02 Mar SHCC Meeting Minutes – March 1994
SUGAR HOUSE COMMUNITY COUNCIL BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING MINUTES
March 2, 1994
Meeting was called to order at 7:OO P.M. by SHCC Vice Chairman. Jerry Romero. Present: Raynee Bengtzen. Gary Bengtzen. Ann Ahlander. Kathy Travers. Mary Lu E. Judd. Barbara Kleiner. Afton Kyriopoulos. Jerry Romero. Steve Lester, Morna H. Winkelman, Keith Christensen. Laird Snelgrove. Maggie Elkins, Chris Zollinger, Nery Carpenter, Steve Morgan. Jan Haug, Ken Kraus. Alice Edvalson, Robert Doidge. Lynne Olson, Roselyn Kirk, Dorothy Tuddenham. John Mannos. Rich Bennett, John Hollingshaus, Janice Hollingshaus. Wes Groesbeck. John M. Wunderli. Jean Binyon. Mike Binyon. Barbara Hilton. Cory Lyman. Roger Rabet. Del Brewster. John C. Swenson. Martel Steckler. LaMar V. Carter. Mary Tuddenham, Kia Knettles. Dale Chalmers. nary Jean Lieber. Wilford Lieber, Brett P. Evans, Brian Bellamy. Justin Bell, Joe Knudson. Andy Carey. Harry Ewing. Sharon Ashcraft. Ed Sperry, Harrison Smithwick, Brent Sheets, Ruth Robbins. Wayne Halverson. Judi Short. Stacey Steckler, Gary Bengtzen. Jeff Stokes, Craig Stokes. James J. Lund. Jennifer Limpert, Ewerett L. Joyce, John Barenbrugge, Doug Teague, Kraig Erickson. Salomone PuPunu, Rebecca R. Wallace, Lynn Chatwin. Jim Schreiber. Joe Clark. Brian K. Bintz, Diana Hart, Roger Miller. Pam Grimes. John V. Fanning, Hope A. Hilton. Fred Esplin. Susan Stewart The minutes for December 1993 and February 1994 were approved. A petition from Ken Eltinge has been received as a representative to the Community Action Program. Hope Hilton made a motion to accept Ken as our representative to this program. It was seconded by John Mannos and approved. Representatives Mary Carlson and Gene Davis were excused due to the last day of the legislative session. Roger Biller and Steve Lester were excused as they were attending a special meeting regarding Irving Commons. They will come here after the meeting is over and report the results of the meeting. Maggie Elkins and Chris Zollinger representing the Garfield Learning Center described their program to the group. It is a non-profit pre-school program for 2, 3, and 4 year olds and serves about 200 children. It is run by the Salt Lake School District. It has been in existence since 1983. They are trying to raise funds to purchase playground equipment. They have raised about $4.000 but need about $2.000 more. They indicated the playground is used by other children in the community as well as their own children. They asked for suggestions where they could get the needed money. It was suggested that sometimes the U.S. Military units volunteer ~o build things like this when they can use it as a training activity. The materials would have to be provided by some other means. It was also suggested they contact some of the service clubs in the area such as the Elks Club. Other suggestions were the Chamber of Commerce and the YWCA. Jeff Stokes representing the Sugar House Area Times newspaper told us about their plans for the future of this newspaper. They are very anxious to have this serve as a community paper with articles of interest specifically for this area. They don’t want it to be just a paper of advertisements, although the advertisements are essential for the production of the paper since it is distributed free of charge to the citizens. Jeff said they would be “interested in doing an article on the Garfield Pre-School which could help in their attempts to raise money for the playground equip.ent. Jeff indicated that they have a distribution of 12,000, however, some of these are placed in the businesses in the neighborhood. This does not allow for a paper to every home. They are trying ~o rotate the areas that do get it until funds will allow for more papers to be printed. He indicated their area of distribution is zip codes 84105 and 84106. Nery Carpenter approached the Council for support in her efforts to get an older home she has purchased at 1158 Ramona legalized as a 4 plex. It is currently being used as a 4 plex and has been for many years. . The city has it listed as a single family dwelling. Rawlins Young made a motion that this matter be deferred to the Executive Committee to evaluate and determine what should be done. Rich Bennett seconded the motion and motion was passed. Nery’s phone number is 487-8305.Steve Morgan, Executive Vice President of Westminster College, presented plans to build a two level parking terrace on the ground presently occupied by the parking lot located on 12thEast between Garfield and Westminster Ave. Steve indicated that a master plan was created for the college 5 years ago and since that time, as funding has come available, they have been expanding their facilities. The Jewitt Center for the Performing Arts was completed a few years ago. The next project they want to start on is a new library. Construction of the library would eliminate 104 existing parking stalls. They are anxious to complete this parking terrace before the library is started, even as soon as this summer. There were several issues of concern expressed by neighbors and trustees, (1) the traffic on 12th East, (2) crime, (3) the blocking of the view of those living across the street on 12th East. The neighbors are very opposed to the plan as it was presented. The college approached the council in June of 1993 with the same plan and at that time a letter was written to Mr. Morgan expressing their opposition. At that time, it was indicated that the college had no immediate plans to build the parking terrace. The letter stated that when further action was planned, the council wanted to be involved to propose ideas that would be advantageous to all concerned. Rich Bennett made a motion that we send the same letter as was sent in 