Minutes
FMLNA General Meeting 1/9/05
Meeting called to order at 7:05 p.m.
President Linda Forsyth opened meeting, asked if there were any new
members present and if so please stand and introduce themselves.
No answer.
Reflected on 2004 and looked at what association had achieved.
Found three categories:
1)
Attributed Becky Greenberg, as program chair, to the quality and type of
programs that were presented. Particularly in reference to the historic
significance of the neighborhood.
2)
Association addressed issues of importance to neighborhood including
Candidates
forum
John
Regan and Parking Garage
Fire
Marshall
3) The generosity of
the neighborhood in fund-raising events;
Funds
and gift for the Boys’ Home
St. Benedicts
2004 was a good year and looking forward to achieving more in 2005
2005 Schedule of meeting will be listed on web.
Have copies to hand out. If necessary we will have emergency meeting if issues
arise that need to be addressed.
January- we will be reviewing by-laws.
Suggest that we get comments on the web by February 15th so
that membership can review any comments before March meeting.
There can be discussion and voting on suggested changes can take place.
Please forward your comments to Cheryl Kavanaugh so that she can get them
posted BY FEBRUARY.
Need a Chair for the Social committee.
Chris Martin has served in the past but has commitments to complete that
prevent the same level of involvement. he will stay active on the committee but
we need someone to chair it. Opened
the floor to suggestions. Linda
asked that we think of someone
Mini Grant Program
The city Commission has set aside $10,000 for programs for neighborhood associations. Currently
there are no guidelines for the grants. The City commission will discuss this at
the January 24th meeting and is soliciting ideas on how it should
work. Contact Cathy Du Pont or
Linda Forsyth with your comments. Information
on the program is on the City Web site.
Linda asked as an Association, what do we want to participate in.
If so what do we propose to put forth as our projects.
Some ideas to date are:
Historical Plaques identifying the neighborhood
Decorative Street Signs denoting this area
Garbage Cans
We need the input of the neighborhood on what the consensus is
interested in.
General Information:
There is a meeting about the Bridge of Lions Rehab which is open to the
public
Tuesday Jan 18 5-6 pm
and Wednesday Jan 19 11-1 in
the Alcazar Room of City Hall
There is a Livable Cities Conference in Charleston
March 6-10th
Covers such topics as: Urbanization,
CIVIC Values, MULTI housing, architectural reviews, mixed use, the walkablity of
a town, when is a Village A city
and Finally a Historic Narrative of Old cities-
These are some of the topics to be covered.
If you are interested in attending please contact Linda.
Treasury Report
Debra Madaras reported the following:
Presented to Mike and Christine in appreciation of their letting
us meet at Opus a small gift from the association.
Gift certificate
Reported that there is $531.00
in the coffers. Explained that we
pass the basket instead of dues. Give
what you can so it will go into the fund to cover general operating costs. Passed the basket.
Ejo Fox
Fund raiser in December for the youth services was a success.
The Boys Home consists of 28 boys between
the ages of 6 and 17. At 18 they
have to leave the house and go out on their own, even if they have not graduated
from High School. So hoping that
the association will be helpful to
these boys so they can set up
households. any
household items, pots and pans, linens, furniture etc would be
appreciated for the young men. The organization
will let us know 6-weeks prior to one of the boys turning 18 so we can help him
out.
The Fund raiser was an open house at Ejo’s- the goals was to obtain a
present for each child for Christmas. Between
the 22 presents brought to the
party and the $500 in cash
collected- all 28 children received gifts from their wish lists.
the Boys home is looking
for ways to have the children do outreach into the neighbor hood and will keep
us posted. They are also raising
funds so that they can set up something for the older boys, a halfway home type thing.
Ejo had thank you notes from the boys.
Becky Greenberg
Introduced our speaker Dr
William Abare President of Flagler
Dr. Abare will be presenting the Colleges plans for a Student Union
Dr. Abare - gave a general
overview of the College’s Master plan and explained what and how a Master Plan
was determined.
He compared Flagler to Williamsburg in the effect that in Williamsburg a
number of houses were intentionally torn down to make way for the historic
restoration and center. Also that this area was for historic use only and not a
neighborhood like the Flagler campus. The
college has been making a concerted effort to look at the master plan and try to
save what they can. They know they
can not save everything because of finite resources and the needs of the school.
But have tried and are trying to make responsible and educated decision in this
area. He realizes that there
will always be some friction between the college and the neighborhood. It is a fragile relations but one that cannot be destroyed as
Flagler is a part of the community and is not interested in destroying the quality
of life in St. Augustine.
Dr Abare brought with him
to present the master plan and the
design of proposed Student Union:
Fred
Hallback- Landscape architect. He
was hired to update the 2003 master plan.
David Duff of Cannon Design-
is designer and architect of the projects.
Did the dormitory on Cedar St.
Campus Master Plan
2002-3 began a strategic plan. Decided
to look at the existing plans and found that there were none.
Just a comprehensive plan. So
decided to build the new strategic plan around the critical issues of the
college. Basically what is
essential to the growth of the institution.
They arrived at 9 issues
1. Enrollment (how to manage and control)
The school is tuition dependent. Currently
had 2,760 application last year and
accepted 32% of the applicants (
so accepted 883 new students.)
2. Staffing and Compensation
3 Financial pricing- Need to balance Budget, Need to see where needs were
without ignoring their current commitment.
College has old expensive
buildings to maintain and needed to
look at their commitment to these buildings and what needed to be done. Felt this was a
commitment that should continue even though it was not necessarily part of
education.
4
Facilities and Equipment: Cannot
compete without up-to-date facility for the students ( i.e.: computers, access,
library, residences etc.); CURRENTLY have done men Residence and the renting of
the parking lot at Florida Railroad to improve facility.
