SHCC Meeting Minutes – April 1999

SHCC Meeting Minutes – April 1999

SUGAR HOUSE COMMUNITY COUNCIL BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING MINUTES

April 7, 1999

Trustees: Helen Peters, Rawlins Young, Alice Edvalson, Dorothy Tuddenham, Su Armitage, Judi Short, Sheila O’Driscol, Ray Pugsley, Scott Kisling, Cheri Carleson, John Richards (11)  Excused: Ruth Robbins, Dolores Donohoo  City/State Representatives: Bill Allayaud, Barry Esham, Suzanne Weaver, Kathy Black, Howard Brown, Craig Timothy, Scott Vauderlaus, Jackie Biskupski, Karen Hale, Walt Gilmore (10) Others: Cory Heintz, David Borsos, Mike Ince, Sarah Heck, Jennifer Johns, Brandie Schulz, David Raymond, Georgia Raymond, Kaston Ellington, Chris Candelaria, Collin Letts, Derek Payne, Dorothy Slaugh, Jody Hadfield, Agnes Greenhall, Ross L. Bachmber, Franco Lampropolos, Kody Jones, Dottie Bintz, Charles T. Bintz, Amy Price, William S. Gear, Ty McCartney, Jeff Laver, Kenneth Higgs, Brandy Shea, John LeGate, Louis Ulrich, Claudia Pack, Brandie Schulz, Daniel Schulz, Melissa Lichtenstein, Danny Schmidt, Rich Wagstaff, Peggy McDonough, Russ Bachnyer, Verd White (37)Total- 58  Meeting called to order at 7:00 PM by Chair Helen Peters. The minutes for the March meeting were approved. Chair Report:Helen acknowledged a group of students from a Highland High History class. Helen reminded those in attendance of the survey that is being conducted by the community council. She suggested that anyone who hadn’t filled out one could fill it out tonight as more survey forms were available. Helen read a letter from the city regarding the yearly “BIG” garbage pickup. Because of increasing problems, there will probably be more restrictions in the future.  Helen had received an announcement from Stuart Reid announcing his candidacy for mayor. She had also received a letter from Doris Wiiliams indicating that there is a need for a new repreSentative for the CERT program since she is leaving for two years. Those interested can call Dave Lambert – 596-5004. The city is sponsoring a landlord training class and anyone interested could contact Helen. Helen reported on a meeting she had with Clark Nielsen of the Sugar House Park Authority. He indicated that the rose garden would probably be eliminated in the near future. The park authority is supportive of the KOPE Kids in their efforts to connect the park with the Hidden Hollow area. They discussed some of the crime problems in the park as well as the possible closure of the center road to prevent traffic from circling around inside the park. Helen had also met with Councilman Keith Christenson. They discussed the traffic problems in the area as well as the KOPE Kids efforts to connect the park with the Hidden Hollow area. They also discussed the several requests that have been made to reinstate the crosswalk in front of the library across Highland Drive. Helen reported on the trees that had been cut down along Highland Drive in front of the new Wild Oats store. She and other members of the community council had made significant efforts to save the trees. It was found that the approval to remove them was part of the plans for the McIntyre development in order to provide on street parking in that area. After contacting the Wild Oats headquarters, it was found that they would be willing to give up the parking to save the trees, but it was too late as 8 of the 10 trees in that area had already been cut down. A request has been made for a reimbursement of $1500 per tree for those that were cut down. It is not known if that will be honored. Helen reported that the Park View Plaza proposal has been pulled again because the cost was too high. Craig Mecham indicated he was willing to work with the KOPE Kids on their proposal to put a tunnel to connect hidden Hollow with Sugar House if we would be willing to approve his building as it was presented.  Helen also reported that Reavely Engineers had received a letter of approval from the adjacent neighbor for the request we reviewed at our last meeting.  The East Central Community Council did not approve this same proposal.  Treasurers Report: No report as the secretary was unable to be in attendance but it was felt that there had been no activity during the past month. Public lnput: Charles·Bintz asked why we couldn’t just put back the crosswalk in front of the library since it was once there. It was suggested we should probably contact our legislators on this issue. A resident of Hollywood Ave. expressed concern with the traffic on that street between 9th and 11th East. The volume and speed are both major concerns of residents on that street. Melissa Lichtenstein expressed concern with 2 houses and a business on 7th East about a block South of 17th South on the East side of the street. These three properties are up for sale and are being sold as a group. There is a concern that there may be a desire to turn this property into all business. School Board UpdateKathy Black from the School Board reported that the 1993 School Board Bond for $70 mil. has used about $50 mil. to date. This money has been used for the new East High School, track & stadium, Highland High seismic retrofit, West High seismic retrofit & campus expansion, a new Horizonte High School, a new Uintah Elementary School, air conditioning in all 3 high schools, and a new North Star Elementary School. Planned for 1998-99 year is the design for a new Riley Elementary School, new Franklin Elementary School and new Whittier Elementary School, the seismic retrofit of Jackson Elementary and air conditioning engineering for Ensign, Hawthorne, Indian Hills, Nibley Park, Rosslyn Heights, Uinta & Washington Elementary Schools. The School Board is going to ask for another bond election of $136 mil. to replace an additional 14 elementary schools, build two new elementary schools, replace three middle schools, and complete the seismic retrofits for 13 elementary schools, 2 middle schools, and air-conditioning in all remaining schools. It is anticipated that property taxes would increase gradually over a 16 year period to an overall total of $133.61 on a home valued at $100,000. There will be several open information sessions to discuss this issue. The ones in our area are April 26 7-8 PM at Hillside Intermediate School and Apr. 28 at Clayton Middle School.  