SHCC Meeting Minutes – October 2004

From Sugar House

Attendance

Trustees Present

Su Armitage, Philip Carlson, Sarah Carlson, Dolores Donohoo, Alice Edvalson, Doug Green, Bill Habel, Mark Holland, Michael G. Kavanagh, Scott Kisling, Cabot Nelson, Julie Nitzkowski, Lynne Olson, Tina Ottesen, Derek Payne, Helen Peters, Susan Petheram, Ruth Price, Ray Pugsley, L. Rex Sears, Judi Short, Martin Smith, Grace Sperry, Rawlins Young (24)

Trustees Excused

David Lawver

City/State Representatives

Sonny Ricks, SLC Police; Dr. Jan Clemmer, SLC School Board; Ranae Pierce, Sprague Library; Annette Daley, SLC Mayor’s Office, Dale Lambert, SL City Council (5)

Others

Dottie Bintz, C. T. Bintz, Chris Williams, Mike McBride, Lisa McBride, John Anderson, Jared Bradford, Henry Archer, Ali Kaefeifi, Ai Mitsufuji, Ben Burdett, Guy Madison, Janet Halverson, Sherrie Davis, Suzanne Dickey, Lorraine Leavitt, Lenore Lewis, Pam M. Sewell, Ben Sewell, Whitni Webb, Barbara Green, Grace Mackey, Tom Nitzkowski, Katherine Tolman, Mary Anne Douglas, Jennie Theuson, Melissa Lichtenstein, Jason Bultman, Gabe Westheimer, Michael Tolman, Doug White, Jared Lee, Heather Bennett, Vic Ayers (34) Total 63

Meeting minutes

The meeting began at 7 PM with Chair Helen Peters conducting. The minutes of the September meeting were approved. Trustee petitions for renewal were received and approved from Ray Pugsley and Susan Petheram. A new trustee petition was received and approved for Barbara Green from the Westminster neighborhood. Treasurer’s Report: A beginning balance of $4,597.77, expenditure to Mark Holland of $31.05 for the picnic, expenditure of $100 as a contribution for the memorial for Gayen Wharton, and expenditure of $500 for the 7th East tree project. $500 was received from Smith’s Food in payment for the 500 pins leaving an ending balance of $4,466.72.

Sesquicentennial Item Report

The items still available are: 11 pins, 9 t-shirts, and no plates.

Merchant’s Association Report

Lynne Olson reported that the new street lights are now in the process of being installed. The East Valley Chamber of Commerce has gone out of business. The Merchant’s Association has taken over some of their activities. She reported that the owner of “Sensibly Chic” was sponsoring a “Home For the Holidays” project. They are in need of $75,000 from the community to purchase a house that would then be fixed up for sale to a needy family. She noted that one of the merchants had not given approval on the Farmer’s Market so the City cancelled that activity.

Chair Report

Helen gave miscellaneous information and resources as well as noting upcoming public hearings and activities in the area. She noted the resignation, as Oct. 20, of trustee and secretary, Alice Edvalson after 10+ years with the community council. Helen said there was a need for someone to represent the Sugar House Community Council on a committee to review the City’s Neighborhood Association Recognition Ordinance. Scott Kisling agreed to represent the council on this. Helen’s handout information included a letter from Planning Division Director Louis Zunguze to Nancy Stark and Helen Peters regarding the Sugar House Community Master Plan and Zoning Amendments. Also included was an e-mail to Helen Peters regarding the Bicycle Friendly Highland Drive from Mike Holman.

