SHNA Annual Meeting Minutes – 4.25.16 (pdf download)

May 8, 2016
Minutes follow from the SHNA annual meeting held in the cafeteria of West Middle School at 7pm on April 25, 2016.
Agenda
Neighborhood Resource officer: Neighborhood report. Your issues and concerns.
David Cronin, City Engineer: Plans for Kasold St and the intersection at 8th and Kasold
Darcy Kraus, Principal Sunset Hill Elementary School: New additions and renovations of the school.
Election of a slate of nominees for the SHNA Executive Committee
Troy Hagen, Susie Nightingale, Joanna Kuczera, Paula Kellogg, and Kathy Heppert
Time for neighborhood issues and concerns
Meeting called to order at 7:05
Jeanne Pees (J.P): SHNA is a Neighborhood Association not a Homeowners Association. 70% of our neighborhood is rental. The members of the Executive Committee are myself, Jeanne Pees, President; Carolynn Crawford, Vice President; Janis Hutchison, Treasurer; Clint Idol, Secretary; and Members at Large, Mark Hoppe, Gary Webber, and Marlene Merill. The committee provides applause awards for improved properties annually and we provide the new neighbor packets quarterly.
Observing in the audience is Logan Isamann working for Americorp, with us tonight from the Lawrence Public Library. She is studying neighborhood needs.
In place of our Neighborhood Resource Officers who are unable to attend, Community Officer stand-in Lori Scott Powell has agreed to help with questions.
Lori Scott Powell (L.S.P): I am going to open this up to your questions. I know there have been some concerns with a house on Steven Drive, and in the last 6 months there has not been the call load, only property checks and car checks. Are there questions about that?
Carolynn Crawford: Is it legal to walk around with an AK-47 in your yard?
L.S.P: Not illegal, only if it were fully automatic. Call us and we can let you know.
Audience Member (A.M.): Can I throw a Nerf ball at speeding traffic on Harvard? We live at 3209 Harvard, by the church.
L.S.P: Do not do that. You will get called on. Please let us know.
A.M.: We live between 6th and 9th on Schwarz. Our daughter cannot cross at 9th and Schwarz because traffic does not slow down.
A.M: Can we get the traffic cop reinstated there?
L.S.P: The guard will return in the fall with the start of elementary school.
Gary Webber (G.W.): The sign for east driving traffic was removed during construction. I called the city and the sign will be replaced.
AM: We are concerned about Kasold and 8th to Lawrence Ave. Traffic there is too fast. A patrol car is needed. There is a sign that says “hill blocks view,” but people are still driving too fast there.
L.S.P: There are a lot of areas of concern and I will email regarding these issues and we can see if it’s a speeding issue or if there is something else we need to change.
A.M.: What needs to be done to get the needed attention?
David Cronin: The city has a traffic safety commission that reviews the requests. Send them to traffic@lawrenceks.org. We can review and make recommendations to the commission. There will me a marked crosswalk and raised median at the 9th and Schwarz crossing. We are recommending the addition of a school crossing guard at 6th and Schwarz and that will be on a future city agenda. That costs 6-7K, to do that per year, and the police department manages it.
A.M: What does it take to get a lighted crossing? …a light for pedestrians?
D.C.: The city just got a grant from KDOT and we looked at all the schools prioritizing some of the areas of concern. It may already be on the list.
A.M.: Can you give us an idea of crime rates in the neighborhood?
L.S.P: I cannot. I did not look that up before the meeting.
A.M: We called on an issue and the officer brought up Stevens drive and told us a little about that , but 2912 7th St has a lot of in and out traffic.
L.S.P: I can look this address up and see if I find anything.
AM: A community businessman that owns Philips 66 uses Schwarz road as a parking lot for their business, and it is constant.
L.S.P: As long as the car is moved every 48hrs, or stickered and then given another 48 hours notice before towed . . . unless the city wants to install a no parking sign.
AM: The lot next to old Kobe restaurant is vacant. Maybe he could rent that. Cars often park on the sidewalk, right after the apartment building.
AM: There used to be a site that let you see where police were in your neighborhood. Is there still something like that.
L.S.P: We got a new computer system and that service went away, but we are working on getting something like that back.
A.M: Is it legal to park cars on the street with expired tags?
L.S.P: No that is not legal.
A.M: There is an instance where we have complained and the cars are still there.
A.M: One of the vehicles is blocking site lines on Stratford Rd, and also at Stratford and Crestline.
L.S.P: Are there multiple cars?
AM: There are 3 cars parked there belonging to the same home.
AM: There are trailers and cars parked and double-parked.
L.S.P: Are we taking about 2 different groups?
A.M: Yes.
L.S.P: I will try to get some information for you on that.
A.M: Is there a neighborhood watch?
J.P: We do have one and could use more, there are steps to take.
AM: It is really easy, they have a meeting and put up a sign. The hard part was that 50% people on the block must agree.
