BEAUTIFICATION COMMISSION

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Attendees: K. Hurst, S. Poulson, J. Steketee, A. Tanner, A. Cumming, M. Maupin, D. Spencer, B. MacDonald, N. Gocke, D. McGill

Minutes of February read and approved.

Old Business:

Speiger Lot : Our Chair has contacted Main Street Morgantown (MSM) and they requested, in writing, that the Beautification Com. assist them in developing a design for this lot. MSM will now make their request to the City. Biafore’s representative, Erin Huger, has responded in writing expressing their interest in working with us on this project. Our Chair has also contacted Ashley Kyber of the WVU Landscape Department. There was discussion about contacting other landscape businesses for this and other projects. If we can identify other businesses, we will ask them to attend our next meeting with design ideas. Our Chair will go ahead and meet at the site with the representative from Biafore’s . It was suggested that the owners of the lot might be interested in donating the property as a green space. Once we have a plan to submit to them, it might be an opening for further communication with the owner.

Rawley Lane: Our Chair and our City Staff member met with Mr. Boroff and were informed that they have received nothing official regarding a new hotel in this area. The Beautification Commission is to be notified when the City has further information so that we can work with the developers regarding landscaping. We hope to work with them so that their plans can coordinate with our plans for a pedestrian corridor in that area.

Prete Property: No response has been received from our letter sent to the City Manager and the Suncrest Neighborhood Association in reference to the Rawley Lane property. The City is waiting for a plan from the Beautification Commission with regard to the pedestrian corridor on Rawley Lane before they move further on this issue with Mr. Prete. His property abuts the public property that will be used for the corridor. Our City Council representative will check into what transpired in the past with Mr. Prete with regard to the trailers and machinery parked on University Ave.

New Business:

Woodburn: The Woodburn Association of Neighbors was able to obtain a State Grant for $960.00 for tree planting at the Beauty Spot. A representative of this organization worked with our Tree Board Rep to complete the paperwork. The tree planting must be completed by May 31 according to the grant. Our Tree Board Rep. and our City Staff member will work on tree selection. It was noted that there will be a Fall grant available and we should think about where we could do another planting. A Commission member was contacted about the rusted condition of the railing of the stairs at the top of East Prospect St. It was suggested that the concerned person contact Ron Justice or Julie Lattanzi since it is in the Woodburn area.

Advocacy Issues: In our past planning session, the Beautification Commission agreed to support, via letters to the City, the extension of the Wall Street Corridor to the riverfront. There is work to be done between High Street and University Ave. and from University Ave. (beside Golds Gym) on down to the riverfront rail trail. Also we support the work needed to complete a path from Krepps Park to the Star City Rail Trail.

We will review these two issues at our next meeting.

We will let the City know that we want to review any proposals such as the proposed dog park in Krepps Park so we can look at the landscape options during the planning stages. It was suggested that we ask Chris Fletcher or some other representative from the Planning Office to come to our meeting and discuss this issue. Possibly someone from the design committee might also attend. We also agreed that we need to have our BOPARC representative on future agendas so he/she can keep us apprised of their project plans.

We asked our Chamber of Commerce representative to report at our next meeting on the Chamber’s future plans and propose to them that we would like to meet with a representative at one of our future meetings, possibly in May.

In response to an article in the Dominion Post on February 17, the Beautification Commission Chair will again send a letter to the City discussing the Mountaineer Heritage Park and the fact that the Commission is not apprised of changes/additions to that area prior to their inception.

Our Chamber of Commerce representative has been approached by the Master Gardeners who were interested in placing a bench, in memory of Tom McCutcheon, in the Spruce Street lot utilized for the Farmers Market. It was our consensus of opinion that this would be a bad idea in that the Farmer’s Market could be moved and the fact that there is really no space for a bench in the parking lot used for the market.

Adopt-A-Street : Donna was not in attendance but she wanted to pass along the fact that Saturday, April 19, is Earth Day. There are some planned activities that day at the Hazel Ruby McQuain Park. Laurie Stiller of the Mon County Waste Authority will be coordinating activities.

Tree Board: Our Tree Board Rep. wanted to applaud our City Staff member and the City Representative for getting the tree replaced in the Farmer’s Market parking lot. She passed out information on Home Depot grants that are available. These grants would be for larger scale tree plantings. We discussed the possibility of applying for one of them to be used for the Sabraton Gateway project. To have this approved, we would have to work with the City, the State and the businesses in Sabraton. We should look at water-related issues in that area, possibly working with the Friends of Deckers Creek. We will check to see if there is a Sabraton Business group. Our Tree Board Rep, our City staff member and our Chair will meet and discuss this further.

Proud of our Town Awards: It was suggested that we look at a house on Jones Ave. and a house on Madigan Avenue near the Church that have done landscaping. We encourage everyone to let us know if they know of a residence or business that is deserving of a Spring award.

Project Reports: We have a person interested in working on trees for us. He has taken another job but there is discussion about him working a day or two a week on trees throughout Morgantown. There is an ad going out for hiring another employee. The hourly rate has been increased to $9.00/hour. Our City staff member is hoping to travel to Charleston to talk with representatives from their City crew to see what they are able to accomplish and how many employees they have. She is looking at locations for her main tool room, possibly at White Park.

There may be some issues that need addressed regarding the new landscaping at Krepps Park. Some planting are under the eaves and may need to be moved.

She is looking into the contracts we have with Biafore’s regarding maintenance of the beds installed last year on South Unviersity Ave.

With regard to the Marina Landscaping, the dead annual grasses have been removed. She has some ideas about re-design and they will be done in stages. She asked the Tree Board to look at the area and make suggestions.

Meeting adjourned at 6:30 p.m.