Toonerville Trolley Neighborhood Association

February 16, 2006 - Meeting Minutes

Feb 28, 2006

TOONERVILLE TROLLEY NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION
MEETING MINUTES
THURSDAY, February 16, 2006

NEXT MEETING: Thursday, March 16 at 7:00 pm

President Kevin Kouba called the meeting to order at 7:06 pm

Reports:

Chuck Anderson, President, Old Louisville Neighborhood Council. There were 96 vacant buildings when the Property Improvement Committee (PIC) began tracking this statistic?—now there are 24. We are making progress. Thanks to the work of Herb Fink and his committee and the hard work of Michael Baugh, the IPL inspector for our area.

Most of the area is zoned single family residential. In this, a homeowner can have one apartment in addition to his/her domicile and, if they have a carriage house, one apartment in that space. There are, however, still lots of apartment buildings with multiple unites that were grandfathered in. If they become vacant and remain so for a year, they then revert to the single family status. That is why it is important to note these changes, calling the PIC and City Call to pass on the concern to Michael.

If you want to change the status of a piece of property in our area, you must go through ZULU?—Zoning and Land Use Committee. It meets Thursday night before the first Monday of the month. The first Monday is the Board of Zoning Adjustment meeting, so our group meets before that meeting. The PIC meets the 2nd Thursday of the month.

The Neighborhood Council meets the 4th Tuesday of the month and it is critical for Toonerville to have someone representing it at that meeting since that is when the committee reports are made and issues are voted upon.

The OLNC asked for an email who would then pass on the ?“email blast?” around certain issues?—Phil Diblasi?’s email was given.

Helga Ulrich is in charge of the Old Louisville Crime and Safety Committee. 2005 had a big spike in number of crimes in our area; perhaps that was because there was so much change going on in the Metro Police Division 4 that their attention was elsewhere.

Place Managers?—I would like to have a single person for each block who is watching and reporting crime related/suspicious activities?—location of drug sales, graffiti, abandoned cars, trash. This program got left in the lurch and I want to reinstate it.

The Mayor?’s staff are interviewing fire personnel and there is a committee to provide input as well. We are concerned about the proposed merger of fire stations in our area. People are concerned about response time?—will it be less with a merger? Somehow going from 20 to 17 stations does not seem that it will reduce response time nor does it add to our confidence in their ability to get the job done. What if the new location is on the other side of a railroad track and the slow train happens to be across the tracks?

Gary Kleir?—Serves on the Landmarks Commission for this area. If there is a problem, it first goes to the architectural review committee. You can appeal the issues up to the council level. Gary asked that we please voice our opinions about these issues at the Architectural Review Committee. This Saturday is the annual meeting of the Landmarks Commission. We are beginning to revise our guidelines. If you have comments, please let us know. These guidelines have been in place for 20 years and some things have changed?—new materials are also available. You can find the existing guidelines at http://www.louisvilleky.gov/PlanningDesign/HistoricPreservation.htm site.
There are 17 on the Neighborhood Committee including Herb Fink and Nancy Woodcock.

Questions for Gary: What about sattelite disks?—they cannot be placed in the front yard
Also we are concerned about LGE/others not following the sidewalk replacement guidelines?—they must be brick or a historic mix (one other mentioned as well).

Helga Ulrich & Treasurer?’s report?—We have about $3,000 in the bank and have spent $90 this year so far--$25 for the Old Louisville Neighborhood Council membership and the annual cost of a post office box.

Kevin Kouba--Fundraising?—we will do the Spring Bulbs. Kevin Kouba passed out the brochures and order envelopes/forms. They need to be returned next meeting with the money?—checks made out to Toonerville. The great thing about this is that we get 50% of what we sell for our treasury! So, let?’s sell some bulbs. We will also order some bulbs to be donated to the St Philip Chapel beautification project.

Nancy Woodcock: Trees?—they have started replacing trees on St Catherine and on Ormsby, 1200 and 1300 block of 1st is next and then go to Brook Street. It is imperative that the home owners water the trees during the dry and hot summer. Trees need at least 10 gallons of water per week per tree. We discussed the idea of paying for the water bladders that are placed beside the trees and filled by someone.

The owner of the property is responsible for trimming the tree so that it is safe to pass under on the sidewalk.

The Spring Cleanup will be on April 22, the Saturday before Derby. It was moved and approved by vote that we will do this?—focusing on Woodbine, including the block of St Philip?—why? This is one of the entrances to Old Louisville.

Phil Diblasi--Michael Baugh alerted Phil Diblasi that there are 6 vacant houses on Floyd?—we need to keep up with how long they have been vacant. One way to determine when a house is vacant is to see if the water is turned off?—let Michael know when it becomes vacant.

Old Business: We want someone to come to the next meeting to talk about Truck traffic and what is meant by ?“reasonable access?” to the interstate. 1st Street and Brook are not to have truck traffic?—there is already a law but it is not enforced. The big trucks are still barreling down Brook early in the morning. Phil suggested making these streets two way and the trucks would have to slow down. Don Driskell suggested getting this law and have some official come and speak to the existing law and its enforcement.

A motion was made and approved to donate $100 to St Philip for heating costs.

Issues Form: Phil handed out a form on which each person present was to list their top neighborhood issues. On the back was a form for listing of fundraising ideas which each person would be willing to work on.

8:30 pm the meeting was closed by motion and vote.

Submitted by Dale Tucker, Secretary. Please amend minutes by contacting Dale with a correction. rdtucker@insightbb.com