Neighborhood Planning Council 10 - Lakeview west

WESTALKE/PRAIRIEVIEW NEIGHBORHOOD PLANNING COUNCIL #10 Meeting Notes February 23, 2015 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 7:01pm Invocation: A moment of silence was observed. Attendance: A quorum was not present so this meeting was informational only with no action taken. Members: Chairman: Jeff Koteles, Vice Chair: David Weaver, Secretary: Linda Patenaude, Tom Rose, Darlene Norman Guests: Dave Peterson; Lakeview School Superintendent, & Mary Jane Cipcic City staff: Marcie Gillette, Police Leiutenant Jim Walters, Officer Tillman, Greg Rickmar Chair Notes/Correspondence/Announcements: Planning Council was cancelled. Additions/Deletions to the Agenda: none Minutes: No action taken Police Report: Officer Tillman passed out written reports on crime statics in our area. He said the town hall meetings on relevant topics like crime prevention & identity theft will continue. All citizens are encouraged to attend. The locations move around to all areas of the city. Lt Walters shared a new “neighborhood” private social network is being offered by the police department to NPC’s. It is rather like facebook but within your neighborhood. The program is called Nextdoor. Members can share information as it relates to crime and safety issues, publicize local events, find neighbors in the directory, to communicate with participating government agencies like the police. Photos can also be posted. This program is free to use, The program can be set up in our NPC area with at least 10 members joining it. Public Service Announcements from Commissioners: None present Committee Reports:. a. Membership: Cecil Salinas called and resigned from the Council. The Lakeview school superintendent and or a school board member were invited to join.  b. Beautiful Battle Creek Award Joyce Garrett sent in 3 business and 3 residential addresses this month! Lassen’s Automotive 995 w, Columbia, Arby’s 2195 West Columbia, Salon Spa 1416 West Columbia 165 Westchester Way, 124 Sterling Ct, 124 Brenkenridge c. Neighborhood Planning: d. Woodland Park Joyce was not able to attend this month and contacted Jeff with her report. There is a new website: woodlandparkbc.com Many new people have joined the park committee. Eagle Scout projects continue at the park. City Staff Report: Marcie handed out written code reports. Many residents in our area are at risk of freezing pipes. The city asks them to leave a small stream of water running to keep the pipes from freezing. The city will reduce the bills of the resident to make up for the small water bill increase from this. Snow removal among the priority areas around schools and around business Old Business: none Special Presentation: Greg Rickmar, city traffic engineer, updated us on Fernwood. He met with our group one year ago because of resident complaints about receiving tickets for parking on sidewalks. Residents complained the road was too narrow to not park on the sidewalks. Everyone agreed the road is extremely narrow at 20 feet from curb to curb. An extensive search for a lawsuit from years past on parking issues was looked for. None were found. A traffic study was conducted on Ferndale in August when the traffic was heavy. 60% of the traffic was headed South and 40% going North. The speeds were very low, around 12 mph average. So cars could easily wait for others in narrow places. He recommended that parking be on one side of the street would be the solution as a trial. He has also heard complaints about the narrow street and traffic problems with Lyndale Ct, one street east of Ferndale. He will study that situation and provide his suggestions to address both streets as far as traffic parking/flow pattern recommendations together. He will let us know more after Lyndale is addressed. Comments for the Good of the Order: Superintendent Dave Peterson disclosed the school board will be looking to put a bond issue up for a vote. The school will be looking to the community for input on what they feel the needs are. The school cannot keep up on the repairs needed. They are looking to extend the existing bond, like a second mortgage, He also said he got a verbal agreement from Meijer to purchase a piece of land to allow the high school to have another entrance exit from the school. Adjournment: 8:28pm Next Meeting: March 23, 2015 Submitted by Linda Patenaude Members who will not able to attend our meeting for an excused absence, please call Linda @ 269-962-8514