Oread Neighborhood Association
Thursday, April 23, 2009 @ 7:00 PM
Plymouth Congregational Church – Heritage Room
Minutes

Attending:  Candy Davis, James Dunn, Marci Francisco, Linda Haskins, Ellie Lecompte, Jerry Stubbs, Kyle Thompson, and Carol von Tersch

Absent Board Members:  Rene Diaz, Charity Grace, Christy Kennedy, and Beth Reiber

Coordinator’s Report

ONA Financials
•	ONA Treasurer and Coordinator account activity
o	Treasurer Account Balance:  $6,796.46
o	Coordinator Account Balance:  $10.86

•	CDBG Expenditure Report
The allocation for the current budget year totaled $9,901.  The balance of grant funds remaining as of April 23, 2009, is $3,037.15.  Projected expenses through the end of the budget year will be ~$3,390.  This includes:  
o	Coordinator Salary (7 pay periods @ $278.69):  $1,950
o	Employer Expenses (2nd Quarter Soc Sec and Medicare):  $280
o	Telephone ($37.25 per month x 3 months):  $111.75
o	Spring Newsletter (Printing @ $420, Mailing @ $630):  $1,050
There will be a shortfall of approximately $350.  This will be covered by membership and newsletter advertising income.  

•	ONA Membership Income:  Membership income received since August 01, 2008, totals $456.00.

Review February 2009 Neighborhood Meeting Minutes
The February 2009 meeting minutes were approved as submitted.  

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 still considers this property to be a high priority and the next step in the process will be discussed before the end of this week.  

•	1043 Indiana (Owner:  State of Kansas for University of Kansas):  The meeting that was to be held on March 26th was cancelled at the last minute.  The University’s intent was to make a decision in early April as to how they will proceed.  
o	There was nothing new to report based on an e-mail received from Barry Swanson on 04/23/09.

•	920 Missouri (Owner:  Philip J. Schlaman):  Reported for having furniture stacked on the porch.  While some of the furniture has been removed, there’s still a quantity that remains.  
o	The city hasn’t had any luck making contact with the residents; using several different resources.  The next step is to report this to the court (i.e.:  environmental blight violation).  City staff will do this sometime in the next week.

•	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 and there is no longer an active case for this address.  The city will continue to keep an eye on this property and if a blighted situation reoccurs, it will be addressed.
o	Neighbors asked that the city check the property from the alley in addition to driving by on Tennessee Street.  Blighted conditions are more frequently present in the back.  

•	1208 W. 10th (Owner:  Gannon Brown):  Reported for parking on the lawn.  
o	The property owners have talked with the tenants and told them that they should not be parking on the lawn.  If cars are seen parked on front lawns, this can be reported to police dispatch by calling 832-7509.  If a violation exists, the officer can write a ticket.  

•	945 Tennessee (Owner:  Reginal Hill):  Reported for fence being down and in disrepair; refuse accumulating in the back.  
o	The fence has been fixed and the brush on the property is supposed to be gone the weekend of 04/25/09.  

•	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	The contractor for 1129 Vermont was contacted by the city and he reported that he had switched to a different job this spring but he advised he will contact the owner and find out what his plans are.  The city asked him to tell the owner the he needs to make sure all entrances are boarded up and all trash picked up on the property.  

Demolition Permit
•	938 Missouri (Property Owner:  Joe Keating):  The garage, accessed via the alley, is almost falling over.  The 30-day public comment period will end April 30th.  
o	04/21/09 e-mail from Mike Goans, Lawrence Preservation Alliance, read:  “… I drove past the small garage at 938 Missouri.  It is not in any historic environs.  It appears to be in very bad repair and may not be of any significance.”
o	If a replacement, accessory structure will be built on the existing foundation, a building permit will be required.  

Planning Submittals
•	1022 Alabama Street (Submitted by:  Paul Werner Architects):  A variance is needed to build a duplex in this RM12 zoned area.
o	It is believed that there is a contradiction in the development code that requires a request for variance in order to build a duplex at this location.  Changing the development code to make the existing contradiction congruent would require a public hearing before the Planning Commission.
o	It is likely that this variance will appear on the May 7th BZA agenda.  When the agenda is publicized, the ONA board will be informed.
o	There will be a conflict with the Lawrence Preservation Society event at the Castle Tea Room and the May 7th BZA meeting.  However, the group consensus was that there should be ONA representation at the BZA meeting when this variance is discussed.  
o	It was the neighborhood’s opinion that the lot at 1022 Alabama is too small for a duplex.  Many of the duplexes that have been built in this area have had four bedrooms on each side; creating a high-density situation.  The area north of the stadium is zoned as RM12 and RM12D which is a medium density zoning with duplexes permitted.

