Neighborhood Planning Council 4 - Northeast

MINUTES: Neighborhood Planning Council #4, Fremont/Verona/McKinley Meeting Date: Wednesday, August 21, 2013, 7:00 PM Location: Maple United Methodist Church, 342 Capital Ave. N.E. Call to Order at 7:00 pm Attendance and Introduction of Guests Members: (6) Laura Adams, Mary Conklin, Kaytee Faris, John Hennink, David Nielsen, Sherry Sofia Guests: (2) Bill Phillips, Dean Newsome City Officials (1): Chris Lussier (Code Compliance) Changes to Agenda: David Nielsen requested to add Community Gardens to New Business Approval of Minutes – no quorum, tabled for next meeting Program: None Governmental Reports • Police Report‐No officer present • Code Compliance‐Chris Lussier reported that the city is about a week away from having every house they built under contract. Reported city is doing a lot of commercial demolition, but he’s not involved in that program. Reported that the city has found some funding for the demos and is still looking at a variety of different avenues for funding further demolition over the next year. Also indicated city is in a good position to receive additional funding reallocated from the NSP program for rehab and demolition. Resident inquired about the possibility of the city enforcing the upkeep of bank owned vacant properties, and whether or not a complaint needs to be filed. Lussier responded that code enforcement and vacant building ordinance are the tools they have to use and that the violations can be acted upon if seen by code officer. Lussier reported that BCFD did a vacant building survey in 2004 and code compliance did a survey in 2008. Property owners are required to pay monitoring fees for vacant buildings. Suggested researching New Orleans and Baltimore code enforcement for more aggressive tools. City staffers will be attending the Vacant Buildings in Campaign for training in Philadelphia. Guest asked if the city has the stomach for more aggressive tools. Resident responded that the city is very timid when it comes to those matters, there has been a reluctance to rock the boat and risk any kind of pushback, legal or otherwise. David Neilsen noted that It’s the small things that affect the quality of life in the community. We have a tremendous issue with noise from cars. Discussion of the blighted commercial properties on Capital  Ave NE. Lussier reported that the annual budget for demolitions is $50,000, which will cover 5, maybe 6 properties. Resident asked if there was a financial penalty for having a property on the vacant building list, Lussier responded that there is not. • City Commissioners‐ Sherry Sofia gave the report: City introduced an ordinance on 8/20 to provide protection to the LGBT community in regards to employment and housing, making it a violation to discriminate against someone based on their sexual preference and gender identity (vote was 8‐1 in favor). Noted that it was a very good dialogue, and was pleased and impressed with the number of residents who attended the meeting. City Manager review committee has met, and are split on whether the city manager deserves a 2% increase. That will be on the agenda of the next meeting. Resident asked if the city administration actively researches what other cities of similar sizes and demographics do in the case of issues like vacant properties. Lussier answered that he spends a lot of his time doing exactly that. • County Commissioners‐none present Correspondence Committee Reports: • Membership • Beautiful BC External Commission Reports: • Zoning Board of Appeals‐no report • Planning Commission‐no July meeting • Historic District Commission‐no report • Housing Board of Appeals‐John Hennink reported that this is a real tough committee to be on because people come before the HBA because they don’t have the money to fix their properties, and request a 30 day extension, but they know they don’t have the money, and they are not able to give recommendations or referrals to help. Would like to see the concept change where they help people find assistance via agencies, churches, etc. Noted the attitude of the people on the board is that their job is to affirm orders or give extensions, and this is backed up by the code compliance staff. Bill Phillips noted that people can be referred to NIBC for connections to resources for property owners. Neighborhood Association Reports: None Action Items: None Old Business: Report on Rebuild the Dream Rally, update on former Calhoun Laundry Rebuild the Dream rally was held 8/17 at 104 Calhoun featuring free food, free door prizes, live music and numerous police units, etc., a couple of hundred neighbors attended. Nice turnout, everybody pleased that somebody was showing the neighborhood attention. NIBC is beginning a program called the “BC Good Neighbor Program”, which will launch with a survey card in core neighborhoods via the Shopper News, to ask people whether or they are good neighbors. They have learned that the better you know your neighbors the better your neighborhood will be. Considering replicating event in a couple of other neighborhoods. John Hennink thought the door hangers were a great idea. Laura Adams commended Sgt. Troy Gilleylen for arranging for law enforcement officials including Animal Control, Bomb Squad, Detective Unit and the ERT, along with volunteers from CERT. Bill Phillips reported on the recently completed Community Impact Study, which covered much of the Historic Northside, surveying 1026 improved properties, and found 73 vacant houses and another 70 or so vacant lots. This included property assessment surveys and perspective surveys. 481 face to face survey interviews were completed. Phillips promised to distribute information once it is prepared. Noted that BC was one of the last of 250 offices around the country to start and the first to complete. Hopes to do additional surveys in Post Addition, Washington Heights and Wilson‐Coburn, which will allow enough data to compare the neighborhoods to see what is lacking in the other areas and see the perceptions of the other neighborhoods and then aggregate the data together to help prioritize some of the needs in the core neighborhoods for strategic planning. The former Calhoun Laundry at 110 Calhoun Street is under contract to Neighborhoods Inc., who have not yet closed due to some title issues being worked out, and they are investigating a number of mission fit options for utilizing the property. Noted that the issue with the laundry losing customers was the group home residents who would hang out there and drove the customers away. New Business: Community Gardens: David Neilsen was approached by a resident with a concern regarding the physical condition of the neighborhood gardens on Fremont and Harvard, “they are just a mess, a blight”. They are very unsightly and don’t do anything to enhance the neighborhood they are in. Something needs to be done so they are better tended and better cared for. The recommendation is that someone needs to talk to John Wright who oversees those gardens, but there was concern about his temper. Public Comments: Dean Newsome of Guest Street introduced himself to the members. He is running for Ward 3 City Commissioner. Member Comments: John Hennink asked that the church be thanked for fixing the fan in the men’s bathroom. Adjourned at 9:20 pm