Meeting Minutes, March 4, 2015

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
Boyd, Joe		Carson, Ann	x
Ben Sturge		Grassel, Kathy	x
Gonzalez, Moisés	x	McGivern, Elaine
Grant, Steve		Sam Kochansky
Spittler, Lee	x	Thornton, Karla	x
		Trefethen, Salley

February minutes were read and approved.

Guests:  Tim and Stevieh Havlitt, Ron Cossey, Vince diGregory, Francesca, Terry Brown.

Police—Civilian Siebel told the board the neighborhood has done a good job of reporting suspicious activity. The good: There was only one residential burglary since Jan 1. The bad: Auto burglary is up, as well as DUIs. The ugly: Much vandalism and graffiti. A neighbor wanted to know if the police would deal with homeless people in her alley who she has been cleaning up after. Cmdr. Donovan replied that no laws are broken just hanging out, but that they would try to patrol the street more often and that she could contact Safe City Strike Force or 311 if the problem continues.

Tree project—Charge of the project has changed departments yet again, this time under Municipal Development. Planting, scheduled for February, has been delayed. David Day is monitoring progress closely.

Press Club parking lot—Parking lot access was thought to have been settled with a Master Plan consensus agreement, but the Press Club appealed again. PC objected to limited parking access to what would become the “plaza.” Land Use Hearing Officer heard the appeal and recommended a remand back to LUCC. Council came up with its own findings before remanding back to LUCC. Then it was told that the Press Club withdrew their appeal, presumably as part of a deal with the Administration which negotiated its own license/use agreement with the Press Club.

Great American Cleanup— This annual City of Albuquerque event is April 25. People and groups need to register by April 10. Free bags need to be picked up at Solid Waste, 4600 Edith NE, on April 22 only. No one from the board volunteered to head a Huning Highlands group, but individuals are encouraged to participate.

Boese Brothers Brewery—Bonnie got a letter from George Boese informing the neighborhood association of his application for alcohol licenses for a business at 601 Gold SW. A public hearing is scheduled for March 5 at City Hall. The family is currently renovating the building.

Easter Egg Hunt—Ann said the 30^th annual HH Easter Egg Hunt at Highland Park may not happen this year unless someone from the board wanted to step up. The past organizers are unable to do it this year.

Newsletter—The newsletter needs to be published and distributed before the Mother’s Day House Tour. The board discussed topics and assigned authors to write articles. Deadline to get articles to Kathy is April 10.

Arno Development—Vince diGregory from the Standard Diner addressed the board with an update on the development for blocks Gold, Arno, Broadway and Central that will see a 40,000-sq.ft. building with condos over a parking garage. Major steps have been a purchase from Art Hayman and finally financing from a bank. He added that to get anything considered for financing, everything has to be pre-sold, then to expect six to eight months to get a financing package together, then another six months for an architecture and engineering package. The area has also been cleared by the state Environment Department for potential contamination by underground storage tanks. The Storehouse and church addition will be demolished. After that he will start on the underground parking garage followed by the big building. The derelict abandoned house on Arno of concern to Ann for preservation is available to anyone who wants a free house, according to Ann.

509-511 High SE—Terry Brown reported on progress to build duplex housing on the vacant lots at 509-511 High SE. He said progress is slow. He has added details such as porches requested from a past meeting and passed around schematics. He is now dealing with zoning for a density variance and a setback variance.

Meeting adjourned at 7:25. Next meeting is Wed., Apr. 1, 2015.