BPNA Meeting Minutes, January 24th meeting

Bryan Park Neighborhood Association

January 24, 2012

Minutes

The Bryan Park Neighborhood Association met at the Free Methodist Church in Bloomington, Indiana, on January 24, 2012. Mary Miller, BPNA president, presided over the meeting.

1. Flooding. Mary Miller reported that the City Utilities Department finished the street work designed to prevent flooding and it seems to be working. She said there were no complaints after the recent heavy rains. Mary also reported that she contacted the Utilities Department about clearing debris from the Davis Street creek and the department plans to do the work immediately.

2. Proposed project at Hillside and Henderson. Mary Miller reported that the Board of Zoning Appeals met on December 15^thand approved the variances requested for the properties. She said the buildings on the properties were razed the day after the approval.

3. Switchyard property.Daryl Neher reported that the steering committee for the switchyard master plan met recently. The group plans for public input on the property in April with a design charette planned for May. The group plans to submit a final plan for the switchyard property to the City Council in September. Daryl reported that there are environmental issues on the property because of coal ash. The group is also discussing connecting Hillside through the switchyard for an east/west corridor.

4. City Council.Daryl Neher reported that his first meeting as a councilman will be tomorrow. The Council will discuss the condominium proposal for the old RCA property at Grimes and Morton Streets. Daryl said he will continue with monthly constituent meetings and plans to hold them at the public library.

5. GPP Steering Committee. Daryl Neher reported that the steering committee for the city’s Growth Policies Plan will be working for the next 3 months and wants input from neighborhoods. The revised plan will cover growth policies for the next 20 years.

6. Conservation District. Mary Miller reported that the sub-group working on the issue of conservation district status for the neighborhood has met several times and will pick up the work again soon.

7. Online bulletin board/Facebook page. A suggestion was made to create an online bulletin board for use by neighbors. Mary Miller said she will look into putting such a bulletin board on the BPNA website. Also, BPNA has a new Facebook page.

8. Treasury. Mary Lou Mitchell reported that BPNA has $1900 in its treasury account.

9. Next meeting. The next BPNA meeting is scheduled for February 28, 2012.

BPNA Monthly Meeting Tuesday 2/28

Our Feb. meting will be this Tuesday, Feb. 28. As usual, we'll meet at 7:00 p.m. at the Free Methodist Church on the corner of Grimes and S. Lincoln. Lots of nature-related topics this month–a sure sign that Spring is coming!

Clean Out of Davis Creek

The Utilities department was planning to clear out some of the debris in the creekbed of the Davis St. creek. Please speak up if you still see branches and debris blocking the flow of the creek.

Raised Vegetable Beds

Minifundia (www.minifundia.com) is a new company that installs and maintains raised bed vegetable gardens in Bloomington. This new business is in our neighborhood at 1121 S. Henderson St. Tonia Matthews has been in touch with the owner of Minifundia, and will speak about their services.

Pedestrian Bridge in Bryan Park

The city is waiting for ground conditions in Bryan Park to dry out enough to get a crane in, in order to install the pedestrian bridge across the creekbed. The crane operator does not want to take his equipment into the area until the ground dries up quite a bit.

Neighborhood Tree Program

The City of Bloomington’s Housing and Neighborhood Development Department (HAND) and Parks Department are partnering to offer trees to our neighborhoods in an effort to increase the number and quality of street trees. HAND is expanding the 2012 Neighborhood Improvement Grant program this year to provide a means for neighborhoods to replenish trees in the public right-of-way.

The trees will be planted in the City-owned right-of-way not on private property. Areas to be considered include unimproved areas that do not conflict with other public utilities or improvements along public streets, roads or alleys.

BPNA can apply for one of these grants, if we can get some volunteer support from our BPNA members to write it.

ImagineBloomington

As you may know, the City of Bloomington is in the initial stages of revising its Growth Policies Plan. In an effort to maximize citizen engagement in the process, Mayor Kruzan has announced a series of public workshops for residents to attend. The GPP serves as a guiding document for how we plan for the future of Bloomington. If you would like to review the current GPP, you may find the document at http://bloomington.in.gov/gpp.

The first meeting was Tuesday, February 21st at the Monroe County Library. Darryl Neher says there are nine more meetings, and suggested that we all get involved in Bloomington's long-term planning process.

Conservation District

We are ready to start gathering signatures for our application letter, in order to get the process underway.

Let me know if you'd like to add anything to the agenda.

Thanks,

Mary