•	1042 Tennessee Street (Submitted by:  Paul Werner Architects):  Renovate from four bedroom non-conforming congregate residence to five bedroom congregate residence. 
o	Following a neighbor’s inquiry about the location of the trash dumpster to be used by residents of 1042 Tennessee, the note about the dumpster was changed on the site plan to read, “Trash to be deposited in shared dumpster located as shown on the plan.”  The dumpster is located at a home across the alley.  
•	At a meeting with city staff last week, an Oread neighbor inquired about whether it is allowable by city code to indicate on a site plan that the trash from one property will be disposed of at another address.  If there is nothing in the development code that addresses this, then this practice should not be permitted until a revision to the development code is implemented.  
•	It would be the neighborhoods preference to have a dumpster on site at each boarding house.  Requiring a dumpster at each of these locations would take up a parking space but this would also help to control density because the occupancy would be limited to how much parking can be provided.  
•	Trash has been a problem throughout the neighborhood.  Unless there is a provision in the development code aloowing an alternative, we are asking that the location of trash receptacles be show on site plan submittals submitted to the Planning Department.  The expectation will be that the city continue to require this until there has been a change in code.  

•	1037 Kentucky (Submitted by:  Dan Hermreck):  Change from four individual apartments into one six bedroom congregate living residence.

Development Code Text Amendment – Boarding Houses
Neighbors expressed concern about the site plans that have been submitted to the city.  These represent an ongoing trend towards high density properties in the Oread neighborhood.  It will become more and more difficult to draw families to the neighborhood if it is dominated by boarding houses that cater primarily to the KU-student population.  It is unlikely that a serious graduate student would want to live next door to eight residents in one housing unit.

Representatives from the Lawrence Association of Neighborhoods and ONA met with city staff last week to discuss this issue.  A suggestion made at that meeting was to implement a moratorium on boarding houses until the Oread Neighborhood plan is complete.  It is anticipated that it will take up to one year before the plan is solidified and approved.  Neighbors thought that it would be a good idea to ask the city if they would be willing to do this.  A letter will be sent to the City Commission, Planning Commission and Historic Resources Commission requesting a moratorium on granting permits for boarding-house/congregate living conversions and additions while the code changes are under consideration.  There are outdated provisions for boarding houses in the current code.  A boarding house is defined as:  
A dwelling or part thereof where meals and/or lodging are provided for compensation for one (1) or more persons, not transient guests, and where there are not more than 12 sleeping rooms, nor sleeping space for more than 24 people.

There may be some benefit to addressing this concern with the Kansas State Historic Preservation Office.  Perhaps the Historic Resources Commission could take a more stringent approach when considering future requests and limit the size of additions.  It is important for the HRC to think carefully about the impact that these decisions have on the preservation of single-family homes in the neighborhood.  

When precedent is set, it becomes difficult for city boards/commissions to deny future similar requests.  The Oread neighborhood would like for the city to adhere to the development code; just as it does for other neighborhoods.  Another thing that would benefit the neighborhood would be implementation of an original townsite ordinance; setbacks could be changed so that developers couldn’t request additions that would extend almost all of the way back to the alley behind.   

City Agendas
•	Board of Zoning Appeals, April 2nd Meeting:  The BZA did not meet in April; there were no agenda items to be heard so the meeting was cancelled.    

•	Historic Resources Commission, April 16th Agenda:  There were no questions or comments about the  following Oread properties that were included on the agenda:
o	Nomination for Plymouth Congregational Church to the National Register of Historic Places
o	Wheatfields (904 Vermont):  A proposal a change between the sidewalk and street in two separate areas (i.e.:  Add turfstone that will be planted with creeping thyme; a hardy herb that will stand up to foot traffic).

