General Meeting 5/15/05
Meeting Held at: Opus 39
In Attendance: 29
Meeting called to order by President Linda Forsyth at 7:15 p.m.
Meeting will have two parts:
Discussion of the Mini-Grant Program
Speaker Commissioner Don Crichlow on the Aggregation Ordinance
Before starting meeting agenda Linda wanted to go over items of general interest / information for neighborhood:
· Annual Meeting and election of officers and board members will occur at our meeting in October. Some officers/board members will either (1) not be seeking re-election or (2) wish to pursue other interests within the neighborhood association.
· General membership meeting in August will identify the board positions that will be effective October.
· Linda hopes that members of the neighborhood association will consider taking on a role as an officer or board member.
Mini-Grant Program
Linda reviewed the requirements of the program for the membership. Requirements are (1) that it needs to be a physical improvement to a public space (2) grant may not exceed $2,500 per cycle year (3) that the project not result in high maintenance for the city (4) matching funds or “sweat” equity on behalf of the neighborhood, although not a requirement, would be viewed favorably.
Sample ideas that have been put forth include: neighborhood bulletin board, street signs denoting a historic area, bike racks, benches, decorative trash cans, and street plantings with native plants such as palms or crape myrtles (which was discussed by Les at the last neighborhood association meeting).
First, as a group, it was put to vote and approved by the majority that our neighborhood association should go forward for the application for the Mini-Grant program.
Next, the meeting was opened to generate ideas for the mini-grant application. Ideas included: sewerage improvement on St. Andrews Court and Cordova St, greenery additions in the neighborhood, brass plates in the sidewalk indicating the historic area, street plaques or markers denoting the historic area affixed to street signs.
Les Thomas has volunteered to chair the project to complete the mini-grant program. Others on the team include: Charlie Melton, Alan Kay, Bill Anderson, Nadine Davis.
A motion was made and approved by the majority to enable this committee to develop the ideas and do the necessary research to complete the mini-grant application.
Mini-Grant application is due to the city on Wednesday, June 7th.
Treasurers Report
Debra Madaras provided the Treasurers Report on funds available to the association.
Wine Fest 2005
Debra also provided a report on this year’s fundraiser which will be a Wine Fest held on Friday, July 8th from 6 – 9 PM at the Art Association on Marine Street. Cost is $20. It will be sponsored by Broudy’s, who will provide a wide selection of wines and attendees will receive a coupon worth $5 on purchases of wine from Broudy’s. There will be live music and food. Tickets are available through Jerry Peters (824-5625) or through Ancient City Stained Glass on King Street (819-0709).
Aggregation Ordinance
Becky Greenberg introduced our special guest, Commissioner Don Crichlow, who spoke about the Aggregation Ordinance. Commissioner Crichlow indicated that this ordinance is to address the issues of over-development and density that can occur if lots are developed to their maximum usage. He presented graphics to discuss the various components of the ordinance and explained each instance that the ordinance tries to address and under which circumstances a lot is buildable/developable based on lot coverage, the position of existing building, set-backs, etc. While this ordinance was to prevent the over-development by developers who would purchase multiple adjacent lots, it has consequences to home/land owners who may have planned for the contiguous lots to be separated to provide for family members. Another issue is that the value of the property and lots can be affected by this ordinance.
Questions were directed to Commissioner Crichlow from the audience.
One very valuable point made by Pat Reilly is this ordinance should only take effect when tear-down of an existing structure is planned which would resolve the impact to current property/land owners.
Commissioner Crichlow indicated that the current
ordinance as written does not coincide with the graphics that are currently
being used for these presentations but that the ordinance will be rewritten to
agree with the presentation prior to the next scheduled workshop (which has not
yet been determined).
Other Issues/Concerns/Comments
Robert Hall, who lives on Spanish Street, has indicated that he is trying to develop his own neighborhood association and that he would rather do that then be annexed into our neighborhood association since he feels the areas are completely different. Linda indicated that we included this area in response to requests to be included so that residents east of Cordova Street could be aware of things going on around the city that might affect them. If Robert and the other residents of the Spanish Street area wants to form their own neighborhood association, the Flagler Model Land NA would be happy to assist them with their efforts.
A suggestion was made that our next general meeting should also address hurricane preparedness.