L.S.P: Any other questions?
Sunset Hill Elementary Principle, Darcy Kraus (D.K):
Thank you for your patience regarding the school construction. This is the largest elementary school enhancement in Lawrence. We have been off-site at East Heights on Haskell and our
parents and patrons have been so kind and patient. 23 days left that we will have to run busses across town.
April 29, 6-8pm is the elementary school open house, which were calling a cultural kaleidoscope. Six different acts will be rotating through our cafeteria and artists and authors to welcome our students back in addition to new Deerfield students that we are welcoming into our fold, because our boundaries have increased to encompass some areas north of 6th street that used to be Deerfield elementary.
Joni and I worked on the construction committee and were asked about the essence of Sunset, which we refer to as “honoring the past and embracing the future.” Sunset Blvd is the former exterior of the building. We have 7 beautiful photos of old Sunset. We have 25 Gen Ed classrooms. Are there any questions at this point?
A.M: What is the Sunset Hill Elementary Boundary?
D.K: It goes from Monterey to Peterson and we follow Peterson down until you get to Kasold, so its kind of a square… and then you jump, so Kasold to Lawrence remains Deerfield, and then we pick back up again and then we go from Lawrence Ave to all the way to Rockledge.
D.K: We no longer have a gym and auditorium that we have to use for everything. We have learning pockets where small groups can meet in the hallways for special individualized learning.
A.M: Is there a storm shelter?
D.K: We have two classes on the northwest wing where we have reinforced the shutters, the ceiling is cinder block and the reinforced area can hold 535 people. When you tour the building you will notice the metal shutters.
AM: How many students will be there?
D.K: Right now we count around 280 – 300. The Deerfield folks have a grandfather clause that will allow for a slow release of students from there. Next years projections are around 340. 62 enrolled in kindergarten at Kindergarten Roundup. Full capacity is 450 – 485 students.
A.M: What about the Library media center?
D.K: It is non traditional. There is a place in the middle of the library to sit with soft furnishings. There is a Maker Station in the middle of the library for project-based learning. They are working over there night and day but the library will not be finished at the open house.
A.M: There is an access point kind of mid way that is now a maintenance road, is that going to be an entrance onto 9th Street.
DK: The fire path? That will be an emergency road and will be where we can open up some parking. They are getting ready to resurface that. It will be a hard surface to play on.
David Cronin, City Engineer (D.C): The 6th Street to Bob Billings and Kasold project that has been discussed over the last year, where we have gotten feedback on reconstructing Kasold for that mile segment, changes will likely start next year. We have been in a holding pattern for the last six months. No decisions have been made on the different options that have been presented. Jeanne wanted for me to discuss particularly the 8th and Kasold intersection. We have looked at a couple of different options; 1 is to keep the three-way stop the way it is today, the second would be to install a traffic signal, and the third option would be to put a pedestrian hybrid beacon crossing just for pedestrians at that intersection. Based on the traffic volume in the intersection, we don’t necessarily think a signal would be warranted, based on the volume needs, but the stop signs are there for the presence of a safer crossing, so the pedestrian hybrid beacon could be an opportunity to upgrade the intersection and have through traffic all the time. There are pros and cons to all three. We invite feedback to those options; city staff does not have a favorite. We welcome your feedback.
A.M: Is the feedback to be provided in a commission meeting, or how will we find out when to provide that?
D.C: The city has set up a website, kasolddrive.com, there are two primary options for the corridor reconstruction. One option is to narrow the lanes along Kasold to one through lane with a bike lane and single lane roundabout at Harvard and Kasold. The second option would be to place a traffic signal and five lanes from 8th to 14th and still construct the segments from 6th to 8th and 14th to 15th, those would still be like they are today. At the website there is a link where you can leave public comment. We have gotten a lot of comments for and against both options.
Ultimately the staff will take the feedback to a city commission public meeting and public comment which should provide some direction on the preferred design alternative. We will then proceed to design plans and then there will be another period of time and public meeting before construction begins. It may be a project that we can get done in one calendar year. We will try to maintain traffic through the construction 2 way, doing that takes a little longer. With this being a large scale project, it could go into another construction season. So, it could be late 2017 or 2018 before we can complete. Maintaining traffic is a priority on this project.
G.W: You’ve already had an extremely comprehensive public input over the course of 2 years and you have taken a lot of public comment. You aren’t going to start that process over again? You’re just going to present the plans and take public comment.
D.C: Yes, that’s correct. About a year ago we had a public meeting, talked to all the business owners, stakeholders, and public interest groups. The city commission, with some turnover and new City Manager has had a lot on the agenda, and as budget season starts again soon they are going to want to hear the decision and proceed with the design plans. I want the street to get improved. We are out there routinely making repairs. Either option is a good option. It is a project that is part of our infrastructure sales tax and is going to be done in the next couple of years.
AM: Why would you want to go to fewer lanes from 5? I don’t understand that.
