BEAUTIFICATION COMMISSION

MINUTES

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 22, 2007

4:30 P.M. – Public Safety Building

Attendees: K. Hurst, S. Poulson, B. Bowers, B. MacDonald, R. LaRue, D. Spencer, J. Steketee, N. Gocke, D. Ford-Wentz, M. Maupin

Minutes of the last minutes were reviewed and approved with the following changes:

Wednesday misspelled in the heading, Kara Hurst name misspelled in the attendees list and a note that we need clarification from Ann Cummings with regard to the last two sentences in the Walnut Street Beautification section. Also Kara noted that in response to a letter that Don Spencer read at the last meeting regarding signage in Morgantown, Main Street Morgantown is working on a signage program and fabrication is currently under way.

OLD BUSINESS:

Kara has talked to Linda Bagby with Biafore’s and the contract for the airport has been accepted although we don’t know the status of the trees. Bill will contact the airport manager with regard to this issue. Krepps project will start sometime this week. The So.University islands are complete. Biafore’s submitted a proposal for turf management which will include treatments this year and next. If pre-paid the cost would be $520.00. The treatments would help with weed control. The Commission agreed by consensus to recommend to the City that these treatments be done.

Public Works Building – no report

Library Proper Design – Marchetta is willing to help them do some work to enhancement the appearance for their meeting coming up in October. However, there is not enough time to remove the trees and accomplish the other work.

NEW BUSINESS:

Walnut St. Beautification – Kara submitted a letter to Terry Hough reflecting all our input. Letter attached to the minutes. To-date, no response from Terry.

Marina Landscaping – no changes to date

Gravel clean up – no update

Vacant Lots – City has been in contact with the owner of the lot across from the Hotel Morgan. The City is going to try to lease that space for a nominal fee. Right now they are working on the legal issues. It is unclear right now what that lot will be used for. Don mentioned that the City is looking for spaces for dumpsters to be utilized by the High St. merchants for recycling. The Beautification Commission would definitely need more concise information on this issue before a decision could be made.

ADOPT-A-STREET: Donna tells us everything is moving on course. Marchetta would like Donna to meet with Bill Rumble and Jeff because of some concerns they have.

TREE BOARD: Ann was absent. The minutes of their last meeting were submitted. Donna expressed concerns (sent a letter to the Tree Board) with regard to a large tree removal on the Law School Hill. An entire grove of trees were removed to make a bigger parking lot. She has asked the Tree Board to send a letter asking the City Council to support the Beautification Com. in their concern that WVU is not living up to their new “WVU Goes Green” campaign. It was suggested that the athletic department, WVU facilities and the Law School be involved in this exchange.

PROUD OF OUR TOWN AWARDS: Sandy reported that we had made the Summer presentation to Zoe Romero. She was so excited and appreciative. The Dominion Post gave us a wonderful article. The Garden Tour is scheduled for Sept. 8 and possibly we will see someone deserving of a Fall Award. We have looked at a few other gardens nominated but no decision has been made. Sandy will contact those people who submitted nominations.

PROJECTS REPORT: Marchetta is dealing with some vandalism. She is trying to contact the Dominion Post to see if they will run an article or a series of articles on the triangles and the contributors to their upkeep. She is getting ready to order flowers for the High Street bump outs and worked on pruning Arbor Day trees in Evansdale.

REVIEW OF ORDINANCE AND MISSION STATEMENT

We discussed the wording of the Mission Statement and the law covering the Beautification Com. Then we began a brainstorming session to develop an Agenda for our future work.

We went around the table with each person’s ideas for what needs addressed by this Commission.

Round one:

Resolve Heritage park issue

Landscape/Greenspace issues

Cleanliness (garbage, weeds, gravel, etc.)

Gateways unattractive

Upgrade signage (continuity/theme

Maintenance (care of plantings on city properties and rights of way

Round two:

Garbage/litter

Maintenance of high street buildings (code enforcement)

Identify new beautification projects (new spaces to enhance)

Improve park system- City finances beauty

Planting of future landscaping on city property

Sustaining maintenance staff

Advocate for design standards in city limits

WVU relations/community relations/county relations

Abandoned/neglected yards and houses (code enforcement)

Continue High St. projects on other streets

Public Works schedule of maintenance

Signage to designate neighborhoods

Education/outreach

Advising on plantings on city properties

Website – kept up to date

Communication with city offices and city manager

We talked about different ways to look at the issues:

Proactive vs Reactive

Advice vs Review

Improve vs Maintenance

Future vs Past

Then we consolidated all the concerns into 5 groups:

1. Promote education/outreach across the communities: city/county/state/University.

2. Advocate for design standards; e.g., thematic signage, standardization controls in gateways and neighborhoods, plantings and lighting, etc.

3. Encourage sustained maintenance of city plantings and parks and code enforcement of commercial properties and rentals, of streets and public works (garbage/weeds), private properties and maintenance staff.

4. Identify and improve future projects: improve the park system with a commitment from the City for support in improving the aesthetics; look at landscaping of Green spaces; better define shared public spaces (such as Heritage Park).

We left the meeting with everyone charged with reviewing our 4 areas of concern so we can address them at our next meeting.

Kara gave each ward representative a map of their particular ward with the charge that they travel around the streets before our next meeting and identify areas that need attention: abandoned yards or houses, green space that could be developed, plant trimming that needs attention, and any other areas of concern.

Meeting adjourned at 7pm