Neighborhood Planning Council 10 - Lakeview west

WESTALKE/PRAIRIEVIEW NEIGHBORHOOD PLANNING COUNCIL #10 Meeting Minutes April 25, 2016 The meeting was held at Lakeview Senior Living, 14661 S. Helmer, Battle Creek, Michigan Call to Order & Welcome Chair, Jeff Koteles called the meeting to order at 7:03pm Invocation: A moment of silence was observed. Attendance: Members: Chairman: Jeff Koteles, Vice Chair: David Weaver, Secretary: Linda Patenaude, Tom Rose, Donna Kowalski, Jeff Domenico, Diana Cole, and Gary Dodd Guests: Jim Austin of Batteries Plus/Attic Storage, MaryJane Cipcic, Jack and Mary Ludlow, Tina Yost/prosecutors office City staff: Officer Derick Walters, Eric Morris-code, Ted Hanson- Building Official, Tiffany Welsh- environmental program coordinator and Dennis McKinley Chair Notes/Correspondence/Announcements: Meeting was held in the library room rather than the large meeting room. Jeff apologized for the change. He will check into any future conflicts with the bingo group. Additions/Deletions to the Agenda: Place Jim Austin on agenda, He is looking for special use permit for Attic Storage and Batteries Plus. Minutes: Dave Weaver motioned to approve March minutes with Jeff Domenico’s support. Vote was unanimous. Police Report: Officer Walters handed out written reports. There has been an increase in traffic stops. More mountain bike officers should be seen in the neighborhoods. There is one new officer on the street today. Many more are coming. Dog leash laws were discussed. There are 2 animal control officers and they have staggered hours now so they can be reached until 8pm. Tickets can be written for unleashed dogs. Police calls are up because the weather is nicer. Second shift was averaging around 430 calls for service with the warmer weather it rose to around 520. Commissioners Report: None present Committee Reports: a. Membership: Diana Cole motioned to renew the members who expired on 3/15/2016, minus Jeff Domenico. Members renewed were Gary Dodd, Kevin Kline, Jacque King, Christian Plasencia and Zac Ganton. Vote was unanimous. There was speculation that the above members plus Jeff Domenico, may have already been renewed at the city commissions last meeting. Mr. Domenico was asked to clarify his intentions just prior to this vote where he indicated desire to step down if he was not already renewed. Jack and Mary Ludlow and and MaryJane Cipcic were invited to become members, since they have attended numerous meetings. They will consider their invite. b. Neighborhood Planning: none c. Woodland Park Is there a sign stating dogs must be leashed at the park? We should talk to Parks Dept. about the signs or maybe traffic signals. City Staff Report: Eric Morris handed out written code reports. Also passed out surveys regarding the Willard Library community needs assessment 2016 We had a short code report as many of the cases are closed. Special Presentation: Jim Austin passed out drawings and a topographical survey. He is looking to have a special use permit renewed. He is purchasing some adjoining property if he gets the permit. He will build more storage units and some retail space along Columbia. Members were concerned about 50mph traffic and retail. He did not have any traffic studies done. He explained that the first stages of his projects were to build more storage units. Retail space would be further out in their planning process. Dave Weaver motioned with support of Tom rose, that Jeff write a letter of support for this special use permit. Vote was unanimous. We asked that when plans are made with retail space Jim come back and present any plans to the Council. There is $1,000 available to our NPC for use in improvements as we see fit. Linda will contact Chris Lussier at the city for community development. Linda will mail out criteria and conditions to members interested about usage of the funds and we will discuss this at the next meeting (May). Ted Hanson Chief Building official introduced himself as the liaison between the inspection department and the community. He is in charge of demolition and in charge of codes and trades. Dennis McKinley has moved to a new position as the liaison between the police and inspection departments. Tiffany shared information about the new recycling carts distributed throughout the city. She handed out forms about what was recyclable. Waste management has won the contract with the city for 4 more years. There are many recycling opportunities available and residents can check out this website: calhouncountyeecycling.com. 30% of residents recycled. The new carts are hoped to encourage more recycling. Rain Barrels are also available from the city. Comments for the Good of the Order: Members: Jeff Domenico discussed his concerns about the Enquirer Newspaper and writer Trace Christianson, and the Battle Creek Police Department. Jeff looked up the FOIA requests and found very few from the Enquirer. He also has questions about code being able to write tickets. He believes only police officers are allowed to issue tickets. Tom Rose spoke about his pleasure with the garbage service in our city. Linda reminded everyone to think about how we would like to spend a grant to help our NPC. Contact Linda with suggestions. Guests: Tina Yost, Calhoun County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney for the family division court introduced herself. She is running for Circuit family court judge. She shared her passion for the position. Adjournment: 8:28pm Next Meeting: May 23, 2016 Submitted by Linda Patenaude Members who will not able to attend our meeting for an excused absence, please call Linda @ 269-962-8514