Discussion Items

Identify Third Quarter Performance Measures

February – April 2009	
Date	Activity Description	Number of Attendees	
02/09/09	Oread Neighborhood Plan Meeting @ Lawrence Public Library	70	
02/25/09	Oread Neighborhood Plan Meeting @ City Hall	30	
02/26/09	Monthly Neighborhood Meeting:  Board Member Elections	14	
03/03/09	ONA donated $300.00 to the City of Lawrence to help offset the “In-Kind/Cash Match” that was needed for the grant award needed to complete the historic survey north of the stadium.	1	
03/11/09	Neighborhood Poll via E-Mail:  Renaming Missouri Street, from 10th – 11th Streets, in honor of Don Fambrough	+15	
	City Transit Meeting	1	
03/26/09	Monthly Neighborhood Meeting	6	
	Oread Representation at the Historic Resources Commission Meeting	1	
	Oread Representation at the Panel Discussion about Homelessness in Lawrence	2	
04/14/09	Coalition for Homeless Concerns and Community Coalition on Homelessness Meetings	1	
04/15/09	Meeting with city staff to discuss boarding house concerns	4	
04/23/09	Monthly Neighborhood Meeting	8	
	Community Development Advisory Committee	1	
04/24 and 04/25/09	Landlord and Fair Housing Event	2	

Spring Newsletter
The newsletter will be sent to the printer on Sunday, May 3rd.  Suggestions for newsletter content and Cheers and Chides included:  
•	Oread Neighborhood Plan progress will be included on the front page.
•	Neighbors in District 1 have noticed an increase in police presence in the neighborhood.
•	Public storm drains have been repaired in District 1
•	Students who are advocating for bar recycling could be recognized.
•	Sanitation crews go above and beyond in Oread / trash receptacles need to be available on site for rental properties.
•	1st grader from Cordley Elementary won a state-wide essay contest; he wrote about the benefits of eating tofu.
•	A photo of the sidewalk repair between 10th & 11th streets on Mississippi could be included.

Community Alcohol Coalition:  KU Student Success
The Vice Provost for Student Success at KU extended an invitation to the Oread Neighborhood Association to participate in the Community Alcohol Coalition.  Everyone present at the neighborhood meeting has other commitments that will prevent participation on the coalition.  However, a letter will be sent to the Coalition that explains the neighborhood’s perspective on the issue of alcohol consumption in the neighborhood; including underage drinking, KUPD participation in ordinance enforcement off-campus, concern that boarding houses contribute to off-campus party houses / noise and pedestrian alcohol related fatalities.  

Neighborhood Blight Survey
The top ten properties identified with poor or very poor structural condition ratings were discussed.  Four of these are owner occupied while the remaining six are not.  Ellie Lecompte volunteered to contact the city to find out how the neighborhood association might be able to help owner occupants.  The remaining six properties will be reported to the city as having structural blight that needs to be inspected by the city. 

Miscellaneous Reports
•	Lawrence Association of Neighborhoods:   The boarding house/duplex trend in neighborhoods adjacent to KU was discussed.  Representative from LAN, and the Oread neighborhood, will meet with city staff to discuss the concern about increased density and livability in neighborhoods that border the university.

•	Community Development Advisory Committee (formerly NRAC):  Oread’s capital improvement project and annual neighborhood funding request will be considered by the Lawrence City Commission at their May 5th meeting.  It is hoped that the commission will agree to fund neighborhoods according to what was requested in the grant applications and subsequently approved by the CDAC.  The Oread neighborhood would also like to receive approval for installation for a water meter / hand pump for the Lawrence Community Garden located at 901 Mississippi.  

FYI and Reminders

Expansion of Rental Licensing and Inspection Program:  Note from Brian Jimenez dated 04/23/09 read, “Sorry for the delay, it's been one those weeks so far. As far as I know, the City Commissioners, new and old have stated they do not wish to proceed at this point in time and David Corliss will not be recommending going forward at this point. As you know, this topic has been hot and cold for the last several years therefore I imagine something could change but I do not foresee that happening. I do think some sort of expansion will eventually occur. The big question right now, is when would that happen.  I hope that helps.”

Historic Survey:  No progress to report.  

Electronic Recycling Event – Saturday, April 25th @ Free State High Parking Lot:  
Items accepted for recycling are computer monitors, desktops, laptops, keyboards, printers and other auxiliary computer items, televisions, copiers, scanners, telephones, cell phones, pagers, fax machines, VHS/DVD drives, small appliances and hand held devices. The recycling fees apply; $5 per computer monitors and $10 per television. 
There are no charges for other electronic equipment. Fees may be paid by cash or check.  For further information please contact the Waste Reduction and 
Recycling Division at 832-3030 or visit 

Neighborhood Plan:  Progress report
•	Note from Dan Warner dated 04/21/09 read, “We are working on the draft.  We are probably 85-90% complete right now.  I’m hopeful we’ll have the draft released in the next couple of weeks.”

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

Graffiti Removal:  Check out http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/tps/briefs/brief38.htm