Neighborhood Planning Council 11 - Lakeview east

Meeting Minutes Minges Brook/Riverside Neighborhood Planning Council (NPC) #11 Central Christian Church 713 Riverside Drive, Battle Creek, MI 49015 Wednesday, October 25, 2017 1. 7:00 PM – Welcome and opening – Randall Champlin 2. Attendance sheet: Coleen Jewell, Dave Hawks, Fran O’Neil, Frank Egland, Ken Long, Laura Herzing, Leah Ortiz, Linda Phelps, Randall Champlin, Rudy Barda, Sally Goss, Talia Champlin, Tim Martinovich, Tina Yost, City Rep: Yolanda Johnson, City Planning: Glenn Perian and Eric Feldt, Battle Creek Police Department Rep: Officer Jon Kilbourne, County Commissioner Jake Smith, City Commissioner John Godfrey, Brian DeKoninck, Charlene DeDoninck, Pat Fosdick, Joan Grieger, Dan Boyd, Ryan and Rachel Johnson, Lester Earl Johnson, Elizabeth Insley, James Hamlin, Tate Trujillo, Cynthia Buckley, Jane Parikh, Chris Simmons, Andriane Pike MacCleery, Stephen Worful 3. Additions or deletions to this agenda: None 4. Approval of the previous month’s meetings minutes: John Godfrey moved to approve the minutes as presented and Tim Martinovich supported the motion. Motion passed unanimously. 5. Correspondence sent/received  Notification of Calhoun County Tea Party Patriots Meeting devoted to a Forum for the candidates running for the Battle Creek City Commission @ 6:30 the evening of 10/26 @ the Kool Family Community Center, (Formerly Burnham Brook Ctr) located @ 200 W. Michigan Avenue in downtown Battle Creek.  Draft -Battle Creek Pension Proposal - Tate Trujillo 6. City staff reports: City staff reports and Commissioner Comments:  City Commissioners’ reports: This month’s meeting ends John Godfrey’s obligation to us as City Commissioner. The commission and the city manager have been very busy, addressing staff reviews and planning. The Fire Chief gave a recent presentation. City could acquire the Dolliver Center from the GSA for $1, which could provide storage and administration offices, and allow the department to close #1, except for storage. #2 could be moved to Dolliver to cover the northwest portion of the city. The huge parking lot would be converted for firefighter training. The estimated cost to renovate all existing buildings is $24 million; by acquiring Dolliver, the estimate would be reduced to about $16.25 million. The city is hoping to hear from GSA that we will be able to proceed on this. John is looking forward to the Master Plan report – A lot of work has gone into the plan and the results are exciting. Question about how long the fire department renovations would take. Yearly projects would be scheduled, and the whole plan would probably span up to 15 years.  County Commissioners’ reports: Commissioner Jake Smith offered his email newsletter to anyone not currently receiving it. Recent county commission  actions included extending the current administrator’s contract by 4 years and completing the bonding process for $18million toward road funding (leveraging a favorable bond market.) Most road work will be done in the townships. A senior services millage allocation is being discussed to fund a pilot project that would pay senior citizens’ $100 enrollment fees in the Meijer’s shift program. The Road Department consolidation has had some time to mature and participants are gaining tremendous value in purchasing with Jackson, but some personnel splits haven’t worked out. This is being adjusted, and the county is still saving a lot of money with the consolidation. Question regarding maintenance of railroad crossing at Capital NE. Call City Engineering, Chris Dopp. Question regarding millage increases for the county. Millage increases are not anticipated at the county level, but many townships may be going for mileages to maintain their roads.  Police Department Report: Officer Kilbourne provided the last month’s crime stats. He explained how the report is organized. “Foot patrol” is often officer- initiated in areas where problems have recently occurred. He encouraged us to not only locked vehicles and homes, but also consider taking photos of the serial numbers on items. He suggested using the camera on an old cell phone and/or downloading to a personal computer so when something is stolen, the serial numbers can be given to the police. Concern over continued level of larceny on vehicles. Question regarding cell phone usage by officers in cars – Officers must follow the same laws as all Michigan drivers. Cell phone use is an important tool for officers to get things done efficiently. Comment that the police department has a service where a resident going out of town can let them know and officers will check the house during that period.  