Greater Avenues Community Council

Board Meeting Minutes from September 12, 2007

Attendance:

Kat Kivett, Wayne Green, John Sittner, Thella Mae Christensen, Walter Jones, Phil Carroll, Michael Hughes, Dave Jonsson, Judith Locke, Shane Carlson, Jaynie Brown, Jim Jenkins, Kat Kivett, Steve Mecham, Ruth Marea, Charla Allen

Meeting started at approximately 7:35 p.m.

• Michael extended a congratulations to the Street Fair committee for another great street fair.

• Shane Carlson brought copies of a letter he wrote to submit to the Board of Adjustments. Because the report of the BOA meeting was not distributed in time for Shane to know the specifics he needed to address, he wrote the letter covering all aspects of the GACC’s concerns with the house at 9th and G Street. The GACC Board reviewed the letter (under bylaws, the Board has the ability to do this as a special exception when it’s a matter of urgency). Letter had to be approved tonight.
  
  Judith Locke made a motion to accept and send letter with the following:

• Signatures of the Chair of the Housing Committee and the Chair of the GACC (Shane Carlson and Micheal Hughes respectively)

• A paragraph stating that this letter is a special action by the GACC Board due to the urgent nature of the issue, and that the GACC Board is authorized by vote in general council to take action.

Motion seconded by Dave Jonsson. Voting was unanimous in the affirmative. Motion carried.

• 68 K Street—Current owner wants to expand use for property, which would require re-zoning. City wants to limit property use to art gallery-type property only. Owner asked that the GACC give an opinion on the matter. The GACC is not being asked to take any action at this time, just to give an opinion. Michael asked that the Board members drive by the property and then give their opinions to him, and he will pass them onto Eric Jergensen. Eric is intervening on zoning issue. The owner is currently working with the City and with Michael Hughes.
  
  John Sittner made a motion to put zoning issues (i.e., rezoning a historically commercial use property to neighborhood commercial use) on the earliest possible agenda as a matter of general discussion for the GACC council meeting.
  
  Phil Carroll seconded the motion. Voting was unanimous in the affirmative. Motion carries.

• Three items for the October 3 GACC council meeting:

  • Julie Brown — Tracy Aviary
    Julie is the Development and Communications Director; also an Avenues Resident Will present Fall programs for the Aviary

• Stephanie Duer — Demo Garden
  Stephanie will present ideas and plan for planting

• Information for and against school voucher issue
  Three groups against the issue (Teachers Union, Parents for Public Education in Utah, and one other) will argue the Againt side of the voucher issue. Parents for Choice in Education will argue the For side of the voucher issue. Planned outline is 10 minutes on each side with 5 minutes for questions.

• Jim Jenkins made a motion to postpone the presentation by Tracy Aviary for the October 3 council meeting, due to the time the voucher issue will take. Dave Jonsson seconded the motion.
  
  Further discussion: The question was posed of whether Tracy Aviary could do their presentation in 5 minutes. Michael said he would talk with Julie at Tracy Aviary. He mentioned that the Fall programs have something to do with accreditation and is time sensitive for them.
  
  Jim amended the motion to state that we request that Tracy Aviary take as little time as possible if they can’t postpone presentation. Dave seconded the amended motion. Voting: 13 in favor, 1 abstention

• Michael Hughes made a motion to accept the agenda for the October 3 council meeting. Phil Carroll seconded the motion. Further discussion about upcoming GACC elections and controlling time better in council meetings. Voting was unanimous in the affirmative. Motion carried.

• Discussed complaint from concerned resident about activities going on at 254 7th Ave. Complainant states that there are a lot of trailers pulling up with filming or photo equipment and is wondering if the people have the proper licensing/permits. Michael has checked property owners who live in California, and reported to Gwen Springmeyer who is checking with building permits and with City Special Events for film permits.

• Michael reminded everyone of the City Preservation questionnaire that everyone should have received via email. It is due back to the city by Friday, August 17th. The questionnaire has to do with the City’s Preservation Master Plan, and they would like as much public comment as possible by the Aug 17 deadline.

