District 16 Planning Council

Members Present: Barrera, Brostrom, Brockberg, Clapp-Smith, Flahaven, Hardy, Harrison, O’Toole, Rathman, Sanders, Siekmeier, Smith, Wichman, Wolf, Zoltai

Members Absent: Dobson, Konstan, Odman, Linder, Orman-Awe, Preus, Reding-Galarneault

Clapp-Smith called the Meeting to order at 7:00 PM

1. Additions to the Agenda: There were no additions to the agenda

2. Approval of November Meeting minutes

Approval of the November and January Meeting minutes where delayed until next month.

3. Executive Committee Report

Clapp-Smith read a thank you note from Bialles for the gifts and cake. Those who have not yet made their donation should make it soon to Clapp-Smith.

The new SHA Executive Director, Jeff Roy was introduced by Clapp-Smith. He comes to SHA with years of experience having held a similar position for a neighborhood in Minneapolis. We welcome his experience and ideas to the board. He is trying to get up to speed.

Clapp-Smith relayed her concern regarding individual representation and voting. She shared her opinion on the importance of diverse opinions which represent the different thoughts and opinions of the community and that is not necessary that the entire group have a consensus or think in the same way. We need these diverse opinions to challenge the line of thinking of the rest of the board members

SHA met with GABA a month ago to discuss the Sign Guidelines for Grand Avenue. GABA took our ideas and made changes and recommendations. We will be meeting again on March 1^st, 6 pm at Dixie’s. Everyone is welcome to attend. It is important to have a strong representation to our opinions. People interested in the sign meeting should contact Brostrom or Clapp-Smith. Any one with comments should email them to Clapp-Smith.

Clapp-Smith and Harrison went down to talk with city to try to make the case that they should deny Chipolte’s license based on the extra traffic that will be created.

They sympathized with us, however they do not have any legal recourse. They thought we could look into placing some conditions on the license. The city will be monitoring the traffic at this intersection. Roy will look into the accident counts going back three years for the two blocks surrounding Victoria and Grand.

Any decisions regarding new Zoning Code Changes were laid over. The new zoning ordinance contains revised language regarding Carriages Houses. The city did not allow for enough time for the various districts to comment on the changes. The secondary dwelling section was pulled out entirely from the new Zoning Code. It was decided that the existing carriage house section is going to stay in the code until the review of this section is completed later this year. They are asking for our input early in the process so that it can be addressed on a timely basis.

Some of the district board members did not have a chance to review what was sent out and redlined by Brostrom. We recommended that no variances be approved. Height restrictions and density of the entire block be taken into consideration, and that it remain a conditional use application. SHA has always taken a position against mother-in-law houses. We are not against existing carriage houses, but its necessary to be considerate of any new.

The new language added that a secondary structure is allowed based on the lot square footage. This increase applies to about 20% of the lots in the SHA district.

There are many areas in St. Paul where secondary structures are desirable. We requested adding a special district for District16 to disallow secondary structures. The city does not want to create special overlay districts. Some people have argued that its addition into the zoning code will create additional, more affordable small units that may be beneficial to some districts. Most of the SHA district is zoned for multiple family dwelling.

It was proposed by Siekmeier that this issue be laid over for another month to allow for additional discussion and review of the information by the board members since it is not an urgent issue. The city is preparing another draft of this document that will have the opportunity to comment on.

5. Committee Reports

A. Communications Committee

Flahaven reported that the committee has not met for a while. They asked for reactions to the website design. Nothing else has been done. Eric Hanson, Linder, and Roy are going to meet to discuss any comments.

B. District 16 Planning Committee

Clapp-Smith provided the update on the District 16 Planning Committee. The committee will meet Saturday February 28. The current draft will be presented. It will be revised one more time before it goes to the city. This is the community’s last opportunity to make comments.

Once the final draft has been sent to the city, the final approval could take months to approve. Mac/Groveland took a year and half to finally get an approved plan. We can anticipate some changes. They will draft an executive summary to summarize gets put into the code. Our consultant has made a draft summary to make sure that the importance of our plan is incorporated into the code. Next week there is a steering committee meeting to discuss the current draft prior to the February 28 meeting. Over 200 invitations were sent to people who have indicated interest in the past.

