Attending: Jill Van Langeveld; Phil Carroll; Denton Taylor; Steve Mecham; Wynn Johnson; Jim Jenkin; Wayne Green; Walter Jones; Judith Locke; Lon Richardson; Shane McCarthy; Thella Mae Christensen; Jaynie Brown; Kim Kivett; R.D. Coleman; Kelly Quick-Stevens

Announcements:
The city is distributing a map showing streets that will be involved in the marathon.
The Street Fair Committee will meet this Saturday (April 9) at Jill Van Langeveld's home, 807 E. Northcliffe Drive at 9 a.m.
The Memory Grove Clean-up will be May 14.
The city is distributing a new plan for Pioneer Park.

Police Report: In March there was 1 aggravated assault; 14 auto thefts; 14 burglaries; 19 car prowls; 1 gang-related event; 1 robbery.

Schools: Doug Nelson: On April 19 a special session will consider HB 135, which is aimed at opting out of the federal school standard's program No Child Left Behind. Doing so would mean a loss of $9.3 million or $387 per child in federal funds in the Salt Lake City School District. Forfeiting all federal funding would hurt school children more proportionally in our state than other states, since Utah is among bottom states in spending the least per pupil. UPASS, which is being advocated for testing, is more expensive and less comprehensive in picking up low-performing students. There are problems with No Child Left Behind, but we can't afford to lose this money. The feds are beginning to loosen some requirements and restrictions, so Utah should just hang in there with the program.

A charter school has been proposed for Lowell school building.

Transportation committee: Jim Jenkin said a group that will look at transportation is being formed under the Utah Efficiency Working Group.

Legislature: Ralph Becker said the special session will deal with No Child Left Behind. Requests to put other items on the special session agenda, including underfunded programs in education and the Salt Palace expansion, are being considered. Interim Task Forces will be of interest to Avenues residents: IHC tax status; Utah tax structure. Re: Capitol Hill traffic light and traffic problems - a light will go in at 300 N. and Main Street and a one-way direction set on street running west of the Capitol.

City Council: Eric Jergensen said the council is working to make sure the city doesn't bear an inordinate share of the expansion project. Council is working with UDOT on traffic issues in Capitol Hill area. The council is looking at a change in zoning for noncompliant and nonconforming structures. The interest in changing the zoning is being driven by underwriters and insurers and legislative law changes. If approved, it will change the Avenues master plan to allow replacement of nonconforming buildings in event of a catastrophe, rather than requiring them to meet existing zoning.

GACC By-Laws: Wayne Green picked up where the review left off last time.
Article VII - Nominations and elections.
Lon Richardson said the process being codified loses intent of giving the public at-large the right to participate in GACC without proving participation in the past.
Dave Van Langveld said it was not appropriate to supplant chair-elect when it is their term to serve. It ought to be automatic.
Steve Mecham said 7.4 is too restrictive. To restrict a person from coming and running for chair-elect is too restrictive. It is more restrictive than requirements of running for city or state office.
Wayne Green said those offices provide for long campaigns that give people a chance to get to know the candidates, which is not true of the GACC. It is nice to have knowledge of a candidate before giving a thumbs up or down.
Kelly Quick-Stevens said it is a good idea to have a process for requiring a potential chair to be previously involved and prove he or she is not driven by a particular agenda.
Judith Locke said allowing people to continue in their positions would thwart other people's opportunity to aspire to future leadership.

Motion: Jim Jenkin to accept 7.4 and 7.5 as written.
Substitute motion: Steve Mecham to eliminate 7.4.

The substitute motion failed.

Substitute motion: Jaynie Brown to reword 7.5, striking the first sentence, and adding a sentence that reads "if current chair wishes to stay on and current chair-elect is in agreement, the nominating committee may ask the current chair to seek re-election."

Jim Jenkin said some feel the trust that guided the operation of GACC is not intact and these by-laws allow that trust be rebuilt.

