SOUTHEAST COMO IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION

Meeting Minutes

OCTOBER 7TH 2008

I.      Call to order

LEE H. called to order the regular meeting of the SE COMO IMPROVEMENT ASSOCICATION at 6:34PM on 10/07/08 at the Van Cleve Park Recreation Center.

II.      Attendees

The following persons were present: James De Sota, Jeremiah P., Jeane M., Bill D., Tedd J., Joan M., Lee H., Stewart S., Connie S., Wendy M., Cam G. (City Council Member), Roxanne B. (Bridge newspaper), Donna & Lynn A. (SE Como residents), Ann H. (Van Cleve Park), Nina W. (SE Como business owner), Laura B. (Consultant), Andrew V. (SE Como business owner)

III.      Approval of minutes from last meeting

The minutes from 09/2008 were approved after changes were made.

IV.      Open issues

a)      Housing Allocation: Move $125,000 of the Phase 2 funds into the program for housing allocation. Motion made by Connie and 2nd by Jeane

b)      Jeremiah presented flyer to promote safety

c)      PAC meetings: Jeane was attending meetings but requested another representative attend the PAC meetings. Each neighborhood association has representatives who attend these meetings to vote on PAC items. Recommendation made for Emily Q. (s.p.) to be SE Como representative

d)      Andrew V. introduced as recipient of a NRP grant for his business which is moving into the Rayvic building on Hennepin Avenue. Clockwork Active Media Systems is moving into the Rayvic building. Proposed redesign for Clockwork passed around at the meeting. Discussion occurred about one NRP grant per applicant and not per address owned by applicant. James offered that maybe SECIA could revisit the issue of one grant per applicant with the possibility of two proposals combined into one application. Wendy mentioned that a Green Village grant could be another option for funding for the renovation. A neighborhood open house of the site was discussed once the site is completed. Andrew thanked SECIA for the grant.

e)      Nina made a presentation to the Board in regards to her business ChinDian. Nina would like to receive a On-Sale liquor license because of her catering business. The current license for her property is a food handling license. Parking issues for the restaurant were discussed. Nina mentioned she hopes to have her restaurant license approved by the City of Minneapolis at their 10/15/08 meeting. Updates were being made to her restaurant to bring her into compliance with the City. Handicap accessibility to Nina’s restaurant was mentioned. Nina presented an architectural drawing of a proposed expansion into a portion of the building she owns on Hennepin Ave, that would increase the occupancy of her restaurant to 62 people. Wendy proposed for the Board to be comfortable with you plan of expanding the restaurant and acquiring a liquor license we would need to see what is left outstanding to bring the space to code; come to a resolution on the parking issue; and a ruling from the City on the liquor license.

f)        Annual Meeting – 11/10/08: Wendy distributed a document with a proposed Agenda for the SECIA Annual Meeting. Lee mentioned that at the Annual Meeting the Grand Rounds approved route be displayed to the public. Nominations for new Board members was discussed and a Nominating Committee was elected consisting of Connie, Tedd and Stewart. Board members up for reelection are: Bill, Jeff, Lee and Jeane. There is one vacant seat on the Board which was vacated by Marilyn and a proposal was made that a new Board member would be elected for a one-year term to fill that seat. Total: there are 5 open seats for election in November. 4 of them are for 3 year terms and 1 is for a special 1 year term previously mentioned. Wendy mentioned that a member of the University Alliance should be invited to the Annual meeting to give a presentation to the public about what the Alliance is doing for the SE Como community.

g)      Cam Gordon handed out minutes from the last City Council Meeting. The Zoning and Planning Commission unanimously approved keeping in place the University District moratorium on demolition and new construction of 1-4 unit residential properties. Bill commended Cam’s work on the moratorium. He also discussed how the City Council has voted to establish a new Department of Neighborhood and Community Relations and a new City commission named the Neighborhood and Community Engagement Commission. Also discussed was a proposed Household Hazardous Waste Facility that would be located on Industrial Blvd north of Hennepin in the SE Como neighborhood. There was an informational meeting about the proposed facility on 10/23/08 at 6:30 p.m. at Van Cleve Park.

h)      New business: it was brought to the attention of the Board two separate incidents where two separate residences in the neighborhood had either a break-in or an attempted trespass in September. The Board requested any information about the incidents to be forwarded to the SECIA office for further development.

V.      Adjournment

Wendy adjourned the meeting.

Minutes submitted by:  Stewart S.