ECCO Meeting Minutes for December 1, 2011

ECCO Meeting Minutes for December 1, 2011 at St. Mary’s Greek Orthodox Church

Minutes recorded and submitted by Harry Savage and Monica Smith and approved by the ECCO Board by electronic vote prior to publication.

Board Members Present: Sarah Sponheim, President; Blake Harper & Linda Todd, Co-VP; Glen Christianson, Treasurer; Harry Savage, Secretary; Anja Curiskis; Kate Davenport; Brad Durham; Judy Shields; and Heather Wulfsberg.

Board Members Absent: Gael Ellis and Jim Smith

Also present: Breanna Patsch (aide to CM Meg Tuthill), CM Gary Schiff and East Calhoun residents.

ECCO Board President Sarah Sponheim called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.

The meeting began with introductions. The agenda was unanimously approved.

Announcements

In the interim since the last board meeting, the ECCO Board electronically approved sending a letter to City Council Member Sandy Colvin Roy in support of single-sort recycling and a letter to the President of the Parish Council of St. Mary’s Greek Orthodox Church, encouraging the church to implement organics recycling.

Breanna Patsch, Aide to Meg Tuthill (City Council Member, Ward 10):

• The final public hearing on the 2012 budget will be December 14^, 6:05 p.m. at City Hall.
• Block leader training will be held on December 6, 1-2 p.m. at the 5^th Precinct.
• There are a variety of ways to learn about Snow Emergencies, including Facebook and Twitter. Check out the options on City’s webpage: www.minneapolismn.gov/snow or call 612-348-SNOW.
• There will be no “Meet with Meg” in December.
• A request was made that the City offer a special yard waste collection due to the late fall.

Gary Schiff (City Council Member, Ward 9) presented his proposal to eliminate the Conditional Use Permit (CUP) application for residential property with five to nine units.

Currently, new residential property with 5-9 units requires a Site Plan and a CUP. The Site Plan is a set of requirements specifying standards for building materials, access, landscaping, etc. The CUP is a tool to add conditions to a permit. CUP is not a tool that can be used to deny an application. It allows for conditions placed on the use, but it doesn’t stop the use. Since the use of a residential building is housing, CM Schiff can’t identify any conditions that are not already required in the Site Plan. He feels that the CUP is a duplicative regulation that doesn’t add substantive value to the review process.

In the past decade, 44 new developments with 5-9 units were reviewed by the Planning Commission at a public hearing. If this proposal passes, 39 of those projects would still require neighborhood notice and a public hearing because they had some other issue.

This proposal is for new residential developments (5-9 units) only. The CUP will remain in place for commercial use and for height requirements in the Shoreland Overlay District.

In response to concerns about neighborhoods losing the ability to provide feedback on development, CM Schiff stated that eliminating the CUP does not eliminate neighborhood notification. Developments with 5-9 units are required to comply with Site Plan review rules. If the Site Plan rules are not met or the development is requesting rezoning or a variance, a public hearing will be required.

Planning staff feels that the CUP application does not have any weight behind it. Eliminating the CUP will allow staff to focus on the more important Site Plan. State law limits the amount of time that government can review applications to 60 days. If a city does not rule on an application within 60 days, the developers get whatever they request. Eliminating this type of CUP will help streamline the review process.

Another proposed change for greater communication with the public: the Weekly Planning Applications Report will be available to anyone upon request.

Committee Reports

Sarah Sponheim proposed that committees meet on a regular basis so we can invite more participation from residents. Committee chairs will write descriptions for their committees to be posted on the website.

The board voted to create a Livability Committee. This committee will encompass zoning, traffic, safety and public events. Kate Davenport and Jim Smith will co-chair this committee. Heather Wulfsberg, past chair of the Zoning Committee will transition her files to Kate.

The Social Committee will expand to include community engagement. The committee is considering an ambassador program (ECCO’s version of Welcome Wagon). The Social Committee is planning a holiday caroling event. Meet at St. Mary’s at 6:30 p.m. on December 19^th for caroling in the neighborhood followed by a social event at the home of Judy Shields. Everyone is invited. The ECCO Board approved using funds to purchase refreshments.

Uptown Neighborhood News (UNN): The UNN board would like more direction and input from East Calhoun and CARAG. A combined ECCO/CARAG/UNN meeting was suggested. The UNN is now on Facebook. The ECCO Board voted to allow the UNN to post PDFs of back issues of the newspaper on www.eastcalhoun.org.

Tree Task Force: The next meeting of the task force will be December 20, 7 p.m. at St. Mary’s. Rainbow Treecare will discuss treatment options for Emerald Ash Borer. The Park Board wrongly tagged a number of trees for removal on Irving Ave. These trees will not be removed.

Green Team: The Transportation & Public Works Committee of the City Council has directed staff to review the pros and cons of single-sort vs. dual-sort recycling for further consideration this spring. The Green Team received a positive response from St. Mary's regarding organics recycling; the church will get back to us in January. Waste Watchers is having a party to thank all volunteers. Waste Watchers will be distributing a cart hanger to all residents in January encouraging people who don't have them to sign up for an organics recycling cart.

Finance: The board discussed forming a Finance Committee to help set the East Calhoun budget and oversee neighborhood fund-raising and project expenditures. This was tabled for discussion at a future meeting. The board discussed devoting an entire meeting to creating ECCO’s 2012 budget.

Monica Smith’s Report

• Neighborhood signage City workers are hanging our new East Calhoun border signs.
• Community Participation Program (CPP) Expenses year-to-date were reviewed for the CPP funding.
• NRP Phase I and II expenses and budgets were reviewed. Grant money is available for home improvement projects, home security and more.
• Mailing The Board approved spending approx $900 of the CPP communications budget to mail a brochure to all East Calhoun residents. The brochure will include information about NRP programs, social events and committees to encourage participation in neighborhood activities.
• Idea Auction The board will consider an “idea auction” to give residents a chance to present ideas for possible uses for the $5,000 CES grant.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:07 p.m.

Next meeting: Thursday, January 5, 7:00 p.m. at St. Mary’s Greek Orthodox Church.