Public Input

Ai Mitsufuji is concerned with security and the panhandlers in the area. She also mentioned a friend who had a stereo stolen from the car while parked in the Irving School House apartments. Jared Lee is concerned about not utilizing the space under the viaduct on Highland Drive. He feels there could be something special there. He suggested a bouldering area or other things that would be nice for children to play on and for neighbors to enjoy. Lynne Olson noted that this is part of the Canal/McClelland trail. John Anderson is concerned with the aggressive commercial encroachment into a residential neighborhood north of 2100 S. on View Street. He showed pictures of what he feels are zoning violations, parking violations, alley access questions, landscape requirements violations, set backs that are a question, and a huge garage in the area that he feels is causing a problem. He also noted a business that was built where a bunglow home once stood. He felt that businesses on 13th East are telling employees to park on View Street and walk through the alley to get to the businesses. He asked that a letter be sent from us to the Mayor’s office regarding this issue. Helen asked Annette Daley of the Mayor’s office to work with him to verify that the information he has given us is accurate before a letter be sent. Lisa McBride spoke regarding the Highland Park Elementary School, which is being proposed for demolition to be replaced with a smaller school. The neighbors are concerned with where an entrance is proposed for the school. The neighbors want our help to represent their interests. Ben Sewell spoke regarding the Highland Park Elementary school. He was also concerned with the proposed access and the traffic impacts in that area. He feels too many of the neighbors are not being notified of meetings being held on this issue. Janet Halverson also spoke regarding Highland Park Elementary and is concerned with the safety of the children. She wants to be involved in the meetings regarding this school. She is very concerned with what is going to happen with this school. Katherine Tolman also spoke concerning Highland Park Elementary. She feels that currently the kids don’t have a safe place to be dropped off. She feels that the proposed access to the school on Atkin and Melbourne will provide a safer place to drop off the kids. Helen feels that we do not have enough information at this time to get involved with this issue and suggested that we have representatives from the Council attend the meeting regarding this school. They will gather the necessary information and make sure that neighbors are notified of the meetings before the issue goes to the School Board in November. Doug Green and Sarah Carlson are trustees in this area. Doug will take the lead in attending these meetings. Doug White wanted to make everyone aware of a public meeting to be held at 1025 E. Sugarmont Drive on Sat., Oct. 9 at 2 PM regarding the proposed Sugar House trolley. Ali Khefeifi is concerned with the enforcement of the Dog Leash Ordinance in Sugar House Park. Helen will get information to him as to who to contact.

Elections opened

(7:45) Trustees on the ballot were: Sarah Carlson and Mark Holland for Chair, Tina Otteson, Susan Petheram, Rex Sears, and Grace Sperry for Vice Chair, None for Secretary, Dolores Donohoo for Treasurer. There were 23 trustees in attendance when the elections opened.

Crime Update

Officer Sonny Ricks noted that they are working with the Irving School House on some crime issues there. He left copies of the crime reports for our area.

Mayor’s Office Update

Annette Daley reported on upcoming activities in the City. She said that the Midvale homeless shelter will be opened from Nov. 1 – May 1. The shelter has a need for pillows or blankets if anyone would like to contribute. The City has a new sidewalk barricade that is more appropriate for blind people. The Fairmont Skate Park is officially open now. The City is having a contest for a design of a new flag. Annette encouraged those present to check out the City’s web site for other information regarding the City.

City Council Update

Dale Lambert reported that the Walkable Community Zoning Ordinance is with the City Council for approval. The proposed apartment building on 12th East has been dropped. There will be a briefing on Thurs. night for the Highland Dental Clinic alley vacation. The new Ballet West Conservatory project is on hold for the time being. They are still trying to raise the necessary funds. There is some effort to persuade them to be a part of a large arts complex in the downtown area. Dale is trying to move forward the improvements on the Sugar House monument. Dale feels that if it is scaled back just a little, there is funding available for it. There have been a lot of legal battles over development on the foothills to the east, and it looks like there will be some development allowed in that area. The Olympic Legacy committee is meeting to look at ideas for legacy projects. Dale hopes the Open Space Trust Fund ordinance will be done in a month or so. Dale is also looking at the Highland Park School issue. Judi Short referred to the letter to Helen in the Chair Report and expressed concern about the length of time the rezoning issue has taken to be finalized. She is concerned that projects are getting approved using the old rules. Lynne Olson also expressed concerns over the same issue. Susan Petheram feels that 7th – 9th East are being left out in the changes that are being made in the Walkable Community Zoning Ordinance. Scott Kisling supported Judi’s concerns, also referring to Louis’s letter to Helen in the Chair Report handout. Rawlins Young noted that we started the Walkable Communities ordinance 7 years ago and he feels there are still important issues that are not being addressed, such as street frontage, bus stop benches, and public right-of-way issues.

Monthly Featured Sugar House Business

Su Armitage spotlighted Exclusive Clothing at 1826 East 2700 South. The owner is Meela Stokes from Russia. Meela does tailoring, alteration, clothing design and all types of sewing. She also has a curio cabinet in her store with handpainted Russian items for sale, with proceeds going to an orphanage in the Ukraine. Helen also noted that the Guild Hall (where the old post office was) is moving and Patagonia is a new business located on Highland Drive where the Angler’s Inn used to be.

City-Wide Planning Issues

Susan Petheram said that the City is looking at non-conforming uses. These are uses that were conforming with zoning ordinances at one time but are not now. They are looking at what can be done if a building is destroyed and what can be done with it under the current ordinances. The City is also reviewing the minimum lot size for a Planned Unit Development. Susan again pointed out our disappointment with not having a city planner specifically assigned to our area. We don’t feel that we are being served by the Planning Division as well as we were when we had a planner who was assigned specifically to our area. The motion was made that we send a letter to Louis requesting our need for one, with voting 20 in favor, 0 opposed, 1 abstention.

