Neighborhood Planning Council 1 - Post-Franklin

POST/FRANKLIN NEIGHBORHOOD PLANNING COUNCIL Thursday – May 5, 2016 Chair Diana Quigg called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. at CA Board Room. Attendance: Members Present: Cindy Fritz, James Moreno, Diana Quigg and John Cash. Linda Carmona and Pat Shellenberger via phone. Members Excused: Katie Hubbard, Linda Carmona and Yvonne Powell Guest and Visitors: Ofc. Burke – PCPD, David Kemp – SWMCDC, Tommy Engels – City of Battle Creek Code Office, Kate Flores – City Commission, Jennifer Williams – MI Works, Nina LaGrand, and William Hazel. Additions and Deletions to the Agenda: None Approval of Minutes: Approval of Minutes was postponed as we did not have a quorum. Correspondence and Announcements: Post/Franklin Community Garden Open House is May 7 from 1 – 3 pm. Garden Planting will be May 23, 24 and 25 from 1 – 6 pm. All are welcomed Planning Workshops for the Main Corridors in Battle Creek are Tues. May 10 from 3-8. The Downtown Corridor forum will be from 5:00 – 5:45 pm, and the Columbia Corridor from 6:30 – 7:15 pm at the DPW building on Kendell St. Workshop also take place at the DPW building on Wed. May 11 from 10:00 am – 11:00 am highlighting the Farmers Market and from 4:00 pm – 8:00 pm. The corridors discussion with be on Old Lakeview and Urbandale Corridors. Remember these all take place at the DPW building. Committee and Staff Reports: Police: Officer Burke distributed the monthly report. He reported 37 physical arrests and that there has been in increase of criminal activity in the area. Questions were asked about the gunman on Academy being chased and ordinance on basketball hoops in the road, we will get an update at next month meeting. Code: Tommy Engels distributed the monthly report. He reported that the International Housing Code ordinance was updated and distributed a copy of Chapter 1460 Minimum Housing Code/International Property Maintenance Code. He also passed out new city maps for member’s notebooks. The following was reported as demos: 33 Walnut and 115 Marjorie. The following issues were updated: 24 Kingman E. – Garbage can at curb – Individual has a handicap and was using can as a means to keep his parking space. He now has a handicap sticker and has moved his can off of the street. 116 Cliff St. – Garbage – It has been cleaned up. The follow issue was reported: What is happening at the old Snickers Building – can we get an update at next month’s meeting? Beautiful Battle Creek Award: None. Nominee’s will be presented at June meeting. If you see a property that you feel deserves a BBC Award you may nominate that property, all that is required is the address. The council will then vote and the address is submitted to City Neighborhood Planning Office, who then proceed with the issuing of the Award. Note – once we submit the addresses the City takes control of the process and we have no say when an address will be awarded. If any member should have a question regarding an address that was submitted they need only ask and the inquiry will be made to the City and the outcome will be documented in the minutes. Membership: None If you know individuals that might be interested, please invite them to meeting. Commissioner Comments: Kate updated council that the City Budget Process is still being worked. Police Station was discussed and is still in process. The Fire Station discussion is not being discussed in the budget this year as the Police Station has taken first priority Discussion on the City/Battle Creek Public Schools will be May 31 at 6:30 pm at Ann J. Kellogg, this will be a Town Hall forum. Recycling bins are out. The city is looking at developing an economic Development for Parks and Recreation. Comments from the council were entertained by the Commissioner – they included comments about the Police Station being on the north eastern most boundary, don’t forget about Fire Station #3 staying open, the ridiculous size of the recycling bins and the issues with pickup schedule and when looking at the corridors to downtown, don’t forget Main Street. Old Business: None New Business: Jennifer Williams of MI Works gave an overview of the MI Works programs. A success for MI Works is the EDGE Program. MI Works has moved to 260 W. Van Buren, this is the old Davenport College Building. Michigan Works! Will be hosting an open house May 6 from 3:30 – 5:00 pm. For more information you can contact Christopher Walden at 269-660-1413 or email walden@upjohn.org. David Kemp of SWMCC talked about strategy’s for membership in our council. They included: Welcoming new people who attend for the first time Door to Door Recruitment Appreciation/Recognition Creating opportunities for neighbors These were a few that was discussed. David also spoke of project(s) that they wanted to do in our community for Neighbor’s Week in June. He shared that he wanted these to be projects that got neighbors out talking to one another. He suggested that for our area that we use the Post/Franklin Community Garden as an option and also use it to discuss membership. He will work with Cindy and Jim on this prior to our next council meeting. Members Comments: Jim reminded us not to forget the garden planting on Monday-Wednesday, May 23-25 from 1-6 pm. After the garden is all planted the community is invited to volunteer at the garden on Tue and Thu nights from 5:30 – 8:00 pm. Cindy stated that we should call the Managers Office and remind her that she promised us another community forum on Fire Station #3 as the paper stated that is was being combined with Station #1. Public Comments: None. Adjournment: Meeting was adjourned at 8:45 p.m. Next Scheduled Meeting: June 2, 2016 at 7:00 p.m. in the CA Board Room. Respectfully Submitted by Cynthia Fritz, Recording Secretary