Greater Avenues Community Council Meeting Minutes

2003 Chair Wynn Johnson opened the meeting at 7:00 pm. Sadly the presentation from planning commission with possible solution to main street plaza will be postponed until approx Mar 5. They are not ready for tonight.

Brief announcements: public meeting held last month on one lot sub-divison for eastern end of North Bonneville drive (Mr. Cornell)-that was passed.

Gentleman called Wynn this morning with community garden plans in the works on vacant land immediately north of cathedral. Contact Wynn if you want a name and phone number to join with or protest that group.

POLICE report: Linda Johnson with SLC police dept. & partner detective Carrie Sanders, are here to report. Detective Sanders grew up in Avenues and loves her work and loves working here. Left a career in chemistry to work here. Stats: 799-3446, Carrie 799-3464 to notify concerns. Can't give explanations tonight but will give totals. A copy of statistics is with secretary. Check website for police to get stats. Using your loud stereo system means getting targeted because they watch for you and follow you home. Don't allow for any opportunity. Speed board has been put up by request. City also allocated additional money for a speed-board somewhere everyday. People can call Carrie and Linda to request where it's put. Midday is still most likely time to be burglarized. Left open garage doors are especially vulnerable. A white van with out-of-state plates is in the area and having people knock on doors with inane sales pitches. They are working crimes of opportunity.

SCHOOL BOARD: Dr Nelson. Partly as a result of an excellent letter from GACC and PTA and the School Council at Wasatch, the SL School board is not forcing a 9000 sq feet addition to Wasatch Elem. Its size alarmed the neighborhood plus it seemed inappropriate. Now they will build an addition as large as is needed. Will not be forced on school to be a certain size. Ensign is bracing itself for large number of Lowell students coming. School choice is now local-based at ensign. Dr. Nelson wants to fight to reinstate curriculum and assessment lab at ensign. Lowell is still slated to be closed at end of this year. This could be very bad for district in the long term. He wants it on agenda sooner rather than later. Discussion needs to take place now. Stay tuned for the outcome. Is Lowell property going to be used for something else? No plans for sale.

LEGISLATORS: Ralph Becker & Paula Julander will answer questions or discuss particulars concerns to you. Phone numbers are in newsletter and you can reach them through the web site. Both are happy to accept phone calls at home although they aren't often at home during sessions. Tuition tax credit passed yesterday in senate. 2 republicans voted against it and all demos voted against it. That bill has serious problems-no guidelines for who can go, parallels public schools, discriminatory, does not require seat time, etc. Supporters sail it will bring the state money. Not a panacea for solving school problems. One bill every democrat in legislature is united on. Each child has $2100.00 the state puts in education for. Both Ralph and Paula have a hard time with this bill.

Is there any place where it's worked? Every place we've heard of that has it says it is failing. Their answer to that is that is hasn't been tried long enough. Is there anything positive and uplifting happening in legislature? Have listened for 2 days to people hurt by budget cuts. Asked today to take more money out of health care etc. People are picking at little stuff and are not focusing on the big stuff. Looking for higher education that functions well and providing a good experience for students. Personal relationships up there are good for both of them. Discouraging when we don't see issues addressed that ought to be. Seatbelt discussion started and ended in the house. Primary law says you can be fined for not wearing it. Other law has not been heard yet? Credit unions and banks should get together in a room to work out the difficulties. Please contact them with your input so they know what you think.

Wynn has had very good luck emailing them. Website is on page 3 of newsletter. rbecker@utah.gov or Pjulander@utahsenate.org

TRAFFIC REPORT - im Jenkin as traffic chairman said a calming proposal submitted on 11th ave is coming. The city called last week. Pre-survey right now for 2 traffic tables (same as on 2nd ave) one at C & 11 and another at G and 11th. Other thing that is going on is a traffic study at intersection at 11th and E that appears to justify a 4 way stop at 11th and E. May try and wrap that 4 way stop up with the calming survey. To give input to that city transportation contact Craig Timothy at 535-6630. He is coordinator for these programs and the most appropriate person for this discussion.

CITY COUNCIL: Eric Jergensen said last month he was sick and missed this meeting. Has 3 items to talk about. 1) Will save Main street discussion for next month. Call Eric regarding your thoughts on Main street. 2) Revised water rates. Rates are developed over 3 months in winter. Now a 2.8 million dollar budget shortfall in the city. In next 2-3 months we will identify ways to cut as few services as we can. Illustrious senator is putting kibosh on money that should have found its way back to SLC. One of our west side senators has put skids on it. Eric thinks he has that problem resolved. 3) item is foothill preservation reflects concern of North Bonneville drive issue. Concern about existing preservation of foothills issue. The particular ordinance we have right now doesn't address it. We are in a period of ambiguity. Foothills are threatened because of a lawsuit. Eric thinks building on top of mesas and buttes is a crime (like is happening in St. George). City is also looking at traffic issues in federal heights and Aves as Jim mentioned. Comment to help downtown-complete free parking and get a Walmart and ? down there. 532-4844 is Eric's home number.

