November Coordinating Committee Minutes

Post date: Dec 29, 2012 4:12:8 AM

FAN^FH Neighborhood Association Coordinating Committee Meeting

November 7, 2012

In attendance:

Carole Ockert

David Rudawidtz

Peter Sweet

Glenn Lowe

Donna Lowe

Sharon Gustafson

Maria Meneghin

Jim Bolland

Chris Clee

Others in Attendance: Lynn Peterson

Parking task force

City staff previously put forward a suggestion following a study by Rick Williams. This had a bad reception, so the City formed a Task Force that met over the last four months. Paul Graham (Graham’s Stationery) Craig Stevens (Old Town) Carole Ockert (FAN^FH), Barry Cain, Mitt Grady (developers), Chuck O’Leary (Chamber). They have taken a practical, consensus-building approach. The Task Force has produced a summary. Codes must be easily understood, reasonable and realistic.

The summary’s observations highlight some of the more important things that the City Council needs to understand. The Task Force agreed on forming a downtown parking district. The Summary counters the staff proposal with a minimum number of spaces for downtown residential and commercial parking. Incoming businesses understand the limitations and have the opportunity to build this into their business plans. The Summary will go to the City Council on November 20.

The redevelopment of Wizer’s came up in the discussions. Adjacent property / business owners expressed concerns that there should be adequate parking in any new development at that site. Development of the site around Clarke’s was also discussed. The motion to give the FAN^FH Neighborhood Association’s approval to the Summary was carried at the meeting. The Task Force is also looking for approval from the Evergreen and Old Town Neighborhood Associations.

Neighborhood grant

Carole put this in for our next annual meeting - $400 to fund a neighborhood ice cream social – Sarah Selden was positive – we expect to hear back from the City in December.

Blue Heron Neighborhood Association asked to see our application for signs from the previous round of the neighborhood grant.

Future meetings

Carole asked for future meeting topics – e.g. City goal setting. Peter suggested a discussion of proposed expansion plans originating from the City vs. organic growth, with the goal of expressing the opinion of the Neighborhood Association on the subject. David cited his former SoCal neighborhood which has kept a constant size but still manages to finance improvements, including building new schools.

The group discussed using an email list to push out information and solicit input.

The group proposed having a meet and greet with incoming City Council members.

Report from Comprehensive Plan Citizen Advisory Committee Meeting

The new proposal for rezoning allows creep. Chris will ask the CAC to retain the existing Comp Plan language on zoning.

Foothills

The Foothills CAC did not approve the financing portion of the plan. Peter was asked to join a Focus Group with the purpose of deciding what the public meeting agenda and presentation would look like. Peter submitted seventeen questions to the planning department.

In July, several affordable housing groups approached the City Council asking to add an affordable housing component to the plan. The City Council put affordable housing in the plan as a placeholder. The plan calls for $6M of urban renewal money for development of affordable housing – this brings the total to $50M for development. The City predicts a 10x return on this based on tax.

Re: the flood plain – Metro sent a memo expressing concern for the cut and fill plan.

There is no longer Federal funding for the project without the element of the streetcar. A consultant who was hired to analyze the financials responded that they did not have sufficient information.

Affordable housing is commonly defined as accessible to those with 85% of the median income in the area. The Focus Group suggested that the plan should wait for the Comprehensive Plan CAC to form a policy on affordable housing rather than going out on a limb.

The planning commission will review the Foothills plan for compliance on November 14.

Tree committee

The Tree Committee sent a note to the planning department, Mayor and councilors expressing concern about the invasive species permitting policy. A new application came in at the same time under the policy – the homeowner asked for removal of a large, deciduous tree. The letter from the Committee gave an example illustrating their concern. The Committee received responses from the Mayor. The Committee had a subsequent discussion with the office of the City Arborist expressing concern about changing neighborhood character by removing mature trees.

Treasurer’s report

$604

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