects of Burke as as it operates currently.

Uh, we discussed two weeks ago uh the procedures through which one would close an airport.

And today, uh what was originally planned had been sort of an abstract maybe conversation about the Northeast Ohio real estate market and how it would align with this uh property.

Since then, Mayor Bibbs administration has come forth with a concept of a fit.

I want to be very clear that what we're gonna be talking about today is not a definitive plan.

Again, there is no legislation before this body uh pertaining to the closure of the airport.

However, since the administration has gone through the effort of demonstrating at a high level what the site could accommodate, what the economics of it would be, I think it would be more useful for us to talk about that rather than to talk about uh things more abstract uh than than that presentation.

Uh so with that, I'll invite the administration and uh the North Coast Waterfront Authority forward as I turn it over to you.

If there's anyone in the audience who is interested in public comment, uh to the left of the clerk, uh, there is a sign-up sheet at the end of the uh presentation and all of the questions from council.

Uh, we'll be able to have public comment where you can come forward and have three minutes to address the body.

And with that, um, if Deputy Chief Trevasano, good morning.

If you could introduce your side, especially since there's a new introduction to be made.

Of course.

Uh Jessica Trevasano, Deputy Chief of Staff and Chief Strategy Officer.

Um, I'll let my team who's at the table with me introduce themselves.

Tom McNair, Chief of Integrated Development.

Uh Scott Skinner, uh, executive director of the North Coast Waterfront Development Corporation.

Uh my name's Jason Russell.

I'm the VP of Real Estate and Development for the North Coast Waterfront Development Corporation.

Focus on planning and development of our North Coast.

Good welcome.

And and with that, I will turn it over to you for uh what I'm sure is going to be an interesting presentation for all.

Go ahead.

Thank you.

Um, so good morning, everybody.

We are here to talk about uh redevelopment of Berkeley Front Airport.

Uh we're gonna start with an overview, meeting purpose, uh, give you a brief update on the Lakefront Stadium site.

Uh, we're here to talk about BERC, but they are proximate, and I know there's uh questions about how those two sites relate to one another.

We're gonna talk about the redevelopment context about clay Cleveland's real estate market overall.

We're gonna talk about principles and constraints related to redevelopment of Burke, concepts and uses.

We're gonna talk a bit about the air show, economic input, community input, and then anticipated next steps.

We've got uh a lengthy presentation for you, so thanks for giving us giving us the time.

So overall, um, with as it relates to redeveloping Burke Lake Front Airport, a recreation focused concept at Berkeley Front Airport would require minimal public funding.

It would increase resident access to four hundred and fifty acres of Lakefront considerably, and it would generate five times more direct tax revenue to the city every year than Burke Lake Front Airport currently generates.

I'll pause just to maybe re-emphasize in previous meetings.

Uh, we've really focused on the direct tax impact of the airport in that land.

So this isn't talking about like heads and beds and you know, all of the ancillary tax benefits.

This is truly just like income property, parking tax, you know, direct tax benefits from the site to the city.

Uh the redevelopment concept that we'll show you today is relatively low-hanging fruit and would generate five times more direct economic impact, uh, direct tax revenue to the city.

Uh, we'll talk about today how redeveloping BERC will not prevent an air show from operating in Cleveland.

Uh, low density recreation focused development does not prevent higher density development from occurring in the future.

When we're thinking about a choice like this, we're thinking about it in the context of you know, decades and centuries, not in just you know, what can we do in the next year or two?

And that Burke Lakefront Airport uh is a major constraint on the site that prevents development on 450 acres of publicly controlled land.

Uh this meeting purpose, I've said it at each of the three, and I'm gonna end with it as well, is to provide us Cleveland City Council and the public with a clear fact-based understanding of the legal, financial, operational, and market realities associated with Burke Lakefront Airport, so that any future decision regarding its closure or continued operation is informed, transparent, fiscally responsible, and aligned with the long-term interests of Cleveland taxpayers.

Uh in our previous meetings, we uh uh we'll kind of call back to all of them in today, but uh just to summarize on January 21st, uh we talked about the historical, legal, operational, and other regulatory factors uh related to BERC.

At that meeting, we talked about how significant due diligence exists on the site, and that there are relatively few unknowns uh of it of the site.

We've talked about how low density development does not require unusually high costs for environmental remediation, geotechnical work, or infrastructure, and that the land at Berk Lakefront Airport is similar to land on the lakefront that we see today.

You know, we've built a stadium, uh Rock Hall, a science center, restaurants, housing, all on land that is almost identical to what Burke Lakefront Airport is.

We've also built an airport on the airport land.

Uh on February 4th, we talked about Burke and the budget.

Uh at that meeting, we talked about how BERC has operated at a loss of about $900,000 annually uh over a 20-year average.