WECAN Board Meeting April 2, 2015 at 64 Clingman Ave.
Board Members Present were: Byron Ballard, Jessie Nell Coleman, Joe Fioccola, AnnaBeth Hardcastle and Rachel Larson. Board Members not present were Tom Gibson, Mike Kenton, Yuri Koslen, Rebecca Lance, Floree Lowery, Luke W. Perry, Rafael Rettig, Marc Schieferstein, JoAnn Skinner, Pattiy Torno and Suzanne Willis. Also present was: Dr. Jim Biddle, CRO Lucas Lovelace and Marsha Stickford.
Chair Rachel called the meeting to order at 6:35 p.m.
NEIGHBOR/BLOCK JESSIE UPDATES: AnnaBeth reported Lance is planning a large yard sale on April 10 and 11 others are invited to join in. Byron noted some fun poultry guests. Rachel has some leftover fencing. Jim Biddle announced that his wife was expecting a baby in October. He is planning to build a house at the end of Park Avenue and a clinic/store/yoga studio on the eastern half of the lot on the north east corner of Hilliard and Clingman set back 10 feet with a courtyard. Rachel saw some surveying activity on Girdwood and noted some short term rental activity near Park Square. She asked about the crumbling wall removed from Floree's place and Marsha said it was being taken care of.
MINUTES: The draft minutes were approved as distributed. TREASURERS REPORT: AnnaBeth reported no activity. Current balance is $624.22.
APD/CRO UPDATE: Lucas reported that there was a break-in at 11 Club Street in the last two weeks and a couple of car break ins and one stolen vehicle from Roberts Street (which was unlocked with the keys inside) It was later recovered at Livingston. He also reported someone fatally fell off the Riverlink Bridge onto Riverside Drive last weekend. Graffiti is increasing. Some was noted at the Park Avenue stop sign and sidewalk as well as the Boy Scout building. Marsha encouraged anyone to report graffiti when you see it and use the Asheville Ap. Rachel reported seeing a graffiti covered box truck riding around and selling spray paint. Lucas also noted that with the weather improvement there is increasing transient activity. He moved some from behind 14 Riverside Drive.
COMMUNITY GARDEN: With great ceremony the Agreement for a Pilot Community Garden was signed by President Rachel after two years of negotiations. Joe reviewed the main points: the CITY will not provide any funding; will approve plans for the year; will provide some parking at Transit and remove trash. WECAN will acquire and provide planting materials, regular maintenance, conduct orientation regarding safety and guidelines and assure that anyone working on site must sign a waiver of liability. Interested parties have met three times they included Byron, Joe, Rebecca, Lyn Player and Brian Newport and Tina from Park Ave. AnnaBeth and Lance also committed to take care of one of the ten-by-ten plots. The proposal was for 8-10 ten by ten plots. So far we are planning half to be a group effort (such as the childrens garden, perennial garden, compost area and annual garden) and half will be individual efforts. They will need to be fenced to keep out groundhogs. Joe has priced some fencing at about $125 to cover about half the plots. Byron noted that Rose, the new Director of Transit was excited about being involved in the community. Lyn is interested in using the stored granite curbstones to build steps to the site. Rachel suggested considering using Labor Ready, Lyn said Evergreen has volunteer days that can help dig out or construct a raised bed. Marsha recommended Eric Bradford as a resource and Pattiy had used Warren Wilson students to install stones at Owens Bell Park. Joe noted promised donations of trees and vegetables ready to go in. Next meeting will be Sunday April 12 at 3 pm.
SPRING FLING: Saturday April 11, the date set at the last meeting, is fast approaching. The time was set for 2-5 pm. AnnaBeth is looking forward to connecting with new neighbors. Transit wanted a Community Open House day that could have been combined but their best day is on a Sunday. We will schedule one later. AnnaBeth will create a flyer. She will post on Jefferson and Park. Rachel will take on Park Square, Club and West Haywood. She said that email works best for the Lofts. Byron observed that we don't have a good connection on Clingman Ave. AnnaBeth noted that personal invitation was very effective for getting her involved. Activities for the event could include a fire pit, table for snacky pot luck, hors d'oeuvres, new garden tours, ceremonial new planting, time capsule, children's games (Rebecca and Lyn?), sangria, kite flying, egg toss, three legged races, spring bonnet show, dog show. (See flyer for details.)
GARDEN CLUB WEDNESDAYS: Scott at MHO came to Joe and asked for suggestions of plants for the rhomboid shape between the sidewalk and Clingman Avenue. He wanted to buy the plants and have a community event with the planting. Marsha noted that there is a list of plants approved by the city. She will forward the list to Joe. Pattiy is working on a two year plan for the area between Grey Eagle and the traffic Circle. They are spraying the rocks in the roundabout and may have planted the daffodils. Byron will follow up on the spraying. Pattiy is sponsoring part of the mowing and maintenance. Garden Club Wednesdays have met twice. The workdays so far have cleared the weeds and leaves from the Sign garden and from Owens Bell Park. Joe announced that Garden Club Wednesdays would continue on April 8, 15 and 29 at 2 p.m. Locations will be community garden, then hedges at Clingman and Hilliard and then along Hilliard. Jefferson looks ok.
CITY-WIDE CLEAN-UP APRIL 18, FROM 10-2 PM: We coordinate volunteers to pick up trash in public areas and clear storm drains. Joe will be the coordinator and pick up the supplies. Marsha noted at 1 pm at Azalea Park ribbon cutting and ABYSSA was releasing 1000 rubber duckies as a fund raiser. WECAN volunteers will meet at the new Community Garden at the corner of Jefferson and West Haywood at 10 AM. Green Works advises to wear long pants and long sleeve shirts and closed toe shoes and gloves. Focus is on public areas and may extend to DOT, Naegle or Hunter. We may ask for donations from them.
MASTER PLANNING: Marsha noted Stephanie has created a new Riverfront Office to coordinate all the teams and plans and grants and initiatives. We have not identified our number one priority need. It may be time to invite her to a meeting to remind her of our area. No new planning director has been hired yet. Rachel has been going to Riverfront redevelopment meetings, some of which have been very interesting.
The meeting adjourned at 7:40 p.m.
DRAFT Minutes submitted by Joe Fioccola.
April 8 Garden Club Wednesdays 2 pm Community Garden
April 10-11 Jefferson Drive Yard Sale (see flyer)
April 11 WECAN Spring Fling 2-5 pm
April 15 Garden Club Wednesdays 2 pm Clingman and Hilliard
April 18 City Wide Clean Up 10-2 pm
April 29 Garden Club Wednesdays 2 pm Hilliard
May 7 Next WECAN BOARD Meeting 6:30 pm at 64 Clingman Avenue
May 10 Mothers Day
