Neighborhood Planning Council 10 - Lakeview west

WESTALKE/PRAIRIEVIEW NEIGHBORHOOD PLANNING COUNCIL #10 Meeting Minutes August 26, 2013 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, Julie Davis, Gary Dodd, Tom Frame, Carol Hennegar, Darlene Norman and Cecil Salinas No Commissioners present Guests: Sharon Newell, Prosecutor David Gilbert and Kevin Kline City staff: Eric Morris, code officer Chair Notes/Correspondence/Announcements: Carroll Development is asking for a special use permit on Wednesday Aug. 28th. David Weaver made a motion to send a letter of support to the Planning Commission letting them know that we approve the changes to the plan Kevin Kline, Carroll Development, presented at our July meeting. The 3 changes made; to omit the second drive, slightly relocating one building and eliminating the garage. This motion was approved with 1 abstaining from voting. Additions or Deletions to Agenda: Darlene Norman asked her concerns of her narrow street and busing on Ferndale Court be added under new business. Minutes: David Weaver motioned to approve July 2013 minutes with support from Cecil Salinas. The minutes were approved with one person abstaining. Police Report: No police officer was present and Eric Morris passed out police reports. Jeff Koteles expressed his displeasure with the lack of police presence in our area. Jeff has been complaining about speeding traffic on 24th Street for several years. Public Service Announcements from Commissioners: No commissioners were present. A candidate for an at large commission position, Katie Ferris, briefly introduced herself. She was invited to come to the September meeting when all at large candidates will be present to share their desires for the city. a. Membership : Linda Patenaude said we are still looking for new members. Kevin Kline will be approved by the commission on Sept 6th. b. Beautiful Battle Creek Award‐ Tom Frame voiced his pleasure at seeing that a Checkers business going into the abandoned Hot and Now on Columbia. c. Neighborhood Planning‐ Keystone Development will be the agenda August 28th at 4pm. d. Woodland Park‐ Joyce Garrett was not able to attend. There was an article in the Shopper about Woodland Park hosting a day camp. City Staff Report: Eric Morris handed out code reports. Darlene Norman discussed her concerns about the narrowness of her street (Ferndale Court) and school buses using it and the lack of parking. If a car is parked the street is 14 foot 10 inches wide. Eric is going to bring our group some maps of the area to our next meeting. Darlene can talk to her neighbors and try to come up with a solution and then the Council can support this neighborhood problem with a solution to the city engineering department. Old Business: none New Business: none Program: Prosecutor David Gilbert shared the work done by his office. Following his campaign promises he is sticking to not plea bargaining to lesser charges as it leads to more crime. He is getting some push back because there are so many cases that are actually going to trial. He has 56 cases before one judge next month alone. The task of even getting out the subpoenas for this many cases is getting overwhelming with short staffing. He is looking to getting some interns. He sent several of his staff to grant writing training but they are so busy they have not had time to write grants. He is also looking at enforcing a law that seizes chronic drunk driving offender's vehicles. This will be done judiciously because the aim is not to make families suffer if there is only one family car. The problem also arises of where to store the vehicles. He is also looking into changing the way defendants plead guilty just before the trail starts. There is so much work done by the prosecutor that is not used if the defendant pleads guilty at the very last minute. He was asked about the bullying problem that has been ongoing for years on Woodrow. He explained that he does not prosecute city offenses but only Michigan offenses. He also spoke one on one to our "bullied" neighbors and provided them with his private number and would try to help them. Comments for the Good of the Order: Public Comments: none . Member Comments: none Adjournment: Meeting was adjourned at 8:12pm Next Meeting: September 23rd, 2013 All at‐large candidates for city commission are invited to attend. Submitted by Secretary, Linda Patenaude Members who will not able to attend our meeting for an excused absence, please call Linda @ 269‐962‐8514