September 9, 2004

Board of Directors

Summit Hill Association

District 16 Planning Council

Members Present: Barrera, Brostrom, Clapp-Smith, Dobson, Flahaven, Hardy, Johnson, Lindner, Odman, O’Toole, Rathman, Reding-Galarneault, Sanders, Siekmeier, Wichman, Zoltai

Members Absent:  Breymeier, Harrison, Konstan, Lindner, Orman-Awe, Preus, Smith

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

1.                  Additions to the Agenda

Several items requested by Dobson were added to the agenda.  If there is time, they will be discussed under Zoning and Land Use.

a.  Replacement of existing billlboards

b.  Addition of patio at Wild Onion

2.                  Approval of both August Meeting minutes

Approval of August meeting minutes was held over until next month. 

3.         Presidents report

A list was passed around identifying committee members who terms expire in order to verify those board members interested in re-election and if any members are interested in officer positions.

District 16 Plan

Larry Sodderholm sent SHA a letter containing comments from city staff regarding the District 16 Plan submitted.  The Public Works Department is currently reviewing the information.  They did not respond in time to have any of their comments included.

Clapp-Smith and Roy meet with the city a week ago and they stated that they are very reluctant to do an overlay district for Grand Ave. and preferred that we do a TN (Traditional Neighborhood) Zoning. The city allows districts to choose items from the TN Zoning.  This option was researched, however the planning committee did not believe it fit our neighborhood and instead made recommendations more in keeping with an overlay district. Clapp-smith will distribute the comments out the steering committee and focus groups and then discuss comments and get back to the city.  Wichman stated that the city already has overlay districts in other areas of the city.  This may be true, however they are trying to phase them out, not create more.

The Watershed District is interested in  providing language to all St. Paul District plans with a statement about the quality of water environment.

Brostrom provided an update on the signage guidelines.  An email was sent out to all board members for comments regarding the proposed Signage guidelines.  Unfortunately, some of the board members had not read the information prior to this meeting.  Brostrom had negotiated a few minor changes but feels comfortable voting on the guidelines as presented and wants to take a vote this evening.

A hard copy of the letter was handed out to those who had not read the information or received the email. A motion was made to accept the signage guidelines as proposed.  Twelve (12) members voted in favor and one (1) opposed the adoption of the guidelines.

Dobson questioned the language included that requires businesses to anchor the news-paper boxes to the buildings.  It was stated this way to put pressure on the business to keep them in a more discrete location.

Breymeier is getting feedback from GABA on the District 16 Plan.  These comments will be inserted into the District 16 Guidelines.  There will be opportunity to discuss the comments at a later date.

Dan Cornejo, SEH, will be presenting the District 16 Plan at the Minnesota Historical Preservation Conference Sept. 23, 2004 and later at the Minnesota Planning Conference held in Alexandria, Mn.

Formula Business Discussion update:

General information on “Formula Business” was distributed to all board members.  It is an sample for East Grand Avenue.

Stacey Mitchell will be in town Nov. 6^th. to speak at the Minnesota AIA convention.  She will be speaking about her research on limiting the establishment of chain stores in certain communities.

Clapp-Smith has set up a neighborhood forum to discuss what is “Formula Businesses”.   She will provide a description of what has been going on around the US in neighborhood’s like ours.  The meeting will be held at Linwood Community Center on Saturday November 6, 2004.

Clapp-Smith and Roy have a meeting set up with Susan Kimberly and Larry Soderholm at the City of Saint Paul, to explain what is involved in a “Formula Business.

Some board member’s are interested in getting a list of the smaller businesses still on Grand Ave. and get their opinion of “Formula Business” and chain stores.  Clapp-Smith stated that GABA members are on this committee and have been involved in these discussions. A list of Grand Ave. businesses was passed around for board members to review, giving an idea of the distribution of businesses along grand.  The list does not distinguish between national vs. local chain stores

The intent of a “Formula Business” plan is to put a cap on chain stores and businesses replicated in multiple areas, nationally or statewide.  Our intent is to find out what other areas are doing in other areas to manage growth and protect small businesses.

District 13 called Clapp-Smith interested in finding out what she and the committee has learned and if she could speak at their meeting to explain what Formula Business is about.  No one objected with Clapp-smith speaking at this meeting.

Committee Actions for Executive review:

If we are going to bring up significant issues at the full board, these need to be brought to the attention of the executive board first.  It will take a vote of the board.

Our annual board election meeting is coming up in October.  We need to seek out committed members willing to participate on the board, particularly renters.  Renters have always been a tough group to reach since they are quite transient.  Often the do not fill out a three year term.  One way is to actively seek them out by knocking on doors, however this would need to be approved by the landlords.  Some may see this as obtrusive.  Once on the board, these people need to be in officer positions or committee chairs.

