Meeting Minutes, October 1, 2014

Preservation Station, Bonnie Anderson, presiding. Start Time: 6:30 PM

Board Member Attendance:

Term ending August 2016		Term ending August 2015
Anderson, Bonnie	x	Karafonda, Mary	x
Boyd, Joe	x	Carson, Ann	x
Smee, Jackie		Grassel, Kathy
Gonzalez, Moisés		McGivern, Elaine	x
Grant, Steve		vacant
Spittler, Lee	x	Thornton, Karla
		Trefethen, Salley	x

September minutes were read and approved.

Board vacancy—Due to the resignation of Greg and Joni Neutra who moved to Santa Fe recently, we have an opening on the Board.  We will fill that vacancy at the November meeting.

Park Renovation—The LUCC will hear the plans for the renovation of our park at their Nov. 12^th meeting.

DiGregory Development on Arno—Vince DiGregory thanked the neighborhood association for support of their project in front of the zoning commission.  Ann discussed options for the relocation of the historic home that will not be part of this project.

 Underpass on Central at the Railroad Tracks—The City is proposing an expensive project to change the pedestrian walkway at the railroad tracks on Central from the current underpass to an at-grade walkway.  The intention is to solve the problems of poor lighting and unpleasant smells.  Rob Dixon, developer in EDo, has suggested an alternative: more lighting and frequent power washing.  He points out that the City could better use those funds on a variety of suggested projects to make our City more walkable and bike-friendly.

Fire Station—Amy Sturge shared a recent conversation with a member of the Greek Church community who said there had been talk of wanting to convert the fire station across from their church to independent living apartments for some elderly members of the church.  Price seemed to be the obstacle.  Amy volunteered to be a liaison between HHHDA and the City to help facilitate development of this vacant property to a neighborhood-friendly use.  Mary agreed to assist.

Dickens of a Dinner—Ann reviewed the tradition of hosting Dickens of a Dinner as a fund raiser for the HHHDA.  She invited neighbors to volunteer to help put on this annual event.  This year it will be held on Saturday, December 6.

Newsletter—Our next newsletter will go out the week before Dickens, so the deadline for articles to our new editor, Kathy, will be November 8.

608 Coal SE—The owner of 608 Coal, right across Coal from the Station/Community Garden, Brittany Turnbough, shared with the group her desire to make some modifications to her property to reduce the noise from Coal and provide more comfort.  She has been consulting with City staff for LUCC about changing her windows and adding a wall.  She asked for comments from the group and promised to return to a later meeting with more details.

Movie Night—Sam Kochansky reported that he had been unable to get a response from the neighbor who had volunteered to help set up the first HHHDA movie night.  This event may be considered again in the spring.

509-511 High St SE—Owner Terry Brown reviewed his plans for the vacant lot at 509-511 High St. SE.  He wants to put four free-standing rental units, three with two-stories and one with one story.  Parking for the units will be along the alley end of the property.  He showed an architect’s drawing and asked for input from the group.  He will take that input back to his architect and return with a revised drawing at the November meeting. 

Tree Project—Project leader David Day presented drawings showing how many trees needed to be replaced on each of the north/south streets in our neighborhood.  He shared that the City had moved the street trees division from Parks to Solid Waste.  We’re not sure why this was done, but it impacts our project because the Solid Waste department doesn’t have the staff or the equipment needed to implement our tree project.  David suggested that we might consider having the project bid out to a contractor with the proper equipment and staff.  The project will begin in winter 2014.  We reviewed the criteria that we can only plant these trees in the parkway in front of a home where the owner has signed a City agreement to water the tree regularly.  It was suggested that it might be possible to somehow link in to the water pipe (at the meter) in the parkway to provide drip irrigation rather than having to drag a hose out to do the watering.  Others pointed out that the pipes in our neighborhood are very old and that this would not be possible.

Miscellaneous

1. Officer Seibel answered a question from the group about what could be done when one suspects animal abuse in the neighborhood.  He said that you could report it to 311 and officers would address the issue.
2. Gordon Bronitsky complained about the smell of cats near his home, wondering if he had any recourse.  The group suggested that he contact the City for assistance. No one knew of any way to remedy the situation without going through the City.

Meeting adjourned at 7:45. Next meeting is Wed., November 5, 2014.