Madison Park

Minutes of Madison Park MARCH 13, 2006

Mar 16, 2006

GARDEN CLUB MEETING contact Candace Armstrong 7045233868. March 20th 7:00 PM


MINUTES OF MADISON PARK HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION

March 13, 2006
www.neighborhoodlink.com
Madison Park 28210

Meetings are always the 2nd Monday of each month. Martin Doss, President,
called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.
(Remember doors always open at 7:00 p.m. for 1/2 hour of social time)

Meeting called to order 7:30 PM

Present 62 residents
5 police officers
1 guest speaker

WELCOME to our new members & attendees!

Don't forget to pay your dues. $15. Can be sent to Dee McCandlish, 812
Fairbanks, Dr. 28210

CRIME STATISTICS AND ISSUES:

South Division - Officer Jenny Woodlief (from February, 2006)
1. 5800 block Farmbrook - (Montclair Elementary) - 10 yr. old student assaulted a teacher
2. Emerywood - Hit and run

Westover Division - Officer Hairston (From February, 2006)
1. 5115 Furman Place - Damage to property, tire of car was punctured
2. 5115 Furman Place - Damage to property, related to #1
3. 5230 Furman Place - Breaking & Entering, stole property from home
4. 5230 Furman Place - Damage to property, shattered car window
5. 5228 Wedgewood Dr. - Hit & run, car hit a tree and shrub in yard and left scene
6. 4226 Murrayhill Rd. - Theft from vehicle, broke window of car & stole items
7. 5627 Murrayhill Rd. - Stolen vehicle (Nissan), was since recovered

A neighbor brought up the issue of drivers running the stop sign on Halstead. Officer Hairston was familiar with the problem and said that area was patrolled as often as possible.


CHARLOTTE 311
Speaker Shannon Polson, Content Manager CharMeck 311

Dial 311 for Charlotte's customer service center for non-emergency information and reporting. You will get a human being with whom you can speak. There are 70 representatives answering calls 24/7, 365 days a year. They are now taking 100,000 calls each month. Issues of primary concern to residents are utilities, animal control and taxes. You can call 311 for any city/county issues including:

- Animal control for barking or stray dogs
- Code Enforcement for tall weeds, junk vehicles, cars parked on lawns
- Utilities for low water pressure or questions on your water bill
- Taxes
- Scheduling bulky item pick-ups
- CDOT for pot holes in the road, sink holes, traffic signs down or traffic signal timing
- Street lights out in the neighborhood
- Storm water flooding

311 reps won't just transfer the call. They will dispatch an animal control officer or code enforcement. APRIL 3rd, you will be able to make requests online. For more information on this valuable system, go to:
1. There's a link on our neighborhood website or
2. www.charmeck.org


2110 TYVOLA RD. - zoning holds are still in place?…..per Mark Griffin 2110 Tyvola no exceptions have been made on the holds?…both one for the garage and one for the main structure. This garage apartment structure is owned and
being built by Paul F Haddock III of 102 Middleton Drive in Charlotte NC.

5340 FARMBROOK?…..a.k.a the cat house?…foreclosed on? It was ordered to be torn down. An investor Developer is trying to purchase the residence. He called Marty and said he would do whatever he could to get the structure back up to codes quickly and get the yard cleaned up. Marty also has spoken to the contractor. Plan is to restore/upgrade and then resale the property!

TREASURY REPORT
According to our Treasurer, Dee McCandlish, we had an ending balance of $574.10 as of February 28, 2006. Two checks were written: $251.75 for sign toppers & supplies by Marty Doss & $75.00 to Wedgewood Baptist Church. Our balance as of March 13, 2006 is $247.35 & there is $95.00 to deposit in membership money received at this meeting.


