Oread Neighborhood Association
Thursday, March 26, 2009 @ 7:00 PM
Plymouth Congregational Church – Heritage Room

Attending:  Candy Davis, James Dunn, Marci Francisco, Linda Haskins, Christy Kennedy, Ellie Lecompte, and Kyle Thompson

Absent Board Members:  Rene Diaz, Charity Grace, Beth Reiber, Jerry Stubbs and Carol von Tersch
Coordinator’s Report

ONA Financials
•	ONA Treasurer and Coordinator account activity
o	Treasurer Account Balance:  $7,415.79
o	Coordinator Account Balance:  $28.76

•	ONA Membership Income:  Membership income received since August 01, 2008, totals $356.00.

Review February Neighborhood Meeting Minutes
This was deferred because there was not a quorum present to vote.    

Blight Report 
•	1232 Louisiana (Owner:  1240 Louisiana Street Associates LLC):  Demolition of this property was approved by the City Commission in August 2008.  
o	The city is working on a resolution to take the structure down.  The plan is to have the item on the March 31st City Commission agenda.    

•	1043 Indiana (Owner:  State of Kansas for University of Kansas):  The University has received permission from the Board of Regents to sell the property and is now looking at a couple of options as to how that can be accomplished.  

•	920 Missouri (Owner:  Philip J. Schlaman):  At the time of re-inspection, some of the furniture was moved from the porch but not much.  The city has sent a notice of violation.  The property will be checked again sometime during the week of April 5-11.  

•	1218 Tennessee (Owner:  Lawrence Bodle):  Reported for having excessive trash and vermin coming from a trailer stored on the property.  
o	The property has been cleaned up enough to be in compliance.  The city will continue to keep an eye on this property.  

•	1632/34 Tennessee (Owner:  Robert Garcia):  Reported for lack of upkeep.  Trash is continually in the yard and the front yard has been used to park in so the yard is muddy and without grass.  
o	The property has been cleaned up.  If cars are seen parked in the front yard, a call to the police will result in a parking ticket or at least a warning can be issued.  LPD Dispatch Phone Number:  832-7509.

•	1208 W. 10th (Owner:  Gannon Brown):  Reported for parking on the lawn.  
o	Parking violations are to be called in to the police via the dispatch phone number.  Neighbors would like for the city to send a letter to the property owners.  It would be preferable to educate those involved before a citation gets written; resulting in a fine.    

•	945 Tennessee (Owner:  Reginal Hill):  Reported for fence being down and in disrepair; refuse accumulating in the back.  
o	The city reported that this looks like a work in progress; trees are being removed.  A message has been left for the owner to see what is going on.    

•	1129 Vermont (Owner:  Robert Garcia):  This house burned in December 2007.  A concern was reported about the accumulation of materials on the front porch and the possibility that there might be homeless individuals taking up residence in the home.  Rehab work has begun but is not complete.
o	1129 Vermont has an active building permit so the city won’t take any action concerning the building materials on the porch.  This is allowed while construction is underway.  
o	Neighbors would like to know when the existing building permit was approved and what the duration of the approval is.  They would also like to know how many building permit extensions can be requested.  There is concern that renovation of this home has stalled and there hasn’t been noticeable activity at this address for some time.  

City Agendas
•	Board of Zoning Appeals, March 5th Agenda:  There were no Oread properties included on the March agenda.      

•	Historic Resources Commission, March 26th Agenda:  There were two Oread properties on the March agenda.
o	928 Ohio Street (Owner:  Fadila Boumaza):  Rehab / New Addition
•	The neighborhood has concerns about this because this group is already renovating / expanding the home at 930 Ohio; to include eight bedrooms.  Adding another high-density property next door is not considered to be in the best interest of the neighborhood. 
•	The scale of the proposed project would seem to be contrary to preserving the historic character of this block.  Neighbors hope that the HRC will take this into consideration when considering the project.  An Oread representative agreed to leave the meeting and go to City Hall to speak with the HRC about the neighborhood’s concerns.
o	937 Massachusetts (Jayhawk Spirit):  Reface an existing sign.
•	There were no questions or comments about this agenda item.

Planning Submittal
•	904 Vermont (Wheatfields):  Wheatfields is proposing to change city property between the sidewalk and street in two separate areas with turfstone that will be planted with creeping thyme; a hardy herb that will stand up to foot traffic.  This will eliminate the dirt between the sidewalk and street where passengers step out of cars.
o	Neighbors appreciate that Wheatfields is taking this initiative.  The proposed project will be an improvement to the public right of way in front of the restaurant.   

