Minutes for Tuesday, September 3, 2024
Normal Heights Community Center/Zoom
4649 Hawley Avenue
Attendees:
X = in attendance
| X | Paul Coogan (C) | X | Kenny Patrick | X | Scott Kessler (AABA) |
| X | Allan Harjala (VC) | Dan Soderberg | Emilie Colwell | ||
| Sami Burrows (S) | Greg Stone | X | Jacob Koopman | ||
| X | Frances Prichett (T) | X | Nancy Lawler |
Paul called the meeting to order at 6:05 and read the opening reflection. Then Paul gave a brief overview of the meeting procedure.
Board introduced themselves along with their favorite bird.
Agenda modifications
Removed “Presentation on Land Value Capture” and “PRJ-1105637 Easement Vacation” from the agenda
Non-Agenda Public Comment
- Anchi Mei of MAKE Projects introduced herself and her organization as preparing to move into the former Jackson Electric building at 4712 Felton and requested to be added to the October agenda to present on MAKE Projects work with the refugee and immigrant community.
- Terry Hoskins introduced himself as a candidate for City Council in the November General Election.
- Jules from Coco & Jules Cookies introduced herself and described their new cookie business on Adams between 34th and Hawley and offered some sample cookies to the attendees.
- Scott Kessler commented on the CIP wishlist Paul Coogan sent to the city and cc’ed the board. Scott objected to the item asking for parking to be removed from Adams Avenue and spoke on the importance of street parking for the small businesses on Adams. Scott expressed that communications to the city like this from the chair, if they could be interpreted as coming from the board, should be discussed and acted on in a meeting. Pau explained that he was acting as an individual, not as the chair, and in the future would not include his chair position or NHCPG affiliation on personal communications.
- A community resident attendee spoke on the importance of maintaining Adams Avenue street parking so that street parking on nearby streets used by residents is not impacted.
- Becky Rapp (on Zoom) spoke on the Grand Jury report regarding cannabis regulation and asked that the board write a letter to the city in support of the grand jury recommendations. Paul asked that she email the materials to the chair.
- Art Harrison spoke to question the data in the draft Mid-City community existing conditions report presented by ALex Frost at the prior meeting. Paul suggested he email the chair so he could connect him with Alex to find out where Alex obtained the data.
- Danielle Laman commented that the next meeting of Mid-City Community Plan Update working group would be held on Sept. 11th, where the second half of the draft Mid-City Atlas would be presented.
Approval of August Meeting Minutes
- Motion – Scott
- Second – Allan
- Vote – All in favor. Passed.
Treasurer’s Report
Frances reported that balance remained same, $332.46.
Election of New Board Members to Open Seats
Brian Adams and Julia Corbett introduced themselves, discussed their backgrounds, and explained their interests in serving on the board.
Paul called for a vote as to whether Brian Adams should be elected to fill an open seat with the term ending in spring 2025.
- Vote – All in favor. Passed.
Paul called for a vote as to whether Julia Corbett should be elected to fill an open seat with the term ending in spring 2025.
- Vote – All in favor. Passed.
Brian and Julia will join the board at the October meeting.
Use of Robert’s Rules or Rosenberg’s Rules for Parliamentary Procedure
Jacob described some of the features of Rosenberg’s Rules as opposed to Robert’s and recommended that the Board adopt Rosenberg’s. Scott stated that in his experience he has always used Robert’s, but Rosenberg’s seems like it is pretty much the same thing, just simplified, so he is fine with it. Frances expressed that she would like more time to consider it. Danielle Laman asked if city policy permitted use of Rosenberg’s. Jacob confirmed that the city gave CPGs the option of either Robert’s or Rosenberg’s. There was discussion on whether the boarfd should vote or table. Paul asked for a motion.
Motion to adopt Rosenberg’s Rules
- Motion – Allan
- Second – Jacob
- Vote – Passed
- AYE – Paul, Allan, Jacob, Nancy, Kenny
- NO – none
- ABSTAIN – Frances, Scott
Proposed New Kensington/Normal Heights Library Branch
Paul described the portion of the city’s approved Library Master Plan that identifies the need for a new minimum 25,000 square foot library branch to replace the current undersized and antiquated branch in Kensington Park. Paul asked for the group to write a letter to the city endorsing the finding in the Library Master Plan that Kensington & Normal Heights needs a new library branch. Scott asked to confirm that what Paul is asking for is for the group to let the city know the group endorses what the city has already said. Paul explained that the idea is to keep our neighborhood in mind when they are prioritizing locations. Gary Weber commented that something like a new library branch comes about from the presence of a benefactor and we need to make sure if it actually starts moving forward that the city does not take away green space for it. A motion was made to draft such a letter.
- Motion –
- Second –
- Vote – All in favor. Passed.