NEIGHBORHOOD SYMPOSIUM ?– 11TH ANNUAL
Saturday, April 22, 2006
Marriott City Center 100 West Trade Street
Register now!
When you register, make sure you say or type Madison Park HOA.
You can complete the registration online at the Charlotte Meck web site?….just type in Neighborhood Symposium and then follow instructions, or mail in the information to 600 East Trade Street, Charlotte, NC 28202, Call in to 704-336-2061, or fax to 704-336-3959. You can sign up for either ?½ day or the entire day. Lunch will be served. Refer to the website for classes offered.

SOUTH BLVD. PHASE II WORK
Marty spoke to the City specifically Storm Water Services and they agreed with the contractors that they would avoid parking in yards, stop entering between homes when they have alternatives that will not damage previous work done , and do a better job with keeping the streets clean and dust control. Marty also worked specifically with Ruth Tansill of Murrayhill who had a stabilization problem with her home from the work being done. She was having trouble getting answers. Marty put the contact?’s phones and emails of all the Storm Water managers and supervisors for this project on our web site. The construction phase is from 12/05 ?– 12/07. If you have specific problems please contact these people directly first to see if it can be resolved. Per an e-mail on the 12th of March it appears Ruth has the answers she was looking for now.

TYVOLA DRIVE STORM WATER PROJECT is scheduled to begin any day. The current drain project on South at Tyvola Road will be traveling down South and crossing South Blvd. between Bally?’s Gym and the Clock Restaurant where it will tie into the creek at Tyvola Drive in Yorktown Apts. This will continue down behind Kentland to the current underground pipes at Londonderry Road.

CAROLE CLARK ON MILFORD had another car wreck in her front yard knocking down the street sign. She specifically requested that Marty help get something done. Councilmen Andy Dulin was asked to help her with this problem as well. Milford would be one of the streets that falls under the less than 1000 requirement of vehicles in 24 hours. CDOT however came out and brought their traffic engineers. It was decided due to the 3 crashes in the curve that a 3 way stop would be the best solution. This has already been installed along with a broken edge marking line to show the curve. Hopefully this will help.

BAKER STOP SIGNS & SEACROFT 4-WAY STOP SIGNS
Anthony Fox, Andy Dulin, Pat Mumford, Susan Burgess and John Lassiter have all been in conversations either by phone or e-mail about this 1000 requirement with Marty. Anthony Fox has been trying to find out for over 2 months where this 1000 requirement came from. Marty personally thinks it is ridiculous for the fact that you can easily have a problem with the current amount of traffic, and just by adding another 180 -200 vehicles the problem might not increase. Well Marty finally found out where this 1000 requirement came from.

Quoting from Doreen Szymanski , CDOT the spokesperson she stated,
?“I was hoping to find some way to help with your multi-way stops. There are only two ways to get them: 1) Meet the traffic calming guidelines (1000 vpd ?– vehicles per day), or 2) an engineering evaluation (based upon crash experience). I've done two things today:

I reviewed the council action regarding multi-way stops to see if there were any loopholes regarding the 1000 vpd. I couldn't find one. The action that specified 1000 vpd also eliminated three-way stops. It was a tightly written council action, and while I wrote it, I rather regret doing such a good job. I had to write to reflect what the council committee approved for full council consideration. Full council approved the action in March, 2000. As a result, staff cannot grant an exception since this is council policy.

There has been some sentiment expressed to me by at least one council member about allowing three-way multi-way stops again. I expressed that I would like to see fewer vehicles per day considered for multi-way stops, especially since there is absolutely no way to try and help a neighborhood calm a street under 1000 vpd with speeding problems. I've expressed my concern to several individuals in Transportation, and we are looking for an appropriate way to get the policy changed within the next year.?”

Doreen

Today 3/13/06 Marty heard even more impressive news from Doreen. ?“I have been having discussions with a number of individuals regarding your concerns for streets under 1000 vpd criteria for traffic calming. Currently, I'm asking CDOT staff to make some adjustments to the traffic calming requirement in the Transportation Action Plan, which is scheduled for council approval within the next few months. This is probably the quickest way to have your concern addressed. If changes are made as we recommend, CDOT can work to install multi-way stops on streets with less than 1000 vpd, and at three-way locations.?”