There is still a great need to reduce the size of the classes in our schools. There are requests to make the schools available in the evenings for community use. Needs now are different from earlier days including English as a second language, extra tutoring, and intramural sports. A flyer with information on the bond election should be sent to every home. Allen Park Unit Legalization: William Gear of Allen Park Inc. indicated that in applying for a business license, they found they needed to legalize a tri-plex with one apartment downstairs and 2 upstairs. Allen Park is a very old, established area with much historic value to our community. Several of the trustees had visited this area and recommended the approval of this request. The motion was made that we support this request. The motion passed with 9 in favor and none opposed. Legislature Update: Representative Jackie Biskupski reported on some of the items that were addressed in the recent legislature session that were of special interest in our area. These included several items to reduce crime in our neighborhoods, creation of a commission to review and consider elements of growth management, several issues dealing with education, and a couple of issues dealing with property taxes. Rawlins Young asked her to check on liquor laws especially in relation to the effect they have on the crosswalk in front of the library. Senator Karen Hale reported that the drivers license laws have been tightened somewhat. Young people can still get a license at 16 but must have at least 30 hours of driving time with at least 10 hours of that at night time. It was suggested that they should look at growth issues separately and differently for urban and rural areas. Fairmont Park Swimming Pool:  Louis Ulrich, the architect presented revised plans for the swimming pool. As had been noted in previous meetings, the original plans had come in at $1.7 mil. over the budget so plans had to be revised. He had a model to show the differences between the original and new plans. The butterfly roof has been replaced with a flatter roof. Much of the fancy design is gone. A lot of the glass has been replaced with block.  The design has been simplified. The architects desire is to make it look like a place of “play”. The rounded wall on the Sugarmont Ave. side would be block painted a bright yellow. There were several concerns with the bright yellow color.  Rawlins Young objected to it and referred to the Sugar House Master Plan, pg. 17 under building design elements where it states, “New buildings should avoid extreme contrast in color and shape causing them to stand out in an excessive manner.” He expressed the desire of the master plan to maintain the look and feel of the historic community that Sugar House is. Ray Pugsley raised an objection to putting this structure in that location in the park. After much discussion, a motion was finally made that we approve the plan as presented and assuring that space be reserved for a Jacuzzi in case funds can be provided to include one. This voting was 4 in favor, and 5 opposed. Another motion was made to approve the plan as presented except replacing the yellow wall with a brick wall that better defers to the Master Plan as to design and also reserving space for a Jacuzzi. The voting on this was 6 in favor and 3 opposing. Traffic Issue Discussion: The meeting was running considerably overtime and many who had come for this discussion had already left. Those that remained were at least 9 residents of Hollywood Ave. between 9th and 11th East. Dorothy Slaugh, who lives on the comer of Hollywood and 10th East reported on a neighborhood group who have been meeting on a regular basis for the past several months in an effort to resolve some of the traffic problems in this area. They have discussed various traffic calming measures that could possibly be used to reduce the amount of traffic on this street as well as slow down the traffic. Scott Vauderlas and Craig Timothy, from the city Transportation Dept. and Suzanne Weaver of the Transportation Advisory Board were in attendance at the meeting. The SLC Transportation Dept. are still continuing to maintain that “traffic calming” does not deal with traffic volume even though it was pointed out that the Salt Lake City Community & Economic Development Department Transportation Division Traffic Calming Program document has at least three references to traffic volumes being included in the traffic calming program. Rawlins Young referred to both the traffic calming document as well as the Transportation Master plan in describing the responsibility the city has to help insure that Salt Lake City remains a truly “livable city”. The traffic calming program is one of the means that could be used to insure this. Both the traffic calming document and the transportation master plan contain several statements suggesting the responsibility of the city to take necessary measures to preserve our neighborhoods through adequate traffic control. Both Scott and Craig have agreed to meet with the Hollywood Ave. residents to see what could be done in that area. Suzanne Weaver of the Transportation Advisory Board indicated they are trying to hold meetings in various areas of the city in an effort to learn what the needs of the citizens are. She suggested they could, perhaps, arrange for one in our area sometime in the future. Adjourned at 9:30 PM

Landon Clark
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