November 11, 2008
Island Home Park Neighborhood Association Board Meeting
November 11, 2008
Tennessee School for the Deaf

Called to order at 7:10pm

Members present: Greg Congleton, Jessica Rodocker, Normalee Neubauer, Jim Rodenhouse, Kurt Zinser, Gary Anderson, Lee Ann Ratledge, Jim Staub, Katie Hannah, Rachel Craig, Laura Barton, Stephanie Welch, Joe Hultquist

Meeting minutes for previous board meeting-
Jim Staub approved, Rachel second

Jim Staub gave the Treasurer's report. He passed copies around and explained the report. Four checks were written and we have a balance of $4584. The Two Centuries Grant was discussed. We spent $700 from Two Centuries, and we could have spent $1100. Rachel noted that we were under budget. We spent $700 of the $1100 allocated from the grant funds for the overlay. Jim said that the committee chairs need to look at the proposed budget to see if they need anything. He wondered if the Historical committee needed anything. Rachel said that they should not need anymore than what carried over from last year. She also said that David Drews has agreed to interview 5 neighbors to do an oral history for Island Home. David said he would get started after the first of the year. Rachel noted that we would need to pay for his supplies. David works at West High School, and works with students doing documentaries. Rachel thought we would want to show the finished product.

The board discussed the budget for the Social and Parks/Rec. committees. Everyone agreed that this was acceptable. Rachel said to take off the $75 for Kornett since Rick Alexander does the web hosting for free. There was discussion about adopting this budget. Katie said she would like to wait and talk to David Drews first. Rachel said she would talk to him and get a hard figure. There was a question about the bylaws (with the budget). The expenses are just for copying.

Next item: Stephanie Welch for the Tour De Lights with the Knox County Bike Advisory Committee. She shared that the date was tentatively set for Wed. Dec. 17th. People will dress up and decorate bikes and ride through Island Home after dark. She will let us know as soon as the date is confirmed. It will be well organized and they will have police escorts. It should be lots of fun!

Next item of business is about a new board member. Katie has called the Malones but did not hear back from them. She will try the Hinemans, Teglas or the Brinks.

Committee chairs were discussed. Jim Rodenhouse will be the chair of Security. Lee Ragsdale and Bryan Malone should also be on Security. Rick will put it on the website with the chair address.

Committee Reports:
Normalee had nothing to report on Membership. Jim had nothing to report about Security. Lee Ann reported that Halloween went well and had nothing else to report. Jessica and Joe reported for the External Affairs committee. Joe said that the Hillcrest Nursing Home sale is probably going to go through, which will transfer the property to the city. Hillwood Avenue was discussed at this point, and the proposed realignment. It may be that Hillwood is realigned to go through the wooded area and straighten out with Island Home and South Haven to create a new intersection. Joe noted that Mayor Haslam has given this project priority because of the waterfront development. Joe also said that Hillcrest will benefit from this sale because it will provide increased parking and a better street connecting them down the hill. There was a question about funding. Joe said that it would probably be one or two million- no money budgeted for this project at this point. Jessica asked when Joe would know if the sale went through. Joe said he might know next Monday at the county commission meeting. Jim Staub asked about the time frame. Joe thought it would be a 6-8 month project.

Rachel reported that the South Waterfront has to do some environmental assessments. She suggested that we send a letter to the EPA that says we are in support of the waterfront, and to please give the city the money so they can develop the project. Rachel moved that we send this letter to the EPA. Greg seconded the motion. Approved.

The rezoning of the property on the North side of Hillwood (between the apartment building and James White parkway) was the next item of business. Rachel reported that it is zoned C3 right now. The owners have applied to MPC to have it rezoned to RP3. It borders on the South Waterfront property, and Dave Hill is very interested in what is going to happen to it. Ken Pruett and Mark Donaldson met with Joe (Hultquist) and Dave Hill. Joe explained that there is a staff recommendation of RP3 zoning (planned residential), and that MPC has to approve the sight plan. The staff will look at trees, South Waterfront plan, streetscape, impact on Hillwood Avenue, and the parking appearance when they do the review. Joe noted that the External Affairs committee talked about this, and said that they are supporting the staff recommendation and that someone should go to the meeting on Thursday to say so. Joe said that he talked to Steve Copeland (who owns the property), and that Steve said they are fine going with an RP3.

