Category: Uncategorized

6:00 – Welcome from Chair and announcements 

6:05 – Approval of December minutes

6:10 – Treasurer’s Report, notice of budget amendment

6:15 – Speaker: Councilmember Linea Palmisano 

6:25 – Take-aways and recap of December annual retreat

• What are our 2020 priorities?

6:30 – Guest Speakers: David Rubedor, Director, Neighborhood & Community Relations; Casey Carl, City Clerk

7:00 – Discuss 1/22 Event at Be

7:10 – Committee Reports

• Community Engagement and Outreach (COE)

• Movie in the Park
• Happy Hour at Wakame – March? 
• Greenspace/Environment
• Land Use

• Hotel/Gas Station
• Bader Project – to be started late spring
• Safety

7:25 New Business

7:30 – Adjourn

West Calhoun Neighborhood Council Agenda

Monthly Board Meeting, 6PM, August 6, 2019

6:00 – Welcome from Chair and announcements 

6:05 – Approval of July minutes and receipt of Treasurer’s Report

6:15 – Committee Reports

• Safety
• Discussion of City/County response to safety questions posed by the committee.
• Greenspace
• Proposal for greenspace improvements
• Environment
• Tree Trust
• Community Engagement and Outreach

• Results of the meeting at the Be
• Movie Night
• Land Use

7:25 New Business

7:30 – Adjourn

---

Next meeting – October 1st • 6:00 • Bakken

West Calhoun Neighborhood Council

Monthly Meeting Minutes
Bakken Museum

Date: July 2, 2019

Called to order: 6:01pm

Presided by: Allan Campbell, Chair

Note taker: Molly Fleming

In attendance: Allan Campbell, Richard Logan, John Bordwell, Lynette Davis, Kate Redden, Victoria Hoshal, David Stougaard

Absent: Jeff Idelkope, Paul Legler, Martha Yunker, Michael Sanders

Guests: Leanna Stefanik and Pete Keely – Presenters on the proposed apartment building at 31st St and France Ave.

Announcements: 

• No meeting in September due to Labor Day weekend. There will be a meeting in August. The October meeting will take place at the Be apartment building instead of the Bakken to allow more renters to visit a meeting if they wish to.

Approval of June minutes – Minutes shared via email

• Approved with minor changes

Treasurer Report – Report distributed at meeting

• Business as usual. WCNC is in a good financial position.

Presentation of proposed plans for apartment building at 3820 31st St W by Collage Architects and At Home Apartments

• The presenters began with an introduction of At Home Apartments. They own and operate several apartment buildings in the West Calhoun neighborhood. They are a local company.
• This project will demolish and replace three duplexes that are owned by At Home.
• The proposed design has 45 parking spaces and 48 units. 
• The monthly rent for these units would be  about $2 per square foot, significantly more than the rent of the duplexes. However, there are more units and the price is slightly below market rates due to the absence of an amenity package.
• The expected timeline is to break ground in the fall and finish in 12 months.
• The construction of this project will include the creation of a sidewalk along the 31st St side.
• Several WCNC board members asked that they try and preserve as many mature trees as possible.
• The board encouraged the developer to hold firm on the number of parking spaces despite the City’s encouragement of fewer spaces.
• There were also questions about the plan for the portion of France Ave. WCNC, Collage Architects and At Home Apartments have all been told by the city that there is a plan for the France Ave dead end at the Greenway, but no plan has been shared with anyone.

Land Use Updates

• Testimony on hotel. Public Hearing before the Planning Commission scheduled for July 8th.

Communications, Outreach and Events Updates

• There will be a Community Meeting at the Be on 7/24 with a speaker from the LRT project. There will also be copies of the survey for people to fill out. Pizza will be served. An announcement of this meeting will be in the mailed newsletter. 
• The discussion over whether to accept money from Bader Development for the purposes of a branding study came up again. Board members didn’t want to use the firm Bader recommended, and wanted more ownership of the rebranding effort to ensure a grassroots approach was followed. Molly Fleming will reach out to NCR to see if CPP funds can be used to hire a branding specialist of WCNC’s choosing.
• WCNC decided not to move forward with light post banners until more is known about the neighborhood name change and rebranding efforts.
• Movie Night is August 10th. WCNC will use the opportunity to sell Hennepin and Lake Community Wine Tasting tickets. They also want to take the opportunity to present a plaque to honor the late Earl Bakken.

