BEAUTIFICATION COMMISSION

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

 

Attendees:  K. Hurst, S. Poulson, A. Cumming. M. Maupin, J. Lattanzi, D. Ford-Werntz, D. Spencer, J. Steketee, R. Larue, A. Turner

Minutes of April meeting approved with one change.  Under “Design presentation” in the last paragraph, it should read:  Minutes of March’s meeting were reviewed, corrections made and the minutes approved.

Old Business: 

 

A.       Spegar Lot:  Because of the fact that this is private property and because of the owner’s concerns about liability should this property be made available to the public, our Chair has talked to Ashley Kyber about starting a communication with the owners in hopes that they will be willing to sign a contract with the city if she does the work as a student project that is reversible.  Our Chair will communicate some more with Teri Cutright of Main Street and with Ashley.  At that point, the Beautification Commission would no longer be involved in this project.

 

B.       Rawley Lane Pedestrian Corridor.  Our 4th ward representative distributed an aerial view of the area.  It was noted that the City Manager wants the Beautification Com. to move forward with a design concept for this area, and then he can meet with Mr. Prete, the owner of a large section of this property, to begin cleaning up the area in preparation for the opening of the corridor.

 

C.      Realign priorities for 2008 projects:  In light of the Beautification Com.  no longer be involved in the Spegar Lot, we decided that our list of projects in priority order would be:

1.        Sabraton Gateway:  Our Chair and our City Rep. will open dialogue with the public transit people as well as the Friends of Decker’s Creek to begin work in this area.  These meeting will most likely not occur until some time in July because of vacations.

2.       Design Concept for Rawley Lane Pedestrian Corridor

3.       Design Concept for the Public Works area on Mississippi St.

 

D.      Woodburn Neighborhood:  The cleanup and tree plantings at the Beauty Spot has been a positive thing for the neighborhood.  8 trees were planted (4 obtained from the grant and 4 donated).  Before and after pictures will be available at our next meeting.  It was suggested that the Tree Board volunteers and volunteers from the Neighborhood Association be recognized through the Proud of our Town Awards.

 

E.        Advocacy Issues for Beautification’s Long-range Planning – tabled until our next Meeting.

 

New Business:

 

A.      Arch Street Islands:  Adelheid Medan from the Greenmont Neighborhood Assoc. came to the Beautification Com. with a proposed project for the islands in the middle of Arch St.  There are some trees (planted by the Tree Board some time ago) but the Assoc. would like to plant perennials and do some rock edging.  They will handle the maintenance.  We suggested getting our City Rep. and the Tree Board involved in the planning.  There are some issues of trucks running over the ends of the islands because of the sharp turns so there may need to be  set backs in those areas.  The area is currently a Public Works site and mowed by the City.  There is a possibility of a tree grant that could be received in the Fall.  This is the gateway to Greenmont and is additionally an historic site .  We ask the Greenmont Assoc. to bring us a proposed budget and a plan for the amount of plants required, and the Tree Board will bring a report regarding tree planting at our next meeting.

 

B.      Visit with Charleston Public Grounds:  Our Chair and our City Rep. met with the Assistant Director of Pubic Works in Charleston, WV.  They had a tour of the city.  This department takes care of State property on their own.  There are no trees in their islands and they do adhere to the 2ft high rule in the islands.  They have 23 full-time staff (12.50-12.80/hr) and 15 part-time (7/hr.)  The Director makes 46,000 and the Assistant 35,000.  They work out of a classification system.  They do lots more mowing than the workers in Morgantown and have similar problems in public areas.  Their department is under the Public Works Dept.  They seem to have the same issues of motivation (or lack of).  They contract out their flower designs at 60.00/hr.  This year they spend 28,000 for annuals.  They have an Arborist on contract and have given tree trimming training to their crew.  We do more horticulturally.  June is the time for the City to be looking at raises.  If the Commission wants to give input, they should meet with City officials very soon.  A raise for our City representative will most likely require a re-classification of the job.  We asked the City rep. to look for her current job description and our Chair or her representative will meet with the City Manager and Assistant Manager to discuss this issue.  Our Tree Board rep. volunteered to attend this meeting also.