Rachel said that we need to have someone go to this meeting on Thursday, and she moved that the board accept the staff recommendation. Jessica seconded the motion. Motion approved. Rachel is going to the meeting at 1:00 on Thursday.

Jessica updated us on the tank farm property. Jessica reported that the External Affairs committee met with Dave Hill about the tank farm. They decided to address John Gumpert with a positive statement about how Island Home feels about the plans. The new plans are better, but not where we want them to be. Rachel talked about the new drawing that they passed around. She noted that it was much better and met the code. She also said that John is still going ahead with the project. Rachel said that Dave Hill had asked if John was close to bringing him something to review, and John Gumpert said no. Dave Hill said that we should meet again with John to discuss this. Rachel said that we also need to remind John that he said Stroud would review the project. Joe Hultquist wondered if John and his partners could develop his sight without changing or reconfiguring the road. Rachel said that Legal is looking into it.

Rachel brought up discussion of writing Gumpert a letter noting our concerns, and that we should cc the mayor and the Alexander brothers. Jessica said that she had drafted a letter, which outlined 3 major concerns. 1) the architectural styles do not match the styles of Island Home, 2) the floor plans do not have a master suite and they look like student apartments, and 3) there are no elevators. Rachel said we should make a reference in the letter to meet with Gumpert soon (our president will be contacting you soon). Rachel noted that we should also include the Stroud Watson review, the setbacks from the street, the car issues, and the on-street parking.

Rachel said that we need to make a motion to send the letter. Laura made a motion to send the letter. Normalee seconded the motion. Jessica and Rachel said that the letter ready in the next few days. Rachel noted that only the board would meet with John Gumpert, not the neighborhood.

Next item of business was the Old Sevier Neighborhood. Helen Ross McNabb is putting together a project in Old Sevier. It involves building a group home off Baker Avenue, which would not be staffed, and that staff members would check on the people in the home every now and then. Rachel said that Old Sevier does not want this project. They select the clientele to live in these semi-independent homes and that they see a caseworker once a week. The County Commission Finance committee postponed this until the January meeting. Joe Hultquist wondered if a letter could be written about this. Rachel suggested that we wait and send a letter closer to January. Rachel moves that we vote to support Old Sevier. Jessica seconded the motion.

Laura Barton gave a playground update. The playground is currently out for bid, and we are waiting for the next step. The city is moving forward, but it just takes time. She will keep us posted on the next step. We are hoping to have our new playground by December.

Rachel reported that they plan to take up the Overlay after the first of the year. The petition is to show that there is high support. 51% of the property owners must sign it. If we get the signatures, HCZ will hold a meeting, invite the whole neighborhood, answer questions, and do the vote. We need 70% approval to pass. Rachel had a question for the board. How can we get information to people? What are some better ideas? The Overlay group really wants to get good information to people and feedback from them. We have tried to get good information out there. The open house was better, but people still think it is an H-1, and that they can't build an addition onto their house. Rachel asked the board to e-mail her some ideas.

Jessica gave the South Knoxville Summit report. She reported that they broke into 4 groups: business, education, faith and neighborhoods. Jessica said that they discussed all different types of issues. It was a great meeting!

Lee Ann gave the Social report. Dec. 6th is the date for the neighborhood Christmas party. Laura Barton will call Nicole Wilson to see if they can offer their house for the tour. Other ideas were J.B. Finger and Judi Gaston, and the Baldwins. The board then discussed the big tree. Thoughts were to move to the Children's tree for the "lighting" when the big tree no longer works. Katie also thought that decorative banners would look good on the streets. At 1:00 on Wednesday, Dec. 3rd, children can come decorate the children's tree.

The new neighbor's mailbox was the next issue. They want to put a mailbox on the house, but they are getting negative feedback from the postal service (they want them to put a street mailbox up). Lee Ann made a motion that we support the new neighbors. Rachel seconded the motion.

Discussion of the rental house on Maplewood: the cars are sticking out all over the sidewalk. What can we do about these cars? Joe Hultquist said we have 2 issues here: zoning and parking. We need to get the police involved. Call Brian Malone to get started. Joe said to talk about the cars parking between the curb and the sidewalk. That is illegal. One solution is to turn it into parallel parking, or to turn the whole thing into a curb. Katie will send them a copy of the ordinance and a letter. Normalee said that we should spend extra money to get a certified receipt so we will know that they got it. Katie said she would do that.

Next meeting: Tuesday, January 13th at 7:00.

Meeting adjourned at 8:46.

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