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   Brand and Market Analysis Discussion with Arnett Muldrow & Associates

   discussed

   Aaron of Arnett Muldrow & Associates presented findings from a brand and market analysis for New Port Richey, including a zip code/trade area survey, retail leakage analysis showing potential for ~200,000 sq ft of additional retail space, and online survey results from 698 respondents identifying community character themes (history/heritage, Cotee River, Sims Park). The presentation was discussion-only; no formal action was taken.

   📍Highway 19📍Sims Park🏢Ace Hardware🏢Arnett Muldrow & Associates🏢Home Depot🏢Old Navy👤Aaron👤Charles👤Debbie👤Jacob#Bridge newsletter#Cotee River#Primary Trade Area / Secondary Trade Area analysis#Retail leakage analysis#Sims Park#Zip code 34652#Zip code 34653

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   [00:11:27] Then I'm going to go over some retail demand and then I'm going to go over some of the findings from the online survey. [00:11:33] I'm just going to share with you the high level findings here. There's much, much more that we've done that we'll share with you in due time. [00:11:41] It's just in the interest of time in this meeting and conversation, I want to keep it tight. [00:11:48] The zip code survey is the market definition exercise that really is the basis for the full market analysis. [00:11:57] We conducted the survey at the end of January and continued it through February 4th. [00:12:07] We had 24 businesses participate in the survey, good well-rounded mix of businesses that we had participate. [00:12:16] Most were in downtown, several were outside of downtown, but a strong sample for us to draw some pretty strong conclusions. [00:12:25] The overall results, we had just under 2,400 individual customers that were recorded during the week. [00:12:34] We had 165 unique zip codes. So, for example, the 34652 New Port Richey zip code was one, and then there was 164 different other unique zip codes across the country. [00:12:50] That's 32 states and two countries, three countries if you count the United States. [00:12:56] But again, overall it was a really good sample. [00:12:59] The makeup of the customers when we compare it to other communities where we've worked, but also break down the overall makeup of the customers that came during that week. [00:13:15] First, in the upper left, you see unique states. [00:13:18] These communities are communities that are similar to you all. [00:13:23] Maybe they're on the outskirts of an urban area. [00:13:27] They're Florida communities or they're similar size communities. [00:13:31] This is not scientific, but communities that were further to the left have more states, more unique states, meaning they probably have a broader overall market. [00:13:41] Then communities to the far right are ones that had fewer states and had a tighter overall market. [00:13:49] But you can see that you all there are well within the upper range, the upper third of this, the orange, when you had 32 unique states during the week. [00:13:59] Just as a comparison, when we did this in Maitland a few years ago, they had 22 in their downtown during the week. [00:14:07] Then when we did Plant City last year, they had six unique states. [00:14:14] Again, not rocket science, but it definitely is a decent comparison of your market to your peer communities. [00:14:22] Now, that being said, yeah, you had 32 states, but you also had a localized market. [00:14:29] We always see that. [00:14:31] That is always the case. [00:14:32] Even in the most visitor-oriented of markets, their bread and butter market, at least 50% plus of their market comes from the local trade areas and the local communities. [00:14:43] Not only is that not out of the ordinary, but you don't want to be tipped too far towards a visitor market. [00:14:50] But, again, you all have a localized market. [00:14:54] 68% of your customers during that week came from... [00:15:00] on New Port Richey zip codes, 77% came from Pasco County. [00:15:06] And you just had about 5% from out of the state of Florida. [00:15:10] Nothing here is surprising at all to me. [00:15:14] It's what I would have expected in a suburban community [00:15:17] like yours outside a larger metro area. [00:15:20] I'm gonna interrupt you just for a second. [00:15:22] So that's just looking. [00:15:24] Yes, what's that baby? [00:15:25] Can you blow up the slide a little bit? [00:15:29] It's truly not legible for us. [00:15:33] I will provide a copy of your PowerPoint [00:15:37] to the city council in conjunction with the writing [00:15:41] that I sent out to them on Fridays. [00:15:42] But if you could enlarge it now, [00:15:45] it might be helpful to them. [00:15:49] Okay, this is actually being run off of y'all's machine. [00:15:56] The only other thing that I could do [00:15:58] if it would work is I could share my screen [00:16:00] and I might be able to get it bigger. [00:16:01] But I was advised that it would probably work better [00:16:05] if we're working from your machine. [00:16:08] So, can you see this better? [00:16:13] Or would you prefer me to try to share my screen? [00:16:18] I think this is okay. [00:16:19] I think we're good now, Aaron. [00:16:21] Okay, so everything that I shared before [00:16:24] is basically just looking at the sheer number [00:16:30] of customers coming from the different places. [00:16:33] But each zip code is not created equal. [00:16:35] Many zip codes are much larger in geography [00:16:38] and certainly larger in population. [00:16:40] So we have to find a way to equalize that [00:16:42] to figure out what our trade area has happened to be. [00:16:45] So we look at visits per 1,000 population [00:16:49] of each of those zip codes during the survey week. [00:16:53] And that will give us a ratio and we look for, [00:16:59] we look for splits in that ratio to determine [00:17:02] what our primary trade area [00:17:03] and secondary trade area happen to be. [00:17:07] So, in New Port Richey's case, your primary trade area, [00:17:10] which you see is the orange area there on the map, [00:17:15] is the two zip codes of 34652 and 34653, New Port Richey. [00:17:21] That represented about 40% of the customer base [00:17:26] to your businesses during that week. [00:17:29] The secondary trade area are the five other zip codes, [00:17:34] two more New Port Richey's, the New Port Richey zip code, [00:17:39] and then the two holiday zip codes. [00:17:41] And again, you can see how that works out in the map there. [00:17:47] The orange being your primary trade area, [00:17:49] the purple being your secondary trade area. [00:17:51] Your secondary trade area is about 35% [00:17:53] of your overall market. [00:17:55] So