3/19/19 VNA Council Meeting Minutes
Call to Order
Approval of Minutes
Announcements
· Vilas Park Master Plan process. Per Kate Kane at Madison Parks, the City of Madison is finalizing its selection for a vendor to manage the Vilas Park Master Plan process set to occur this year. The Parks Department is planning a robust public engagement process and is aiming for a public information meeting in April. The timeline for the whole process should be finalized soon. The City’s web site about the project is here: http://www.cityofmadison.com/parks/projects/vilas-henry-park-master-plan.
Communication
· A reminder that our neighborhood web site is at www.vilasneighborhood.com.
· Email address for the VNA – vnapresident@gmail.com.
New Business
1. 1548 Jefferson Street. Craig and Kathy Mayer residence. The VNA discussed via email and approved Ald. Arntsen to waive to the 30-day notice period for filing with the City for the needed variance. The project needs a variance because it is very slightly bigger than the existing garage and exceeds the zoning guideline by 98 sq ft. The Mayers are applying for a public hearing on May 6th. From the Mayers:
· "Our renovation includes the demolition of an old dilapidated garage and replacing it with a 24 x 24 new garage to match the house renovation. Although this garage is within the maximum size for garages, it slightly exceeds the 10% rule for garage verses total lot size. The lot is 4,800 sf and the proposed garage is 576 sf. Our conditional use permit is for the additional 96 sf. We are requesting the 30-day waiver in order to meet our contractors schedule."
2. Storage of VNA records – do any neighbors have any historical or archived VNA records to preserve? Westmorland History Committee is looking to acquire a shared storage space at the Village on Park shopping center at 2300 S. Park Street.
· If anyone has any records, please let the board know so we can assess whether or not this makes sense.
3. Zoo Issue (county/zoological society split)
· $$ in endowment in question
· sexual harassment charges indicated in today’s WSJ
4. Liquor license application on door of previous Brocach (1843 Monroe St)
· Sequoya Ramen & Sushi – presenting at April 17th ALRC meeting
5. Sustainability Madison – city group looking into sustainability of neighborhoods, carbon neutral initiative, etc. *May be a good group to have come in and talk at one of our meetings.
6. Good Neighbor officer will be presenting at our April meeting.
Existing Business
7. Treasurer’s report – Pat Scheckel
· $1134 in account
8. Vilas Ink newsletter – Pat Scheckel
· Update on publishing for 2019 – newsletter coming soon. Last issue before Pat takes over.
9. Social report - Lee Lazar
· Need permit to close Jefferson for summer block party
· **Need a host for fall tailgate**
· Planning a Tuesday beer tasting at Brasserie V for a fun neighborhood fundraising event…stay tuned.
10. VNA Directory & Block Captains – Rosalind Woodward
1. Finalization of block captain roster – see https://www.vilasneighborhood.com/block-captains
2. Neighborhood directory project – no update
11. Web site status
· Bios needed from council members: Sarah, Ben, Lea, Craig, Wes
12. Joint Campus Area Committee (JCAC) report – Liaison - Doug Carlson
· 5-story parking ramp across from new campus recreational building (by Kohl Center)…will replace some existing surface parking.
· Dayton St construction will cause closures over the summer
· Field House/South Lawn proposal coming – entails fixing façade of Field House including replacing windows, additional green space, reduced parking, removing Nails Tails statue….summer of 2020. Stay tuned for neighborhood presentation.
13. Monroe street reconstruction / Retail updates
· See New Business (above)
14. Development update
· HotelRED expansion – in the process of selecting a contractor
· 1630 Adams project currently in front of city attorney and city council to decide on potentially clearing site
· Oakland on Monroe building (old Assoc. Bank bldg.) – Creando bilingual after school program has secured a 1700 sq ft space in building for after school and open gym activities.
15. Edgewood Liaison committee report – (Liaisons - Jon Standridge and Sarah Bahauddin)
· VNA has accepted an invitation from the Edgewood High School Board of Trustees to join, together with the Dudgeon-Monroe Neighborhood Association, a Collaborative Working Group (CWG) for the athletic complex. The stated objective of the CWG is to “Jointly identify areas of concern and collaboratively craft solutions.” The working group is planning to start next week and will be run by a 3rd party facilitator.
· City meeting occurred last Friday with city zoning and planning to understand what EHS can/cannot do. Master Plan amendment not currently on city plan commission schedule.
· Matt Tucker (city zoning) – his view of 2014 master plan is that the athletic field allows only PE and practices. If it is used for any other events, enforcement action could occur ($500-$1000 fine per unallowable use)….EHS can contest in court (“grandfathered use”).
· Lighting has been approved by city (sound approval not required – just needs to stay within city ordinance). Checking to make sure lights are compliant with city code (falls under city zoning).
Other Business
16. Vacancy – **Further discussion by the council has been postponed due to council absences** Wes Spitznagle has resigned his seat on the VNA council due to work commitments. Per Article 5, Section 8 of the VNA Bylaws, the Nominating Chair may present a replacement – with concurrence from at least 5 remaining VNA council reps - to hold the seat for a few months, through the end of Wes’ term this fall.
Adjourn