Neighborhood Planning Council 10 - Lakeview west

WESTALKE/PRAIRIEVIEW NEIGHBORHOOD PLANNING COUNCIL #10 Meeting Minutes April 23rd , 2012 The meeting was held at First Assembly of God Church, 800 S. 24th Street, Battle Creek Michigan Call to Order & Welcome Chair, Jeff Koteles called the meeting to order at 7:03pm Cecil Salinas led the invocation. Attendance: Members: Chairman: Jeff Koteles, Secretary: Linda Patenaude, Vice Chair: David Weaver, Diana Cole, Julie Davis, Gary Dodd, Tom Frame, Pete Francisco, Joyce Garrett, Cecil Salinas, Commissioner Jeff Domenico and Commissioner Mary Lou Ramon Guests: Jim Stevens and Dwight and Rita Grandganett City staff: Neighborhood Services: Marcie Gillette Chair Notes/Correspondence/Announcements: none Additions or Deletions to Agenda: Mary Lou will speak about the Planning Commission. Minutes: Joyce Garrett motioned to accept the minutes as written with a correction of Gary Dodd's named be spelled correctly under Committee Reports; Woodland Park Section. Gary Dodd seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Police Report: Officer Hug, who works in our neighborhood, passed out written reports. They are no longer doubling up in cars. There have been some drug/alcohol issues in the projects. There has been a lot of foot traffic between the Plaza on 20th street and the apartments behind it, resulting in some drug/alcohol problems. Fences will help with this. There are also some troubled youth Officer Hug is working with in the Coburn area. Members shared concerns over speeding traffic on 24th St and Gethings Rd. Officer Hug said he would try to make a presence there to deter speeders. Public Service Announcements from Commissioners: Commissioner Domenico said he will be our point person on dealing with the Horseshoe pond and the water issues facing the people around 24th Street. The problem is a complex one. Jeff met with Chris Dopp and they are working on a plan to deal with the water issues. He is also speaking with Ken Tushiamaya. This plan would involve more than our little neighborhood. By fixing our high water problem we need to make sure it doesn’t create another problem elsewhere. This project could be done for approximately 800,000 to 1.2 million using a gravity system rather than pumps. Grants are available. Funding is still not determined. This project could not start until the Lynwood project is done. Jeff also sits on the Goguac Lake Board and will be a conduit between the groups. This project isn't going to happen this year, but it is in the works for next year. Commissioner Ramon reported that the resolution for alcohol sales in parks passed. Medical marijuana will be coming up on their agenda. The moratorium will be up and June and the commission will have to act. The planning commission has nothing in our area this month. It will be looking at approving a Day Spa on Territorial that used to be a day care. The New Harvest Christian Center wants to use the Old Enquirer building downtown . Committee Reports: a. Membership : Several people called in to be excused. Cal Canfield will be removed from the membership since he no longer owns property in our area and we have not been able to contact him. b. Beautiful Battle Creek Award‐ This month's : Jerry & Jo Mayfield, 256 Jacaranda Mary Lou Ramon nominated Rita and Dwight Grandganett, 101 Kingsbury Court for next month. Members are encouraged to bring in submittals, so we have some extras. d. Neighborhood Planning‐ Addressed by Commissioner Ramon with her commissioner report. e. Woodland Park‐ Joyce Garret reported that they have a new "QR" signs with code that has all the trail maps on it for use with smart phones. There will be more information coming on the new QR signs. After Chris Dopp's visit last month, Joyce was able to get cement trash bins for the park. The poor raccoons will have to find another place to play! Gary Dodd thanked the people who helped with the first min‐cleanup. The next one will be at 9am May 12th and mulch will need to be spread. Volunteers are asked to join in. The 2nd Saturday group from the First Wesleyan Church will help with this project. City Staff Report: Marcie Gillette handed out written reports. Don't wait until the meeting, please call the city with long grass reports. The process takes a long time to allow homeowners to take care of the grass themselves. Homeowners, who have had a long history of neglect, and allow the city to become the property maintenance company, may be receiving a citation for not maintaining their property. Dave Weaver pointed out that it seems whenever a vacant/abandoned home appears on the city website scavengers seem to come out and start picking at the property. Marcie said she would check into this. New Business: Linda attended the leadership training provided by Neighborhoods Inc, the City and Humanenergy. She learned some skills on running meetings and was asked to look critically at how our meeting is run. Chair Jeff Koteles and Vice chair Dave Weaver attended the first open sessions of those workshops. In an effort to promote resident involvement, all NPC's were asked to share what their NPC is working on. This information will be shared in an advertisement in the Shopper looking to increase participation in the NPC's. It was brought up that our NPC could put ads in the Shopper at any time. There were questions on how long Neighborhoods Inc. would run these ads. Program: Lakeview Superintendent Dave Peterson talked about how times have changed and a high school education is not enough anymore. Schools have the challenge of keeping up with the rapidly changing times. Our children compete with children from around the world. The competition is great in the marketplace for jobs. The "schools of choice" has not really changed the cultural diversity at Lakeview. The Caucasian population is still around 70%. The change has been in the poverty rate of the population. Sadly, academic success is tied to poverty rates. 43% of children of the 'schools of choice' population live in poverty. Lakeview's in district rates are also going up. Grade structures are being examined to find a better structure to align their 4 point grade system. A possibility of changing to a 5 point system is being discussed. Our current system does not take into consideration minuses or plus's so our grades have been overinflated. Colleges have had to recalculate for this. Colleges also recalculate for AP and dual enrollment college classes giving them more weight. The proposed 5 point system may help with that. No decision has been made yet. Members expressed an interest in having school board meetings taped for Accessvision since the schools have great production capability there. It will be taken back to the school board by Dave Peterson. Jeff Domenico said he would talk to Accessvision about getting them to tape the meetings. Comments for the Good of the Order: a. Public Comments: none b. Member Comments‐ ‐The meeting is changed for May because of Memorial D ay so Jeff Domenico regrets not being able to attend. ‐Diana Cole complimented Dave Weaver on the speakers and looks forward to the advertisement of our NPC in the Shopper by Neighborhoods Inc. ‐Cecil Salinas shared that his son is part of a band that will be performing around the country and told us to check it out at Ironcowgirlmissy.com ‐ Pete Francisco thanked Jeff Domenico for stepping up to tackle the water problems that have been going on for years with the Horseshoe pond. He really appreciates that as a new commissioner Jeff would take this task on. ‐Dave thanked Superintendent Peterson for coming and invited him to come back monthly and keep us up to date. Dave also asked for speaker ideas from the members. He has been trying to secure Larry Cortwright, drain commissioner, for May's meeting but it is unconfirmed at this time. Possibly our county commissioners can come. Kathy Sue Dunn handles most of our area and Jim Haadsma has a small portion. June's speaker will be Woodland Park ‐Chairman Jeff Koteles also thanked Jeff Domenico for taking on the water issues. Adjournment: Meeting was adjourned at 8:30 pm Next Meeting: Monday, May 21st, 2012 Submitted by Secretary, Linda Patenaude