Minutes

Tenney Lapham Neighborhood Association Council

January 3, 2007

 

Council Members Present:  Patrick McDonnell, Sandy Ward, Bob Sommerfeldt, Richard Freihoefer, Sean Gutknecht, Jim Sturm, Nancy McLean, Joe Brogan, Gigi Holland, Kathi Breshnehan

 

Call to order at 7:03   

  1. Introductions were made. 
  2. Minutes of December meeting approved unanimously.
  3. Budget (Pat & Nancy) Ð Pat circulated a new draft of the 2007 budget
    1. Newsletter

                                                     i.     Issue:  How to deliver the newsletter to locked buildings and what will it cost to do so?  Two options were discussed:

1.     Mail the newsletter to lockouts.

2.     Deliver newsletter in clear plastic bags that can be hung on doorknobs or left on stoops.

                                                      ii.     The Area Reps will collect data on lockout addresses and the number of units in each so that we can determine the costs of various options.

    1. Housing

                                                     i.     In Feb. Sandy will bring a request for financial support for the Rental Reborn project.

                                                      ii.     We will keep a question mark for the amount that will be needed by the group working on local historic designation for the areas that currently have national historic designations.

    1. Education:  Joe moved and Sean seconded that we plan to donate $50 to East and $50 to Marquette for student newsletter contributions.  All in favor.
    2. Parks:  Jim will look into determining a dollar amount to support Earth Day clean up in the parks.  We will also need to determine dollar amounts for a James Madison Park committee and for the Tenney Park Tour publication by FYRP.
    3. Miscellaneous Ð we agreed to allocate $20 for postage and $175 for ÒotherÓ
  1. Parks Committee report -- Tenney Park Shelter.
    1. Terrance Wahl, a developer, is proposing to build a new shelter for Tenney Park.  He proposes a fund raising effort to support this $1.5 million project.
    2. He met with Jim Sturm, Pat McDonnell, Mary Lang Sollinger, and Ed Jepsen to describe his ideas.
    3. He met with the Mayor and Jim Morgan (Parks) and the idea was welcomed. 
    4. Sketches of concepts for the interior and exterior were circulated.
    5. A brief survey of previous users will be conducted to determine the amenities that people would like to have in the building.
    6. Concerns were raised about the following issues

                                                     i.     Keeping the rental price affordable.

                                                      ii.     The Parks DepartmentÕs ability to keep the shelter clean and safe

                                                        iii.     Whether this initiative will compete with work on James Madison Park.  Pat clarified that there will be no competition because the James Madison work will be supported by the sale of houses in the park and those monies will be used only for James Madison.

    1. Kathi moved and Sandy seconded that TLNA express support for the concept of building the new shelter in Tenney Park.  8 in favor; 1 abstention.
    2. Jim moved and Sean seconded establishing a committee to work with Mr. Wahl on the project.

                                                     i.     All in favor

                                                      ii.     Jim will chair and ask for volunteer members at the Potluck Dinner later this month.

  1. Potluck dinner
    1. January 25th at 6 p.m. at Christ Presbyterian church.
    2. Si Widstrand will attend to talk about park issues.
    3. Pat asked if someone could try to find a microphone/speaker to bring to the dinner so that speakers can be heard.
  2. BUILD update
    1. Pat gave a brief review of what the BUILD is and the area that it covers.
    2. BUILD recommendations are slated to go before the City Council within the next few weeks.
    3. Their recommendations are congruent with the draft TLNA Neighborhood Plan except for height limits of 12 stories on blocks 700, 800, and 1000, where the TLNA plan specifies 8 stories.
    4. Neighborhood leaders are sending a letter to the City Council to express concern about the BUILD height limits.
    5. Kathi moved and Jim seconded that TLNA write a letter to the City Council to express our concern about the height limits.

                                                     i.     All in favor.

                                                      ii.     Pat will draft the letter.

  1. Feedback on the November 2006 Neighborhood conference
    1. Sean reported on 4 workshops

                                                     i.     Sustain Dane did a workshop about environmental ethos.  www.sustaindane.org

                                                      ii.     ENACT presented pragmatic ideas for environmental awareness.  www.enactwi.org.

                                                        iii.     City development process workshop

1.     Basically a gripe session between developers and city staff.

2.     More info is needed on the development process and the financial issues involved

                                                        iv.     Homebuyer assistance programs -- Sean will draft a newsletter article for the spring issue about these options and forward it to Sandy who will write about Rental Reborn.

    1.  Joe

                                                     i.     Found the Sustain Dane workshop very useful.

                                                      ii.     Several other workshops were not at all useful, with at least one case in which no one showed up.

Adjourned by consensus at 8:55

Minutes submitted by Sandy Ward

 

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