Came
to conclusion that in future needed
to do the following:
Student Union and more classroom space was needed
Wiring of the main Hotel residence hall
replacement of windows on main Hall ( 2.1 million cost)
Locker room for Flagler Field
Replacement of current Signage
5
Academic programs : Make
sure that they are on par with needs of students
6
Quality and improvement of current programs and curriculum.
7
Campus Safety and Security
8
Institutional Advance
9
Technology
a major objective was to update the campus Master Plan.
This was Fred Hallback's job ,
Flagler was not attempting to encroach on the neighborhood, or planning
to take more property off the tax roll or tear down more buildings. Wants to
improve what they have and use it more effectively.
Currently it has the highest density per acre of any College for the
usage. Needs to use acreage they have more effectively.
Fred Hallback ‘s Presentation
Campus Master plan- last Mast Plan 1998
Since then many changes.
New president of college
New Strategic Plan
New Dormitory
Change in City Politics and Leadership
City Office of Neighborhood Councils
Aggregate Living Ordinances Introduced
Parking Disincentive Plan
Planned
VIC Center & San Sebastian Harbor Project ( which will provide more parking)
Flagler Master Plan Goals
Increase parking
Improve Residential Environment – more students living on campus
Add Classroom and Offices
continue Historic Rehab and Utilization
Explained current building use at
Flagler, and plan to continue the use of
campus. Desired growth in quality
not quantity. Want to stay at a
2,000 students with 40% or
more living on campus.
Parking- need to have parking with in 10-minute walking radius of
campus, this is the most desirable plan and
one that would be used. Also
easiest to enforce. Have been
offered opportunity to partner with City in Parking garage. Last Thing want to
do is take down building to create
parking.
Current parking status 639 spaced on campus
56 on street parking
Total 695 spaces
Have additional need of 300 spaces for faculty , students who live off
campus- 60% of current student body
live off campus and drive to school
Ejo: How many
registered cars on campus. If
60-65% drive to class are they
registered? This is 1,300 spaces which is double the 695 spaces available.
Harvey Could you not
restrict cars?
Answer was they rented Florida East Coast Railway space to encourage
parking over there, seemed
to be working Also not 1,300 spaces
at all times averaged 800 or less
because many students lived near campus and walked or came for one or two hours
a day, not a full 8 hour day.
Could not restrict cars as this would discourage enrollment of top
students.
If 320 students on campus
320
Staff
160
Part time ( figure half)
45
Student Drivers (1,200) figure ½
600
Total spaces needed
1125
Looking how to use land have effective to solve parking problems along
with what is available and will be available from City, renting ( East Coast),
San Sebastian, on street etc.
Working on problem hoping to solve soon.
Strategic plan was to also done to come up with ways to maximize the
facilities and land that they had. Decided
that Tennis courts on Markland was best place for Student Center.
This would maximize the use of the facility for the school as adding
classrooms, gathering place, and small auditorium etc.
So the immediate goals were
1
Partnership with new VIC Parking center. Lease
300 spaces in the facility. Rent
space at East Coast railway for parking. Dr.
Abare commented that he is somewhat disappointed with the use of the east Coast lot as it is getting 70 - 80% usage right now.
May take time to train students to use this
parking lot.
2
Improve the Residential environment and Student Life Opportunities: the
student union is the key to this.
3.Add
Classrooms and Offices- need more
4.Continue
Historic Rehab and Utilization
5.Develop
a campus Landscape and Signage Program
6.Improve
the Sports Complex and add a field House
7.
continue to Increase the Parking Inventory.
Showed the Physical Plan of the new union.
Did not see adding any major facility ( ie: more acreage)
in order to add the number of students on campus, more interested in
improving the current use so that they could improve quality of life for current number
of students.
Mr. Duff ( Dave Duff of Canon Designs)
Architect of project.
Reviewed the preliminary sketch, elevations and plans being presented
for preliminary approval.
Designed in the context of the Ponce, the other Hotels in town and the
context of the campus. Also
looked at how it would effect Markland
and the Anderson Cottage.
Proposed size of building 50,000
total sq feet with a building height reaching at the lower eave of the library.
It will be smaller in scale than the library.
Also in relationship to Markland the cornice line of
the student union will be the same as the cornice line of Markland
about 2 1/3 stores tall. Plan
to keep it in sync with neighborhood.
They planned on covered walkways and a trellis around the building to
bring the scale down and have it blend more.
A formal frontage on King. A
Pavilion within the parkland of Markland. Restoring
the original grove or trees, although not positive they will be able to save the
large oak on king street.
Functions of the building-
typical Student union
Facility
offices
Classrooms
Classrooms during the day/ at night to be used for group study
environment.
First floor needs to include bookstore, cafe, rec area, game room, TV
lounge, mailroom and a theatre style classroom.
Open the building for student use and create a social gathering place for the college.
2nd level will be classrooms, offices, study room
3rd level will be a multi-group room and conference area.
2nd story wraps around the 3 story building.
Tile roof- 180ft long, but
breaks in spots to keep it from looking too vast.
Hoping to use poured
concrete construction ( this will help keep noise down.)
Staircase currently faces homes-
HARB has asked them to remove the staircase, maybe put on King Street so
better security for building and
privacy for neighbors.
Construction Date: Currently
no time table.
Building will cost 9 million they
need to have half the money in hand to even consider starting.
Abare is currently finding raising.
Has some donors, needed architectural plans to get donations.
Once money found building will take 14 month to put up- total time approx
24 months.
Plan on having building materials
staged off campus and material brought in in smaller trucks.
Will try not to disrupt traffic in neighborhood.
Presentation was finished, most
questions answered as best as possible.
It was late so Linda closed meeting at 10:00 p.m.