all told, about three quarters of your customer base [00:17:58] came from these seven zip codes [00:18:02] that you're looking at right now. [00:18:04] General observations, this is a balanced geography overall. [00:18:08] We don't necessarily always see balanced geographies. [00:18:13] And that's certainly the case here. [00:18:16] You have a limited penetration into the larger urban market [00:18:23] down to the south, if you look at Tampa and St. Pete. [00:18:27] That's not surprising at all, [00:18:29] particularly since you are at the farthest reaches, [00:18:32] really, of the metro area. [00:18:35] And another interesting thing was, [00:18:37] is you really have limited penetration [00:18:40] into the eastern Pasco zip codes. [00:18:43] And I think that's a testament to that divide [00:18:47] that you all shared with me the last time we talked. [00:18:51] But it's also a long way away from you all. [00:18:53] And there's also a big natural area [00:18:56] in between you and them. [00:18:58] So there's a geographic and topographic [00:19:01] divide there as well. [00:19:04] But these two areas, the orange and purple area, [00:19:05] that is your local bread and butter market base. [00:19:09] And that is what we use to kind of determine [00:19:14] the baseline for the rest of our [00:19:16] more detailed market research. [00:19:18] And that's what I'm gonna share with you right now [00:19:21] is the findings of the retail market. [00:19:25] This is one of the key assessments that we do. [00:19:27] It really helps us identify what demand [00:19:30] there is based on the market. [00:19:33] We did look at demographics of the community. [00:19:36] We've done a residential assessment [00:19:38] and an employment assessment as well. [00:19:40] I can share that with you after this meeting. [00:19:43] But again, in the interest of time, [00:19:45] I'm just showing the retail market. [00:19:48] So the primary analysis we do is what's called [00:19:53] retail leakage. [00:19:54] And it's a simple supply and demand analysis. [00:19:57] So we look at the different geographies [00:19:59] in your primary and secondary trade areas primarily [00:20:02] and compare what, [00:20:03] we compare what consumers purchase on an annual basis [00:20:12] in those geographies to what stores sell [00:20:16] on an annual basis in those geographies. [00:20:19] So if consumers who live in New Port Richey [00:20:22] are purchasing a lot more than what the stores [00:20:25] that exist in New Port Richey are selling, [00:20:28] that means dollars are leaking. [00:20:29] Dollars are going somewhere else [00:20:31] because that particular good or service [00:20:33] most likely is not located in your community. [00:20:36] Now, when I look at the city of New Port Richey, [00:20:40] you're actually the opposite of that. [00:20:42] You're actually gaining. [00:20:44] Your stores are selling close to $360 million [00:20:49] on an annual basis, or this is previous year. [00:20:51] So last year, the store sold $360 million. [00:20:56] And consumers who live in New Port Richey [00:20:59] spent $263 million. [00:21:03] So your market's actually gaining about $97 million, [00:21:07] or at least in the past year. [00:21:09] So that means people are coming in from the outside. [00:21:12] I think that has a lot to do with the fact [00:21:15] that you have a strong downtown. [00:21:19] You do have the suburban commercial strip on Highway 19. [00:21:25] And really, you are the only, [00:21:27] the primary commercial in West Pasco. [00:21:30] So you really serve all of West Pasco in that area. [00:21:33] So again, it makes sense to me that you are a net gain. [00:21:39] However, when we look at the PTA and the STA, [00:21:44] the primary trade area and the secondary trade area [00:21:46] combined, you're actually leaking [00:21:50] about $390 million in total. [00:21:54] Primary trade area does have a gain. [00:21:56] Most of that actually is the city, quite frankly. [00:21:59] But the primary and secondary trade area combined, [00:22:01] your bread and butter market, there's about 471, [00:22:05] or excuse me, there's $390 million in demand in that area. [00:22:12] Now, we have done this in, [00:22:18] the numbers I just shared with you are, [00:22:21] and you don't worry about not being able to see this. [00:22:23] I just show this to show you the depth [00:22:25] of our analysis that we do. [00:22:27] The numbers on the previous slide I just shared with you [00:22:29] are the one line at the very top of this. [00:22:33] We look at about 70 different [00:22:37] individual commercial categories [00:22:39] and do the same supply and demand scenario. [00:22:42] So even within the city of New Port Richey, [00:22:47] and even within the primary trade area, [00:22:50] both which has gain, [00:22:52] when we do the same analysis in certain retail categories, [00:22:56] or all retail categories, [00:22:57] there are a number that show significant demand. [00:23:01] And there are opportunities, even within the city, [00:23:05] for you all to be able to capture new sales from that. [00:23:10] And you can see the highlight here in retail leakage [00:23:14] and select categories in the primary trade area. [00:23:17] That's your existing demand right now [00:23:20] based off of consumer trading patterns. [00:23:24] Now all that boils down to this next slide. [00:23:31] I think if I can get there. [00:23:36] There we go. [00:23:39] Is to demand. [00:23:40] We can translate that retail leakage [00:23:43] into supportable retail space. [00:23:47] And we know that you will not be able to recapture [00:23:51] 100% of the dollars that are leaking your trade areas [00:23:55] through your community. [00:23:56] But through strategic marketing, [00:24:01] economic development, and business recruitment, [00:24:04] you can absolutely recapture a certain amount of that [00:24:07] that is leaving your area. [00:24:09] And we do what we feel like [00:24:11] is a relatively conservative scenario [00:24:13] where we look at, okay, [00:24:14] if we're able to recruit new businesses [00:24:18] and market the businesses that we have here, [00:24:21] we can recapture about 20% [00:24:24] of what's leaving our primary trade area [00:24:28] and about 10% of what's leaving our secondary trade area. [00:24:33] We know what those individual retail categories [00:24:36] are selling sales per square foot in the businesses. [00:24:40] So we can translate that demand [00:24:42] that I showed on the previous slides [00:24:43] to potential calculated capture. [00:24:46] Basically what we're showing here is our roadmap [00:24:49] for business recruitment and business growth. [00:24:53] And business growth, it might be [00:24:55] Charles looking