SHCC Meeting Minutes – April 2007

From Sugar House

Attendance

Trustees present

Russell Callister, Phil Carlson, Sarah Carlson, Barbara Green, Dave Holbrook, Mark Holland, Michael G. Kavanagh, Scott Kisling, Emil Kmet, Andrea Moesser, Dave Mulder, Cabot Nelson, Susan Petheram, Ray Pugsley, L. Rex Sears, Judi Short, Grace Sperry, Andrea Wargula, Steve Wilson, Rawlins Young (20)

Trustees excused

Su Armitage, Dolores Donohoo, Art Haddow, Derek Payne (4)

City/State representatives

Michael Stott, SLC Mayor’s Office; Soren Simonsen, SLC Council; Fred Ross, SLPD (3)

Others

Vera Novak, Jaelene V. Myrup, Jana Johnson, Sheila O’Driscoll, Robert Cheney, Joyce Cheney, David Muse, Wayne Ricks, Melissa Lichtenstein, Allison Stone, Amy Buchanan, Ramiro Flores, Danny Walz, Boyd Petersen, Ralph Becker (16)

Meeting minutes

Call to order, 7:03pm. Phil Carlson, chair. Treasurer Dolores Donohoo was out, but she’s getting better every day. She’s expecting to host the executive committee meeting on Wednesday at her home.

David Holbrook moved to approve minutes of last month’s meeting. There were no objections.

SLC Council District 7 town meeting will be on April 26th at Dilworth Elementary. There is a quarter plan for Foothill and the small area plan for the apartments and WalMart/KMart near Parleys Way.

SLC Council District 6 meeting will be on Tuesday, April 24th at Indian Hills Elementary.

Crime Update

Officer Fred Ross, SLPD: desk number: 799-3669, cell: 301-1251, email: fred.ross@slcgov.com . In the middle to the end of last week, we had a round of graffiti. It happened at Smith Crown and other businesses. Call to get it removed: Graffiti hotline is 972-7885. Recent home burglaries have stopped. The SLPD has two in custody. The suspects my have hit in West Valley City also.

Property crimes are down, crime against persons is up. Auto thefts are down, as are car prowls. Security has been great at Pizza and Pasta. Sarah Carlson inquired where the recent burglaries were. One robbery at Formosa Grill on 2100 S in a series of restaurant robberies. A trustee asked about tonight’s incident at Stratford and Imperial. Officer Ross has no info yet.

Chair Report, continued

Another announcement: Ralph Becker is here as a candidate. There is a thank-you card for Helen, who has resigned. Trustees were urged to sign and donate.

Alley Vacation, 2553 S. Dearborn St.

Alley vacation at 2553 S. Dearborn St., presented by Vera Novak & Steve Wilson. Steve Wilson took the issue. They handed out photocopies, color printouts of information. Most neighbors have signed the petition.

Ms. Novak went through the handouts page by page. 1477 E Stratford has a garage that was improperly permitted. Vacating alley will cut off access. The owner has been trespassing to access the garage.

Questions were for clarification.

Steve Wilson moved that the SHCC write a letter for Vera Novak indicating that she has complied with the alley vacation petition application by presenting her request to the council. The letter will take no position towards any property owner and recommends proper city agencies to further look into the matter. Judi Short seconded. Steve offered to draft the letter and email it to Phil.

Rex Sears added that it was good for the council to not a take position. Rex offered a friendly amendment: We note that Novak was thorough, prepared, forthcoming and helpful. The full amendment passed unanimously by voice vote.

Online resources: Yahoo! group for trustees

Cabot Nelson gave a computer presentation about the Yahoo! Group for the SHCC which offers an email forum and photo albums. It is a resource for trustees only. The URL is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SugarHouse

Susan Petheram’s new email is spetheram@earthlink.net .

Business Spotlight, Frost Books

Presented by Rich Frost, owner of Frost Books. Frost Books was started by Mr. Rich’s mother in 1959.It’s a family operation. They sell thousands of children’s books at 50-70% off. There are occasional book signings. Andrea Moesser commented that Frost Books offered books to her bookclub at discount rates.

Merchant’s Association Update

By Barbara Green. Phil Carlson took notes while Cabot Nelson was setting up.

City Council Update

By Soren Simonsen. Mr. Simonsen also commented favorably about Frost Books.

Last night was busy. It was the closing of the public hearings for the redevelopment of City Creek center. The sky bridge was the main point. You can add your comments at council.comments@slcgov.com .

