FHNA Board Meeting 4/10/06

Board Attendees: Kenny Dalsheimer, Jim Haviland, Courtney James, Jay Levy, Julie Maxwell, Cindy Moylan, Andy Seamans, Ginny Widmark

Neighbor Attendees: Sue Watson, Aaron Cain, Peg Palmer, Dub Gully, Tania Dautlick, Lee Richardson, Marcia Brooks

Guests: From City of Durham – Mark Greenspan, Katie Kalb, Darrell Crittendon and from Scientific Properties – Andy Rothschild and Sherry Kinlaw

General business:

·    There was a motion to approve the minutes from the last meeting, it was moved, seconded, and approved unanimously. 

Treasurer’s Report:

·    Revenue: We collected 110.00 from Firewood Sales and $750.00 in Golf Print Sales, and 46.50 in Interest Income. We credited Linda and Walter Daniels $55.00 for their Park Patron dues for Linda’s legal help and the Mad Hatter $75 in Advertising Revenue for donating cookies to the Kids Holiday Party.

·       Expenses: The newsletter cost 622.08 and we paid 94.40 to register and host the new web site.

We offset the credit to the Mad Hatter to Social Activities (to reflect true costs of the holiday party) and the credit to the Daniels to Legal Fees.

·       Overall we added a net of $190.02 to the various funds in March.

·       On the membership front, by crediting the Daniels, we are now at 190 members!  As is typical, we are starting to get payments for 2006/07 memberships in the mail.

Trees and Park: (update from Meadowsweet)

·       The Big Shrub Bed/Forestwood Bed is across from the Picnic Shelter on East Forest Hills Blvd.  Yesterday morning I drove by and the sun was behind the bed, highlighting the yellow glow of the forsythia and daffodils.  Quite stunning.  Also adding to the glow is a corylopsis, with chains of yellow jewels more refined than the brassy forsythia further down the bed.  The corylopsis is a wonderful selection in a small garden that has room for an 8-10 foot shrub.  It can be limbed up and the smooth gray bark and witch-hazel-like leaves are elegant.  Tall grasses that interfered with traffic visibility were removed this winter and replanted in the Teepee bed (big sunny bed across from clubhouse).

·       The Kathleen Garden is full of daffodils February Gold and Carlton in bloom.  The February Gold are smaller and have reflexed petals. In years to come these should bloom a month earlier than the larger Carltons.   Also leafing out now is an unusual shrub called variegated five-leaf aralia, (Eleutherococcus sieboldianus ‘Variegatus’).  The new growth is one of the best features of this plant, a creamy yellow green pattern.  Another good feature is its ability to survive tough conditions. 

·       Beauty Alert!  The buds of the Mohawk viburnum in the Bollards Bed are starting to swell and start their journey into balls of white, sweetly fragrant floweres.  They are beautiful at every stage but it happens quickly, so don’t miss out.  There are five of them to the right as you enter the dog park at the bollards. 

 

Walking Trails:

·    Karsten Rist (Beverly Dr) volunteered to physically survey the trail .  We are still looking for volunteers to help with the legal matters associated with the project and a landscape construction planner. 

·    The goal is for construction to start this fall.

·    Prior to commencement of construction there will be a neighborhood meeting to discuss the specific details of the trail (location, construction, etc).

Stream Restoration:

·       The board has been waiting on a report that was supposed analyze the east side stream restoration.  Unfortunately, Andy (who has been heading this project), has been unable to obtain further information after repeated attempts to do so. 

·       Paul Savory was nominated as the neighborhood representative that could take over this issue and follow through with hopefully getting some resolution.

Community Renewal:

·       While the original plan didn’t materialize, we are excited to see the partnership that Kevin Polk from Rebuilding Together has pulled together.

·       In an email from Kevin Polk dated 4/5/06, he says the following:

“The Construction Training program starts on May 15th.  We did not get the grant from Streuver Brothers, Eccles & Rouse. Instead we have partnered with Durham Tech, Bull City Builders, and Durham Community Land Trust to get this program off of the ground. Durham Tech has an existing program whose funding is about to expire. Bull City Builders has a grant from the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation to start a construction training program and will provide program leadership. Durham Community Land Trust will provide free office space. Rebuilding Together will take the lead in raising money to keep the program going.  Your contribution will sponsor the participation of two trainees from the St. Theresa neighborhood and rehab work on one home in that neighborhood.
 
p.s. I have also attached two press releases, one for our Weatherization Team Leader Training this Saturday, and the other for the June 17-24 Durham Rebuilding Week. If anyone from Forest Hills wants to be a Weatherization Team Leader they are welcome to join us at the training. For the Durham Rebuilding Week we are looking for a volunteer crew of between 6-8 people to build a ramp. One of them must have carpentry skills. We already have money for the materials.”

