9/25/19 VNA Council Meeting Minutes
**The next meeting will be Wednesday, 10/23/19, at 7pm at HotelRED**
Call to Order
Approval of Minutes
Announcements
o Special thanks to HotelRED for making the meeting room available for our use this evening
o Communications
· A reminder that our neighborhood website 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
o Home History Project with DMNA (Doug Carlson)
· We have been contacted by DMNA to see if we are interested in participating in a project researching the historic details of homes in the neighborhood
· There will be a meeting on 10/19 at 1:30pm at the Sequoya Library for those interested
· Joe Jackson, a photographer for the WSJ, had presented a slide show some time again. Suggested that we try to contact him for help as well.
New Business
1. Pizza Extreme – Class B liquor license application update (Lea Jacobs, VNA Zoning Chair)
· ALRC approved liquor license request
· The inside bar only has seating for 5 and license gets reviewed yearly; this does not seem to raise any concerns by VNA
2. Northern Vilas alcohol concerns – general discussion
· A few recent incidents on the near campus side of neighborhood; not able to be linked to a certain bar or residence. Increase of events on Badger game days.
· There will be a discussion at the 10/2 ALRC meeting to talk about alcohol density along the Regent/Monroe St corridors. This meeting will take place at 5:30pm at 210 MLK Jr Blvd #201 and is open to the public.
· Discussed that VNA is generally opposed to increasing the number of large vertical drinking establishments but in favor of developing Monroe St, including restaurants that serve alcohol with food.
· Several suggestions were offered including meeting with UW Dean of Students and law enforcement to take a more proactive approach on this issue.
· We will resume this discussion at our next meeting once the 10/2 ALRC discussion occurs.
3. Good Neighbor Gathering this Saturday, 9/28, at Brittingham Park
· 1-3pm Lakefront clean-up
· 3-6pm Family friendly activities
· 6-8pm Live music and food carts
4. Alder Tag Evers update
· Recapped Pizza Extreme agenda item
· He has been informed of some Air BnB violations in the neighborhood that the city is looking into
· Regent St re-invigoration plan has resurfaced
· Vilas Park Master Plan – there have been some concerns raised around the neighborhood input process. Some feel the city is moving forward without appropriate neighborhood input and this is being addressed. There will be a meeting on this in the Arboretum on 11/11.
Existing Business
5. Treasurer’s report – Pat Scheckel
· $2100 in account
· A $250 donation was made to the Good Neighbor Gathering
6. Social report - Lee Lazar
· Tailgate this Saturday, 9/28, at 8:30am before UW/Northwestern game – 2105 Jefferson Street
· VNA Halloween Party – 1800 block of Adams; 4pm on 10/31; pizza/keg/soda will be offered
o A $400 budget was approved for this party
· 12/15/19 is the tentative neighborhood holiday party date at HotelRED
7. Nominating Committee – Lee Lazar (with Gera Bodley, Mary Clare Murphy, and Eileen Thompson)
· The are 4 seats up for re-election this year; please contact Lee Lazar to submit any new candidates
· Mary Clare proposed creating a procedure for neighbors to vote early in the upcoming VNA Council elections
· This would require a change in the Bylaws; changing the Bylaws requires notifying the neighborhood and then getting approval at 2 consecutive VNA council meetings
· In order to make this happen this year, elections would need to be held in December rather than in November
· Several motions were made and unanimously passed:
o Craig Stanley made a motion to form a sub-committee to review the current Bylaws in detail, including election procedures, with all changes to be completed by June 2020.
o Pat Scheckel made a motion that the VNA Council and Nominating Committee ATTEMPT to come up with a way to change the current election/voting procedures to allow for early voting in this year’s election. This requires coming up with a proposal of how this would work, notifying the neighborhood by 10/13, discussing approval at the October and November VNA Council meetings, and then holding elections on 12/18/19. The Nominating Committee will take the lead on this knowing that it may be too complicated to get done in time for this year’s elections but an attempt will be made.
o Craig Stanley made a motion to move this year’s election date from November to December regardless of the outcome of the above discussion.
THIS YEAR’S ELECTIONS HAVE BEEN MOVED FROM NOVEMBER TO DECEMBER 18, 2019.
8. VNA Directory & Block Captains (Roz Woodward & Sarah Bahauddin)
· 2020 membership drive will be announced with the holiday party invitation (these will be distributed earlier than normal)
· Roz has welcome packets available for new neighbors. Please contact her if you have a new neighbor.
9. Vilas Ink newsletter (Pat Scheckel)
· PDF version now available on the neighborhood website
· Hard copy should be delivered any time now
10. Joint Campus Area Committee (JCAC) report (Doug Carlson)
· At the last meeting the following was discussed:
o Presentation on Sellery renovation (will be similar to Witte renovation with 2 stories added)
o Dayton St closed until the end of November
o New Natatorium planned with ice rink (will result in loss of Shell to general public); planned for 2022
o Upgrade to plaza by Camp Randall has started
o Nails Tails structure has been removed
o A Pyrotechnics Test was conducted at Camp Randall
Fireworks would be launched over the scoreboard extending 200-300ft in the air possibly during the National Anthem, team introduction, and with a game win.
Games TBD but neighborhood will be notified in advance
Minimal dust or particles expected (none detected by Fire Dept during test)
These will be short in duration and the sound was more of a “crackle” than a “bang”
11. VNA Zoning Committee report (Lea Jacobs)
o Lea gave a brief summary to be discussed in more detail at October’s meeting
12. Vilas retail news and updates – no update
13. Vilas Park Master Planning
o A more thorough update and discussion planned for October’s VNA meeting.
14. Edgewood Liaison committee report (Jon Standridge and Sarah Bahauddin)
o Liaison meeting was held 2 weeks ago; discussed how to continue liaison meetings if the Master Plan goes away.
o CI zoning change passed through Plan Commission
o Mention of enrollment challenges at the college
o 10/2 Plan Commission meeting for exiting Master Plan
Other Business
o Alder Evers said some area has been added to the snow emergency zone
o Vilas has been selected to pilot a leaf collection program; everyone should have received a mailing from the Street Department
Adjourn