Safety Updates

• The next community meeting’s speaker will hopefully be from the Fire Marshall’s office to speak about a community wide safety plan in the event of an emergency.

Greenspace and Environment did not have reports

Adjourn

Meeting adjourned: 7:35

Submitted by: Molly Fleming

West Calhoun Neighborhood Association 

Monthly Meeting Minutes
Bakken Museum

Date: June 4, 2019

Called to order: 6:01pm

Presided by: Allan Campbell, Chair

Note taker: Molly Fleming

In attendance: Allan Campbell, Richard Logan, Paul Legler, John Bordwell, Lynette Davis, Kate Redden, Michael Sanders, Victoria Hoshal, Martha Yunker, David Stougaard

Absent: Jeff Idelkope

Guests: Katie Burns, Audubon Society, Several members of the public

Announcements

• The Safety Walk will be held on June 6th. Most elected officials who represent the neighborhood will be there or will be sending a representative. 
• On Thursday, June 13th the Bakken will be partnering with France 44 to put on their first Bakkenalia event of the season. Tickets are available on the Bakken website.

Approval of May minutes – Minutes shared via email

• Approved

Treasurer Report – Report shared via email

• Business as usual. WCNC is in a good financial position.

Election of Officers

• All positions, Chair, Vice Chair, Treasurer and Secretary were up for election. No one came forward to nominate themselves or others for these positions, so a unanimous vote re-elected the current officers into their same positions for another year. Allan Campbell will serve as Chair, Lynette Davis as Vice Chair and John Bordwell as Treasurer. 
• The WCNC bylaws state that Secretary is a position that does not need to be filled if no one wishes to fill it. No one volunteered or nominated another board members, so there will not be a Secretary for the next board year.

Presentation of the Bakken Plans from Michael Sanders

• The presentation began with an overview of the Bakken’s history
• The Bakken will be undergoing renovations to increase programmatic capacity and have the public face of the museum be facing the lake. These renovations will also increase exhibit space and allow for more community partnerships.
• Overall, the renovations will allow the Bakken to better utilize their space and be more recognizable as a neighborhood arts and culture institution.

Committee Reports: Re-formation of teams

• Allan Campbell gave a brief overview of each committee and passed around a sheet so that board members could sign up for committees.
• Each board member is expected to participate in at least 1 but preferably 2 committees.

Greenspace: Audubon Society Partnership

• Martha Yunker, Chair of the Greenspace Committee invited Katie Burns from the State Conservation Office and the Audubon Society to answer some questions about some ideas regarding the neighborhood greenspace. 
• The Greenspace Committee would like to see some of the West Calhoun neighborhood greenspace be turned into a bird friendly area/bird habitat zone. 
• Minnesota is in the Mississippi Flyway zone for migratory birds, and the Chain of Lakes area in Minneapolis is designated by the Audubon Society as a very important zone for birds. 
• This new space could be both bird friendly and have an education component.
• The Greenspace Committee is also interested in having a public art component.
• The Greenspace Committee is going to continue to pursue this idea and will have a formal proposal for the Board soon.

Southwest Service Area Master Plan Letter

• Paul Legler wrote a letter commenting on the SW Service Area Master Plan. He wanted the board to approve it to be sent to the Community Advisory Committee for this project and the Parks Board.
• Approved

Land Use Updates

• Victoria reported that she had heard from Robb Bader that the new Bader Development project won’t break ground until next spring.

Safety Update – Annual Safety Walk

• There is hope that this will become an annual event
• If this is going to be an annual event, the Board will pick a date and hold the event on that same date, or near it, every year.
• The date could possibly coincide with a city-wide safety week, but research will need to be done to see if the city has a program such as that.

Discussion: Street Renaming

• The comment period on the renaming of Calhoun Blvd and Calhoun Pkwy end on July 1st.
• There was discussion on the topic, however no formal stance was taken by the WCNC board in favor or against the renaming.

Coordinator’s Report

• The planning efforts for the Annual Hennepin and Lake Community Wine Tasting are underway. 
• Molly will split her billable hours for Wine Tasting tasks evenly between WCNC and EIRA
• There is interest in doing a buckthorn removal project with Tree Trust along the shore of Bde Maka Ska. Molly will reach out to the park board for permission.