 

C.      Planning Office : Guidance Recommendations – tabled until next meeting

 

D.      Streetscape Bumpouts:  The trash cans were  moved from the bumpouts.  They sat the cans beside the bumpouts.  Assistant  City Manager was to talk to Tom Arnold with the Solid Waste Authority to determine their permanent location.

 

E.       Walnut St.:  The plan the City is using for the renovation is not what the Beautification Com.  reviewed and made recommendations to.  The City will be contacted and asked to bring the revised plan back to the Commission for our review.

4.            Adopt-A-Streets:  Nothing new to report

 

5.            Tree Board Report:  Our Tree Board Rep. asked for our approval of last month’s Urban Forestry projects list for 2008-09.   This includes downtown structural pruning, identify dead trees and empty tree pits downtown, city-wide hazardous trees (dead or dying or planted in the wrong place), maintenance of new installation city-wide.  The Tree Board will move ahead by meeting with the City manager and his assistant to explain the plan and how it might be funded.  They plan to use the $15,000 allocated to them.  The Beautification Commission moved, voted and accepted the motion for the Tree Board to move ahead with this project.     

 

The suggested tree list will be distributed at out next meeting.  Once approved, the ordinance will be updated.  Arbor Day is planned for Saturday, September 13 with the rain day on the 20th.  They are partnering with the Farmers Market.  The Tree Board suggested having signs made that could be put in the ground for such events indicating that “this is a city event”.  Our Council Rep. volunteered to help get these printed if the Tree Board Rep. would work up the verbage.  The next Tree Board Meetings are June 23 and July 21 at 4pm

 

The Tree Board would like to pursue a way to let businesses and private individuals know how to find the appropriate person(s) to do trimming of trees.  Suggestions are public education, newspaper articles, licensing, etc.  They will make up a set of questions a person should ask an individual before contracting with them to do trimming.

 

6.            Proud of our Town Awards:  The members of the Suncrest Garden Club wanted to be certain that our City Representative was thanked properly for being so responsive to their needs while planting the islands in Suncrest.  When they called her, she came immediately and brought mulch and helped with the debris removal.

 

It was also noted that 240 Allison St. has a beautiful garden that warrants an opportunity to be recognized.  Our Proud of our Town Reps. will contact the residents and the Dominion Post.

 

Our City Rep. asked that we contact the Dom. Post to make arrangements for pictures one of the island volunteers who will be leaving the country after June 8.

 

7.            Boparc Report:  The final draft of the Master Plan for all parks and future growth should be in print shortly.  Suncrest Neighborhood Asoc. is against the 2nd dog park which is a 2-acre plot planned for Krepps Park.  Also in that plan is a trail development project.  WVU will be removing the fire training center along Mon. Blvd. and that will become a soccer facility of some sort.  This will help with access to the trails.  Plans are for some parks to go to Astroturf to match the activity demands.  There will be renovations to the ice arena.  There will be a picnic pavilion constructed at Dorsey’s Knob park and the exit road will become a 2-way road.  There is a plan for playground areas with a natural look – not the traditional playground equipment.  There is a plan for a new playground near the Bistro on the Rail Trail.  BOPARC is working with the Housing Authority to develop a park in the Greenmont area.

 

8.            Chamber of Commerce Report – no report available

 

9.            Project Site Report :  See notes in B.  Visit with Charleston Public Grounds

 

Open Forum:  Our  City Council Rep. discussed a trip he made recently that prompted him to believe Morgantown needs to do more in terms of public art.  The statue in front of the Public Safety Bldg. is the only one in town.  The Commission would need a draft of a proposal addressing any state-wide policies and looking at funding.  This proposal should include formal landscaping and design standards  for us to review.

 

 Meeting adjourned at 7:00 p.m.