WECAN Board Meeting Minutes
August 3, 2017
Board Members present: Byron
Ballard, Jared Fischer, Lyn Hall, Rachel Larson, Floree Lowery and Pattiy Torno.
Members not present: Danny Aull, Tom Gibson, Rebecca
Lance, Mike Kenton, Luke
Perry JoAnn Skinner and
Suzanne Willis.
At Large Members not
present: Rafael Rettig.
Also
Present: Jessie Coleman, Joe Fioccola and APD Officer Justin Wilson.
INTROS: Rachel called the meeting
to order at 6:37 pm.
MINUTES/ TREASURER”S
REPORT: Lynn
moved and Byron seconded a motion to approve the draft WECAN minutes from July
6 as distributed with one spelling correction. The motion passed. There was no treasurer’s report.
APD/CRO Update: Justin happily
advised that no crimes were reported in WECAN in July. Some issues have been
reported with traffic going the wrong way on Club/Trade St from west Haywood
and with parking on West Haywood between Park Ave and Roberts Street. In other
neighborhoods S French Broad reported increased prostitution, more homeless
camps, shooting at Hillcrest, Pisgahview and Livingston and pickpockets
downtown. Several people reported cars not yielding to people in the crosswalks
at Clingman and Hilliard.
BLOCK JESSIES: There
is an ongoing problem with inconsiderate parking on and off Rector Street. Lynn
reported homeless camping continues near Clingman Lofts and at Owens-Bell Park.
No movement on making
Clingman Avenue Extension one way. Duke-Energy was inconsiderate when they cut
down two crabapple trees and half of the big willow tree at the Crisps on W
Haywood Street where they are putting in new transmission lines and never
informed or consulted with them. Pattiy
was asked by Robert Sipes (Jason Walls boss) to let them know when what they do
is not right. She brought up the replacement of trees they cut down on Clingman
Avenue that have not been replaced and she met with Victor Ray the next day and
with Rot Smith ,Duke’s arborist to identify 11 stumps. They will remove 6 piles
of debris and cut down the remaining stumps and treat them. Then in the fall
they will replant 11 trees near the stumps to maintain the pattern. They asked
what kind of trees WECAN would like there and from a list of trees that grow to
15-20 feet including hawthorn, buckeye, crabapple, crepe myrtle, dogwood,
magnolia, holly, Japanese maple, snow ball, etc. the native limestone hawthorn
crategus calpodendron was chosen. Pattiy moved and Lynn seconded a motion to
recommend a native hawthorn. The motion passed.
DUKE SUBSTATION
UPDATE: Rachel reported
that Duke officially owns the site now. It made Jessie cry to actually read about it in the paper.
The Duke working group has produced a scorecard to be used on August 16 when
the Duke team provides additional information and 4 initial proposals to consider.
They include a GIS at Asheland and Hilliard, a GIS on the Meeker lots, a GIS on
the entire block including residential lots, and an AIS on the entire block.
Then on August 23 the group will rank each one using the agreed scorecard. The
WECAN working group will met between those meetings and on September 6 the Duke
working group will try to come to consensus. There will be something to report
at the next WECAN Board meeting on September 7. A new question arose about the new transmission lines going
in on West Haywood which will enable the removal of some of the smaller
distribution line poles which hold street lights. Will the street lights be
affected?
RAD FORM BASED CODE: The draft plan went before
City Council but was not passed due to late objections from EWANA about short
term rentals next to their neighborhood and some objections to any zoning but
particularly ‘River Zoning.’ The form based code specifies form and not use so
it goes back to Planning and Zoning for revision then to Council. Pattiy has
mixed feelings about it. The main issue is how it affects our neighborhood and
she is aware of the unintended consequences of fickle new ideas. A weakness
that she observed was that unlike the Haywood Corridor FBC the Historic River
District doesn’t really have a defined ‘form’ to extend and preserve. There are
also two development issues in the RAD. One is the proposal for a hotel at the
Burco Building 97 Roberts St because no lodging is currently permitted in the
RAD even though many businesses would support a hotel there. The second is the
problems with the changing and unfair new requirements for the ‘Stoneyard’
development. A 6 month delay due to a wrong survey and new UDO requirements for
council review affecting the design and for affordable housing percentages in a
Conditional Use Permit threaten to scrub the entire project.
It
next comes before council on August 22. There is no consensus in WECAN on
STR’s.
RADTIP: The official
groundbreaking is set for August 23.
Joe attended the grand opening of 14 Riverside Drive on July 21. There
were some businesses awards, a band, dancers and refreshments and the entire
Bacoate family was feted.
ADOPT A HIGHWAY: Joe will lead at 9 am on
Tuesday August 8 beginning at the sign garden on Clingman at Hilliard.
COMMUNITY GARDEN: Byron reported over 25 neighbors
broke bread and attended a good feast for of corn, potatoes, chard, tomatoes,
etc. on July 18. The gardens are in between seasons now and need to be cleaned
up to winter over and some cold weather planting will occur soon.
TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY
CELEBRATION: Joe read excerpts from the
very first WECAN NEWS from August 1997. Highlights included “MHO recently purchased 15 and 21 Rector
Street and 134 Clingman Avenue for renovation.” And “Aston Park Update: Though problems at Aston Park are far from being
resolved, new landscaping, lighting, and increased police presence have made
Aston Park more inviting. A feasibility study addressing Aston’s problem, and
new playground equipment expected to be installed by May, 1998, should make the
park a safer place for families to play and picnic.”
Byron
moved and Rachel seconded a motion to
adjourn. Motion passed at 8:21 pm
Minutes submitted by Joe
Fioccola, Secretary Emeritus
Important Upcoming Dates:
Aug 7 Last day
to comment on Open City Hall on RADTIP Southern Section Survey
Aug 8 Adopt a Highway
Litter pickup 9 am
Aug 8
Affordable
Housing Bond Money Grant Center 6-7 pm
Aug 14 C.A.N. Meeting
7 p.m. Oakley Community Center
Aug 16, 23
Duke Working Group Meetings
Aug 17 Community Land
Trust Meeting 6 pm
Aug 18 NH leaders
Roundtable 8:30 @ Riverlink
Aug 23 RADTIP
Groundbreaking
Aug 26 Riverlink
Anything that Floats
Sept 76 Next WECAN
Board Meeting Thursday 6:30 pm
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