to target new businesses [00:24:58] based on demand that we see here. [00:25:01] Or it may be a local business [00:25:02] who's looking at expanding into a particular product line [00:25:05] and they can look at the demand that exists there [00:25:07] in your community and say, okay, [00:25:09] I've been thinking about expanding [00:25:10] into women's clothing or shoes. [00:25:13] And there's demand that's shown within our trade area [00:25:16] that can help me make that decision. [00:25:19] So all told, based on that 2010 conservative scenario, [00:25:24] you all could potentially recapture [00:25:26] about 200,000 square feet of additional retail space [00:25:30] in your community. [00:25:32] Of that, some of the key categories, [00:25:35] restaurants, about 65,000 square feet. [00:25:40] Of new space, about two thirds of that demand, [00:25:44] believe it or not, is limited service. [00:25:46] However, we did hear a lot from people that we talked to [00:25:49] is that we want more unique restaurants, [00:25:53] we want more independent restaurants. [00:25:55] There's still demand for that. [00:25:56] There's still $22 million of demand [00:25:59] in your trade areas for that. [00:26:02] So there's absolutely an opportunity [00:26:04] for us to recruit that into our community. [00:26:08] Building materials and supplies, [00:26:09] there's enough demand for about 28,000 square feet [00:26:12] of new space. [00:26:14] Just to give you a frame of reference, [00:26:15] a typical Home Depot is about 105,000 square feet [00:26:20] on the low end. [00:26:21] So you're nowhere near to the point [00:26:24] to where you could recruit a new Home Depot necessarily. [00:26:29] But there is demand for this. [00:26:30] The majority of the demand is in lawn and garden supply, [00:26:33] garden center, that type of, those types of categories. [00:26:37] So like Ace Hardware, particularly Ace Hardware [00:26:39] that might have a landscape component to it. [00:26:41] That's the realm that we're talking about here. [00:26:44] But of course, independent businesses as well. [00:26:47] Next is clothing and accessory stores, [00:26:51] about 25,000 square feet. [00:26:54] And you can see how that breaks down. [00:26:56] Family clothing and women's clothing [00:26:59] really were the highest. [00:27:00] There's actually a significant amount of demand [00:27:03] in shoe stores, which I normally don't see this amount. [00:27:08] There must not be any good shoe stores [00:27:09] in your larger region, and folks are having [00:27:12] to leave the region to get those. [00:27:16] And just again, as a frame of reference, [00:27:18] and I'm not suggesting you all should recruit [00:27:20] an Old Navy, but people are familiar with that, [00:27:22] but a typical Old Navy is about 15 to 20,000 square feet. [00:27:26] So you're leaking more than that on an annual basis. [00:27:32] Then finally, specialty food is a category [00:27:34] that showed demand. [00:27:35] Sporting goods is a category that did show demand. [00:27:40] $12 million in demand, which translated [00:27:43] to about 10,000 square feet of space. [00:27:45] That would be the category. [00:27:47] Talked about kayak rentals. [00:27:51] We talked about canoe rentals the last time. [00:27:54] This would be bike rentals, bike shops, [00:27:57] the whole nine yards. [00:27:58] All that falls into there, and there is demand for it. [00:28:01] And then finally, a number of specialty retail categories. [00:28:05] Again, ultimately, this is the basis [00:28:07] for commercial recruitment and business development, [00:28:11] and then we're gonna share with you a lot more data [00:28:13] with this and go into it in a lot more detail [00:28:16] when we do the final report. [00:28:20] So that's the high-level market research findings [00:28:26] that we've done, and again, just to remind you [00:28:29] that these two things that are highlighted in blue, [00:28:32] the market definition and the retail market analysis, [00:28:35] that's all that I've shown you here tonight. [00:28:37] There's a lot more to this. [00:28:41] So with that, let's go to the online survey results, [00:28:47] which is the next slide. [00:28:54] Overall, I just wanted to say we had great participation [00:28:57] with this survey. [00:28:58] I know we talked about that a good bit at our last meeting. [00:29:03] This is probably the most valuable information [00:29:06] that we have outside of the roundtables for branding. [00:29:09] And again, like the market research, [00:29:11] I'm gonna just hit the high notes here. [00:29:14] But it went live on January 30th, [00:29:17] so about two weeks before I saw you all last time. [00:29:24] So far, as of today, we've had 698 responses. [00:29:29] That is a great amount of participation. [00:29:30] I did not expect to see that. [00:29:33] Not only that, talking with Debbie [00:29:36] and Charles and Jacob today, [00:29:38] I know that it's gonna be highlighted [00:29:40] in the next Bridge newsletter that's coming out. [00:29:43] So we're definitely gonna go over 700 in this. [00:29:48] But we talked about it, you all did this survey before, [00:29:51] but you'll remember that the questions [00:29:54] were about community character, [00:29:57] they're about business needs, [00:29:58] they're about active uses. [00:30:00] active needs, and of course they were about marketing and communication. [00:30:06] So the first thing here I'll share with you is where are they from? [00:30:11] The people, the 698 people that did the survey, who were they? [00:30:16] Seventy-eight percent of them lived in New Port Richey zip codes, very similar to the breakdown [00:30:23] of your primary and secondary trade area, incidentally, outside of the New Port Richey [00:30:28] zip codes, and you all know this, the New Port Richey zip codes is a much larger geography [00:30:34] than the city limits of New Port Richey. [00:30:37] But outside of that, about 12 percent came from New Port Richey and the Hudson zip codes. [00:30:43] We also asked folks not only where they lived, but why they had a connection to the community. [00:30:51] And basically what you see here with this slide is about 73 percent of the people that [00:30:58] responded to the survey were New Port Richey residents. [00:31:01] They either lived, worked, or, excuse me, they lived or worked in New Port Richey. [00:31:10] Other comments, we did allow a comment field here, people said they had a second home in [00:31:15] New Port Richey, that came up a little bit. [00:31:18] We had folks that were property owners that had property here but didn't necessarily live [00:31:23] in New Port Richey. [00:31:24] And then we even had a couple people that said they were looking to buy, looking to [00:31:28] relocate to New Port Richey. [00:31:29] They didn't say where they were from. [00:31:31] I can probably go back and check that individual survey, but I'm thinking that they probably [00:31:40] were from in the metro area somewhere and they were looking for a place to live in New Port Richey. [00:31:47] Next, we asked a couple of questions about perception of New Port Richey. [00:31:53] And you all will recall I asked you all a very similar question when we met in February. [00:31:58] And there were two questions that we asked here. [00:32:01] One was local perception. [00:32:03] It was asking the people that were doing the survey, particularly the people that lived [00:32:07] in New Port Richey, what they think the character of the community is. [00:32:15] And so, for instance, it said, that's the bar chart you see there, it said, I think [00:32:20] New Port Richey is, or is a place that has unique heritage and history, has great events [00:32:27] and activities, has unique outdoor recreation opportunities, etc., etc. [00:32:35] But if you look there on the chart, you'll see what ranked the highest is your history [00:32:40] and heritage. [00:32:41] Eighty-three percent of the people that did the survey agreed or strongly agreed that [00:32:45] you all had a unique history and heritage. [00:32:48] Seventy-nine percent agreed or strongly agreed that you all had great events and great activities [00:32:54] in your community. [00:32:55] On the low end, just 27 percent of people felt like New Port Richey had great opportunities [00:33:01] for shopping. [00:33:03] And then folks didn't feel like you all had much awareness outside the metro through the [00:33:12] rest of Florida and throughout the country. [00:33:16] And that's not surprising at all. [00:33:18] Most places don't necessarily have that national perception. [00:33:23] We also asked them to put themselves in the shoes of people who lived outside of your [00:33:28] community. [00:33:30] And we asked them, how do you feel that outsiders perceive your place? [00:33:37] And basically what we saw was about 53 percent of the responses felt like that outsiders [00:33:47] had either a negative or somewhat negative perception of the region and of New Port Richey [00:33:54] area. [00:33:55] And then about 38 percent felt that outsiders had a somewhat positive or a very positive [00:34:04] perception of the community. [00:34:07] Now we don't necessarily see a split like this. [00:34:13] Normally we see it's 80 or 90 percent one way or the other. [00:34:20] Here I think it's just a testament to the fact that from what I learned, and we'll talk [00:34:25] about a good bit in one of the final slides here, the community in New Port Richey, you [00:34:32] all as residents and workers in the community, you all realize you've got a great place. [00:34:38] And there's a lot going for it here. [00:34:41] But by the same token, there may be some external factors that don't have anything to do with [00:34:47] New Port Richey that might be depositing some negative perceptions. [00:34:52] One of the things that came up was the confusion with your town and your neighboring community [00:34:58] that has a similar name and some of the things that have happened there over the last few years. [00:35:05] Again, we're going to go into this in much more detail in the final slide, in much more [00:35:10] positive detail on it, but I think one thing that's important to note here that came out [00:35:15] even in this particular question where we allow people to give their thoughts and give [00:35:20] their additional comments on this is that there's a positive reputation that is emerging [00:35:28] throughout the region and spreading throughout the region about New Port Richey and what [00:35:32] you all have to offer. [00:35:34] And all of that is going to come out in these next series of slides. [00:35:38] One is, you'll recall, one of the questions we asked is, if you were designing a postcard [00:35:45] for the community, what's one singular image that you would use on that postcard? [00:35:54] You can see some of the images that came up and some of the things that were brought up. [00:35:58] We also asked this question for downtown and for the Highway 19 area in the survey, but [00:36:04] this is for New Port Richey as a whole. [00:36:07] You can see the highlights of it was the Cotee River. [00:36:11] That was mentioned 110 times. [00:36:13] By far the most, Sims Park was right, actually not by far the most, Sims Park was right behind it. [00:36:19] Both of those come right through the core of the community. [00:36:21] The river comes right through the core of the community, and Sims Park is right there. [00:36:25] It's a major asset right there in the core of the community. [00:36:29] Downtown came up quite a bit. [00:36:31] And then other comments that seemed to pop up a good bit were the downtown bridge, Main [00:36:39] Street itself, and I think that really goes in with downtown. [00:36:43] And then the Hacienda Hotel, there's a lot of positive buzz about that, and certainly [00:36:47] it's a very picturesque image if you were to create a postcard. [00:36:52] We also asked folks, okay, now we're going to get you to redesign that welcome to New Port Richey gateway into our community, and we want you to think of some real creative taglines [00:37:02] for that. [00:37:03] And you all, the responses were extremely creative. [00:37:08] I've only selected some of the key ones that I thought were very interesting here, and [00:37:14] some of those you can see. [00:37:16] City on the River, River came up quite a bit. [00:37:21] Easy Florida Living, Take a Deep Breath, I think a lot of that sort of resort type history [00:37:30] that you all have there in the community, you have always been a place where people [00:37:33] come to relax, came up over and over again. [00:37:38] Our Slice of Paradise Hidden Gym, that undiscovered piece of the puzzle that you all have there [00:37:47] in New Port Richey, we heard a lot about. [00:37:51] History Roaring Since the Twenties, Old Routes to New Beginnings, Where Hip Meets Historic, [00:37:56] a lot of that came up. [00:37:58] Overall, you see the themes there are, you know, we're old Florida, we're also this gateway [00:38:04] to the tropics. [00:38:06] That's your tagline that you have right now in your city seal. [00:38:10] And really, what those comments were meant to convey is, you know, we're not necessarily [00:38:16] what you think about when you think about Florida, if you're from the outside. [00:38:20] We're different. [00:38:21] We're old Florida, we're tropical Florida. [00:38:24] That overall hometown charm, the authentic character of your downtown and your historic [00:38:31] architecture