Discussion tabled because of many questions raised about sections VII, 7.4 and 7.5.

Sen. Scott McCoy: Scott said he is an attorney who mostly does anti-trust work. He moved here with his partner a little over three years ago to be a judicial clerk. He ran the Don't Amend Alliance, which opposed a law reiterating in state statute that Utah recognizes only marriage between a man and a woman, last year. He said following Paula Julander's example will be a challenge. This summer he plans to walk the Avenues, getting to know residents. His contact information is 359-2544 (home); there is a special mail box on the phone for legislative matters. His email is smccoy@utahsenate.org. He asked that a bill dealing with funding legal aid for low-income families and individuals be reconsidered in the special session. District 2 is the largest senate district in the state by population. It includes two precincts in West Valley City; there are 7 house districts that fall in Senate District 2.

Bohemian Farms: Kenvin Lyman, who has lived here since 1967, said he and his wife are trying to get interest in their organic farm. Community Supported Agriculture gives people and opportunity to support the land. A full share, which feeds 4 adults, with delivery once a week for 20 weeks, is $350. A half share, which feeds 2, is $180.

Ottinger Hall:
Dave Jonsson, a Canyon Road resident, and Rick Graham, talked about the project and concerns over it.

Dave said the city already has several youth centers as part of recreational centers and schools. Ottinger Hall stands out as being not part of this kind of group. We are concerned about traffic will contribute to rush hour traffic at Second Avenue; that garbage storage/collection will be tougher. He suggested that Lowell would be the perfect site for the program, though the goal of restoring Ottinger is a good goal.

Rick Graham, director of City Public Utilities, said the public process has been very good. Dave added to that by creating a Web site; he has asked a lot of good questions and the city has responded to those. Since we were last here we've had two meetings with the Canyon Road community, with very good turnout. The last meeting was March 23. Several issues are still out there. Transportation…this is a building that will be used during school year from 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., as an aftershool program site for YouthCity. There are no plans to put other programs in the hall. During summer it would be in use mid-June to August, 8 to 5 p.m. It would serve 30 to 40 children from ages of 10 to 14. The issue is transportation. There is no solution to managing extra traffic. The only other solution is to not have the cars come in. The city has made arrangements through Eric Jergensen to use LDS Church property at Second Ave. and A Street to have a drop off and pick up point; kids would be ferried by vans to the school. For the most part, would be no reason for parents to come into the Canyon Road area. He said program officials think this solution will work and the city will work hard to make sure parents and supervisors understand and stick to the plan.
The city also have renewed discussions with UDOT to manage and control the intersection at State Street and Second Ave. They are looking at providing left turn arrow at State Street. Another issue is number of children and what activities they'll be engaged in. The program is highly supervised and there will be minimal activity outside the building. There will be two to three staff people there, who will park near Memorial House. Great benefit to city to have a program that serves kids and families, and to have the building restored for the community.

Jim Jenkin asked Rick to think about westbound, left turn lane, which because of road design, would not likely give much relief to Second Avenue traffic.

One man said funerals and snow clearing could be problems for use of the LDS Church parking lot.

Rick said the children who use the program come from Wasatch, Ensign, Washington, Jackson schools. Some kids will walk. Some will be shuttled by parents. Some will be taken in vans from their schools to the program.

Wayne Green asked if renovation of Ottinger Hall is contingent on that program going in.

Rick said yes. Rotary is donating $100,000 for the program; another $100,000 will come from a federal grant. The renovation is designed to support the program; if the program isn't there, neither are the funds.

One woman said that providing school lunches and snacks will generate more traffic. Memory Grove is supposed to be a peaceful location, which this program will disturb.

Rick said the city doesn't regulate how people use Memory Grove. A public park is a public park and any one can use that park. We build parks for children to play in.

City report from Gwen Springmeyer: Gwen passed out calendar.

The meeting adjourned at 9 p.m.