SOUTH TEMPLE RECONSTRUCTION: brought a page of what she sends to businesses about what is happening. 3 constructions above (North of) South Temple are private and 3 are us. First is ? then gas, then water, etc etc. will keep going in quadrants as long as weather holds. Temporary patch of blacktop is gone. After snow hit it it's gone. Be patient-go slow. Finishing touches are going on at west end. Do not mean to shut water off. Valves are over 70 years old and often break and have to be replaced. Pat is at 535-7235. Having meetings at Backers Bakery on Wednesdays (they serve treats) at 10 am. Everyone is welcome.

MAYOR'S OFFICE: Gwen Springmeyer from Mayor's office: one announcement -The mayor has Saturday morn with the mayor on Feb 22 at Polynesian restaurant 10-11 a.m. at 1157 south Glendale drive. It is an opportunity to go with any questions and one-on-one with mayor.

COMMITTEE request: our bylaws are available on web page. If you have any issues with bylaws that you would like changed, added, deleted, please let Wayne Green know at Wayne.green@cores.utah.edu.

TREASURER REPORT: John Sittner showed balance sheet summary for this year and the year before. We are continuing to increase our bank account. Increase in both newsletter and street fair items. Mistake in working with SLAC because we didn't have our name listed. That money will be coming back. Have about $45,000 in assets. Have $1300 we are holding for street lighting. What rate are we earning on CD? About 3.1%. The profit and loss statement -increase in street fair and nice increase in profitability as well. Advertising revenue helps since LDS hospital prints for free so mailing is our only cost there.

CITY MASTER LIGHTING PLAN: Chris Biltoft reported Warren Haight came earlier to report the city's plan. Chris believes more needs to go into this plan than just the globe. Handed out a list of concerns for a lot of people. 3 resources to look at: the draft of city plan is www.slcgov.com/transortation/streetlighting/ . Another resource is www.darksky.org/ida/fixtures/ and skyandtelescope.com/resources/darksky/ The low pressure sodium light is on its way out. New candidates are metal halide and high pressure sodium. Metal halide is a bluish color but it might cause difficulty in seeing because it causes a corona around the fixture. Cut-off has to do with how much goes up and out. Pole and fixture types is an area to look at. Cobra styles are common on intersections. Bishop's crook is in new Smith's parking lot. Look at lights everywhere out there and decide what you like and what you don't like and let us know. We have a chance to cecide what the community wants on this subject. Great handout included with his presentation. Traffic committee apparently used to include lighting in their responsibilities so we should include that in our discussions. Does master plan exist? It is in a draft right now. We need to provide info to the city so they can do a better job. As they received more information, the more slowly it is going. No one knows where it is in its draft form. What we do is very important. It is very much a work in progress. There are supposed to be dark sky people working with Warren Haight. City plan will show you examples of different kinds of fixtures so you'll know what you are looking at and identify what does what. Is there a limit to wattage people can illuminate their yards with? Yes there are limits. What is scope of master plan? It's mainly street lighting. They are tiptoeing around commercial lighting and personal lighting. Could provide guidelines for people considering a new porch light. Some sidelight/porch lights shine right into the bedroom of their neighbor.

UTAH FOSTER CARE FOUNDATION: Kimberly Nielsen works for both metro and holiday areas. Includes Davis County to 21st south. Have huge need for foster parents. Currently 98 children in need and few homes to care for them. As a result they are ending up in Sandy, West Jordan etc. We would like to keep those kids in same area for a variety of reasons. Grandparents are a great resource for foster care. Most kids who need it are age 14 and above. Suicide rate is very high, as is incarceration rate. We need families in your area. If everyone here took a brochure to anyone who could be a good foster parent, it could help. Need good families to take these children for about a year. Have 6 different races in this area (Caucasian, Native American, Asian, Black, Polynesian, Hispanic). If you don't do it, who is going to? Is it public? We are private non-profit organization but work with State. The State licensing dept. contracts with them.

OPEN FORUM: liked article in newsletter about street corners

Steve Brewer --on Canyon Road proposal from Public Utilities dept to build building on Canyon Road to house chlorination and fluoridation. Bob Spearling from Dept of Utilities has been with them. Have talked about an alternative to that site. Some neighbors oppose the building in the area the city has proposed. Alternative location proposed is just north of Ottinger Hall. If this building has to be placed in the vicinity near 4th Ave well, that is a preferred location. 2 options are there: some of above ground components could be placed in that annex, then bury the big tanks. Wouldn't be so much visual impact on the neighborhood. Additional structure could be built just north of that if underground doesn't work. Landmarks committee dead-ended the proposal and this group is asking us (GACC) to support them in asking for this proposal. Wants us to reconsider it from the discussion last month. Water dept has scaled down proposed building to 10x12 and sink it down a bit. But it will still take a large part of park section above 4th Ave. They are afraid there is a possibility of that whole park becoming a water plant. Take a harder look at possibility of locating that plant just north of Ottinger Hall. What is time schedule on this? Don't know.

a.. Maybe we should send a letter saying we did not endorse it because we were passive at the time of last month's meeting.

Comment: in a time of interest of renewable resources, utilitization from underground water from city creek canyon is a blessing from heaven. Let's remember while we get these negative overtones about how it looks, the basic inclination is to preserve water.

Motion-- put this on the agenda for next month with notification we will have a vote on the proposal for this facility. Amendment: to write a letter saying we are not approving the plan to build it where the city wants it.

Motion to adjourn. Meeting adjourned at 8:45 pm