Neighborhood Planning Council 1 - Post-Franklin

POST/FRANKLIN NEIGHBORHOOD PLANNING COUNCIL Thursday November 2, 2017 Chair Diana Quigg called the meeting to order at 7:02 p.m. at CA Board Room. Attendance: Members Present: Cindy Fritz, James Moreno, Diana Quigg, William (Jon) Hazel, John Cash, Yvonne Powell. Linda Carmona and Pat Shellenberger (via phone). Members Excused: La Mar Mingle and Katie Hubbard Guest and Visitors: Tom Rivera BCPD, Dennis McKinley – BC City, Kelly Dillman, BCPD Community Liaison, Lynn Ward-Gray – City Comm., Kate Flores – City Comm., Chris Luissier – BC City, Jack Childs, John Kenefick, Kjersten Priddy – Pastor, Trinity Lutheran Additions and Deletions to the Agenda: None Approval of Minutes: Motion for approval of October Minutes was made by Jon and seconded by John. Approved. Correspondence and Announcements: James reported that Casey Fairley at 269-565-2804 for Job Training and potential employment, has two immediate openings due to two people dropping out. Need to register by November 6. James spoke about the recent City Commission workshop that addressed a revision to the Fire Station Proposal the Chief had originally floated. Station #3 would get a remodel/renovation and would remain open. #2 would be extensively remodeled and if FEAM approves the City’s request to annex the Doliver complex adjacent to the station it would be renovated for administrative, training and storage purposes. Timeline for proposal would be 2-4 years at it included other stations being upgraded as well. City of Battle Creek has cancelled the Zoning Board of Appeals meeting for the month of November. The next Zoning Board of Appeals will be Dec 12. Committee and Staff Reports: Police: Officer Rivera distributed monthly reports. He shared a new spreadsheet that showed the number of crimes reported for Part 1 and 2. This was very eye opening as it gave a quick view of just the number of incidents reported. The Bryne Grant is working nicely. One of the initiatives is the reporting of street lighting that is not working. They have identified quite a few and reported those to Consumers. Consumers has fixed the outages in a 1 day turn-around. They are working with the city to replace current street lights with LED lighting. Also, working on getting the trees trimmed that need it throughout the neighborhood. He reported that there was a stabbing on East Kingman and will be following up with the landlord as the residence is a problem address. Kelli reported that Sgt. Chris Rabbit has been appointed to the Bryne Grant initiative as a community officer. Also the UofM is going to be finishing up on their survey, you can still take the survey. Check the city website. Code: Dennis represented Code and had no reports. He updated us on the following: 114 East Kingman – are still not in compliance and will advance to next step 21 E Kingman – have until Nov 13 to fix violations 424 Main St. – all permits are in place Walnut St – inop vehicle that was reported is still being followed up The following was given to Dennis to report to Tommy: 292 Main St. – furniture at curb Yellow house next to Community Garden Gate – Mattress at curb. Homeowner informed he can go to Code Dept and get bags for his mattress. Question was given to the Commissioners present – would yard waste pick-up be extended beyond December 4th if the leaves have not all fallen from the trees? They will contact Jim if it changes. Beautiful Battle Creek Award: 395 Cliff St. was nominated for award. Motion made by Jim and seconded by Linda. Motion Carried 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: We have 4 members up for renewal: La Mar Mingle – said Yes Yvonne Powell – said Yes John Cash – said Yes William (Jon) Hazel – declined – wishes to finish his term with no renewal A Motion was made by Jim and seconded by Diana to move forward with the three wishing to remain on the council. Motion Carried. Commissioner Comments: Commissioner Gray reported that the Youth Adv. Board is listed in the Shopper. They currently have 13 members, with room for 18. In Feb/Mar they will recruit for more members. The city has hired a new Inspector, Richard Bolek and will have an open house for him on Nov 4 from 7-9 pm. The last meeting for the Master Plan was Nov 1. You may still submit your ideas to Planning. They are taking feedback on the citizen’s opinions of the Medical Marijuana licenses thru Nov 3. Abe Lincoln exhibit is still open in the BCCF building, it should be there for the next 6 months. Lynn Ward-Gary informed us that she is running for re-election for Ward 2 Commissioner. She has a Latte with Lynn this Sat Nov 4 at the Pancake House from 8-9 am. Kate Flores informed us that she is running for re-election for Ward 3. Battle Creek Public Schools: No Representative Old Business: Election of Officers: Elections of officers for NPC #1 Chair, Vice Chair and Secretary took place. Diana Quigg was interested in Chair and Jim Moreno was interested as Vice Chair. A motion was made by Linda and seconded by Jim that Diana would be Chair and Jim would be Vice Chair. Motion Carried. The floor was open for nominations for Secretary as no one was interested in running for Secretary. John nominated Cindy, but she declined. We will bring this up to the council at December meeting, as we need to elect a Secretary. New Business: Chris Lussier presented us with an overview of the Community Development program. This program distributes the money granted to the City of Battle Creek for Community Block Grants from HUD. We were given a questionnaire and work sheet asking for our input. The questions included “How are needs in your neighborhood changing? What needs to be more of a priority? What would you like to see the Community Development Department or its partners do? This brought about a discussion. Written input was given to Chris for him to ponder when making decision of how to spend the grant monies. There is a Paint program available and he will give the information to Tommy to bring to the council during our March meeting. We want to ensure that this information is fresh in the minds of individuals as Spring approaches. There will be a possibility for housing funds to help BC Public Schools teachers find homes within the city limits to live as they are teachers for BCPS. Also, there could be a grant coming to the city for Lead Abatement. Members Comments: Jon stated that Main Street isn’t as beautiful as a gateway street to downtown, it is looking old and tired. Jim welcomed our visitors Kjersten and Jack to the council. Public Comments: None Adjournment: Meeting was adjourned at 8:45 p.m. Next Scheduled Meeting: Dec 7, 2017 at 7:00 p.m. in the CA Board Room. Respectfully Submitted by Cynthia Fritz, Recording Secretary