District 3 Advisory Board

District III Advisory Board Minutes for January 06, 2016 District III Advisory Board Minutes January 06, 2016 www.wichita.gov The District III Advisory Board meeting was held at 6:30 p.m. at the Wichita WATER Center, 101 E. Pawnee, Wichita, KS 67211; Vice Mayor Clendenin, nine District Advisory Board members; two city staff and four signed in members of the public were present. Members Present Staff Present Elena Ingle Teia Wair, Community Service Representative Gerald Henry Derrick Slocum, Planning Department Bruce Gass Paul Davis Guests Eric Bell Listed on the last page Cindy Miles Marjorie Griffith Jessica Hutton Emily (Emy) Wintehalter (youth member) Vice Mayor James Clendenin Members Absent Connie White Terry Brewster David Robbins ORDER OF BUSINESS At 6:30 p.m. Vice Mayor James Clendenin called the meeting to order. Agenda from the current meeting was approved. Minutes from meeting held on December 2, 2015 were approved. STAFF REPORTS Fire Report None: Fire report is presented every other month. Next fire report will be February 3, 2016. Police Report None: Police report is presented every other month. Next police report will be February 3, 2016. PUBLIC AGENDA Scheduled Items None Off-agenda items None 1  District III Advisory Board Minutes for January 06, 2016 NEW BUSINESS Scheduled Items ZON2016-00051 Derrick Slocum, Metropolitan Area Planning Department, presented a request for a city zone change from Fidelity Bank. LC Limited Commercial located east of South Seneca and one block north of 31st Street South (3122 S. Seneca). The application area is currently zoned as SF-5 single family residential with a small portion located to the extreme southeast being zoned as GO general office. The three lots have remained vacant since platting in 1950. Fidelity owns this property as well as the property west of the site and is seeking to expand their banking operation to this location. The property was purchased by Fidelity early fall of 2015. Fidelity has a bank located at 3101 S. Seneca. Directly to the south is a Walgreens. DAB Questions Vice Mayor James Clendenin Q: Asked if the bank will be moving to this new location and will Fidelity keep their current location or close down? A: At this time it is unsure if Fidelity will keep the current location or not. Elena Ingles Q: Asked if there have been any complaints from the neighborhood? A. No, all surrounding property owners have been notified and no one has expressed concerns. Bruce Bass Q: Will the strip mall be torn down and replaced with the bank? A: Yes the strip mall will be demolished and replaced with the bank. Marjorie Griffith Q: Will there be handy cap access to the building? A: 10 years ago they rezoned the parking lot which allowed handicap access. Elena Ingle Q: Will the new bank be smaller than the current bank? A: This location is going to be smaller with drive a thru service. Bruce Bass stated they own it, use it, and maintain it. A: They purchased the property in early fall of 2015. Paul Davis stated that he thought it was odd to place the bank behind a strip mall. A: The strip mall will be eliminated. Paul Davis Q: Will there be extra screening by the residential property? A: There will be extra screening along the residential side. Public Questions None Motion: The District Advisory Board recommend that the Zone change be APPROVED. Result: Motion passed 9-0. BOARD AGENDA Updates, Issues, and Reports Eric Bell reported that there were robberies at the Pay Day loan store located across from the former Checkers location on E Pawnee. Q: Asked if there were any plans to increase patrol in the 2  District III Advisory Board Minutes for January 06, 2016 area. A: James Clendenin stated that patrol is based off noticeable hot spots. Indicated that we could ask Captain Salcido to attend their neighborhood association meeting, at that time the Captain can discuss beefing up patrol. Paul Davis reported that Senator Moran was at a town hall meeting in Clearwater. He stated that two lady’s spoke about their program based on veteran issues. There were very good compliments regarding the (HOT) Homeless out Reach Team. Vice Mayor James Clendenin stated that the outreach team address homeless issues. They go out and make the first contact with homeless individuals. Instead of arresting the homeless the HOT team offers help and resources to the homeless. They provide resource such as bus pass, food or shelter. The HOT team has helped get 200 homeless off the streets to date. Paul Davis told us about a situation of a homeless man he encountered down by the river and wanted the HOT team to provide an update on this man’s situation. Vice Mayor James Clendenin requested that we schedule for a representative of the HOT team to speak at our next DAB meeting. Bruce Bass asked how the new Airport was doing. A: James Clendenin stated that the new Airport was doing well. Southwest Airlines is huge. James Clendenin: Welcomed Jessica Hutton to the DAB III Board. DAB III is now full. Gordon Ramsey was hired as the new police chief after a year vacancy. James stated that he believes the city has “hit a home run” in hiring Ramsey. Ramsey is from Duluth, Minnesota where he was a chief for 10 years and an officer for 22 years. He is 43 years old, married and has 2 children ages 10 & 7 they are all excited to move to Wichita, KS. He has experience with body cameras & data based policing. He is loved in Duluth and will be missed. He is transparent, discipline will be dealt with swiftly not in a shady manner. Changes will be seen. Great addition to our city. Bruce Bass Q: Stated that the old chief could not testify in court then asked the question. Does the new chief have a clean record? Spoke about the Brady Giglio prohibiting officers who have committed a crime at 14 to not be able to testify. Vice Mayor James Clendenin A: Gordon has no limits to hiring people with life experience. Gordon is open to hiring a wider range of officers. There were roughly 20 officers hired. Encourages citizens and DAB to go on a ride along with the WPD. Applications for Citizens Police Academy are available. This is a training put on by the Wichita PD and Sedgwick county sheriff. Elena Ingle added that there is also a fire academy. Public Questions Public Q: Why has the city refused to take action on blight & illegal dumping? A: Vice Mayor James Clendenin stated that the concerns need to be reported in order for the City to address the issues. He honed in on the fact that there is now funding available for the city to hire staff that focus on illegal dumping and removal of the illegally dumped items. The citizen was told about the different ways to report these concerns. 3  District III Advisory Board Minutes for January 06, 2016 Eric Bell referenced the fact that citizens store bulky and excessive items on their property. Q: Asked if there were any free dump tickets available. A: The end of 2015 Sedgwick County did offer a free dump coupon which allowed citizens to take up to 1000 pounds. This expired December 2, 2015. They may have another opportunity this year but as of now there is not a free opportunity to dump items at the landfill. Vice Mayor James Clendenin: stated that blight, illegal dumping and graffiti typically occurs after dark, with that being said he encouraged citizens to come forward and report any suspicious activity that is observed. Contact Teia Wair at 303-8030 to report blight, illegal dumping, and graffiti. Meeting was adjourned The next meeting for the District Advisory Board III will be held at 6:30 p.m., February 3, 2016, at the Water Center located at 101 E. Pawnee. Respectfully submitted, Teia Wair, Community Service Representative – District III Guests Russ Berry Catherine Johnson Kent Winterhalter Lonnie Wright 4