SHCC Meeting Minutes – July 2003

From Sugar House

Attendance

Trustees Present

Philip Carlson, Alice Edvalson, Mark Holland, Michael G. Kavanagh, Scott Kisling, Julie Nitzkowski, Sheila O’Driscoll, Lynne Olson, Helen Peters, Susan Petheram, Ray Pugsley, Judi Short, Martin Smith, Grace Sperry, Ron Weber, Rawlins Young (16)

Trustees Excused

Su Armitage, Rich Bennett, Dolores Donohoo, Deedra Hansen-Lambert, Gina Thompson, Gayen Wharton

City/State Representatives

Barry Esham and Annette Daley, Mayor’s Office; Dan Bergenthal, SLC Transportation, Ranae Pierce, Sprague Library; Cheryl Coffey, SLC Planning, Kim Guess, SLC Police Dept. (6)

Others

Michael Lane, Tom Nitzkowski, Stacie Sears, Kathleen Loyola, J. S. Anderson, Kent Perkins, Pamela Loyola, Jennifer Schwartz, Blakely Summerfield, Norma Gillespie, Will Gillespie, Karl F. Buell, Gary A. York, Mike Murray, Kathy Bailey, Janet Stewart, Megan Stewart, Richard Evans, Melissa Lichtenstein, Rick Nosseir, Rob Aubrey, Thomas Q. Bailey, Milton Braselton, Gary Bowen, Jamie Campbell, Kathleen Hood (26)

TOTAL (48)

Meeting Minutes

Meeting began at 7:00 PM with Chair Helen Peters conducting. The minutes of the June meeting were read and approved. There was no Treasurer’s Report due to the illness of Treasurer Dolores Donohoo.

Chair Report

Chair Helen Peters reported on the recent surgery of Trustee Gayen Wharton. She also thanked Barry Esham for his many of years of service to us in representing the Mayor’s office. Barry is being reassigned to City Council Districts 1 and 2. She welcomed Annette Daley who will be replacing Barry. Helen also noted that Melissa Anderson, our SLC Planner, has taken another position with a private planning firm in Hawaii and will be leaving in the middle of July. Special thanks were given her for all she had done for our community. Helen said that Su Armitage would be coordinating the organization of the nominating committee for the October elections for Sugar House Community Council executives. Helen noted the following upcoming activities: 1) the Sugar House 4th of July Arts Festival on July 4 from 10 AM to 8 PM, 2) a 4th of July celebration at Jordan Park, 3) the National Night Out Against Crime on August 5, 4) a workshop on how to start a community garden on July 19 from 10 AM to noon at 800 South 600 East, and 5) the Sugar House Business District Small Area Plan open house on July 10 at 6:30 PM at the Sprague Library. There was a petition available for anyone interested to sign regarding the proposal to improve rather than move the Hogle Zoo. Helen also noted the availability of grant money for Housing and Community Development needs in qualifying areas of Sugar House.

Public Comment

Thomas Bailey spoke regarding the loss of cross-walk flags. Dan Bergenthal, SLC Transportation gave a little information regarding the flag program. Sheila O’Driscoll noted that some of the flags have the flag location printed on them and suggested an idea to help get lost flags back to where they belong. Julie Nitzkowski made the motion that we set aside $50 annually to assist in replacing the flags when they are taken. Voting was 11 in favor, 0 opposed, 2 abstaining.

27th South Road Maintenance

Dan Bergenthal from SLC Transportation reported that they are in the process of doing a class 3 slurry seal on 27th South from 5th to 20th East. While they are in this process the Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory Committee is interested in adding a bike lane to 27th South. They propose to change the 2 lanes to 1 lane plus 1 lane with shared bike and parking from 7th East to Highland Drive. From 7th East to 5th East they want to change to 3 lanes in each dierction with a center turn lane. There would be no change from Highland to 20th East. Grace Sperry made a motion that we wait until next month to make a recommendation on this issue so we can have time to discuss this matter with the neighbors. Voting was unanimous in the affirmative.

Hogle Zoo Relocation

Gary Bowen, a citizen spoke concerning a petition to improve instead of relocate the zoo.

Mayor’s Office Update

Barry Esham reported that he has been reassigned to the west side area. Annette Daley will take his place. Citizen Planner Certificates: Certificates were given to Grace Sperry and Rawlins Young for completion of the Citizen Planner training.

Planning Department Update

No report due to the loss of our Planning Department representative. Someone asked the status of the skateboard park in Fairmont Park and it was determined that the construction could begin sometime in July.

