District 1 Advisory Board

DISTRICT ADVISORY BOARD (DAB) I MEETING MINUTES Monday, December 1, 2014 Lavonta Williams, Council Member Atwater Neighborhood Resource Center, 2755 E. 19th St. N., Wichita, Kansas 67214 Members Present Members Absent Guests James Roseboro Brandon James Listed on last page Dan Heflin David Buckmaster Janice Rich Twila Chaloupek Janet Wilson Beverly Domitrovic Bill Wynne Aaron Mayes K.C. Ohaebosim Lavonta Williams, Council Member City of Wichita Staff Present Lt. Jerald Johnson, WFD, Station #10 Officer Mike Lloyd, WPD, Beat 37, Patrol East Kathy Morgan, COW Senior Planner Alana Haynes, Office of Community Engagement Order of Business Call to Order Council Member Lavonta Williams called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. and welcomed staff and guests. Approval of Agenda Motion to approve the agenda submitted. Motion carried 8:0. Approval of Minutes Motion to approve the minutes submitted with one correction. Motion carried 8:0. Public Agenda 1. Agenda Items Deanne Smith, Director, United Methodist Open Door Food Distribution Center, presented on the proposed Open Door Food Distribution Center to be established at the old Cessna Building on East 21st St. and Opportunity Dr. Smith commented that the location was chosen for several reasons: 1) 21st street is considered a food desserts and we do not want to leave a gap within the area, as far a food pantries. 2) 37% of the services we comes from the 67214 zip code, and 3) the building is good for providing services because it has two docks and is 27.000 sq. ft. Our  District I Advisory Board Minutes December 1, 2014 Page 2 of 6 partnership with the Great Plain United Methodist Church are separate entities, we made a proposal to the Wichita City Council and partnered with United Methodist Open Door to do so. DAB member: What will happen at the building during business hours? Smith: The building will operate as a food pantry that serves children and elders, it will be a come and go type service. DAB member: What are the hours? Smith: The hours of operation are Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 4:45 pm. DAB member: Have you met with the neighborhood associations? Smith: I am scheduled to speak at the Saturday District I Breakfast and I am meeting with the three surrounding neighborhood associations. Citizen Comments: Treatha Brown Foster- The pantry that we are talking about is located in my neighborhood association, which is located in Northeast Millar and I am on the board of directors with the neighborhood association. When you look at the back of the handout provided, my church is the number one food provider on the list. I know what we do and how many people we serve. We were under the understanding that the Open Door Food Distribution Center was going to move on the South part of town. We have Tops, the Boys and Girls club WSU students and citizens walking the bike path. We do not want a food pantry in our neighborhood. We have activities going on during the summer months, parents are picking up their children and the citizens are enjoying the area. I have an email from a Sedgwick County Commissioner that said, the sheriff’s department wanted to put the training academy there. That is what we (our neighborhood association) would like to see in that space. In speaking with the sheriff’s department, they commented that they would happy to pay for the space. The 911 call center would also be there as well. DAB member- I applaud you for the work that you are doing. Is there a concern about the services going into the building? Or is it a concern about the services going into the neighborhood. Foster: We have surveyed the neighborhood and we do not want that service, due to the safety factors of our neighborhood. Council Member Williams- Is this a homeless program? Smith: No we do not feed the homeless. We serve the elders and children. CM Williams: Is this program income based? Smith: Yes, we have all of the guidelines listed on our handouts, we serve over 2100 guest per year and 37 % are from the 67214 area. CM Williams: Is this cooked food? Smith: No this is not cooked food, people would pick up the food and leave. We are also looking into providing food for college students as well. Patricia Fields- The food distribution center was discussed during this months neighborhood association meeting and we think the police training center would be a better service to our neighborhood. DAB member: What if you cannot get the training center, would you be open to allowing the food center? Fields: No. There was a situation with putting The Lord’s Diner in that location and no one wanted that either. The food services that are provided in the community, at this time, is not income based. Robert Layton, Wichita City Manager, There are three issues that I am hearing: 1) law enforcement training, CM Williams has been actively looking into this building to