was a common theme. [00:38:35] And then Renaissance. [00:38:36] That came up over and over and over again in this survey, as well as all of the roundtables [00:38:42] that we've been having, is that New Port Richey is New Port Richey, and we do have this great [00:38:48] history and heritage, but people are learning about who we are, and it's because of all [00:38:53] the positivity that's happening, all the growth that's happening, and all the things that [00:38:58] are going on here in our community, and people are becoming aware of that. [00:39:03] Next, we asked folks, businesses that are needed in the community. [00:39:11] And again, this is something that we're going to, more anecdotal data that we overlay with [00:39:15] the market research that I shared with you before. [00:39:18] And again, with this bar chart, things to, on the far left, these are the ones that rated [00:39:25] higher. [00:39:26] Folks felt like you all needed family-friendly restaurants and family-friendly entertainment, [00:39:31] as well as boutique businesses. [00:39:35] And then on the low end, folks felt like you needed more fast food and bike shop and sporting [00:39:43] goods. [00:39:44] Felt like you didn't necessarily need that quite as much. [00:39:46] Both of those comments were interesting to me, one, because I showed you the data that [00:39:53] showed there's a lot of demand for restaurants. [00:39:56] Your family-friendly, your independent restaurants rated very high on this. [00:40:01] Fine dining restaurants, you also see that there as rating very high. [00:40:05] And while there's a lot of demand for fast food type restaurants, the participants in [00:40:11] the survey didn't really want that. [00:40:13] And that makes sense, I think, particularly given the character of the community that [00:40:18] you all are growing there. [00:40:21] But another thing that was interesting to me is I would have thought that sporting goods, [00:40:26] bike shops, kayak shops, outdoor outfitters would have rated a little bit higher in this, [00:40:32] considering that you really don't have much of that there. [00:40:36] I do know there was conversations about the downtown shop that closed, but was potentially [00:40:43] looking at reopening in the community, and perhaps that was clouding something. [00:40:47] I think that was recent history, and that might have been clouding some of people's [00:40:52] responses to this. [00:40:55] Next thing we asked was about competitive communities, and then what distinguishes New Port Richey from that. [00:41:02] And again, this goes with those common themes that we've been talking about, but you can [00:41:05] see the list of communities that respondents felt like competed with you all. [00:41:11] Dunedin was number one, Tarpon Springs next. [00:41:15] Most of these are very close to you. [00:41:17] I think Dunedin's a little bit further away than Tarpon Springs, but it's definitely a [00:41:20] really cool, unique place. [00:41:22] But also, what distinguishes New Port Richey from those other areas? [00:41:28] What distinguishes it from Dunedin? [00:41:30] It's things like the Cote River. [00:41:32] It's things like your great historic downtown as part of this wonderful architecture that [00:41:37] you have with the Hacienda Hotel, with the Suncoast Theater. [00:41:42] You absolutely do have a unique history that's different than Dunedin and Clearwater and [00:41:49] New Port Richey and some of these other places. [00:41:52] You have a diversity of people and incomes in your community. [00:41:55] People felt like that was a real positive thing here in your community. [00:41:59] And all that sort of came down to the respondents feeling like New Port Richey is really this [00:42:06] authentic, unique small town. [00:42:10] So that brings us back to this final slide that I have here for you. [00:42:16] In the summary is those overall themes that we heard. [00:42:22] And again, these are the themes. [00:42:23] I've touched on most of these that we heard over and over again in our conversations and [00:42:29] in the survey. [00:42:31] New Port Richey is a river town. [00:42:33] You've got the Cote River, which is incredibly unique. [00:42:36] It stretches from the Gulf all the way through the heart of your community to the James Great [00:42:41] Preserve. [00:42:42] You absolutely have public access. [00:42:45] Even though it is private for most of the stretch, you have some significant public [00:42:49] access there in the core of your community. [00:42:52] So it's usable. [00:42:53] Sims Park is amazing. [00:42:55] That's part of the river and you've got a picturesque bridge. [00:42:59] Whether you're in a boat or whether you're on Main Street, it's a beautiful bridge. [00:43:06] But you're this river town and that's something that separates you. [00:43:10] It's unique to you all, but it also separates you from the rest of the area and some of [00:43:14] your peer communities. [00:43:16] You've got that unique history that we talked about. [00:43:19] Whether it's being the Hollywood of the East, having that gulf connection with Gene [00:43:25] Sarazin. [00:43:26] One thing I didn't know before I was there and actually before Councilman Starkey took [00:43:31] me on a boat ride is the Carter family and the Johnny Cash connection. [00:43:36] I know their house is outside of the city limits proper, but it absolutely is a connection. [00:43:43] They were here in the New Port Richey area because of what the community had to offer. [00:43:50] You've got these great beautiful homes that many of those stars during the silent movie [00:43:55] era and beyond had and built there that populate a lot of the river area. [00:44:02] Again, you've got that unique history that is still very tangible there in some of the [00:44:07] architecture. [00:44:08] Your downtown obviously is the true heart of your community, both geographically, but [00:44:13] it really is. [00:44:14] This came up a lot in the conversation. [00:44:16] Folks felt like that is our main destination. [00:44:18] That's the there there here in our community. [00:44:21] That's really what we can hang our hat on. [00:44:23] That's what makes New Port Richey proper, the city of New Port Richey, a very special [00:44:30] place. [00:44:31] By the same token, it's kind of hard to find. [00:44:34] You've got some gateways in the community. [00:44:36] You'll have some beautiful, attractive, very new wayfinding signs, but even with that, you've [00:44:42] got some challenges with your gateways, whether it be that Highway 19, Anytown USA stretch [00:44:50] that you have there to the west of you all. [00:44:53] It really is your front door into downtown. [00:44:56] Tropical came up. [00:44:58] Again, I