Conditional Use Permit & Zone Change at 2018 East 21st South

Jennifer Schwartz explained her desire to open a private school at this location. It is currently zoned as residential and she wants to change the zoning to institutional. The school being planned is for students 4 years through high school with a maximum capacity of 175 students. The school would be modeled after the Sudbury Valley School in Framingham, Massachusetts. The school has pioneered an educational philosophy of self-initiated learning in a democratic setting since 1968. The school would be a non-profit corporation. The hours of operation would be from 8:30 AM until 6:00 PM with occasional evening meetings with parents and board members. The building would also be used one Saturday a month for cleaning, projects, and social events. The current parking lot has 24 parking spaces. They would need 8-12 for their staff. They don’t anticipate students having cars at least at the beginning. They are working on using an additional parking lot to the east when needed. Stacie Sears spoke representing the neighbors who have many concerns including traffic, on-street parking, property values, zone change, and access onto Yuma street. Kathleen Loyola also spoke of the concerns of the neighbors, expressing many of the same concerns. She feels no one will use the Yuma access because it is so narrow. Pamela Loyola was concerned with the school being modeled after a Sudbury School. She feels there is no room for them to play which is a big part of the program. Janet Stewart said the church property originally had a home and the church was only allowed as a conditional permit. She feels it would not work as a school. She feels if the use is different from what it currently is, it should be returned to residential. There were letters from some nine neighbors opposing this request. Janet asking that we use their petitions as grounds to reject this proposal and not put it to a sub-committee for further study. Cheryl Coffey of SLC Planning explained the zoning issue. Kathleen Hood doesn’t want to see a commercial use this close to the residential neighborhood and recommended there be no zone change. Judi Short referred to Realms of Inquiry, a private school on 9th East between 9th and 13th South and noted that it has been a healthy change in the community. Grace Sperry supported Judi’s comments, also noting the Carden School that has been a successful private school in a residential area. It was noted that this success may be due, at least in part, to the disciplined rules that school has set up. Chair Peters suggested that we look at the proposal before us and not compare it with these other schools. Rawlins Young doesn’t recommend the change of the zoning. Martin Smith feels that even though schools are important we need to support the neighbors as we represent them. Jennifer then expressed the possibility of creating a circular driveway that would do away with the Yuma street access. Ray Pugsley feels that we don’t necessarily need to follow the neighborhood if it is not consistent with applicable master plans. Ray made the motion that we change the zoning from R1-12000 to institutional. Discussion included: 1) Ray Pugsley feels that the lack of playground space is a big problem, 2) Grace Sperry is concerned that we haven’t had time to review the information and would like to take time for that. She suggested amending the motion that we postpone the decision until next month, 3) Ron Weber feels that the change from a 1 day a week activity to a 5 day a week activity is a lot to ask the neighbors to deal with. He agrees that we should wait for a decision, 4) Mark Holland feels that it should be a win-win decision and that we should try to work out a solution that would benefit everyone. The motion was to change the zoning and the amendment was to postpone the voting until next month so the motion voted on was “to postpone the decision until next month” with 11 in favor, 3 opposed, and 1 abstention. Sheila O’Driscoll also agreed with the decision to taking time to look more at this. This will be placed on the agenda for the August meeting.

Monument Plaza reconfiguration and restoration

Susan Petheram distributed a diagram showing three different suggested alternative designs for the monument plaza and asked each person present to rate and comment on the ideas. These comments will be taken back to the planning committee.

Organizational Issues

Nominating Committee – Su Armitage will determine the nominating committee. Committee Reports – Parks, Trails, Recreation Committee: Lynne Olson reported that Agnes Greenhall will represent the Sugar House District as a Neighborhood Tree Ambassador to the SLC Urban Forestry Division. The inventory of trees in Fairmont Park has been completed. The Parley’s Trail Coalition is participating in a Master Plan to determine the alignment and cost of building the whole 8-mile corridor. Sugar House Park has received CIP funding to complete the final phase of their new irrigation system. The park will also be hosting a 4th of July celebration. The signs that were stolen from Hidden Hollow have been replaced. Lynne is suggesting that the Sugar House Community Council support the building of a bicycle/pedestrian trail near the location of the Salt Lake & Jordan Canal as our 2004 Sugar House Sesquicentennial project and that we apply to the City Council to use some portion of the one-time Olympic money for Sugar House to make signs and improvements to this corridor in order to qualify it as an Olympic Legacy Gold Medal Mile trail. Lynne also had a copy of a page from the SL Tribune in April of 1954 showing the parade in Sugar House in commemoration of our centennial, and suggested that we begin plans for making a really big deal with Sugar Days on the sesquicentennial next year. Land Use Committee – Grace Sperry is scheduling a meeting with the committee as she is taking over the chair of the committee from Gayen Wharton. Safety Committee – Ray noted the Night Out Against Crime to be held in August. Helen has received the resignation as trustee from Gina Thompson who is moving from the area and from Claudia Holm. Helen Peter’s petition renewal was unanimously approved. Bylaws – There are three questions that need to be addressed: 1) can a Trustee with an expired petition vote? (In general it was felt that they should.) 2) should a trustee with three unexcused absences be able to be challenged? 3) do we want to have the requirement “own property”? (it appears that we need to have this to qualify under the recognition ordinance, and it was generally felt that we shouldn’t limit but encourage participation and we should keep the requirement of “own, operate, or live in”, 4) should we have at-large trustees? (The majority seemed to say yes). Helen reviewed the changes as noted on the printed by-laws. Helen will contact all trustees for any comments prior to the next meeting. It was agreed that we will vote on the new by-laws at the August meeting.

Adjourn

Meeting adjourned at 9:30 PM