Other Districts have a two year term, not a 3 year term like our district.  This can be quite daunting. A two (2) year term would be better for tenants.  No board member thought we should pursue reducing the term to a two (2) years.

District council member Thune will attend the annual meeting.  He will be prepared to answer questions regarding our community and what is happening at the city.

The Good neighbor award needs to be presented at the Annual meeting.  Board members have not had sufficient time to make recommendations.  A list of previous recipients will be sent via email.  Members should send in recommendations to Roy via email.  A list will be compiled and a vote taken by email.

Committee Reports

A.     Communications Committee

Did not meet in the past month.  There is nothing to report.

B.      Environment Committee

Sanders provided an update for the environment committee.  The city is responsible for maintaining the east side of the building.  SHA is responsible for the top lot area in front of the building.  There is $2000 available to beautify the outside of the building.  The committee will plan how it will best be utilized.

C.     House Tour Committee

Brostrom reported on the status of the House Tour.  Homeowner and volunteer packets are ready for pick-up.  We are getting good publicity.  All we need to do is hope for good weather.  The Appraisal fair is on the same day as Saint Luke’s “Family Day”.

Olga Zoltai and Shannon O’Toole have homeowner packets to take.  We do not know how sales have been since many businesses are selling them.  On line ticket purchases have been very steady.  Everyone should have received his or her assignments.  Barrera and Siekmeir need to be briefed on set-up procedures.

The house tour is Sunday, September 19^th.

D.    Pedestrian Safety and Traffic Calming Committee

Seikmeir reported on behalf of the Pedestrian Safety and Traffic calming committee.  There has not been a meeting since the last board meeting.  A discussion with neighbors about the traffic speed issues along St. Clair is on the agenda for the next meeting.

Monica Beeman said that they are producing the “20 is Plenty” signs.

The parking meeting with the community is scheduled for Monday, October 11, 2004.  If people want to change the hours of residential parking from 1 am to 2 am, the entire zone needs to change.  The city will not just identify certain streets.  Thunes office said they would look into the change.  A motion was made to recommend the time change.  The motion was seconded. The board voted to approve the recommendation to change from 1 am to 2 am.

The SHA Board will send a letter to the Public Works Department, City of Saint Paul to have the speed bumps in the Block Buster alley properly installed.  

                       F.  Zoning and Landuse

A second Zoning and Landuse Meeting was held on the 673 Lincoln property.  The owner has already sold two condominiums.  The committee voted unanimously to deny the request to make the property into a triplex.  The Zoning and Landuse committee sent a revised letter stating our position to deny the request based on the criteria that need to be meet.

Dobson noticed that 15 new tables or 60 (sixty) seats were added to the east side, (parking lot) of Wild Onions.  We should inquire to see if Wild Onion applied and received a permit for outdoor seating from the City of Saint Paul and the additional parking required, if any.  Roy will look into this.

Two billboards on the north side of Grand Ave. had fallen down due to the condition of old age.  Clear Channel claimed it was due to vandalism.  When the case went to the city, there was no permit requested to replace the billboards.  Several lawsuits regarding Clear Channels billboards they were lumped together at one hearing.  Since these billboards where included with the group of billboards involved in the lawsuit, SHA has no legal recourse in appealing their reconstruction.

SHA was not notified of the hearing, otherwise it may have been excluded from the group.

The billboards in discussion are on the railroad’s property and it is their decision whether to rent to them or not.  We are unsure of which railroad line has ownership of this property.  Five of the billboards in our neighborhood are Denny Hecker advertisements.  We could go to him directly to request that he not advertise in our area.  SHA needs to write a thoughtful letter to appeal to the property owners and open up the discussions.  Sanders volunteered to bring this to the environmental committee and prepare a letter.

6.  GABA Report

Breymeier was not here to report for GABA.

7. Executive Director’s Report:

Nothing additional to be reported.

8.  Treasurer’s Report:

 Brostrom made a quick treasurer’s report.  There is nothing notable to report. After the house tour, we will be going over the financials to prepare for the 2005 budget.

9.  Old Business/New Business/Announcements:

The Carriage House amendment is not going anywhere at this time.  This amendment was laid over and the planning commission was going to make it top of their agenda.  It is still laid over and will not be brought up anytime soon.  SHA was the only district that had any concerns regarding the Carriage House Amendment, therefore is not a burning issue for the city. The city has already passed some code clarifications.

New Business

Facts on LRT are available in the SHA office for review by anyone interested.

10.  Adjournment:

A motion was made to adjourn the meeting at 8:45 P.M. The motion received a second and passed unanimously.

Next meeting will be held Thursday October 14, 2004 at 7:00 P.M. at the Linwood Community Center Meeting room.

Minutes recorded by Deborah Rathman, Secretary