touched on this earlier. [00:45:00] You know, we're not what you think about when you think about Florida. [00:45:03] We're not white sandy beaches and sunscreen, we're mangroves, we're bayous. [00:45:10] We are that gateway to tropical Florida. [00:45:12] We are the nature coast, which is what the NPO used to position the area as before they [00:45:20] started using sports coast. [00:45:23] But again, it's more that tropical character, it's that boating and fishing, it's not what [00:45:29] you would expect when you think of the stereotypical Florida. [00:45:34] And then perception, I touched on this, this is I think both a positive and a challenge [00:45:40] for us. [00:45:41] But I do feel like it's a challenge that we can easily overcome and we'll help build tools [00:45:46] for you all to do that, perception. [00:45:49] There's New Port Richey, we talked about that. [00:45:53] Some of the scandals that they've had recently, you know, that perception that's unfairly [00:46:01] deposited on you all from time to time will go away, but one of the things that will always [00:46:05] be a challenge is you all have the same name or a similar name to your neighbor. [00:46:12] Some of the comments that were brought up about safety and economics and some of the [00:46:17] perceptions that you have in the larger West Pasco area, that also can be unfairly deposited [00:46:24] on New Port Richey as a place. [00:46:27] But again, keep in mind that a lot of that perception really is the New Port Richey zip [00:46:33] codes. [00:46:34] It's not the city of New Port Richey. [00:46:36] Again, I think that giving you all communication tools and proper messaging, we can overcome [00:46:41] a lot of these factors that are causing these perception issues that aren't really the reality [00:46:49] there in your community. [00:46:50] And a lot of that comes full circle back around to renaissance. [00:46:55] You all have this great momentum. [00:46:58] This momentum's been building for the last four, five, six years. [00:47:02] It really starts in downtown and moving out from downtown. [00:47:08] You've got great revitalization occurring in downtown. [00:47:12] You've got great investment with the Main Street Landing and with the Central right [00:47:17] there adjacent to downtown or really within downtown. [00:47:22] You've got things like the Kaiser University they're going to build right there at your [00:47:28] Highway 19 and Main Street gateway into downtown. [00:47:31] We're going to talk to them tomorrow morning, incidentally. [00:47:35] So you've got this renaissance that's growing. [00:47:37] But you've also got this energy that's growing there, and particularly this youthful energy. [00:47:42] We learned a lot about that with the people that we engaged in the community, whether [00:47:45] it be business owners who might be a little bit younger, whether it be certainly the people [00:47:52] that are becoming engaged in the local businesses, in the activities in the community and that [00:47:57] want to be connected to New Port Richey and might be moving to Main Street Landings and [00:48:05] the centrals and those locations that you're building there in your downtown. [00:48:10] That's something that's very important. [00:48:12] But most importantly, it was told by us throughout the survey and throughout the conversations [00:48:18] that we've been having with you all that people within the larger metro are starting to become [00:48:24] aware of who we are. [00:48:25] And so that positive perception is growing. [00:48:29] The cool thing about us coming in at this time is, yeah, we've got some challenges with [00:48:34] perception, but we don't have to recreate that positivity. [00:48:37] We just have to give you all the tools to tell that story. [00:48:40] And that's how we can overcome some of the issues that we have. [00:48:46] So that's all I have to share with you. [00:48:50] I'd be happy to either answer any questions that you may have at this point. [00:48:55] But before we go to that, I just want to touch on next steps. [00:49:01] And this is the final slide. [00:49:03] Next steps, where we go from here, as I mentioned, we're doing a virtual workshop right now. [00:49:08] We've got about five or six roundtables that we're doing over today, tomorrow and Thursday. [00:49:14] We're beginning our initial creative development, like I discussed before. [00:49:18] After this week, we're going to go right into plan development with the New Port Richey [00:49:22] brand and all the tools and the marketing strategy. [00:49:26] We're going to be working with our staff committee to refine that over time. [00:49:32] And then ultimately, what we're going to do is come back to you all for a brand reveal [00:49:37] where we show all of what we have done and provide an opportunity for you all and [00:49:43] certainly in the community as well to provide us some input. [00:49:47] Our goal is right now to have that reveal be a physical visit at some point after the [00:49:53] stay at home orders are lifted. [00:49:56] So we come into the community. [00:49:57] We have this new branding. [00:50:00] We also maybe strategically plan it to where we're celebrating us coming out of the [00:50:06] current situation that we have right now, but obviously share it with you, with the [00:50:10] community at large and with council and our staff committee to get that final input. [00:50:16] So with that, I will answer any questions that you have or I'll also, Ben's going to [00:50:22] lead our creative discussion that we'll have for the rest of the meeting. [00:50:27] But I appreciate your time and patience listening to me go through all these data [00:50:31] points. Any questions? [00:50:43] Apparently not. [00:50:44] The city council is accepting the information that you presented and there aren't any [00:50:59] questions. [00:51:07] Maybe I heard about every second or second or third comment there, I don't know if it's [00:51:12] an audio issue or maybe if there's a way to pass around the mic, we couldn't hear [00:51:18] everything. I apologize. [00:51:20] That's OK. I was just indicating to you that the council is accepting the information [00:51:26] that you presented and there doesn't appear to be any questions at this time. [00:51:30] So we can let Ben talk if you're prepared and ready to do that. [00:51:35] Absolutely. [00:51:41] Take it away, Ben. [00:51:43] It's nice to meet all you, even though obviously not the typical way of meeting council. [00:51:49] But I appreciate all the data that Aaron has shared with us and just wanted to take a [00:51:56] couple of moments to briefly talk with you all a little bit about the actual branding [00:52:02] process itself and see if there was any