Mayor's Neighborhood Preservation Commission

Mayor's Neighborhood Preservation Committee 3/3/10 Minutes (Final) CITY OF NORWALK MAYOR’S NEIGHBORHOOD PRESERVATION TASK FORCE REGULAR MEETING MARCH 3, 2010 ATTENDANCE: Richard A. Moccia, Mayor; Christine Abraham, West Main Street N.A.; Maribeth Becker, Wall Street; Katherine Griffing, Golden Hill Association; Jackie Liljigren, Flax Hill Neighbors; Glenn Iannaccone, Norwalk Fire Department; Marilyn Maitland, Norwalk Health Department; Christine Names, NASH; Ron Muller, Village Creek Homeowners Association; Mark Pierce, Wilton Avenue N.A.; Frank Strauch, Planning and Zoning; John Moeling , Harbor Shores Association; Lt. Paul Resnick, Norwalk Police; Nancy Whitmore, West Main Street N.A; David Shockley, Norwalk Redevelopment Agency; Jackie Lightfield STAFF: Connie Blair, Customer Service CALL TO ORDER Mr. Shockley called the meeting to order at 10:07 APPROVAL OF THE FEBRUARY 3, 2010 MINUTES ** MR. IANNACCONE MOVED THE MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 3, 2010. ** MS. GRIFFING SECONDED. ** THE MOTION TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 3, 2010 AS SUBMITTED PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. CUSTOMER SERVICE CENTER UPDATE Ms. Blair said that the new garbage collection schedule is available. The Partners Newsletter from the Office of Emergency Management is also available and will be sent to members via email. ANNOUNCEMENTS City Staff: Keep Norwalk Beautiful - Mr. Shockley said that the Keep Norwalk Beautiful campaign is moving forward. The next meeting will be on March 17, 2010 at the Police Department. He reviewed the details and said that there are several committees that have been formed. One of the new committees is called the Urban Advisory Committee. A new logo that resembles Sheffield Lighthouse has been designed. There will also be a City of Norwalk Mayor’s Neighborhood Preservation Task Force Regular Meeting March 3, 2010 Page 1 clean up day on April 24, 2010 and volunteer notification flyers are available from Mr. Shockley. Ms. Griffing asked if cleaning up after dogs was one of the issues. Mr. Shockley said that the group was working on it. Ms. Griffing suggested that the notice go out with the dog license renewal notices. Ms. Names said that NASH had sent out copies of the City ordinance to the members of their group. Mr. Shockley said that some of the neighborhood associations have developed informative websites. He added that NASH and Village Creek had done very impressive jobs. Ms. Names said that NASH posts their minutes and their update memos, which has proven to be very useful. Mr. Shockley then asked Mayor Moccia if he had any updates or information that he wished to share. The Mayor said that an arrest had been made recently in connection with the break ins at the Community Health Center and other businesses in the surrounding area. The Mayor said that the Grand List had shown a very small increase this year. He referenced the article that appeared in the current edition of The Hour regarding this. An application has been submitted to the U.S. Conference of Mayors regarding a grant for Fodor Farm. Recently, $2,000 grant has been awarded for the City’s Summer job program through the U.S. Conference of Mayors. He added that the paper has reported on the proposed expansion for the Hospital. The Hospital will be meeting with the various neighborhood groups about the expansion. In a month or so, the expansion of the Sewage Treatment plant will start and there will be some noise from the pile driving equipment. Unfortunately, there is nothing that can be done about this. The Mayor said that the potholes were an ongoing problem and that the crews were out working on them. Since the asphalt plants haven’t opened yet, they can’t repair the holes with hot patch, which is more lasting than cold patch. DPW is currently down twenty staff members. Ms. Lightfield asked if a list could be posted of the location of the potholes. Ms. Blair said that it would be best to have the public call them in because a pothole could be repaired with cold patch, but the cold patch may not hold more than a few days. Ms. Lightfield said that it would be more transparent to have the list updated. Ms. Blair said that the residents were very good about calling in the pothole locations and that when a call comes in, the staff can easily tell if it has been called in earlier and if the City of Norwalk Mayor’s Neighborhood Preservation Task Force Regular Meeting March 3, 2010 Page 2 pothole had already been repaired. Then the road crew can be dispatched to check the site to make sure that the cold patch is still in place. The Mayor said that plans would be starting for the rebuilding the Volk Fire Station at its present site on Connecticut Avenue. Ms. Lightfield asked if eminent domain was not being used because the Council would not support it. The Mayor said that this was so and that the purchase price of the land without the use of eminent domain was too high. Due to an easement with the State of Connecticut, the property that the Station is located on can not be sold. This year, there will be a Tax Sale and the properties will be posted for sale. The Mayor said that while he does not like doing this, it is necessary to move forward in all fairness to the other property owners. The Mayor reported that Village Creek has been nominated as a Historic District. Fire Marshal Iannaccone reminded everyone to change the batteries in the smoke alarms when they change their clocks on March 14th. Ms. Maitland from the Health Department reported that the Department had investigated a property on Fairfield Avenue that had an excessive amount of garbage that was not in trash cans in front of the building. The