Come to the meeting on the 17th for some issues. Downtownrising.com is an envisioning plan for downtown with the SL Chamber. U of U’s School of Arch + Planning helped produce graphics. The meeting is next Tuesday between 11am-1pm. More information at saltlakechamber.org. The plan incorporated urban design elements addressed especially favored by the American Planning Association, the Congress of New Urbanism, etc. They also advocate form-based zoning. Mayor Anderson wants formula-free business zoning which might help local business. The goal would be to maintain business incubation.

SLC Council’s Small Business subcommittee has been organized at the Nibley meeting. Small business task force been implemented to help businesses impacted, especially by construction and public works. There is a town meeting on April 26th at Dilworth Elementary at 7:00pm. Two recent ordinances: infill ordinance and landscaping ordinance. Landscaping is pending. It would allow taking out sod in some instances. Currently, some of it is against city ordinances. There is information on infill online on the city’s web site.

Parley’s trail is under construction in some areas. There is a trail to Tanner Park. There is funding from the SLC council for the land use study and the corridor study on Foothill Blvd. There is also a proposal to ban cellphone use while driving in SLC.

Michael G. Kavanagh asked if Doug Fabrizio on UtahNOW was fair with Mr Mecham.

Land Use & Zoning Committee Reorganization

Helen has stepped down and resigned from the board of trustees. The board wants to reorganize without depending on one individual. The committee will choose its own chair. We can hope the work will be distributed.

There should be an open subcommittee to deal with WalMart. The current zone would not allow a supercenter. Volunteers are Andrea Moesser, Judi Short, Scott Kisling, Dave Holbrook, Rawlins Young, and Phil Carlson as an ex officio member. The membership should be limited to that six.

The Land Use & Zoning committee will be reorganized after the meeting for anyone interested. Those on the former committee are hoped to return. Volunteers are Mark Holland, Dave Mulder, Dave Holbrook, Judi Short, Sarah Carlson, Susan Petheram, Grace Sperry, and Derek Payne.

On the committee, Rawlins Young would like a commission and some people with background in the trade and issues. David Mulder would like reports every month.

As a thank-you gift for Helen, we’re giving her a perennial for her perennial garden.

Parks Committee

By Grace Sperry. She distributed handout notes. There his been a lot of participation.

For the Parley’s Historic Nature Park, they met with the city group on Friday. Val Pope and Del Cook came to take suggestions. They will take all back and review it. There was a meeting with the county parks stakeholder advisory committees. Emil Kmet keeps in touch with Andrew Mitchell on lighting the skatepark in Fairmont. The citizen’s advisory board gave him a good reception. On the Nature Park, Emil was appointed to be on that committee. Two facilitators controlled the group. Some issues haven’t been addressed. There are 15 members on that committee that was formed by the city council.

Michael G. Kavanagh said that for Parley’s trail, the bridge is going to be assembled first, then placed into position. The trail will not go through the nature preserve, to not “bother the dogs.”

Rawlins Young spoke about the request to rezone to the area to Redeemer Lutheran Church. In 1983, the SHCC proposed to close Hillcrest Road. They meant to create Hillcrest park. Right after, the church made similar proposal to build the school. Hopefully, there will be more info about the 1987 land swap.

There was more discussion about the property line. The church has sought legal counsel. The information from the city staffer as given a couple of months ago was incorrect. If this issue comes again in the future, we’ll need this information. Emil added that when this issue came up, this was important to the parks committee. Grace added that when staffer come to the parks committee, many people have questions.

Mayor’s Office Update

By Michael Stott. The Mayor will be in two places: 10am on Saturday at Niblus 910 W 200 N. Then at 7:30pm at the SLC Main Library to give a speech for the next round of SLC Reads Together. The book is John Steinbeck’s “Grapes of Wrath.” This will piggy back with Big Read program. See more at www.slcpl.org for the City Library.

Public Input

Boyd Peterson spoke for the Valley Journals. In the SL area, it didn’t succeed. Phone number is 580-3310 for comments about having the Journals. About 800 households in SH are getting it right now. The Web site is www.valleyjournals.com. Grace Sperry asked if there wasn’t much interest. There was also crossfire at city hall.

Ralph Becker mentioned his candidacy.

Aaron Stevenson ask about any input with the Granite Block development. He lives on Elm Avenue. He is concerned about the possiblitity that it’ll become dense. Hollywood has a roundabout and asked if there could be a roundabout on Elm Avenue. Mr. Stevenson is Tom Judd’s grandson. Questions about the roundabout should go to Tim Harpst. Sarah Carlson said we should support advance work on this.

Parliamentary Postmortem

By Ray Pugsley. Let it go this time.

Adjourn

The July meeting will be held on July 11th.

Adjourned, 9:20pm