Fan^First Addition Coordinating Committee Minutes 9/4/2013

Post date: Sep 10, 2013 9:0:30 PM

Attending Members: Jim Bolland, Chris Clee, Darrel Condra, Glenn Lowe, Maria Meneghin, Martin Monto, Carole Ockert, Dennis O’Neil, David Rudawitz

Others Attending: Earl Bowerman, Karen Bowerman, Michell Rozakis, Vasili Rozakis, Scot Siegel, Shawn West

--Chair Carole Ockert invited Scot Siegel, Planning & Building Coordinator, to attend the meeting to speak with us about the Comp Plan and other issues his department is addressing.

The LORA Board is the applicant for a rezone of the WEB, it is currently zoned and they are asking to change the zoning to General Commercial which would allow larger development on the lot. There is a developer who is interested in the property if the zoning change goes through. In response to questions, Scot S. said there will be no changes to the Natural Resources protection zone with the change. Also there is no decision yet on where the City offices currently housed at the WEB will be placed.

Scot S. briefly reviewed the current status of the work that has gone into the Comp Plan since the beginning of the year through April. Scott and his staff have taken over Ron Bunch’s work on the Comp Plan since the new City Council adopted a different lens to view it. Those clarifications have gone back through the CAC will be going to the Planning Commission on 9/9. After that review and more staff work, the first 5 sections are supposed to go to the City Council again at their 10/22 meeting. The current Comp Plan work is available on the CAC’s website.

--Treasurer Dennis O’Neil reported that we currently have $526.61. Our bank had changed policy and was going to charge us $10/month in fees, but Dennis contacted the CEO & Board of the Bank and got them to rescind their fees for our Association.

--Carole reported on four Pre-Apps in our neighborhood. The Oswegan will only be allowed to have one sign. There is a request for a lot split with zero lot line development on 3^rd Street. The office building at 560 1^st Street wants to put another floor on the top of their building and will be required not to damage the heritage tree in front of it. A neighbor on Bayberry is splitting their lot in order to build two homes.

--Martin Monto, our Tree Subcommittee Chair has begun his study on Hazard Tree Permits and Redevelopment of lots in our Neighborhood. He will report at our next meeting.

--Carole spoke about her concerns with the downtown development process and how things seem to have been done with a different sequence with the Wizer’s block because of the URA and how that works against the community input for a project. Normally one of the key concerns with a large development is the number of units, which affects traffic, parking, etc., and the process is DRC for review and negotiations and approval then to the City Council if appealed by the neighbors. This time the developer went to the LORA Board (same membership as the City Council) for their approval and now will go to the DRC. If neighbors want to appeal to the Council for any changes, they must go to the same people who already approved the development while they were wearing their “LORA hat.” This devalues citizen/neighborhood comments on the proposed developments. The Wizer property is done, but there will be other properties in the East End URA where this process will be a continuing concern. The Coordinating Committee talked about the issue a bit, but didn’t have enough time to come up with a proposed solution. The Coordinating Committee will discuss it again at our October meeting with Scott Lazenby, the new City Manager and will decide if they want to form a Citizen Comment statement about process and sequence for a future City Council meeting.

--Carole gave us a brief account of the situation with the old water tower lot on Sunningdale and the history behind it. The City Council is thinking of selling it and there are several issues that affect the neighbors if this happens. The Coordinating Committee discussed the pros and cons and decided that, at this point, we will ask the City to reconsider that decision. Carole will draft a letter from the Neighborhood Association.

The Agenda item, “Development Liaison Discussion” was tabled for lack of time and will be discussed at our October meeting.