·       The Board discussed the need to address the Apex Street Bridge beautification project.  We have been waiting for a definite resolution on the bridge issue from the city.  Since this has not been resolved in a timely manner, perhaps we should initiate discussion at the next board meeting on meaningful ways to use the funds assigned to this project. 

Communications Committee:

·       Jay has set up alias email address so that residents can email the board as a whole, or individuals on the board.  These email address can be found on the Forest Hills website (www.FHNAdurham.com).

Social Committee:

·       Continued discussions regarding the “volunteer recognition” dinner.  It will be held on May 7^th at the home of Joe and Terry Chambliss.  There is a fee of $20 per individual and $35 for a couple. 

·       Susan has agreed to handle the food preparations, Andy will assist with ice and beverages, Cindy will manage RSVPs and Julie and Marcia will help with setup.

Recreation Committee:

·       The committee is moving forward on plans to add picnic tables around the playground area.

Other – Communication Protocols with City:

·       Several city representatives (see above) came to the meeting to discuss how we can improve communications regarding the park, stream, neighborhood, etc.  The Board wanted to understand how the city dealt with requests made of them from both neighborhood associations and individual neighbors.

·       The general rule of thumb is that for regular maintenance items, the city will try to respond as the request comes in to them.

·       For anything that is seen as an enhancement or a request that would change the functional use of an area, the city looks to the neighborhood organization for a unified voice.

Darrell Crittendon wanted to mention also that starting July 1^st, fees will be imposed for renting the pavilion and the clubhouse in the park.  He also stated that DPR has not officially "adopted" any recreational activities in the park.

Other – Durham UDO:

·       Aaron Cain came to lead a brief discussion on whether the new UDO makes it necessary for FHNA to pursue a protective overlay to maintain character of neighborhood.

o      In Forest Hills, the Comprehensive Plan (UDO provides the rules for the comprehensive plan) will increase the density per acre in the neighborhood to 6-12 units per acre.  It would be theoretically possible to construct something like condos and townhouses but not realistic because of the limited availability and high cost of land in the neighborhood (just to get an idea of what that density is, the inner part of Carolina Circle is 6-12 units per acre).

o      A neighborhood protection overlay would provide us with additional rules of development that could serve to protect the integrity of the neighborhood.  We, as a neighborhood, would draft a proposed set of rules and present them to the city/county planning commission for approval.

o      At this time, the people in attendance agreed that it was probably not necessary but that we would reserve the right to investigate further if necessary.  One thought was that we could propose certain setback requirements so that it would make it difficult for people to come into the neighborhood, tear down the old houses, and build “McMansions”. 

Other – Directors and Officers Insurance:

·       Quote for D&O insurance came out to $1300 per year.  The board voted unanimously against accepting the policy.

Other – Heritage Square Shopping Center:

·       Andrew Rothschild of Scientific Properties, is developing Heritage Square Shopping Center located at Lakewood and Old Fayetteville.  Scientific Properties is hoping to gather information from the surrounding neighborhoods and business.

·       Andy and Sherry came to the meeting the present their plan and get any feedback from our neighborhood on the following topics:
      1.  What retail would you like to see as part of the project?
      2.  What entertainment/cultural venues would best serve your
community?
      3.  How can you imagine this project meeting your daily shopping/
working/living needs?

·       There will be a public forum to discuss these topics further on Thursday, May 4th from 6-8 pm at the Hayti Heritage Cultural Center (804 Old Fayetteville St.).

Other - Nominating Committee:

·       The Board is looking for volunteers to serve on the board staring in June 2006 for a two year term.  Please contact a board member if you or someone you know wants to serve.

Other - Logo Contest:

·       FHNA will be announcing a contest to design a logo that will be the official logo of the neighborhood.  We will use this logo in newsletters, the website, to design the neighborhood sign, and perhaps things such as t-shirts.  Contact a board member if you are interested in submitting a proposal.