District 4 Advisory Board

District IV Advisory Board Minutes for April 7, 2014 District IV Advisory Board Minutes April 7, 2014 www.wichita.gov The District IV Advisory Board meeting was held at 6:30 p.m. at Lionel Alford Public Library, 3447 S. Meridian; Council Member Blubaugh, eight District Advisory Board members; six City staff and seven members of the public were present. Members Present Jim Underwood Staff Present Benny Boman Case Bell, Community Liaison Don McManamy Jess McNeely, Planning June Bailey Officer Robinson, Wichita Police Department John Whitmer Officer McHenry, Wichita Police Department Nancy Wilhite Dep. Chief Ramzah, Wichita Police Department Hestel Sewell Captain Voss, Wichita Fire Department Alex Garcia (Youth Member)* Council Member Jeff Blubaugh Guests *Youth Members are not voting members Listed on last page Members Absent Michael Gomm Craig Gabel Matt Lashley ORDER OF BUSINESS At 6:30 p.m. Council Member Blubaugh called the meeting to order. Minutes from the March 3, 2014, meeting were approved with the exception that the attendance would be changed to reflect June Bailey’s absence from the March meeting. Agenda for the current meeting was approved. STAFF AGENDA Captain Voss, Wichita Fire Department, reported that grass fires have been a problem. There is a burn ban on for April for Sedgwick County. Most of the damage has been grass, but a few homes have been damaged. Captain Voss advised that people watch out for throwing cigarette butts out the window when you drive. There was not a lot of activity otherwise, just a few small house fires. DAB? Is it illegal to burn trash in a backyard barrel? A: Yes, it’s illegal to burn trash anytime, but especially during a burn ban. Officer McHenry, Wichita Police Department, spoke concerning Beat 17 of the Patrol West. From February to March in Beat 17, burglaries were steady, auto theft went from 60 to 23 from people no longer warming their cars in the driveway, arsons went from four to one, vandalism and larceny were steady. The police are working on panhandlers; in March there were 10 contacts and three citations for panhandling. There was a poaching incident near Pawnee Prairie Park with a deer. Councilmember Blubaugh? Are carwashes vulnerable to theft? A: Yes, and usually the amount of damage to the carwash far exceeds the losses from the theft itself. DAB? Have there been any updates on the Prestone robbery on Maple? A: There was a description, but no leads. Councilmember Blubaugh advised that people be careful of policeman on the streets now that the weather is getting warmer. 1  District IV Advisory Board Minutes for April 7, 2014 Officer Robinson, Wichita Police Department, spoke concerning Beat 299 of the Patrol South. Police has been in the area working on a special assignment regarding people knocking on homes and forcing entry when no one answers. Larcenies are up, some from people leaving purses in the front seat. Dillons had 48 shoplifters and three auto-thefts. Officer Robinson advises people to call 911 first rather than any particular police officer that you may know. He also advised people to always shred your personal documents and be careful of providing personal information via Facebook or Craigslist. DAB? Should females who are home alone answer the door? A: Not if you don’t know the person. If you are unsure you can call 911. PUBLIC AGENDA Scheduled items Walt Chappell, Racial Profiling Advisory Board, spoke about the Racial Profiling Advisory Board (RPAB). The board was formed in 2005 with a senate bill. There were three studies in Wichita that revealed that citizens are twice as likely to be stopped by police and three times as likely to be questioned or arrested if black. He reported that 38% of inmates are black males and 43% of inmates are black females. Children are also twice as likely to be expelled if they are black. Schools are working away from zero tolerance policies to help combat this. Walt also reported that Hispanics are starting to see similar problems. Walt advises that citizens should know their rights, but be courteous to officers. RPAB is reaching out to the public looking for new board members. They are also planning a future workshop on the constitution. NEW BUSINESS Wichita Police Department Investigations Deputy Chief Ramzah, Wichita Police Department, presented information on the WPD Investigations division. Deputy Chief Ramzah was promoted three weeks prior to the DAB as Commander of the Investigations division. In 2012 the investigations division was streamlined with modified workflows and emphasis on gang crime. The division added sergeants who also carry cases, combined burglary and financial crimes, an air unit, and added a CSI unit. The total personnel for the division is 163 with 96 detectives. Deputy Chief Ramzah also reported on crime statistics. In 2014, there were five homicides with one being unsolved. In 2013 there were 17 homicides with four unsolved. In 2013 WPD had a 76% clearance rate on cases compared to the national rate of 64.8%. Deputy Chief Ramzah also advised that the WPD investigations division is dealing with several shooting deaths where the public is not coming forward. They are working on getting the message out to change