Neighborhood Planning Council 4 - Northeast

MINUTES: Neighborhood Planning Council #4, Fremont/Verona/McKinley Meeting Date: Wednesday, March 20, 2013, 7:00 PM Location: Maple United Methodist Church, 342 Capital Ave. N.E. Call to Order 7:00 pm Attendance and Introduction of Guests Members Present (8): Laura Adams, Mary Conklin, Katie Faris, John Hennink, Glenn Holmwall, Marcia Holmwall, David Nielsen, Sherry Sofia Officials Present (5): Andy Helmboldt, Mary Lou Ramon, Chris Lussier, Officer Tanya Wilt, Sgt. Kathy Chrenenko, Guests Present (7): Art Pardo, Laura Daugherty, Patti Staib, Rebecca Ogrodowski, Steve Osborn, Gym Garman, Chad Curtis Changes to Agenda‐David Nielsen requested that discussion of former Krickett’s book store on Calhoun Street being converted to liquor store be added to New Business Approval of Minutes‐Glenn Holmwall approved that minutes be approved as presented, Katie Faris seconded, approved by a vote of 8‐0 in favor Governmental Reports • Police Report‐Officer Tanya Wilt reported on vehicle parked at 19 East Avenue, that she has made contact with owner of vehicle regarding front yard parking. Resident reported car is now parked in garage. Sgt Kathy Chrenenko reported that Officer Wilt will be posted to the area for the next six months. Due to recent incidents, officers are covering opening and closing of schools to provide police presence. She also reported on the School Safety Task Force who attended a recent week‐long training and will be working with the schools to discuss how to handle threats, evacuations, etc. Katie Faris spoke about Brad Palmer’s Watchdogs initiative he is organizing as a citizen, which is for male volunteers to provide additional security, to provide extra eyes and ears in the schools. John Hennink brought up the prior month request for numbers of illegal guns on the street in the city, Sgt. Chrenenko will follow up with Lt. Grafton. • Code Compliance‐Chris Lussier reviewed information provided in a prior month on vacant buildings that was inaccurate and reported that he had spoken with other city employees and updated the data, and brought an updated report and a map for residents to review. Mary Lou Ramon asked if there is a way that citizens can access the  information via the City’s website, but this is not available at this time, as it requires being compiled manually. John Hennink asked if Lussier believes we are heading in the right direction by reducing density. Lussier noted that density in urban cores is usually positive. He recommends increasing the resolution and the depth of understanding of what happens in our neighborhoods, that the type of density is a factor‐higher numbers of units targeted at residents with higher disposable income in your urban core is a positive. Noted a lot of blight, vacant buildings, depressed housing market on the Northside. There is a perception that multi‐family dwellings are the problem, but that they are not inherently the problem. We are moving in the right direction, need to do more demolition, but strategically in order to not change the character of the neighborhoods. Hennink thanked Lussier for the strategic and data driven approach to the NSP project. Lussier reported they did not get the grant they requested to demolish the vacant commercial buildings on Capital Ave., NW adjacent to Mix Hardware. Resident brought up an issue of homeowners not clearing sidewalks on his street and forcing youths to walk in the street, where they risk being struck by cars, inquired as to whether Code was ticketing homeowners for snow removal. Reported that house is at the corner of Guest St. and Sherman. David Neilsen brought up the issue of BCU’s attempts at attaining “downtown living”, which has not worked on the Michigan Avenue corridor, but is defined by the Northside which does not have housing stock that appeals to young professions seeking downtown living, except the NSP houses due to income restrictions. Neilsen noted that maybe it is time for the city, NIBC and downtown corporations to begin having conversations about how to create housing stock in this part of town that is viable for people working downtown, by enhancing the neighborhoods that people are living in. Andy Hemboldt asked for an estimate for when the housing study will be done, Lussier responded that it will be mid‐April. Mary Lou Ramon asked if they were using volunteers. Resident reported vacant house at 211 East Avenue North with broken windows and feral cat breeding facility. • City Commissioners‐Sherry Sofia reported on