owner has now purchased new garbage cans and they are being used. Lt. Resnick said that there had been an incident last night involving a gun being fired near the Police Station and it pierced the Community Room window. He added that a recent arrest had been made in connection to the Community Health Center and other local break ins. Mr. Draper said that at Harbor Shores the residents were watching closely because an increase in crime discourages customers. He also commented that the parking situation has had an impact on the merchants. The Mayor then reviewed the steps that were taking place in terms of the parking. He added that there were some concerns about pedestrian traffic that were being discussed. The Mayor said that he felt that once the Webster Street lot changed over to pay by space would help improve the situation. Neighborhood representatives NASH - Ms. Names thanked Officer Resnick regarding the presence of an officer on Silvermine Avenue, which slowed the traffic down significantly. She added that there had been newspaper articles on an 11 home development that was working its way through the various committees. While NASH member believe that developers have the right to make a living, there are concerns about the septic systems near the water course. City of Norwalk Mayor’s Neighborhood Preservation Task Force Regular Meeting March 3, 2010 Page 3 Golden Hill – Ms. Griffing said that DPW has done a wonderful job in taking care of the ice and snow on the roads. Her street is particularly steep and good snow and ice maintenance is important. A wastebasket is still needed at Ben Franklin School. Ms. Griffing reported that there were a few cars parking in the NEON lot that have Virginia plates on them. The Mayor said that it is only 60 or 90 days for the transfer plates. He added that it is difficult to track the owners of the vehicles because they are out of state and it is hard to figure out where these people are living in Norwalk. Ms. Blair said that Mr. Alvord was working on getting a trash receptacle for outside of Benjamin Franklin. Flax Hill – Ms. Liljigren said that she was upset about Mr. Hanrahan was hit by a car last Friday while standing in his driveway. She said that there were increased safety concerns. The neighbors have asked for improved safety at Keeler Avenue before. There needs to be a crosswalk at Rampart. She pointed out that the Mayor’s parking spot had a sign. The Mayor pointed out that there were signs for Handicapped and for the Fire Lanes. Ms. Liljigren said her point was that the signage was important. Ms. Liljigren said that the requests for signs had been turned down. Ms. Blair said that “Hidden Driveway” was the only sign that wasn’t approved. The speed limit signs were installed in the summer. Ms. Blair said that the Traffic Department had made this decision, not Customer Service. The discussion then moved to details of the accident. Jackie said that she was frustrated with the process. Mr. Shockley said that he would work on this. The Mayor said that he would call the Traffic Department about this and set up a meeting with the Neighborhood Association about this. Village Creek – Mr. Muller said that Village Creek would be having their annual meeting this week. North Main Street - Ms. Abraham said that on School Street there was graffiti now. She then said that Optimum Cable has increased the amount of traffic on School Street has increased all day long. An agreement was made with the former company, but that this agreement appeared to have lapsed. Ms. Maitland and Mr. Muller left the meeting at 11:05 a.m. The Mayor said that he would check into this. West Main Street N.A. - Ms. Abraham said that she was still very concerned about the graffiti. She commented that there was a group that hangs out on the corner. City of Norwalk Mayor’s Neighborhood Preservation Task Force Regular Meeting March 3, 2010 Page 4 Ms. Whitmore said that there was a vehicle that had a lapsed registration parked on West Main. Lt. Resnick took down the information. She then said that Channel 12 had an announcement about sending in information about potholes for the entire area. Mr. Pierce said that there had been a hold up on Wilton Avenue about a month ago. Lt. Resnick said that the case was still open and there are leads. Mr. Pierce said that he had seen an issue was garbage on Fairfield Avenue. He asked why this had come up. The Mayor said that this was one incident of the tenants ignoring the bi-lingual flyers about the garbage regulations that had been sent out. Wall Street - Ms. Becker said that the Wall Street cleanups were tentatively scheduled for May 15th. The Farmer’s Market is still open and will be moving back outside on May 1st. Ms. Liljigren asked if a new building was being constructed at Fodor Farm. The Mayor said that there was a pavilion was being constructed. Ms. Liljigren had several detailed questions about the buildings at Fodor Farm. Ms. Liljigren asked about Roton School and what portion of the property the Parks and Recs maintains. She said that the soccer goals nets had been removed from the area where the kids play soccer. When she called about this and asked, she was told then had been removed because they were old, but that the City did not have the money to replace them. She then said that the school didn’t have the money for them either. Ms. Liljigren said that there are many kids interested in soccer. Mr. Shockley said that she would have to speak with Mr. Mocciae about this issue. ADJOURNMENT Mr. Shockley adjourned the meeting at 11:20 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Sharon L. Soltes Telesco Secretarial Services City of Norwalk Mayor’s Neighborhood Preservation Task Force Regular Meeting March 3, 2010 Page 5