opportunity or any comments and wisdom that [00:52:11] you all can share with me as we start crafting this message. [00:52:14] We are excited about the momentum that the community is building. [00:52:20] We're excited that we're starting to see a broader market recognize that. [00:52:26] But one of the biggest things I'd love to hear from council is just your mindset as [00:52:32] the elected officials on the direction and your hopes that you see for this community [00:52:39] as we are going through and creating these tools. [00:52:43] We believe that these tools are our best method to preserve the personality of a place [00:52:51] that people call home. [00:52:52] And I'd love to hear a little bit about those values and attributes that you want to [00:52:57] make sure that we address as we're developing these messages and these storylines and [00:53:04] this toolkit for New Port Richey. [00:53:10] I think the one thing that I saw in the list of things that we just went over that just [00:53:19] jumped out at me and almost knocked me over was the phrase, Renaissance on the river, [00:53:26] which I think really summarizes what we've been trying to accomplish. [00:53:34] Isn't that nice? [00:53:40] We heard that, Debbie, Renaissance on the river. [00:53:42] And I think it is, you know, that's one of the beautiful parts of doing an online [00:53:48] survey and being able to get first person data from folks is hearing that people are [00:53:55] recognizing and feeling that very thing that you are trying to accomplish there. [00:54:01] So thank you so much for sharing that because I definitely feel like that is an [00:54:07] extremely, it's a beautiful phrase. [00:54:10] It's something that I think people can hear and automatically be excited about. [00:54:16] Any other thoughts? [00:54:18] Kevin, can you hear me? [00:54:43] That's great. [00:54:45] Yes, you can. [00:54:46] I would, I would agree with the mayor. [00:54:48] There's a renaissance going on through our downtown. [00:54:50] I think it's important that we portray the fact that we are a historic downtown on the [00:54:56] river, but we're not afraid of change either. [00:54:59] You know, like you mentioned, you interviewed and spoke with some younger business [00:55:03] owners, some younger residents are very, very excited. [00:55:06] People like Frank Starkey that are putting their money where their mouth is and building [00:55:09] these wonderful places to live and to patronize. [00:55:12] So I think it's important that we portray that, yeah, we're historic, but we're up and [00:55:17] coming and we're looking to create a fun, a fun atmosphere for residents and for [00:55:23] visitors. Once again, the biggest obstacle that I'm looking to, to get guidance from, [00:55:28] from you all is how we differentiate ourselves from surrounding New Port Richey [00:55:33] areas that are not, that are called, you said, you mentioned similar name. [00:55:38] It's not similar name. It's exact same name other than New Port Richey. [00:55:42] Yeah, we have some really, you know, negative things that happen in maybe a 10 square mile [00:55:47] area, 15 to 20 square mile area that we just cannot get out from under, from having that [00:55:52] stigma on our, on our downtown and our little four and a half square miles. [00:55:56] And with having the same name, it's just been extremely difficult task in the seven years [00:56:01] I've been up here. So you all are professionals of this. [00:56:03] I'm very, very eager to see what you have to come up with to help us, help us do that. [00:56:08] And, and I'm excited for, I appreciate all you've done thus far and for this presentation [00:56:13] and workshop, but that's, that's kind of something I'm looking, I'm looking to get [00:56:17] guidance from you all on. [00:56:21] Well, absolutely. Thank you, Councilman. [00:56:23] And I, I'm excited about that challenge, to be honest. [00:56:27] Those are really, really fun for me because I think that it forces you to truly delve [00:56:35] into the uniqueness and individuality of a place. [00:56:40] We've seen this time and time again. [00:56:42] We've literally worked in communities that have the exact same name, but are split in [00:56:47] two different states, Bluefield, West Virginia, Bluefield, Virginia, Bristol, Tennessee, Bristol, [00:56:52] Virginia, and then dynamics where you have things like Des Moines, Iowa, West Des Moines, [00:56:57] Iowa, you know, you have these, these connections and identity and how can you adopt tools that [00:57:06] clearly differentiate what you're working on from what your neighbor's not working [00:57:11] on and how can you make sure that the place that you're the steward of gets the credit [00:57:17] for all the hard work. [00:57:18] And, and we're really excited because we do think that there's the energy to help [00:57:23] echo the message and I feel confident we'll be able to give something that will, we'll [00:57:28] be able to address that head on. [00:57:30] But thank you for reinforcing it because it is a hard one. [00:57:33] It is a hard one because you're exactly right. [00:57:35] You don't have similar names. [00:57:37] You got the same name. [00:57:42] Dr. Davis here. [00:57:44] The problem that I have with the word renaissance is we have some older architecture and we [00:57:48] have some older downtown, but we have new inner workings. [00:57:55] We have two brand new housing complexes, 190 units, 180 units. [00:58:01] We've renovated them. [00:58:02] I think that might be Councilman Davis speaking. [00:58:05] We can't, we can't hear. [00:58:07] So if we could pass that one mic around at work. [00:58:10] I apologize for that. [00:58:12] Thank you so much. [00:58:12] So sorry. [00:58:13] Hi, I'll just start over. [00:58:21] They heard me here, but I have a problem with the word renaissance because we have, you [00:58:26] know, older architecture, but we have new inner workings, brand new inner workings. [00:58:31] We have two brand new housing complexes, over 180 units. [00:58:37] We have renovated areas downtown and that's what's drawn the people downtown. [00:58:41] So I just have trouble with that renaissance word. [00:58:45] We're attracting younger people. [00:58:47] We're attracting the younger families. [00:58:50] We are slowly renovating a lot of the housing that is rental housing now. [00:58:57] And so while it has old roots, I don't really like the word renaissance. [00:59:07] This is Pete Altman. [00:59:08] Is this one working? [00:59:09] Maybe not. [00:59:12] Pete Altman, Councilman Altman. [00:59:18] Yeah, as we go around the river, the idea of rebirth, I mean, in a sense versus renaissance, [00:59:29] there is, as the Deputy Mayor mentioned, a difficulty that I've seen over the