Discussion Items

Blight Survey – Top 20:  Properties identified with poor or very poor structural condition ratings were discussed.  
•	Information will be gathered about owner occupancy before a list of properties is reported to the city due to structural blight concerns.  The County Treasurer has record of where property tax bills are sent.  If a tax bill is mailed to an address identified in the blight report, it can be assumed that this would be an owner occupied residence.  
•	The neighborhood can ask if there are any CDBG or city funds available to assist home owners with improvements that are needed.
•	The top ten blighted properties will be used as a starting point.  The neighborhood does not want to overburden the city with too many properties.    

Envision Coalition – KU Student Senate Candidates
There was an article in today’s University Daily Kansas that outlines the platform issues identified by this group.  One issue identified was a disparity between the student population and the City of Lawrence.  This student group believes that zoning and noise ordinances are unreasonable in the Oread Neighborhood.  They would like to propose several ideas to the city and the Oread Neighborhood Association.  One idea is to exempt students who live in Oread from the noise ordinance or the noise ordinance could be revised to make it more student-friendly.  The coalition believes that this would minimize student evictions.  

Lawrence Association of Neighborhoods
No report.  The Oread representative who serves on LAN was not able to attend the March meeting.    

Community Development Advisory Committee (formerly NRAC)
•	The board reviewed the rest of the public service requirements today.  The Salvation Army plans to close on May 1st due to a lack of funding.  Anticipated federal funding has been lost.  The CDAC voted to fully fund the Lawrence Community Shelter because this facility will be picking up extra people when the Salvation Army closes.  

•	Housing and Credit counseling was fully funded.  This service will be important to the community until the economy improves.  

•	The Ballard Community Center had asked for $20,000 but only received $6,000 after all of the other allocations had been made.  The neighborhood may want to consider how much funding is requested on future grant applications.  Identifying ways to reduce the ONA budget will allow additional funding for other community needs that can be funded by CDBG dollars.  

•	It is anticipated that the city will receive additional CDBG funding for capital improvement projects; ~$216,000.  If the Ballard Center has capital improvement needs, this funding could be used to help them.  Energy efficiency improvements would result in lower utilities bills for the center.

Improvements in District 1
Public storm drains have been repaired in this area of the neighborhood.  The city did a really good job.

FYI and Reminders

Sales Tax Rate Changes Effective April 1st:  Lawrence shoppers will begin supporting city streets, infrastructure, fire trucks and the transit system next Wednesday when sales taxes approved last November take effect.  Lawrence will have a 7.85% sales tax rate.  

Neighborhood Plan Update:  March 2009 Plan Progress from Dan Warner… “Michelle had a boy. I'm working on gathering a little more existing conditions information. I'm also drafting language for the plan and taking pictures for the plan. We still have comments trickling in. All in all, I think we're making good progress towards completing a first draft.”

Historic Survey – District 1:  On March 3rd, the City Commission accepted the grant for the Oread neighborhood historic survey.  The City Manager made special mention of the letter and $300 check from ONA.  The letter submitted with the check read,

Dear Mayor and City Commissioners, 3-3-09

The Oread Neighborhood Association wishes to donate $300.00 to the City of Lawrence. This money is intended to be used to help alleviate any expenses incurred by the City in accepting the recent Historic Grant awarded the City of Lawrence by the State Historic Preservation Board. We believe that this historic resources survey of a portion of the Oread neighborhood will help further efforts to preserve the integrity of the area.  Thank you for your continuing consideration of the welfare of our neighborhood. 

The Oread Neighborhood Association 

•	A note will be sent to the Planning Office requesting that the updated neighborhood plan include a contingency for modification if the historic survey results in approval of a new historic district in the neighborhood.  

Expansion of Rental Licensing and Inspection Program:  At the February 17th City Commission Meeting, Mayor Dever said that he was in favor of this concept but did not know how to achieve it.  He said City staff needs to look at the number of units impacted, do some multiplying and figure out how many hours would be spent inspecting properties and the cost that would be associated with that.

Demolition Permit Applications:  None received since the February meeting.

Public Participation Plan:  To review the draft Public Participation Plan for involving citizens in regional transportation decision making, please visit:  www.lawrenceks.org/pds/PPP.  Public review and comment will be available February 10, 2009 thru March 27, 2009.

1232 Louisiana:  Demolition approved by the City Commission on 08/12/08 with conditions that included: 
o	Neighborhood Plan:  This will need to be updated prior to building a replacement structure.
o	Parking:  Following demolition, the property cannot be used as a parking lot.