Board Members Present: Richard Braziel, Gordon Reiselt, Tom Ocken, Craig Wallace, Jim Montalbano, Matt Sexton, and Ian Sansom.
Guests: Katy Braziel, Bill Cobb, Lauren Albonico, & Nicolas Albonico See Attachment 1
Meeting called to order: 7:00 pm
Approval of Prior Minutes: The minutes from the March 12, 2012 Board Meeting were approved.
Trees & Landscaping:
- Gordon wrote a letter to Barbara Baca, Superintendent of Parks Management, about the deteriorating condition of the trees and grass in our neighborhood on Gold, Silver and Yale. Gordon was directed to work with Pete Saiz, Assistant Superintendent of Park Management. See Attachment 2
- Katy made a map showing the location of trees that have died on Silver and Gold. See Attachment 3
- Katy has been calling the City repeatedly since February to get them to schedule an application of weed and feed and to turn on the watering system. Since the City didn’t do that, the grass that was reseeded has died but with the start of watering the weeds are doing great!
- Bill Cobbexplained the SHNA worked hard to get two watering systems installed, one for the grass and another for the trees. This extra expense was intended to reduce the water usage by watering the trees deeply and allowing the grass to be watered less. The city has not been using the tree watering system and so the trees are being under watered and the grass is being over watered when it is watered at all. This will also cause the tree roots to not go deep but to come to the surface and destroy the sidewalks.
- Craig Wallacealso mentioned that the Coal Place Park on Coal Place between Buena Vista and Terrace has been horribly neglected. CNM tore down 5 or 6 neglected houses on CNN land to make this park but has never maintained it.
- All residents are encouraged to water the trees in front of their residences until we can get the City to fulfill their obligations.
Zoning:
- 1502 Silver SE – The Board of Appeals upheld the EPC ruling that the property is not exceptional and therefore does not qualify for a variance. The owner is allowed up to 3 dwelling units on this lot. During the meeting John Turner from Zoning was questioned at length and Bill Cobb is concerned that he may be confused and think he can have more than three dwelling units. Gordon wrote a letter requesting Deborah-Planning Director, set up a meeting with SHNA, Mr. Sims-Owner and Johnathan Turner-Senior Zoning Officer to ensure all parties involved are on the same page and to help resolve Mr. Sims zoning issues. See Attachment 4
- 202 Cornell (Werner Gilchrist house) is in the University Neighborhood Association district and has requested a zoning change. There is a meeting with all participants and Gordon will attend for SHNA. UNA has agreed in principle on this zone change and Gordon will support UNA. The EPC meeting is 4/16/12.
Neighborhood News Bulletin: The Neighborhood News Bulletin was passed around at the Board Meeting. Here is the link if you would like to see this bulletin. Hold Ctrl and click link or paste into your browser. http://www.cabq.gov/planning/nbrcoord/documents/MarApr2012.pdf
1404 Lead – Victory Outreach: There have been complaints of parking for Sunday services blocking driveways across the street and some inappropriate behavior on Wednesday evenings when they have an outreach service for gang members. Gordon has written a letter to Victory Outreach welcoming them to our neighborhood and providing them some information about Silver Hill Neighborhood. Hopefully they will try to be better neighbors and this will be resolved.
Trash Cans: Several years ago we started putting out trash cans so the people who walk thru our neighborhood would have somewhere to dump their trash instead of dropping it on the street. This has been very successful and we have added new cans every year. We have some trash cans again this year that need someone to adopt them (empty them when full). Lauren & Nicolas Albonico attended the meeting so they could get a trash can in front of their home and Craig will handle this for them.
Neighborhood Photographs: Tim Anderson (888-8927) took pictures of Katy &Elizabeth’s house, Matt & Kersti’s house, and Maria’s house. Matt will get them put on the web site.
SHNA Logo: Ian developed 6 logo designs and the committee will review and make recommendations to the board.
SHNA Website: Jim Montalbano will develop a promotional strategy for increasing awareness of our website and present at the May Board Meeting.
Neighborhood Cleanup: The neighborhood cleanup will be held on Saturday April 28 from 9:00 to noon. We will meet at Gordon’s house at 1515 Silver to pick up bags and organize the cleanup.
BMX Park: Redesign of the BMX Park at the NW Corner of Buena Vista and Avenida Cesar Chavez is being redesigned to reduce the noise impact to the residence to the east and to increase parking. See Attachment 5
Neighborhood Outreach Grant Program: The deadline for submitting an Outreach Grant request is May 3, 2012. See Attachment 6
Meeting Adjourned: 8:00 PM