Neighborhood Planning Council 1 - Post-Franklin

POST/FRANKLIN NEIGHBORHOOD PLANNING COUNCIL Thursday April 5, 2018 Chair Diana Quigg called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. at CA Board Room. Attendance: Members Present: James Moreno, Diana Quigg, Jack Childs, Yvonne Powell, Cindy Fritz, John Cash, Kjersten Priddy-Pastor of Trinity Lutheran. Linda Carmona and Pat Shellenberger (via phone). Members Excused: Katie Hubbard and La Mar Mingle Guest and Visitors: Tom Rivera BCPD, Kelly Dillman, BCPD Community Liaison, Dennis McKinley BC Comm. Asset Mgr., Sherry Sofia – At-Large Comm., Lynn Ward Gray – Ward 2 Comm., Kate Flores – Ward 3 Comm., Barbara Travis – MI Works!, Fallon Knox – MI Works!, Sharlee Coffman-Cook – Fair Housing Ctr of SW MI Additions and Deletions to the Agenda: None Approval of Minutes: Motion for approval of February Minutes was made by James and seconded by Yvonne. Motion passed. Motion for approval of March Minutes was made by James and seconded by Jack. Motion passed. Correspondence and Announcements: Apr 7 is the Recyclerama at Bailey Park from 9 am to 1 pm. May 4th Voces 520 W. Michigan, will be hosting their Annual Open House from 3-4 pm. There will be Dance Lessons from 4-5 pm. There is also breakfast with the Executive Director, 8-9am. To RSVP (this is so they may get a count) call Josh Dunn at Voces. Diana received a letter from a concerned citizen about Zoning Board of Appeals hearing that takes place on Tues. April 10. It concern a property at 38 Kenosha St. At this point James confirmed that there was to be a hearing and since he sits on the board, he excused himself from the meeting and left the room. A discussion then commenced. The hearing is for a Variance to the setback for a Medical Marijuana Grow and Processing facility. After discussion a motion was made by Jack that NPC#1 send a letter opposing the Variance to the Planning Department for the Zoning Board, Commissioners and City Manager. It was seconded by John. Motion Carried. John brought James back into the meeting. Police: Officer Rivera brought in the Police Report. It showed Part 1 and Part 2 crimes to date along with a comparison to last year’s figures. He answered question from the membership. One was about 38 E. Kingman and he reported that the Police Dept. conducted a raid at the property. Please remember to call Officer Rivera with issues, he can be reached by phone 269-966-3306 ext. 2165 or email atrivers@battlecreekmi.gov. Previous items reported: Ofc. Rivera reported that he has been monitoring the front yard parking on East and West Kingman. Kelly distributed an information sheet for important dates for Byrne Grant Projects. April dates are Thursday, April 26 at DPW building. Sgt. Rabbitt will present Crime Analysis, Parcel Assessments and Neighborhood Survey information. Monday, April 30 at the DPW building is the NPC Leadership Orientation. Time to be determined for both meetings. There will be a series of meeting held in May and June these Sessions will focus upon Neighborhood Projects process and culminate with a project or projects identified by neighborhood(s). Code: Dennis distributed Code report. Remember the city has replenished their supply of mattress bags and residents can come to their office to pick them up. The following was reported at last meeting: 125 Post – mattresses at the curb, not bagged – COMPLIANCE DATE IS 4/5 Items reported tonight: 457 Main St, – trash and junk in yard. Pentecostal Church on Main and Lathrop – sand on the sidewalk. It seems their hill is eroding and the soil is covering the sidewalk making it difficult to safely walk through this area. This is the sidewalk kids use to cross over to Post/Franklin Elementary. Beautiful Battle Creek Award: A Motion to nominate 72 Taft, 38 W Kingman and 86 W Kingman for Beautiful Battle Creek Awards by Yvonne and seconded by Diana. Motion passed. 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 Guest were reminded if they are interested in joining council to let Chair or Vice Chair know and we will get a motion to add them to the membership. There are two potential new members; will confirm in January. Commission Comments: Commissioner Gray reported that the Youth Advisory Board (YAB) is looking for new members. You have to be age 14-20 to sit on the YAB. Applications must be submitted by April 13. The commission approved Pop-Up Shops. The cargo container will be placed by Full-Blast; applications and information are available on City’s webpage. Lynn’s “Keeping you Informed” will be about IT. Lynn’s Town Hall will be May 22 at City Hall from 7:00 – 8:30 pm, the YAB is conducting the meeting. Battle Creek is an All-American City finalist. The city will be renaming part of a street after Bobby Holley. The 2018 Street Treatment is out on the city’s website. There is allow a Transit Survey that you may complete on the website. The Blue Ribbon Committee will be meeting April 11 at the DPW building at 5:30 pm. Battle Creek Public Schools: No representative Old Business: None New Business: Sharlee from the Fair-Housing Commission gave a presentation on Fair Housing. She distributed a copy of the presentation to members and guests. She provided examples of what the Fair-Housing Commission could legally examine and what they could not. She responded to specific questions individuals asked regarding the need for this entity and how there is still more work to be done. If you have additional questions you may contact Sharlee by phone: 269-276-9100 or email sharlee.coffman@fhcswm.org. The 2018 Annual Fair Housing Conference “Celebrating 50 Years of Fair Housing” will be held Friday, May 4 at the Fetzer Center, WMU’s Campus. For more information you may contact Sharlee by email sharlee.coffman@fhcswm.org. Members Comments: Diana thanked all our guests for attending and updating us on issues. The council reminded the Commissioners that NPC#1 sent a letter previously that they are not in favor of the Urban Livestock in our neighborhoods and would hope they vote no on the Ordinance at their April 17th meeting. Public Comments: Fallon Knox and Barb Travis reported that they have posted flyer through-out the neighborhood. There are 14 participants and they have been able to connect a few with jobs. On April 26 from 11:30 – 1:30 pm they will be hosting a Pizza Party Open House at the CA Transportation Building at 175 Main St. It seems that the Post/Franklin Liaison is generating good results. Adjournment: Meeting was adjourned at 8:55 p.m. Next Scheduled Meeting: May 3rd, 2018 at 7:00 p.m. in the CA Board Room. Respectfully Submitted by Cynthia Fritz, Recording Secretary