Forming new committees for community engagement and finance
Jacob explained the need for these committees and indicated that it would make sense for there to be a single committee. Scott explained his objection to the committee or a board member soliciting local businesses to donate food for board meetings – local businesses are struggling, they do not understand what this group does and may feel pressured to give away food when they do not know why they should and cannot afford it. He provided an example of the business that provided drinks for this meeting. The owner asked Scott what this group was and why they were asking him for free drinks. Jacob responded that that was a miscommunication and that he looked into it and he believes there is no law, rule, or ethical issue with asking local businesses to donate free food and drinks for our meetings.
Paul as chair established the committee and appointed Jacob, Sami, and Kenny, and asked the committee to report back on the food/drink solicitation issue.
Short Term Rental Ordinance Proposed Changes
Ramie Zaminsky indicated that she is not prepared to present yet and will try to have something for next month’s meeting. She indicated that there are a couple people working on proposed changes to bring the ordinance in line with the original intent and close loopholes that are allowing investors to convert hundreds of homes into short term rentals. A community member commented that she was only able to afford to buy a home because she can short-term rental one of her bedrooms. Ramie emphasized that they do not want to impact this kind of short-term rental – where the host actually lives in the home. They are trying to clear up the language to prevent investors from buying up homes and converting them to short term rentals.
Elected Representatives
Sara Al-Agha from District 9 Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera’s office (via Zoom)
They are aware of delayed recycling pickup. It is due to limited resources and being short-staffed.
Ward Canyon Park – The Mock building demo and groundcover replacement has been moved back to starting this winter and being completed by next summer. The city is finalizing the plans for the park’s completion. The 15 ramp that was supposed to be relinquished to the city and replaced by parkspace will remain with CalTrans.
40th Street street repair staging by the park and Madison – The city streets department says it is not them, it is CalTrans. CalTrans says it is not us, it is CalTrans.
Numerous attendees and board members expressed extreme frustration with the new delay for the Mock building demolition and demanded to know why it has been delayed again. The building was condemned and should have been torn down decades ago. The demo has been planned and delayed and abandoned over and over again. The building is unsafe. It attracts crime. It is right next to a playground. Community members – perhaps in jest – are apparently threatening to give up waiting on the city to do what it should have done decades ago and just take it down themselves.
Sara sympathized and explained that the September demo start date the city had repeatedly provided was only an estimate.
Paul asked if Sara could confirm that the city had received the community garden plans. They were sent to the city, but no acknowledgment of receipt has been sent.
Mayor’s Office – Lucero Maganda
No representative present.
County Supervisor Montgomery Steppe or representative
Karen (on Zoom) from Supervisor Montgomery-Steppe’s office introduced herself and provided updates on homelessness outreach programs in East County and Lemon Grove. She encouraged everyone to sign up for the supervisor’s newsletter. The application deadline for a grant program for nonprofits is Oct. 1. Scott thought applications for the supervisor grants did not have deadlines. Karen indicated that each supervisor’s office handles it differently. They are accepting applications throughout the year but are doing two evaluations per year. One with a cutoff in October and one with a cutoff in May.
State Senator Atkins – Toni Duran (on Zoom)
Senate is adjourned. Sen. Atkins’ last day will be in early December. Sept. 30 is the last day for the Governor to sign bills approved by the legislature. Toni highlighted some of Sen. Atkins’ bills and suggested that everyone review the 5 ballot measures that the legislature placed on the November ballot.
Assembly Member Ward – Christopher Gris
No representative present.
District 51 U.S. Congressmember Jacobs or representative
No representative present.
Chair report
Community Planners Committee – no update as Paul was out of country during the meeting.
Adams Avenue Business Association
Scott Kessler – Street Fair September 21st and 22nd.
El Cajon Boulevard Business Improvement Association
Gary Weber – Encouraged the chair to network with the ECBBIA to get the group involved in trying to do something to put together a coherent land use plan to improve the wasteland that is the Boulevard between the 805 and the 15. The BIA has another developer tour scheduled for October 11, trying to get interest in developing that stretch of ECB.
NH Community Association & NH Urban Arts
No representative present. Scott: Kim Emerson won an award for the butterfly mosaic mural.
Adams Community Recreation Advisory Group
Nancy – no meeting last month. Reporting homeless encampments in Get it Done.
Normal Heights for Smart Growth Poll & Community Garden
No report
Mid City Community Plan Update Joint Committee
No report
Historic Review
No report
Nominating committee
No report
Undergrounding
Frances – They are almost ready to send out the survey to residents in the upcoming undergrounding zone to see if they want to form a MAD to pay for streetlights.
Traffic issues
No report.
Adjournment
Paul called the meeting to adjournment at 8:05.