• Leann Garms from the Street Fair Committee gave an update regarding publicity for the upcoming Avenues Street Fair on Sept. 8, 2007. She is working with Rebecca Chavez-Hauck and they are in the process of getting TV, radio, and print coverage. They will be focusing on promoting Pilar Pobil as well. It was suggested that someone try to contact Rod Decker of Channel 2 News. He is an Avenues resident and could be a resource for getting TV coverage for the Fair. We also discussed putting together a library of video footage from past street fairs to have available to give to media outlets to promote the fair. It was suggested that we try to find an Avenues resident with videotaping equipment who would be willing to get footage of this year’s fair. We also talked about contacting KUED to get the street fair on the list of upcoming community events that is broadcast from 9:55 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Channel 7. Hot Wax is the media firm that will be creating ads for the Street Fair. They will also be a sponsor this year. We also discussed putting a call out for people to bring information, pictures, etc., from past fairs for a historical display, as well as having all street fair information archived at the U of U. Michael to ask for this information in September newsletter. Suggestion to advertise in the Utah Cycling magazine and in the U of U Daily Chronicle.

• Shane Carlson gave an update on several Housing issues.

• House on 9th and G:
  This issue has been placed back on the Board of Adjustments agenda for their August 20, 2007 meeting—without any notice to GACC. The agenda item had previously been removed as part of a promise from the Planning and Community Development offices that they would meet with the GACC before it became an agenda item for the Board of Adjustments meeting.

The GACC position is that three critical elements were missing from the original proposal: 1) the drawing the property owners used to base their plan on was not stamped by a licensed architect, 2) no surveys—which are a requirement—were done, and 3) no survey comparisons of the adjacent properties were done.
Shane suggested getting the State Property Ombudsmen office involved. They give an advisory statement, which the City can choose to follow or not. If the City chooses not to follow the advisory statement and is taken to court, the City has to pay all court costs. There is about a two-week turn around time to get an opinion back, and it costs $150.00.
The GACC’s decided course of action is as follows:

• Attempt to postpone the issue from appearing on the Board of Adjustments August 20, 2007 meeting agenda. (Michael to draft letter)

• Attempt to meet with the City and property owners as previously promised. (Shane and Michael to follow up)

• Have statistics on hand citing previous instances in which roofs had to be lowered when built beyond permitted limits. (Shane to research)

• Contact the Ombudsman’s office to see if they will grant an opinion on this case, take up the issue, and then authorize the $150.00 for an advisory statement from the Ombudsman’s Office if deemed an applicable value.

Motion called by Dave Johnson to accept GACC plan of action as outlined above.

Walter Jones seconded the motion.

There was additional discussion regarding whether the Board was acting within its authority. It was explained that the Board and the Council voted to give the Housing Committee authority to move forward with issues such as this. Voting was unanimous in the affirmative—Motion carried.

• Side-entry buildings at 688 F Street and lot line shift:
  The structures are still in the design phase. The GACC would like to get an advisory statement from the Ombudsmen’s office. Two separate opinions may be needed—one for the side-entry issue and one for the lot line shift—but would like the Ombudsmen’s office to address both issues in one statement if possible.
  Motion was made by Judith Locke to ask the Ombudsmen’s office to issue a single advisory statement on both the side-entry and the lot line shift issues. If they will insist on a separate statement for each issue, then just authorize the statement for the side-entry issue. Wayne Johnson seconded the motion. No further discussion.
  Voting was unanimous in the affirmative—Motion carried. Shane to submit request to the Ombudsman’s office by August 17.

• Money needed to get documents from City meetings:
  The GACC desires copies of documents from the city regarding ordinances, minutes from Planning Commission meetings, etc. Each requested set of minutes costs $15.00. Motion was made by Judith Locke to authorize up to $100 for GACC requests for copies of minutes from City meetings. Dave Jonsson seconded the motion. No further discussion. Voting was unanimous in the affirmative—Motion carried. Shane to make official requests and be reimbursed by GACC.

A general request was made to please let the Board know of any GACC-related expenditures.

Meeting ended at approximately 9:00 p.m.