ensure that it is occupied with a service that benefits the community. When we spoke about the law enforcement training center going into that location, we were looking at it being a temporary space. We are now looking at permeant solutions for the building, the training center may be able 2  District I Advisory Board Minutes December 1, 2014 Page 3 of 6 to expand in their existing building. SE High School is also a possible location for the training center, right now we are in the process of pricing the cost of moving into the school. The training center would not have worked well for the 21st St. location and it would not have been a good use of tax payer dollars to be there short term. It would be beneficial if Mrs. Smith would allow tours of the existing location. We will get the crime stats for the neighborhood that the center is in now. 2) Redevelopment- CM Williams and I meet weekly about the 21st redevelopment. The 21st St. Building will be a part of the redevelopment plan, we will allow Cessna to buy their way out of the lease. We will then have three vacant buildings, by this time next year the properties can be put to good use. Marilyn Overton, President for Matlock Neighborhood Association, who has purchased the old boys and girls club and what will it be used for? We need to be careful who we put in our community. Layton: Plans were to demolition the old Boys and Girls Club building because of vandalisms, there will now be a convenient store going into that area. Overton: Do we have any say so? CM Williams: It has already been sold and we will get you the information. We also met with the county about this issue and we discussed it, the county has not come back to us with any information regarding this building. The only buildings we have are the two Cessna buildings. John Lewis: I am an active board member with Walk Wichita and we have a vested interest in the bike path. We have a concern regarding the traffic the Distribution Center may bring, children use the bike path and people walking their pets will have a concern of too much traffic as well. What guarantee do we have on the safety concerns? Cheryl Stevens: Director of Open Door Ministries, the clientele that we serve are single mothers with children and seniors or disability recipients. People may have had a change in income due to a job loss or similar situation. We do not have people hanging around our building, people come and pick up their food and leave, and we work with the State offering commodities for the families as well. DAB member: What are the two programs you will have in the center? Stevens: We have the commodity program for seniors and disabled peopled and the community food program, for families in and around Wichita. DAB member: Which program is larger? Stevens: On a monthly bases we serve 2400 families, with the commodities program we serve more families. DAB member: You served 37% in 67214? Stevens: Yes, through the food program. DAB member: Do people have to qualify to receive the food? Stevens: Yes, we have volunteers that will sit down with the families and talk with the families to see if they are qualified. Currently, we do not have enough space to accommodate people, Thanksgiving just passed and we maxed out of space. The food is grocery style, dry food, eggs and meat. People come in receive their groceries and leave. DAB member: Do they come in daily? Stevens: No we serve each family once a month CM Williams: I would like for the members of the neighborhood associations to take a field trip to tour the existing building. We will to get the tour done next week. There were 600 people who applied for Operation Holiday in this building and the police department delivers numerous meals in this community for Thanksgiving and Christmas. DAB member- How many students do you feed from WSU? Stevens: We don’t have the numbers at this time, we don’t ask if they are a students but we are becoming more aware that students use our services. 3  District I Advisory Board Minutes December 1, 2014 Page 4 of 6 Earnestine Freeman: I am familiar with Open Door, I am not concerned about safety, as far as people hanging around the building. I heard someone people say it would be good in the community, I would prefer for the training center because it think it would be better for the area. CM Williams: Do you know how soon the county will make a decision? Layton: No because we are at the mercy of the architects. It may be the beginning of next year. DAB member: Can you find a building in 67214? Stevens: We looked at 18 buildings but they were not good, this location is the best location. Smith: We are open to working with the community and the churches in the community. We will be the best neighbors we can be. We can only speak about our history. If there are ways in which we can address the concerns, we are happy to do that and work with the community. There are limited resources in the City and we are trying to stretch the resources. DAB member: How do you spread the 2400 families out during the month? Stevens: Our clients know that they have one visit per month. CM Williams: I am asking that each neighborhood association take the tour of the center before making a decision. 