B. Environment Committee

The committee is getting organized. Steve Sander is now head of the environmental Committee. Ramsey County Sentence to Serve (STS) workers are not available this year for assistance with the neighborhood clean up on May 8th. We will have to look for some other organization to take their place. People should get ideas to Sanders. He will also contact NEC to see if they know of any groups who volunteer for neighborhood cleanups.

NEC would like to present to the community the assistance programs they have available for low interest loans to make energy efficient home improvements.

D. House Tour – Development Committee

Final selections of the houses will be rapped up at the next meeting. We are close to getting all 15 houses lined up, there is only one remaining house. One is a repeat house from previous years. We are waiting to hear about the remaining house, but the owners have been very difficult to get a hold of.

O’Toole provided an update on the Golf tournament. It requires a great deal of SHA staff time. Many of the previous booster club members, Linwood, and SHA who have been involved in the past determined that no golf tournament will be held this year. This decision will be revisited next year to determine future Golf tournaments.

E. Pedestrian Safety and Traffic Calming Committee

Hardy provided an update on the “to do” list. Lots of the work needed is the enforcement of existing rules and regulations. They are trying to get a strategy together to find out how to improve enforcement.

Working with city to get signs:

1.) Signs for restricted intersections.

2.) No right turn on read at Victoria Crossing.

An anonymous donor gave SHA $1000 for additional “20 is Plenty” signs. This will cover the cost for 40 signs to be distributed throughout the neighborhood. Sign will be located along Victoria Ave. and other entrances into the community.

F. Zoning and Land use

21 South St. Albans has been approved contingent upon approval by Historical Commission.

Kenwood Parkway city said ok contingent upon erosion control. There is going to be a site plan required.

585 Grand Ave. unoccupied house turned into an office. B2 Occupancy. We recommended an OS1 occupancy – which is offices only. It was suggested that it be considered a TN1 – Traditional Neighborhood 1. It is more restrictive then OS1. This has been submitted to the city and this was ok by the Headwaters Group neighbor

Bonfire – We thought that there was not much to worry about. We asked some questions about the function of the establishment. Our target clients are an older crowd. No one came to complain. There were people who complained to the city. This establishment has entertainment that displays inappropriate behavior. The whole matter was laid over for the liquor license. The liquor license is good only until May. They were asked to inform patrons of the parking restrictions on Lincoln. A notice has been sent out to neighbors within 350 feet of the business of the new application for the liquor license.

6. Executive Director’s Report:

Roy stated that he is excited to join our organization. Many of the tasks are similar from the past organization he worked for. He does have additional treasurers duties that he did not have to do.

7. Treasurer’s Report:

Brostrom made a quick treasurers report. The report is inaccurate since the income is missing from the report. The contract has been sent to the city. The next thing is the audit that we keep talking about. We are going to get a bid from the auditing firm who does MacGroveland’s. Someone questioned whether an audit committee is appropriate. The auditors will tell us if that is necessary.

8. GABA report:

Wolf provided a GABA report. GABA has additional monetary funds that will go to buying one-sided banners and hanging baskets.

The Grand Old Day’s race starts at 8 am and parade starts at 10 am. The events last from noon until 5. GABA proposes option A to keep full vendor service open until 6 pm. Option B to stop serving liquor at 5 pm. but continue food service and other vendors until 6 pm. The music would continue until 5 pm and 6 pm respectively. Part of the rational is to increase the income at GABA.

A motion was made to deny the request for a time extension for Grand Old Days. The motion was seconded, and approved.

9. Old Business/New Business/Announcements:

A resolution was made by the city. They adopted it. Invitations were handed out. Anyone interested is welcome to go.

10. Adjournment:

A motion was made to adjourn the meeting at 8:50 P.M. The motion received a second and passed unanimously.

Next meeting will be held Thursday, March 11, 2003 at 7:00 P.M. at the Linwood Community Center Meeting room.

Minutes recorded by Deborah Rathman, Secretary