Discussion of Funding for sidewalk on 30 ½ St

• The board is interested in how they can support or fund a project like this

Discussion of Branding Study

• Robb Bader of Bader Development approached Allan Campbell to offer financial support to hire a branding consultant to work on the potential name change of the neighborhood.
• The board expressed interest, but wanted to see if they could choose the firm.
• Allan will further the discussion with Robb Bader

Adjourn

Meeting adjourned: 7:34

Submitted by: Molly Fleming

West Calhoun Neighborhood Council

Annual General Membership Meeting Minutes
Bakken Museum

Date: May 14, 2019

Called to order: 6:00pm

Presided by: Allan Campbell, Chair

Note taker: Molly Fleming 

In attendance: Allan Campbell, Richard Logan, Paul Legler, John Bordwell, Lynette Davis, Kate Redden, Michael Sanders, Victoria Hoshal, 

Absent: Martha Yunker, Jeff Idelkope

Guests: City Council Member Linea Palmisano, Metropolitan Council Member, Linnea Atlas-Ingebretsen, Laura Hoffman representing County Commission Chair Marion Greene, Park Board Commissioner Meg Forney, David Davies from the SWLRT Project Office,  and many neighbors and members of the public

Introductions and Welcome – It was announced that one invited speaker, Park Board President Brad Bourn, would be unable to attend due to a Park Board budget meeting.

Approval of April minutes – Minutes shared via email

• Approved

Approval of change of time of monthly meeting from 6pm on the second Tuesday of each month to 6pm on the First Tuesday of each month.

• Approved

Treasurer’s Report – Report shared via email

• All funds are present and accounted for.

Board Elections

• Ballots were passed out at the start of the meeting for the election. All 10 board members currently serving were running for re-election. There are 11 open seats on the board. When asked if anyone from the floor would like to put their name in for election to the board, David Stougaard volunteered. With 11 open seats and 11 candidates, there was no need for the ballot.
• A voice vote elected all 11 board members unanimously

Bylaws Change

• Changing Article IX, B, 5 to differentiate between the role of Treasurer and a contracted bookkeeper by adding the underlined words:

The duties of the treasurer shall be to pay bills approved by the person or persons authorized by the board to approve bills and to work with a bookkeeper or accountant to keep and record the financial transactions of the organization.

• Approved

Discussion of Neighborhood Survey Results

• The current results of the neighborhood survey were passed out to all in attendance.  65 people completed the survey thus far. The majority of respondents were homeowners. The results thus far showed that there is an almost even split between those who want to change the name of the neighborhood and those that don’t. Given that so few people have filled out the survey, and that the majority of respondents were homeowners and not renters in a majority renter neighborhood, many board members agreed that an ongoing engagement process will need to take place in order to get a more accurate and holistic idea of where the neighborhood falls on this issue. Some ideas were thrown out about how to do this, including hosting open houses, sending a dedicated postcard and keeping the survey open for longer. Other results of the survey conclude that neighbors are concerned with issues primarily relating to traffic control, density, green space and parking. Ideas for neighborhood events included park clean ups, happy hours and movie nights. This survey will be kept open so that more people can respond over a longer period of time.

Presentation by Metropolitan Council Member Lynnea Atlas-Ingebretson

CM Atlas-Ingebretson, who represents our 6^th District at the Met Council, spoke about the role of the Council in our neighborhood, discussing efforts to minimize disruptions from light rail construction and the need to create vibrant neighborhoods with job opportunities and affordable housing around light rail stations. Residents raised the issue that those living north of the railroad tracks would be cut off from the rest of the neighborhood and that bikers would be unable to reach the Midtown Greenway without taking the unacceptable risk of riding with automobile traffic over the Lake Street bridge. 

Presentation by City Council Member Linea Palmisano

CM Palmisano, who represents our 13^th Ward at City Council, recognized the need for infrastructure improvements in our neighborhood ahead of the increased density that is coming from the light rail station and the Calhoun Towers project and said she would continue to work with the neighborhood, but pointed out that many of the needed improvements were county responsibilities and needed funding from the county.

Remarks by Park Board Commissioner Meg Forney

Commissioner Forney, who is also a resident of our neighborhood, was unable to attend most of the meeting due to the Park Board budget meeting. However, she provided an update at the end of the meeting, followed by a discussion of the need for an appropriate name for our greenspace at the northwest corner of the lake and the need for a neighborhood park along Lake Street.