their thinking and asking the question “Who do you empower by not telling the police?” Of the four unsolved homicides in 2013, three are unsolved due to people not coming forward even though there were witnesses at the scene. DAB? How many shootings are attributable to gang activity? A: Of the four unsolved two are gang related and gang members were present at the other two. Councilmember Blubaugh? What kind of metrics, specifically on property crimes, are there for follow-up on open cases? A: Each case is different. There were 1836 thefts in 2012, 377 were assigned to detectives and 18.2% were cleared. They have to ask the questions: Are there suspects, witnesses, or evidence? DAB? Do you track patters of crime geographically? A: Yes, WPD uses analysts and a hot spot system. DAB? Can you call investigations to get an update on your case? A: Yes. DAB? What is the one resource that you need for the police department to really help? A: Always need more officers and to continue to develop partnerships in the community. Public? How many patrol officers are there? A: 480. DAB? Where is the fund for the Officer Diehl, the officer who lost his home in a fire? A: Wichita Municipal Credit Union. 2  District IV Advisory Board Minutes for April 7, 2014 CUP2014-00006 Amendment to Parcels 1 and 13 of the Westway Shopping Center Community Unit Plan (CUP) DP-21 Jess McNeely, Planning, presented information on Parcels 1 and 13 of the Westway Shopping Center Community (CUP) DP-21 located at the southwest corner of the intersection of West Pawnee Road and South Seneca Street. Parcels 1 (11.36 acres) and 13 (6.90 acres) are zoned LC Limited Commercial (LC) subject to the development standards contained in CUP DP-21. The application area is developed with several thousand square feet of shopping center and a large parking lot. Uses permitted on both parcels include: shopping center and associated tires, batteries and accessory stores, supermarket, financial institutions, offices, personal services, retail sales as permitted by the base zoning, vocational school and restaurant. The applicant has requested the following use be added to the list of permitted uses “Outdoor entertainment, in the form of carnival rides, games and concessions, shall be allowed for a period of 14 consecutive days between the dates of March 1st and April 30th and for an additional 14 consecutive days between the dates of October 1st and November 30th each year. McNeely reported that there have been no negative incidences with the carnivals in the past. He also reported that the shopping center works to keep the neighborhoods protected from the noise. John Whitmer made a motion to APPROVE the request. Jim Underwood seconded. Action: Motion passed 7-0. ZON2014-00002 Request for LC Limited Commercial (LC) zoning on the property generally located south of Taft and east of Illinois (526 S. Illinois Ave.) Jess McNeely, Planning, presented information on the requests for LC Limited Commercial (LC) zoning on two platted lots, one of which is developed with a single-family residence. The .5-acre site is currently zoned SF-5 Single-Family Residential (SF-5). This block of Illinois has transitioned from residential to primarily commercial zoning over time. The entire west side of this block is zoned GC General Commercial (GC) and developed with banking, retail, vehicle repair and restaurant uses that front West Street. Other than the application area, only one other residence exists in SF-5 zoning on the east side of this block, three residences exist in LC zoning on the east side of the block. Property to the north of the site is zoned LC and developed with an office/warehouse. Property immediately south of the site is zoned SF-5 and developed with a single-family residence; further south is an LC zoned vehicle repair business and hotel/restaurant uses fronting the Kellogg expressway. East of the site are SF-5 and TF-3 Two-family Residential (TF-3) zoned single-family residences and duplexes. Staff anticipates that this entire block will eventually rezone to LC. McNeely reported that only one home south of this lot is still zoned single family residential. The street beyond is 50% commercial. Councilmember Blubaugh? What do they want to put in? A: Right now it’s speculative. Councilmember Blubaugh? Is the entire application area half an acre? A: Yes. DAB? Why not rezone entire blocks? A: The rezoning has to be initiated by the property owner. John Whitmer made a motion to APPROVE the request. Jim Underwood seconded. Action: Motion passed 7-0. 3  District IV Advisory Board Minutes for April 7, 2014 BOARD AGENDA DAB Member: On May 2nd, the Annual Guns and Hoses charity event for law enforcement and the fire department will be held at 6pm. DAB Member: The Stormsewer project opened up Meridian a week ago and now are paving on the west side of Meridian. DAB Member: The two new Westside bus routes start on May 12th. Meeting was adjourned. The next meeting for District Advisory Board IV will be held at 6:30 p.m., May 5, 2014, at Alford Public Library, 3447 S. Meridian. Respectfully submitted, Case Bell, Community Liaison – Districts III and IV Guests Roger Runft Jeff Griffith Chris Flattery Drew Lon Sheri Lon David Kapaun Russ Patak 4