GACC Board Meeting
12 December 2007

GACC Board members in attendance: Wayne Green, Jim Jenkin, Thelle Mae Christensen, Shane Carlson, Walter Jones, Judith Locke, Jill Van Langeveld, Michael Hughes, John Sittner, Laurian Escalanti, Jaynie Brown, Kat Kivett

Meeting started approximately 7:30 pm

• Discussion

1. Reviewed status of GACC Committees:

   • GACC Committees that are currently active

• Preparedness & Safety Committee—Wayne will talk with Carlton De Tar about being an official GACC Board member and Chair of this committee possibly with help from Don of Mobile Watch

• Hospital Committee—Wayne Green is currently Chair of this committee

• Street Fair—Jan Bird and Ruth Morgan will be same Chairs for next year’s Avenues Street Fair

• Housing—Shane Carlson is currently Chair of this committee, may change name to Land Use, Housing Committee will decide at next Housing meeting

• Traffic—Jim Jenkin is currently Chair of this committee

• Service Project—Steve Mecham has been acting Chair, if no longer wants to do it Michael Hughes would be interested

• GACC Committees that are no longer active/needed

  • Recycling—No longer active

  • Pet Committee—No longer active

  • Filming—No longer active

• Groups that are not committees

  • M.A.D.D.—Not within scope of GACC

  • Decorative Street Lights—No longer active

  • Mobile Watch—Will be merged with Preparedness

• Other

  • May need to create ad-hoc committee for taking care of the Demonstration Garden

  • Phil Carroll would like to see a committee for Memory Grove

2. U of U Board of Trustees would like to get more involved with the community via community councils

   • The suggestion was made to have someone from the U of U Outreach program or Board of Trustees could come to a GACC Board meeting once quarterly or every 6 months

   • There is an email list for minutes and notes from the Board of Trustees monthly forum meetings. John Sittner is currently on the list, and Wayne Green plans to sign up. Both will keep a lookout for issues that might affect the GACC and for which we could extend an invite to a Board of Trustee member to attend a GACC Board meeting. Anyone else is welcome to sign up also.

   • Board of Trustees can also contribute a message to the GACC newsletter.

3. Communication with Mayor Becker’s administration

   • Appointments for the new administration will be made on Friday, December 14th. It’s too late for us to give any input that way, but we do still need to keep the lines of communication open with the transition team and the new administration.

   • Need to draw attention to problem properties in the Avenues before building starts, and need to ask the new team to keep the commitments promised by the previous team.

   • Shane Carlson will draft a letter to Ralph Becker outlining the previous commitments, why they are important, and why it’s imperative that the new team/administration take a proactive approach to dealing with the issues. Will present letter to GACC Board when completed.

4. Foothill Development Watch (Wal-Mart at 2100 S/Parley’s Way)

   • The GACC is a member of the Emigration District Coalition (EDC), which is made up of several East Bench area community councils. At its last meeting, the members of the EDC voted to take back to their own community councils the issue of granting re-zoning to allow Wal-Mart to build a larger Super-Wal-Mart in the old KMART building located at 2100 S/Parley’s Way. The EDC would like to draft a letter to the city opposing the re-zoning request by Wal-Mart. It should be noted that this is not a For/Against issue with Wal-Mart. It is a For/Against issue for re-zoning.

   • Some items for the GACC to consider: do we want to take this issue to the GACC community as a whole, how will the re-zoning affect the overall Master Plan for the East Bench, how will it affect the smaller grocery stores already in the area

   • Overall decision was that we do not have enough information to make a formal statement, either in favor of or opposed to, the re-zoning issue. But it would be good to get feedback from the Avenues community whether they would like additional information on this issue.

   • Jim Jenkin moved to add the Wal-Mart rezoning issue to the agenda for the next GACC Community Council meeting, and to have Shane Carlson draft a letter to the city addressing the concern of community councils not getting information from the City when requested.
     
     Michael Hughes seconded the motion. Voting was unanimous in the affirmative. Motion carried.

1. Housing Committee Issues

   • Pursuit of Deville Cliff apartments converted into condos

     • Currently the City has no set standard for conversion of apartment buildings into condos. The City is taking two different positions based on the city department involved: the first is that conversions are a change of use from business to private ownership (position of departments that can charge a fee for the change of use) and the second )taken by Planning) is that conversions are not a change of use. This presents problems with the Deville Cliff apartments as the building is in a state of disrepair and there is not adequate parking, among several other problems.

     • The Utah State Ombudsman’s Office is not sure the City is interpreting the Change of Use policy correctly and recommends that we draft a formal letter asking the City to define the term “change of use.” If the Planning Commission approves the conversion, the GACC has the right to appeal to the Land Use Appeals Board (LUAB) and then go to the Ombudsman’s office for a formal opinion. There is a $200 fee to appeal to LUAB, and a $150 fee for the Ombudsman’s office.
       
       Michael Hughes made a motion to grant the funds and allow Shane to appeal to LUAB on the change of use issue. Also, to grand the funds and allow Shane to get an opinion from the Ombudsman’s office.
       
       Jim Jenkin seconded the motion, no further discussion. Voting was unanimous in the affirmative. Motion carried.
       
       Shane will give a report to the Avenues community at the GACC Community Council meeting in January

• Agenda for January 2, 2008 GACC Community Council meeting:

• Committee Report

• Demonstration Garden—Stephanie Duer will give an update of the garden and get feedback about forming a committee.

• SLC Planning—Joel Patterson will present the revised Preservation Plan for historic areas within the City. This is a reschedule from the December GACC Community Council meeting.

• Wal-Mart re-zoning issue for old KMART building at 2100 S/Parley’s Way.

Wayne still needs to determine the amount of time Stephanie and Joel will need for their presentations. When presentation times have been determined, agenda will be put to a vote for acceptance by GACC Board Members. Vote will take place via email.

Meeting adjourned at approximately 8:50 p.m.