City Representative Report: Yolanda Johnson, Senior Code Official, City of Battle Creek. NPC reported that over 900 properties have been assessed in NPC 11. There have not been too many violations, and assessments are moving along smoothly. She provided a code violation report and offered to answer any questions. 7. Committee reports:  Beautiful Battle Creek Award Nominations – Dave Hawks nominated Shirley Flannery and Rod Boyette, 153 Minges Circle. The nomination was submitted by Laura Herzing. Dave encouraged other attendees to nominate their deserving neighbors. The process for the Beautiful Battle Creek Awards are as follows: Nominations are submitted in NPC meeting minutes, and once the minutes have been approved, the nominees are then recognized by City Commission. John Godfrey mentioned there are no nominations from NPC 11 for the last two months. This may be because we don’t have meetings over the summer.  Neighborhoods and Land Use – John Godfrey gave updates on two issues that affect NPC 11 directly. Mr. Eyde has not made any new submissions for land use changes on his Riverside property. Fran would like a copy of the 2nd site  plan submitted by Eyde (which referenced two proposed restaurants.) Eric Perian from the Planning Department will provide this, if available. CVS still has an active application. The conflict with Rite Aid over proximity is ongoing, but CVS continues to pay renewals for their application. Our sign ordinance has been simplified from 30 pages to 6 pages, to bring our ordinance in line with new nation-wide Supreme Court decisions. Question regarding examples of changes to the ordinance. Example – There will no longer any limit on how many or how many square feet of signage is allowed in any particular yard during political campaigns. Question regarding placing signs in right of ways. The signage laws being referenced are specific to private property. The Planning Commission had a spirited discussion on medical marijuana, but no vote has been taken because there are still so many unresolved issues before localities can act. John feels this is a problem with citizen initiatives - thorough vetting may not take place as details, implementation, and unintended consequences are not debated. Planning Commission meetings are held on the last Wednesday of the month and are open to the public.  NPC 11 Programs – Laura Herzing – Our December 6 meeting will combine our regularly-scheduled November and December meetings and will be an opportunity for us to get to know our neighbors better. Laura is holding off scheduling our January program until after we heard the presentation tonight. There may be additional questions that could be answered by the finance or budgeting personnel from the City. 8. Old business: None 9. New business: Removal of members: Bobbie Wilson - Deceased Michael Sherzer - Moved out of district  Membership renewal: Current Term Member Expires Laura Herzing 10/31/2017 Tim 10/31/2017 Martinovich Coleen Jewell 10/31/2017 Joe Goss Sally Goss 10/31/2017 Ken Long 10/31/2017 Motion was made by Tina Yost, seconded by Leah Ortiz,to accept these updates. Motion carried unanimously. 10. Monthly Informational Program: City Master Plan with Glenn Perian and Eric Feldt from the City of Battle Creek Planning Department. Eric started with encouraging us to get involved in workshops, the upcoming Open House, or to call or email our reactions to the  master plan. State of Michigan requires each municipality to update their master plan, and our most recent update was done in 1997. The goals and objectives of the new plan were then presented, but the entire 100-page document is available for review. The new plan has been developed with the guidance provided by the community. Question regarding land use classification versus zoning law. The master plan is meant to be a 20-year goal, and some suggested changes may be implemented only as resources are available and therefore spread over a long period of time. Comment regarding how hard it is to read the colors on the maps. GIS technician should be able to address this. No zoning changes can be made without public notice. Question regarding whether city can initiate a zoning change. City can be a petitioner for zoning changes, but would not make changes unless the property owner(s) desired the change. The Plan helps the City decide where public utilities need to be updated or extended. The Plan helps facilitate accurate funding to prepare for future adoption of priorities set in the