Monday’s Crime and Crime Perceptions workshop. A lot of good information came out of it initially. Initial budget workshop to be held on Thursday. Sofia noted that she’s been advocating since August for a workshop on Planning and Special Use Permits and that the City Manager’s office has sent out a list of dates for April, which would use data from ongoing housing study. Issue raised at Tuesday’s commission meeting of the city issuing 60 million dollars worth of bonds for capitol improvements projects throughout the city. Noted that commission can vote to issue the bonds, but the public can force a referendum to make the vote a public vote. Referenced the attachment to the meeting’s agenda which can be found on the City’s website which lists all the projects. Mary Lou Ramon noted that Urbandale business people are looking to put together a BID similar to the one on Columbia Avenue.  David Nielsen asked if there was any conversation from city staff to city commissioners regarding their attendance at prior week’s Harwood lab training. Andy Helmboldt attended the training and has had quite a few conversations with city manager about it. His intention is to communicate with city commissioners regarding it. • County Commissioners‐None present Correspondence‐None Committee Reports: • Membership‐Sherry Sofia moved to appoint Katie Faris as a member, Marcia Holmwall seconded, 8‐0 in favor (NOTE: According to Mrs. Faris, she was appointed a member previously) • Beautiful BC‐Teresa Poole reported that she has nominees through the month of March, Glenn Holmwall will get with her and see what’s coming up for the next quarter. External Commission Reports: • Zoning Board of Appeals‐no report • Planning Commission‐no report • Historic District Commission‐no report • Housing Board of Appeals‐John Hennink reported they met today, agenda was all properties to be added to dangerous buildings list. Noted all properties showing substantial SEV drops of 8,000 to 10,000 between 2010 and 2011. Asked the question as to why anyone would improve a property if the SEV is lowered. Neighborhood Association Reports: Program: Peace Jam presentation by Rebecca Ogrodowski Battle Creek Specialist for Great Lakes Peace Jam, works with any organizations that work with youth. Announced that they will be having their annual youth conference (8th to 12th grade) April 13th and 14th, at KVCC field house. Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Shirin Ebadi, will be in Kalamazoo at 7:00 pm at Friday, April 12 at the Bernhard Center WMU. Was a judge in Iran and was kicked out of the country and lived in exile, focuses on the rights of women and children. $10 donation. Also doing a panel with three women from the middle east on women’srights and the role of women, free event, April 5, 6:30 to 8:00 at the Olmstead room in Mandelle Hall, at Kalamazoo College. Peace Jam started 15 years ago in the Denver area by two Michigan natives, who came up with the idea and had an audience with the Dalai Lama, who recommended that they contact more Nobel Peace Prize winners. There are 13 on their board and every year one of them comes to the area. Action Items: None Old Business: None New Business: Discussion of former Krickett’s book store on Calhoun Street being converted to liquor store David Nielsen reported that he had a conversation with Susan Bedsole regarding the issue. There has been construction going on in the front wall area and the mural will be replaced by a storefront, but they failed to pull permits. They were issued a stop work order and have ignored it and continued to work at night. The city has checked on that and no additional construction has been going on, cleaning only. As of now, a liquor license has not been applied for, they may have one in their possession. Currently, their efforts are focused on the K&A convenience store at the corner of North and Calhoun, which they are working to convert to a gas station. The city has no power regarding liquor licenses, they are handled by the state LCC (Liquor Control Commission). The only way to object is to be present at the meeting when the LCC reviews the request for the license. Patti Staib asked if there is something BCU can do to help neighborhood residents and agencies with this issue? Andy Recommended contacting Kate Segal’s office. Katie recommended contacting JONAH and the Haven. Discussion of proximity of churches and schools. Nielsen reported that the churches need to file an objection. Public Comments: None Member Comments: None Adjourned at 8:45 pm