Bryan Park Neighborhood Association

Bryan Park Neighborhood Association

May 24, 2011 Minutes

Submitted by Jenny Bauer, BPNA Secretary

The Bryan Park Neighborhood Association met at the Free Methodist Church in Bloomington, Indiana, on May 24, 2011. Mary Miller, BPNA president, presided over the meeting.

1. Sustainability Projects. Jacqui Bauer, the City of Bloomington’s Sustainability Coordinator, discussed several city sustainability projects. She announced that a traveling film and beer festival will be held in Bryan Park on the evening of June 3^rd. The focus of the films is biking and sustainability. Jacqui reported that the city did a recent energy consumption audit. Bryan Park had the lowest electricity consumption and was in the middle of the pack for gas consumption. She said the city is working to make neighborhoods more energy efficient and hopes to provide kits to assist in this effort. Jacqui also reported that the “Hoosier to Hoosier” sale is scheduled for August 20^th—donated items from IU students and others will be offered for sale to the community.

2. Stormwater improvements on Dunn Street. Mary Miller reported that the City has drawn final plans for the stormwater remediation along Dunn and Allen Streets. She displayed the plans for review. Mary said that the city is ready to begin the project and plans to finish in June. She also stated that the new plans do not require the removal of any trees.

3. 2011 Elections. Mary Miller announced that the 2011 elections for BPNA officers will be held at the June meeting. She made a call for candidates and stated that the current officers are willing to serve another term. Anyone is welcome to put in a name to be considered for the election.

4. Church Neighborhood Cookout. The Free Methodist Church will host a neighborhood cookout on June 5^th.

5. Blooming Neighborhood Awards. BPNA will be awarded a Certificate of Recognition for the Mayor’s Excellence Award on June 1 at the City Council meeting. The award is in recognition for BPNA’s work on the Templeton Elementary School playground project. The award ceremony will be shown via CATS coverage.

6. Blooming Neighborhoods. The city’s Blooming Neighborhoods event is scheduled for June 4^th from 9-Noon at the Farmer’s Market. BPNA will have a table and volunteers are needed to staff it.

7. Incident Report. Isabell Piedmont-Smith reported that she met recently with the city police chief and he is willing to come to a BPNA meeting to discuss recent incidents in the neighborhood. The police are continuing to watch the house at the boarding house at the corner of Washington and Hillside. Isabel said the police encourage neighborhood residents to report noise and vandalism problems by calling the non-emergency phone number—339-4477. Several members reported problems with car break-ins.

8. Alley Problem. Isabel Piedmont-Smith reported that the Traffic Commission is about to consider an issue involving the east-west alley next to Ian Woolen’s house at 1106 South Washington Street. Ian explained that the alley was meant to be an emergency exit, but is instead used by over 40 cars a day to exit the gas station and car wash. Ian has asked the Traffic Commission to make the alley one-way going west (or close it completely), so people can’t use it to exit the gas station onto Washington St.. The gas station current has exits onto Grimes, Walnut and the north-south alley behind the station. A motion was made and seconded to recommend that the Traffic Commission approve the request to change the east-west alley next to 1106 South Washington Street. Mary Miller asked Jenny Bauer and Jan Sorby to prepare a letter to the Traffic Commission. Joanne Henriot volunteered to deliver the letter to the commission.
   
   Update from Isabel: The request to block the alley was NOT on the Board of Public Works' agenda for Tuesday, June 7. Apparently the staff feels there is more background work to be done, perhaps more discussion with the neighbors and the gas station/car wash manager. The item may be on the agenda for the next meeting, June 21. See http://bloomington.in.gov/documents/viewDocument.php?document_id=170 for more information.

9. Michael Korus Use Variance. Michael Korus lives at 120 E. Dixie, on a property containing two houses–the original house (now a rental duplex), and the house he currently lives in. The house that he lives in was moved to the lot from Fourth and Lincoln Streets in to make way for the new fire station in 1990. The city declared the zoning for the house to be Single Family as part of the Uniform Development Ordinance in 2007. Mr. Korus explained that he wants to move out of the neighborhood and rent out this house. He said he wants the use variance so he can rent to 5 unrelated adults and maximize his cash-flow on it as a rental property. Patrick Shay from the Planning Department explained that the house did not get the higher occupancy rating because it was not used as a rental when the zoning change was made. He said the current zoning calls for a limit to 3 unrelated adults living in the house. If the use variance is granted, the occupancy limit would increase to 5 unrelated adults and the change would run with the property in perpetuity. There was a lengthy discussion on this issue. No action was taken. The Planning Commission hears the request for the use variance on June 13^th.
   
   Update: This item is on the agenda for the Planning Commission meeting on Monday, June 13. The meeting is in the City Hall chambers Rm 115. For more information, see http://bloomington.in.gov/documents/viewDocument.php?document_id=5413.
   

10. Next meeting. The next BPNA meeting is scheduled for June 28, 2011, at 7 p.m. at the Free Methodist Church, corner of Grimes and Lincoln.