plan. Question regarding conflict of interest in the city initiating a rezone. This is why agreement on the plan is important. It can be many years before the items in a plan will actually be implemented. Eric asked members to review the Goals and Objectives, mark up the proposed plan, and send it to the Planning Department. Question about what constitutes a Challenged Neighborhood. Areas where there are an unusual number of code violations or problems. Eric also requested we take the Survey Monkey input survey regarding medical marijuana by November 3. New city commissioners will be getting results from this survey in mid-November after they take office, and will need input from the community on this controversial issue. A commission workshop will then be held, and an ordinance will eventually be formulated so staff will have guidance on how to implement the state law here. Eric was very patient in answering multiple questions regarding the difference between conceptual planning and the actual rezoning process. Many comments regarding the importance of vigilance in protecting current zoning if neighbors want to avoid changes. Question regarding how to understand the many angles of impact if the city commission passes any portion of medical marijuana licensing. 11. Public comments: Elizabeth Insley reported that one of our neighbors won the Grand Rapids Art Prize 9 to the tune of $200,000. 24,500+ pennies were used to create the portrait of Abraham Lincoln. The piece can be seen at the Community Foundation this Saturday and Sunday. The work represents an amazing accomplishment by a talented artist – Richard Schlatter. Question regarding who should be contacted regarding water overflow. Kurt Tribbet or Tad McCrumb in Engineering should be able to answer questions. Chris Simmons, of 2323 Capital SW – the Monster House, introduced himself. He previously served 2 terms on the City Commission for another ward so he feels he can quickly get up to speed and provide effective leadership without a long orientation period. On the other hand, he feels he will bring a fresh perspective, since he has been off the commission for 6 years. He is raising 4 kids and wants to make this a community that provides a great future for the kids. During his last tenure on the Commission, he worked on the planning commission and shared the story of a city-initiated zoning change. He would be glad to answer questions, and encouraged everyone to vote on November 7, less than 2 weeks away. Jane Parikh is also running for the Ward 4 spot. She has lived in Battle Creek for 13 years and is very concerned about young people not coming back to the community. She would like to bring attention to economic development concerns that seem to be ignored. In order to be successful, the City must foster the jobs and housing that young people want. Lester Johnson is running for City Commission at Large. Lester wants to uplift the fact that our educational systems are entwined with resident success. Excellent academic opportunities are life-changing, and we need to be to exploring how can we partner and network our educational systems with government to provide all citizens the chance to develop to their  fullest potential. Adriane Pike MacCreery is also running At Large. She expressed that she appreciates our passion at the NPC level, and she, too, is passionate about the community. 12. Member Comments: Dave Hawks reported that a 4th neighborhood church, St. Peter’s Lutheran, as joined Chapel Hill, St. Mark’s, and Central Christian, who were already providing weekend backpacks for school children. Food and money donations can be made at any of these four churches. Tina Yost alerted us that a press release would come out tomorrow about Safe Place. Rumors of closing are NOT TRUE. Critters need to be eradicated, so staff and clients have been temporary moved as a safety precaution. John Godfrey invited us to see the most recent work by Habitat for Humanity, who will be hosting an Open House at 247 N McKinley on Fri 4-7 and Sat 10-3. Habitat has not built a new home since 2009, but instead has invested time and money into rehabbing existing structures, including modifications that give them a 5-star energy rating. 13. Next Month’s Meeting: Combined Nov/Dec Holiday Meeting. 7:00PM Wednesday, December 6, 2017, at Central Christian Church - 713 Riverside Dr. Program: No Speaker– Bring a treat or refreshment if so inclined, and take this opportunity to get to know your neighbors. 14. Adjournment: There being no further business, Randall Champlin adjourned the meeting at 8:33pm.