DC: Having a roundabout at that intersection would allow traffic to continue moving instead of all traffic stopping all the time, with the traffic volumes that we have, it would be appropriate for a the single lane. Based on traffic volumes and looking back over 20 years, the traffic has not increased a lot. I know people think there is a whole lot of traffic, and it’s not a small amount. The intersection is the key, if we put in a signal that stops traffic, we wouldn’t advise having a single lane. If traffic keeps moving through the intersection, what we have seen is that there are pros and cons with roundabouts, but what we have seen is that people slow down. The data shows that a signal makes people speed up. We want to do the best thing for everyone, for vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians and we are weighing the pros and cons. One of the things that I would mention too is that when we did the Kasold reconstruction west of 23rd St, we put in the fifths and the turn lane, and the street there has similar traffic volumes, and traffic speeds shot up on that segment, so we have a lot of complaints regarding that. We put in a crosswalk there but I don’t know if it did a lot of good because the traffic speed is so high there, the average speed is 50mph. Again, ultimately we want to get feedback from everyone and make an informed decision.
Janis Hutchison: Treasurers report. We have our savings account at Capitol Federal. We have a carry over from last year of 801.59. During this last year we had 100 members at 5 dollars a piece, which would be 500 dollars, of course, but I show $650, and that’s because some have prepaid ahead and there is a little bit of interest.
We have a $3 counter check fee and we have few checks that they make for us. We contributed to the West Middle School garden, Lawrence Association of Neighborhoods dues, and we are spending about 1/2 of your dues monies this year. We have our new neighbor welcome packets, of which we did 14 this season, 6 awards frames for neighborhood improvement, awarded in the fall, and neighborhood picnics. We had 2 picnics for the neighborhood watch areas and we bought food for those and the 2 neighborhood watch signs.
We have an account balance that matches the checkbook. $748.94.
There were 81 renewals + 17 new households. Only 13 did not renew. We have a lot of new members here tonight. We have a very healthy situation.
Business
J.P: We must make a motion to elect the slate of nominees to our board: Troy Hagen, Susie Nightingale, Joanna Kuczera, Kathy Heppert, and Paula Kellogg.
Marlene Merrill moves to approve nominees. Motion carried.
J.P: The board is a working committee. We meet about 4-5 times a year for about an hour and discuss issues, what is happening in the neighborhood. We are working on Rockledge St right now.
We need to make changes to the bylaws: We need to delete sentence number 2, under the membership, referring to anyone who supports the aims of the association but does not reside
there can become an associate member. We have decided that we would like for you to reside here.
Under Secretary, we wanted to add that he or she shall give cause to a meeting and that he or she, and the President, can give a notice of all the meetings.
The third change is that Executive Committee Secretary or President will give notice of special meetings of the committee.
—- moves to approve changes. Motion is approved to make these changes.
A.M: Where will the bylaws be made available?
J.P: I can email them all out to you all.
A.M: The city is beginning a water line replacement on Harvard from Crestline to Wellington starting immediately and continuing through the summer and along south lawn of west middle school.
J.P: The city will be improving a lot of curbs and gutters to improve the safety and sustainability of the neighborhood. If you have an issue in your area please let us know and we can take those issues to the City.
A.M: Is the four way stop on 9th not permanent?
J.P: There is a concern that traffic will back up too much with Sunset School in session and so the city Traffic Engineering Department will look at that again in the Fall.
AM: Two cars were witnessed going through that stop recently.
J.P: That will be looked at again. And there will be another traffic study done on Rockledge, because of traffic cutting through from the turnpike to get to Iowa.
AM: When there are sporting events at West Middle School, people are parking on both sides of the street. What do we do?
J.P: Call the police, or you might alert the principle of the school.
A.M: I was told that there are only 2 police officers assigned to our entire area. Is there a way to request more police in this area? I know that budgets are limited but they are making budgets now, and it sounds to me like there are a lot of issues in this neighborhood that stem from a lack of enforcement.
J.P: It might be time to revisit this, with maybe the Chief of Police or Neighborhood Resource Officers and let them know that we need for them to look at these issues again now.
G.W: Just to be clear, we don’t just have two Police Officers, we have two police liasons who are the liasons for this neighborhood.
A.M: No, only two officers at any one time are assigned to the area.
A.M: For those who live on Harvard from Kasold to Lawrence Ave, I want to make sure that you have the contact info for insurance of Nebraska Furniture Mart for the damage to mailboxes caused by their trucks. If your mailbox was damaged please make sure you get the info from me.
A.M: Where do we find the email addresses of the officers (of SHNA)?
JP: We will publish the emails of the executive officers.
J.H: We owe Jeanne Pees so much for her work and relationship with city hall and public works, because she keeps us informed and they do a beautiful job of keeping her informed, but I think she has gone above and beyond that over these many years.
J.P: Do I hear a motion to adjourn.
J.H: I so move.
J.P: Meeting adjourned at 8:18pm.