?“Until then, I'll keep pressing so that it isn't forgotten.?” Doreen

In addition Marty is certain we have the support of the at Large Council on this matter.
Councilmen Andy Dulin said in an e-mail to Marty just last week ?“Then the other day out of no where I was caught in a bad backup and "wham" I was cutting through your street with a bunch of other folks. Help is on the way, regards, Andy pHs: Marty, My though talk above must be worked through the proper channels but just know that I am now better aware of your situation. Anyway I think we can count on this 1000 requirement going away soon.?”

SECOND LOCATION OFFERED FOR A PERMANENT SIGN
If any residents have Masonry talents that live in our Community and would be willing to donate time or at a reduced rate for this project, please contact Marty at Martydoss@aol.com.... We could definitely get this project done with the help of a skilled Mason, donated talents and the Matching Grants Program from the City! ROY DUNAWAY of 4500 Longwood Drive near the intersection of Longwood and Bradbury said we could use his yard which is a great location coming off Woodlawn. Roy Dunaway suggested perhaps CDOT would allow a median in the intersections of Longwood and Bradbury that would aid with the current dangerous situation and create a nice location for a sign!

HUNTINGTOWN FARMS SWIM & RACQUET CLUB ?– SERVING SOUTH CHARLOTTE was discussed by members Sharon or Greg Brenagham. Memberships are available for a $400 joining fee (paid over 2 years) + $450 per year. They have a 25 meter Olympic size pool with a snack bar. If you?’re interested Marty has included the application on our neighborhood web site. You can get a complementary pass for your family if you?’d like to check it out. You also have the Marion Diehl Pool which is operated under Parks and Recs.

QUEENS UNIVERSITY will be dedicating is sports complex on Friday, March 24, 06 at 1:30 PM. Marty allowed the Queens temporary signs that were added this week to remain attached to the telephone poles. However Marty contacted CDOT and Parks and Recreations to ensure these signs are replaced with permanent signs as soon as possible. Parks and Recreations Alan Beaver said he would have Parks make the necessary request to see that this is done hopefully by the dedication ceremony on the 24th of March.

THANKS TO THE ELEVEN PEOPLE who came out and helped with the Tyvola Road Adopts A Street Cleanup on the 4th of March. We spent about 2 hours each picking up 26 Extra Large Bags of trash, card board, plastic, a tire, bucket, and even a child?’s plastic basketball goal. That was a total of about 22 hours of work. With the landscape being brown it made it much easier to spot the trash. So we ended up going up and down the slopes to clean. Unfortunately, the next morning Marty picked up another bag of trash and had to remove 12 We Buy Houses Fast Signs from Tyvola Road. Marty thought well he could take down Signs Fast, too. Anyway when he finished that he had to remove 12 more of the same signs on Seneca Place. Marty also removed some large plastic and cardboard on Sunday, March 12th. We will probably clean the stretch again around the end of May 06.

PARENT LEADERSHIP NETWORK INVITATION
John Olsakovsky gave us an overview of this request for volunteers. It is open to any parent with a child in Char/Meck Schools. More information on this is on our web site or you can look on their website: www.advocatesfored.org/pin.htm. There is also a contact for application request on the site.

OPEN DISCUSSION

Barbara Connor suggested we organize a list of neighbors who have specific talents, skills or tools that they could use in helping other neighbors either for a fee or for free. Barbara said we could call our list ?“MADDIE?’S LIST?” (like Angie?’s list) & she offered to organize this. If you would like to include your name, skill & contact info, e-mail Barbara at wrenhunter@aol.com.

Al Bonitz on Valley Forge Rd. read us a warning about Glad Plug-In air fresheners being a possible cause of house fires, especially the night light variety.


Our meeting was adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,
Cheryl Furr