1993. Judi suggested a special sub-committee be formed to try to resolve this issue. The motion was amended to include in the letter an invitation to the college to participate with this committee to try to work out a solution that would be acceptable to all concerned. The motion was seconded by Judi Short and passed. Rich Bennett, Rawlins Young, Hope Hilton, and Wayne Halverson will serve as trustees on that committee and will also include a representative from the Transportation Dept.The next item on the agenda was the Sugar House Park and Recreation Center issue. Jan Haug represented a group of citizens proposing a recreation center be built in the South East area of Sugar House park. Jan described the lack of recreational facilities in our area as well as in the valley as a whole. She and Ken Kraus showed some slides of some of the facilities that are needed. John Hollingshaus presented some of the historical aspects of the park. He feels that the proposed recreation center would detract from the original intent of the park as a family centered area. He felt there are other areas that could be used to provide many of the facilities needed in a recreation center. Robert Doidge spoke in behalf of the Park Authority. He indicated there are 112 acres in the park of which 87 acres are land and the rest roads and lake. He indicated there is a question whether they had a legal right to use the park for any other purpose than what it is currently set up as. He also expressed a concern over the loss of the garden center of which there are over 10,000 persons involved. He indicated that others have wanted to use the park for other purposes over the years. The Park Authority has always resisted. Their feeling has been that if they let one have a little piece, then another would want a little piece and before long there would be no park. Laird Snelgrove of the Park Authority indicated that the Park Authority is made up of 5 public interest directors and representatives from the city and County. Jim Schreiber presented a problem with the existing size of the Highland High School ball and track field which is adjacent to the proposed site of the recreation center. There is a real need for additional baseball fields in the area. Ken Kraus, a concerned citizen doesn’t live in the area, but he and his family use the park agreed with the need for a recreational center. Jean Binyon read a statement representative of concerned citizens opposed to taking anything away from the current park. They feel very strong about maintaining the green space that is there. She also read a statement from the Sierra Club opposing the use of the park for a recreation center. Alice Edvalson reported that the community survey that is being prepared is now at Utah State being prepared for distribution. It is anticipated that the survey will be ready to distribute sometime the last part of March. There are several questions on the survey that should help us to determine the feelings of those in the survey area regarding, (1) the kinds of things that are needed in a recreation center; (2) places people would most like to see it built; and (3) ways to finance it. Roger Miller suggested scheduling a SHCC annual meeting and using that as a means to better present the issues surrounding the Sugar House Park/Recreation Center. He also suggested that the meeting be scheduled after the survey has been completed so we would have that feed back from the public. Roselyn Kirk asked about having a public hearing to discuss these issues. The Park Authority representatives said that they have never received anything in writing requesting the use of Sugar House Park for this recreation center, so have not done anything to determine if it would even be legal. Keith Christensen strongly suggested we have a public hearing to address these issues and indicated that he and Roselyn Kirk would find the appropriate procedure for holding a hearing . He said it would be important to determine the scope of what would be covered at the hearing and said he and Roselyn would try to determine what that scope should be.Sharon Ashcraft of the Highland Park neighborhood expressed a concern over a plan for a large condominium complex that is proposed to be built on the old US West property on 27th South near Highland Drive. The Council had approved the plan for this development at the December meeting. Roger asked if there was a good reason for our reconsidering that decision. It was explained that the plan that the plan that had been presented to the Council for approval had been rejected by the City. The neighborhood is trying to get the area down zoned to stop that large of a complex from being built there. They would also like to consider the possibility of creating a historical district in that area. Rawlins Young made a motion that the Council support the neighborhood in down zoning the area. The motion was seconded by Dale Chalmers and approved with 3 abstentions.A letter of resignation as a trustee has been received from Dale Chalmers who is moving from the area. Thanks were expressed to Dale for his dedication and support as a trustee.Steve Lester briefly reported on the earlier Landmarks meeting regarding Irving Commons. He indicated that a decision was made to deny the demolition permit for 90 days in order to give developers a bit longer to prepare their plans to restore the facility. If developers are not ready to go by June 1, the building will be demolished and other plans will be made for the area. There was a renewed concern for concentrated policing of the area until that time. The decision as to which developer will be chosen will be made on March 10 if possible.John Mannos moved the meeting be adjourned. It was seconded by Jerry Romero and motion was passed unanimously.