SLC School Board Candidate

Heather Bennett representing precinct 5 said she has attended about 85% of the meetings since 1988 and is concerned with issues like the school closures. She feels there needs to be a real community building process on school issues. She has children in the schools and has been involved with the PTA. The incumbent, Dr. Janice Clemmer was also present at the meeting and is running against Heather Bennett.

Sugarhouselife.com Information

Lori Hendry was not at the meeting. Helen noted that she has included a lot of Sugar House information of interest on her Real Estate business website and has volunteered to include information about our community council.

Bicycle/Pedestrian- Friendly Highland Drive

Jason Bultman presented a proposed letter to be distributed to residents along Highland Drive. We discussed the letter and gave some suggestions for modifications. Jason asked for any negative feelings on this issue as he had not received many. Helen referred him to the copy of the e-mail from Mike Holman included in the Chair Report handout. Henry Archer who has recently moved into the community spoke in support of the effort to make our community more bicycle friendly. The City would like to do a survey of businesses along Highland Drive to get their feelings. Jason wants to make this a community effort and not just his project. We were also given a copy of an article titled “Road Diets Fixing the Big Roads”. Grace Sperry, who lives on Highland Drive agrees with the comments of Mike Holman. Helen suggested we have a presentation from the SLC Transportation Dept. regarding traffic studies and other issues in this area for the next month’s meeting. Ruth Price is concerned that there were no comments in Jason’s letter about how he would deal with handicapped and elderly persons. Ruth would also like something to be done about the traffic problems in front of the Post Office. Ray Pugsley reported his concerns about dumping bicyclists onto roads that were not designed for bicycle traffic. There were expressed desires that there be 2 lanes of traffic along Highland Drive, with parking on each side. This is also Jason’s preference. Dolores feels we need to look at the needs of the vehicles and not just look at the needs of those on bicycles and those that are walking. She also feels a need to educate bicyclists as to the rules of the road. Philip Carlson will work with Jason and Dan Bergenthal of SLC Transportation for next month’s presentation. Dolores will work with Jason on making his handout more neutral. It was also suggested that they add the information for next month’s community council meeting on his handout.

Blue Sky Community Challenge

Lisa Romney was not at the meeting.

Elections Closed

The elections were closed at approximately 8:45 with 24 trustees in attendance at the close of elections.

Chevron/Redman Redevelopment -Vic Ayers

Helen explained the basic issues regarding these two developments. The two projects are very much linked because Vic didn’t have enough parking stalls for the Redman project. He could resolve this by using 10 stalls on the Chevron site for his parking. When the Chevron project was presented to us in April 2004, we were not made aware that the plan included a drive-thru window. Trustees were not given copies of the architecture drawings to study, only a large drawing for presentation purposes. There was no mention of the drive-thru issue in the minutes. It was felt that this would have been an issue and we would have paid special attention to it since a drive-thru is not desirable in the Sugar House business district. We did transmit a letter of our support of the plan. Helen indicated that she objected to this proposal after she became aware of the drive-thru, but the Planning Commission felt that as long as we saw the plans and gave our approval, the City requirements had been fulfilled. After much concern and discussion, Helen felt that it was not appropriate for us to appeal the decision of the Planning Commission, but she rescinded our letter of support. Helen did note that the food that would be sold through the drive-thru window would be more snack kinds of food and would be prepared off-site, limiting what could be sold at the drive-thru. Susan Petheram reported that the drive-thru reduced the number of parking stalls that Chevron would need for their restaurant. This made it possible to lease those extra ten stalls to Mr. Ayers to satisfy his parking requirements. Vic reported on the joint landscaping that will be done by both developments and felt that it would be a good plan for the community. Vic hoped that we would support both developments. They have all the units reserved with very good tenants. One company is putting their corporate office on the 2nd floor. As a result of the problems we have had regarding these developments, Lynne Olson emphasized the real need that any proposal to come before the Community Council be given to the Land Use Committee prior to any presentation at a council meeting, so they have adequate time to review all the details of the proposal. It is also important that we require diagrams of plans to be made available to each trustee so they have enough time to properly evaluate what is really included in the plan. Vic supported this idea and even offered to help see that this happens. Vic also expressed his frustrations with not having our own planner for the Sugar House area. He has had to work with several different planners over the course of his project and that has been disconcerting to him. Helen commented that changes are going to be made so that in future, a City Planner will be present to orient the Council when a development project is presented at a Council meeting.

Election Results: Treasurer

Dolores Donohoo, Secretary: Tina (write in, she declines), Lynne Olson (write in, also declines), Cabot Nelson (write in, accepted), Vice Chair: Rex Sears, Susan Petheram, Tina Ottesen, Chair: Mark Holland.

Adjourn

Meeting adjourned approximately 9:30 PM