VNA Council Meeting Minutes
10/23/19 7pm - HotelRED
Call to Order
Approval of Minutes
Announcements
·Special thanks to HotelRED for making the meeting room available for our use this evening.
·Communications
· A reminder that our neighborhood web site is at www.vilasneighborhood.com
· Email address for the VNA – vnapresident@gmail.com
· The Vilas Ink newsletters are now being posted on the web site at: https://www.vilasneighborhood.com/vilasink
New Business
· Yahoo Groups is going away. We need to figure out a new way to communicate with the neighborhood in place of the existing ListServ. Stay tuned.
Existing Business
1. Treasurer’s report – Pat Scheckel
· $1912 in account; $200 paid for VNA tailgate and some dues were collected.
2. Vilas Ink newsletter – Pat Scheckel
· Submissions for next newsletter are due mid-November (11/15).
· If anyone wants to take on ad sales for future newsletters, please let Pat know. Opportunity to sell ads to some Monroe St. businesses (old and new).
3. Social report - Lee Lazar
· Vilas Halloween Party – Thursday, 10/31, 1800 block of Adams Street. 4pm until trick-or-treating. Hosted by the Kothari/Lazio/Strigel/Walker/Kelly families, with support from the VNA. Pizza, beer, wine, kids' drinks provided. If you can bring a side or something to share, that would be awesome; but if not, no problem! It is more important to come celebrate.
· VNA Holiday Party – December 15th at HotelRED 6:30-8:30pm
4. Nominating Committee & Elections Update – Lee Lazar (with Gera Bodley, Mary Clare Murphy, and Eileen Thompson)
· 2019 VNA elections operations
o Logistics of annual meeting announcement and candidate slate
o Charter updates/next steps on early voting proposal
o Elections will occur at the December VNA Council meeting on 12/18/19
o An email communicating all election details will be sent out to the ListServ
o Flyers will also be distributed with election details and candidate information
5. VNA Directory & Block Captains – Roz Woodward & Sarah Bahauddin
· Sarah and Roz have divided neighborhood into 2 territories and they are each looking for Block Captains in their designated territories. Roz – east of Grant; Sarah – west of Grant.
· Directory – does this warrant a committee to get done? Sponsor(s) to print?
o Block Captains can collect the data as a starting point.
6. Joint Campus Area Committee (JCAC) report –- Doug Carlson
· No report this month – six-week gap in JCAC schedule, next meeting is 10/30
7. VNA Zoning Committee report – Lea Jacobs
· Summary of VNA Zoning Committee Meeting with City Staff on 9/11/19
· ALRC alcohol density meeting – updates and discussion
o City Finance Dept and Public Health of Dane County published a 100 page report with their findings from a 6-month study. The report can be found online in the ALRC 10/23 meeting minutes.
o Increased alcohol density is linked to the increase in use of city services (police, fire, building inspectors)…article in today’s WSJ.
o ALRC receptive to neighborhood input/feedback.
o ALRC does not think restricting licenses in certain geographic areas is a good idea.
o City has 38 Class B combination licenses left to issue. (453 is the city limit)
o This is a zoning issue not an ALRC issue. No NEW beer gardens can be opened (exceptions have been Hong Kong Café expansion and Pizza Extreme expansion….these were expansions and not new).
o New licenses requested on 1400-2000 Monroe St blocks are always discussed.
o Problematic existing operators – hard to take away existing licenses when property/business is at stake. Can propose conditions…keep record of problems as they occur, call police if warranted….license renewals occur every May and special conditions can be requested at that time. **This usually works**
o Can request conditions upon initial license request – need to research condition options at County Clerk office. Zoning committee will do this research.
o Recap of city report can be found here: https://cityofmadison.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Cascade/index.html?appid=a6563299db6940cfb96e9a9a8fa05215
o Idea of creating guiding principles for VNA was proposed so we have a starting point when these requests arise.
8. Vilas retail news and updates
· New restaurant opening in Jac’s space (L’Etoile sous-chef is opening)
· New store opened where Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream was
· Marie’s Soul Food – carry out; chicken/ribs/sides; dinner only
· HotelRED expansion will be starting
· Camp Randall South End expansion also approved
9. Vilas Park Master Planning – Wendy Fearnside
· Resident Resource Group - first meeting is Nov 6th, 5:30-7pm
o Additional Vilas rep (1-2) is desired - particularly someone with young children; only 2 meetings are planned so not a big time commitment at this time.
o Communication with Parks dept and amongst involved groups has been disjointed
10. Edgewood Liaison Committee report – (Liaisons - Jon Standridge and Sarah Bahauddin)
· Liaison meeting report – Sarah, Jon
o Master Plan. Edgewood’s repeal of the plan is on the Plan Commission agenda for October 28, 2019.
o EHS not bringing any items to the agenda – and neighbors didn’t have any - so last meeting was canceled.
o Edgewood College looking at 40 acres of land south of Seminole (O’Brian Farm) for sports facilities but high school was not mentioned.
o Collaborative Working Group (EHS, DMNA, VNA) - (VNA reps: Sarah, Jon, Chris, Craig)
CWG’s work has been suspended. It is unclear when, or if, this work will resume.
Other Business
· Next meeting is November 20, 2019 at 7pm at HotelRED due to the Thanksgiving holiday.
Adjourn