2. Off Agenda Items Don Allison, commented that there is a concern of flooding on Dry Creek or Blackly Street drains. Allison asked for the .25 fee on the water bills so that something can be done about this area. DAB members: Where is this? Allision: On the corner of Douglas and Blackly St. Action Taken: Received and Filed. Staff Report 3. Fire Report Lt. Jerald Johnson, Fire Station # 10, reported that District I had a total of three fires that were investigated in November. The dollar figures of the damages were $326 thousand and structure damages were $400 thousand. There were 13 total fires for the entire city, during the month of November. We are flushing out the water hydrants and making sure that they are working and checking to see if repairs are needed. We will also be out finishing up inspections in buildings. The fire department has hired a new recruit class of 17 or 18 starting next week, the duration of the training is 3 months. Questions: none. Action Taken: Received and Filed. 4. Police Report Officer Lloyd, Patrol East, reported that the police department recently graduated 23 officers. During the holidays, we are asking people who are shopping to lock their car doors. Traffic enforcement will be held City wide, during the holidays. The police department will use the traffic enforcement as an educational tool. DAB member: We would like to commend you all for handling the Ferguson rally well and very professional. 4  District I Advisory Board Minutes December 1, 2014 Page 5 of 6 DAB member: I would like to complement the PD for responding to the Fairmont Park situation well. CM Williams- I attended a memorial service for the victim and one of our officers were there, I was happy to see police department there. DAB members: How many people started the training? Lloyd: 25 started and 23 completed. Normally, we lose people during the academic phase. Action Taken: Received and Filed. New Business 5. ZON2014-00027 Kathy Morgan, City Planner, presented on rezoning .56 acre of property to the Limited Commercial (LC) district. DAB Members were provided the MAPD staff report for review. DAB member: The old Boys and Girls Club was zoned light commercial, why was it was not zoned all at one time? Morgan: It was not necessary to use it for the Boys and Girls Club. DAB member: Is the owner the same owner that is purchasing the Old Boys and Girls Club? Morgan: Yes, to my understanding they are the same owners. DAB member: What will they use the property for and do you know anything about the developer? When businesses come into our community, we should know what the plans are. Phil Myer: agent for the developer, commented that it is very difficult to approve zoning on a specific, single use, we only consider land use. Citizen: This is a big concern and I understand about the zoning. I have been in the neighborhood for over 50 years, we have not been notified about the building being for sale. It is not good for rumors to go around we need to hear from city officials about the plans for the area. Morgan: This has already been heard at the Nov. 20th Planning Commission, the City Council is left to decide. You can protest up to Dec. 4th at 5 p.m. and the case will be heard on December 23, 2014 at City Council Meeting and the seconded hearing will be on January 6, 2015. DAB member: What was the decision and count at the planning? Morgan: It was a unanimously vote, and it was approved. DAB member: Is it normal to not receive detailed information on the plans? Myer- They generally have an ideal of the zoning. They do not have to be specific on the specifics of the plans, as long as it is allowable use. Dan Heflin motion to disapprove zoning case ZON2014-00027, until further information is available, James Roseboro seconded. Motioned failed, 5-2. Board Agenda 6. Updates, Issues and Reports CM Williams: provided updates for 21st Street improvements. Williams commented that the Fairmont issue was upsetting. The police department delivered a box of food to the family. The children are with their father at this point. We also have community members speaking at the City Council meeting on tomorrow, in support of the police department. We will love to have you all to attend the council meeting. 5  District I Advisory Board Minutes December 1, 2014 Page 6 of 6 7. Adjournment Action Taken: Motion to adjourn was made by Beverly Domitrovic, James Roseboro seconded. Motion carried 7:0. Meeting was adjourned. The next meeting for the District Advisory Board I will be held at 6:30 p.m., January 5, 2015, at the Atwater Neighborhood Resource Center, 2755 E. 19th St. N. 6