many years, [00:59:37] which is people that like our city just the way it is. [00:59:41] When we had our Orange Lake, it was like, no, we don't want any activity on it because [00:59:46] we feed the ducks. [00:59:48] When we want to expand our downtown and bring more business, where am I going to park my [00:59:55] trailer? [00:59:56] So what I would like to [01:00:00] to say, first of all, is it feels like your diagnosis of our city, seen through the eyes [01:00:07] of all the 700 folks who have answered your survey, is just an accurate depiction of where [01:00:18] we are and how I feel, and I think you've got a good picture of our community. [01:00:26] And you have detailed it very well, so I want to congratulate you that it has resonated [01:00:36] with me as being that you're on the right track and you know what we're feeling. [01:00:42] The important part, to me, always has been that we are still becoming, as the Deputy [01:00:50] Mayor said, we still have to become something. [01:00:54] Also the same with what Chopper is saying, you know, we've got this new vibe, this new [01:01:00] attitude and as somebody who has been interviewing people who have been moving in, and to piggyback [01:01:08] on the comment of the number of new units we have and the new people moving in from [01:01:14] different places, they may be in the same zip code, but they all came from somewhere [01:01:19] else when they come to Florida, and any of us in the service business can attest to that, [01:01:24] that we recognize all the accents from everywhere else. [01:01:28] So the sort of melting pot that we are doesn't quite jive with old Florida, like Dade City [01:01:37] is old Florida, it's sort of like we're growing together into something that's kind of special [01:01:44] and we're part of a geographic place that's so special with the river. [01:01:51] But the river, again, has been 30 years discussed as being our biggest asset and the new people [01:02:02] moving in and the density that has always been supposed to be the secret sauce for redevelopment, [01:02:09] to have that on-site residential base around us. [01:02:15] I'm hearing a lot about, can I bring my boat? [01:02:20] There's a lot of people now that are kayaking and paddle boarding and folks that like to [01:02:25] sit on the river and observe. [01:02:28] I know when we had the fellow that did the outdoor center or the Charlotte whitewater [01:02:36] thing and he was talking about the people that are active, he said for every one person [01:02:41] that participated, there were a lot of other people who liked to watch it or who came to [01:02:47] observe that activity or that life. [01:02:50] And I think Main Street Landing has all of these porches that people are sitting out [01:02:59] and watching the river. [01:03:01] We had dolphin go by, we've got manatee going by, you've got people going by, boats coming [01:03:08] and going. [01:03:09] I think it's the lifeblood of our city. [01:03:12] Dunedin has the bike pass and we're also going to gain that as we go forward. [01:03:20] So I think that if we project ourselves to be growing, we also need to be designing our [01:03:28] community to grow. [01:03:30] So my point to you would be, we've got the resources, we've got a 30 year window ahead [01:03:37] of us to rebuild, resiliency is a big issue here in Florida, to be a leader in rebuilding [01:03:49] and that drives with opening up the economy again. [01:03:53] The folks that are moving in, a lot of them are working at home and I'm just thinking [01:03:59] that these big offices with corporate high rises and people working, we were told 10 [01:04:07] years ago that what we're going to have is millennials who decide where they want to [01:04:12] live and work from home. [01:04:14] And we have a lot of people moving in who are working from home. [01:04:18] And Mayor, I don't know if you see that trend as well with computers and office supplies, [01:04:24] but a great place to work and play is what we're becoming and it's exciting. [01:04:30] We were actually talking about that before the meeting a little bit because one of the [01:04:37] things I did and have done in my business as this shutdown took hold was help a bunch [01:04:44] of my clients be able to work from home securely and I'm doing a heck of a lot more of it [01:04:50] myself than I used to because there are some advantages to that. [01:04:59] And I tend to look at renaissance as rebirth, not as something old. [01:05:05] So your comment about it, it is a rebirth of our community on the river, that's very [01:05:12] much true. [01:05:14] I just like the phrase because it rolled off the tongue. [01:05:17] Matt? [01:05:19] Yeah, can you hear me? [01:05:20] This is Councilman Murphy. [01:05:21] Yes, we can. [01:05:22] Very good. [01:05:23] Very good. [01:05:24] I want to thank you for what you've put together so far. [01:05:29] I think I mentioned to you last time it's tough because we have so many attributes, [01:05:35] so many great things in the city and to try to get it into one branding is really hard [01:05:41] so I don't envy you on that part of the job. [01:05:44] I guess I really haven't seen anything that's kind of reached out and slapped me in the [01:05:47] face and I'm like, oh, that's it. [01:05:49] I know it's still a work in progress. [01:05:52] We have room to grow. [01:05:53] We definitely have lots of market share that's still available that we can grow into. [01:05:59] I know we want to be a fun, active community. [01:06:02] I guess my thoughts are we have great history and great things from the past but don't want [01:06:06] to get stuck in the past. [01:06:08] We want to be more of a renaissance rebirth, not so much with the older term renaissance [01:06:17] in my mind but that's kind of the way I like to see it going. [01:06:24] Not so much what we were but what we can be in the future. [01:06:30] I think really all of you are really hitting the same nail. [01:06:36] You've got these assets. [01:06:39] You do have this community that's experiencing this rebirth and this renaissance that people [01:06:45] are aware of. [01:06:46] You've got this great history and got this great architecture but that's only one piece [01:06:51] of the puzzle. [01:06:52] Whenever we come in a community that wants to position themselves or have historic assets, [01:06:59] there needs to be a balance. [01:07:00] We need to be very careful about that because if that's part of our message, we need to [01:07:05] make sure that it's not historic stodgy.

   This text was generated automatically from the meeting video. It is not a verbatim or official record. For exact wording, consult the video or the city clerk.

3. 3Communications▶ 1:07:09
4. 4Adjournment▶ 1:42:29