Madison Park

Madison Park HOA June 9th, 2008 Meeting Minutes

Jun 11, 2008

Madison Park HOA June Monthly Meeting 6/9/08

www.neighborhoodlink.com 28210

Welcome
Meeting called to order at 7:30pm. 27 people in attendance plus two officers and one speaker

Crime Stats Westover Police Division Officer Hairston (for the month of May)
?• 1400 block of Montford- breaking and entering. A neighbor noticed the B&E and called it in to police. The police were able to arrest one suspect at the house
?• 5000 block of Milford- harassing phone calls
?• 5400 block of Glenham- damage to property, car window broken. Victim knew perpetrator
?• 4800 block of Wedgewood (Wedgewood Baptist Church)- utility shed broken into plus damage to property
?• 1813 Tyvola- this is the house with numerous problems over the years. The police are looking for the current owner. The previous residents (the house had been foreclosed) have attempted to move back in after trashing the place. There is no electricity in the home. Code Enforcement is suppose to secure the property.

Guest Speaker
Mary Stauble, Urban Cost Share Program
Urban Conservationist Technician
Mecklenburg Soil & Water Conservation District
?• Since 1987 Mecklenburg County has lost 25% of tree coverage
?• More people= more pollution
?• We have 3000 miles of streams in Mecklenburg
?• Water is our most important natural resource
?• When rain falls on forest land, the land soaks up the water. When rain falls on impervious services (concrete), 1?” of rain on 1 acre of impervious land equals 27,000 gallons of runoff water
?• Runoff water in the storm drains flows directly into the creeks without any treatment to remove pollutants
Good habits to have
?• Conserve water
?• Allow grass in your yard to be less green
?• Hand water or drip irrigation plants
?• Collect rain water in barrels for watering
?• Allow runoff water to go into rain gardens
?• Grasscycle ?– sweep up grass clippings and compost or compost mulch back into the grass
?• Keep streets clean of litter
?• Report violations
?• Test your soil and only use fertilizers as needed
?• Keep storm drains clean
?• Put grease in the trash, not down the drain
?• Do not plant invasive plants
?• Pick up pet waste
Urban Cost Share Program
?• Up to $3,000 to homeowners for water/soil conservation
?• Reimbursement program after application is approved
?• For more information: www.mecklenburgconservation.com or call 704-336-2455

There will be a rain barrel sale Sat, Sept 13, 2008. The deadline to order is 9/01/08. Cost is $85 (60 gallon) and $100 (80 gallon). To purchase, visit www.mecklenburgconservation.com or call 704-336-2455

Madison Park HOA Lunch in the Park Picnic
The Spring Picnic was a success this year. People actually showed up until we shut down the picnic at 4:00 PM. Total for the day was around 100 attendees. Special Thanks goes to Candy Bridges for arranging the shelter and supplying paper products, ice, and drinks. Candy Bridges has reserved the shelter for May 16th, 2009 for our annual Madison Park Spring Picnic. We will shorten the event time frame next year.
Thanks to Debra Campbell for working extra hard on this years event. Thanks also goes to the following community businesses for door prizes this year. Remember those that support us when you are looking for food or services.

Basil's Restaurant
Costco
1900 Mexican Grill
Showmar's
Harris Teeter

Reverse 911 calls for Picnic Technical issue discovered
President Doss had a former resident contact him to alert him she was still getting our event messages. She has not lived in Madison Park for over 6 years. She use to live on Montford, but moved to a different area of Charlotte. The strange thing is she didn?’t take her phone number with her when she moved. Officer Allen, CMPD, is trying to figure out how this is happening. The system only should contact published phone numbers by street names. We only make request by street names. Anyway our continued use of the system helps CMPD iron out bugs in the system.

New Code Enforcement Officer and Zoning Officer
Zoning issues are being addressed by Donald Moore
Code enforcement issues are now being addressed by Kirkham Young
President Doss was ask to Do A Ride Around with the new Inspector on 6/13/08.


1427 Tyvola zoning violations
Occupant appears to be operating a travel agency from this home on Tyvola Road.
Codes enforcement officers have already visited the location for parking in the yard. The home has two neon signs in the front windows. A Customary Home Occupation certificate was issued on 5-2-08 to operate a home office from the residence. However the signs and any clients coming and going would be prohibited. A letter of violation was sent from zoning.

Lack of Sidewalk on Grover Street
President Doss inquired as to why directly underneath the Lynx Tyvola Station there is no complete sidewalk either side of the road.
Grover Street is missing sidewalks due to complex negotiations with property owners, Norfolk Southern for the northern side and First Citizen Bank for the southern side. The draft Tyvola & Archdale Plan recommends completing these gaps, as well as improving the intersection of South Boulevard and Grover Road. A possible funding source for completing sidewalk gaps in the short-term includes remaining South Corridor Infrastructure Program dollars. An improved intersection at South Boulevard is more likely a long-term improvement via redevelopment of properties along South Boulevard.

Thanks,

Brian D. Horton
Transportation Planner
CDOT - Planning & Design
E-mail: bhorton@ci.charlotte.nc.us

Murrayhill Sidewalk
CDOT made a short presentation to the City Council's Transportation Committee on May 27th, to discuss the Sidewalk Policy. Specifically, they discussed application of traffic counts and clarification of the Tier 3 category. Some of the residents in the final block had challenged the method used to rank their blocks as tier 3 in an attempt to have the last two blocks left out of the planned sidewalks. CDOT then decided to change the final two blocks to a tier 4 which would have required a petition just on those two blocks. Everyone else would still be a tier 3 and have no choice in the installation of the planned sidewalks. This new plan was challenged and CDOT decided that this should stay tier 3 as was announced and is planned. Ms. Judy Bratton attended and spoke briefly at the meeting on her concerns, and stated that 15 people on her block at that time did not wish for a walk. President Doss also attended the meeting to hear the presentation. He was alerted to the presentation by CDOT. CDOT reported they had heard from both sides regarding these sidewalks.

CDOT is still committed to their initial plan to build the walk on one side of all of Murrayhill with connections via both Wedgewood Drives as a tier 3. CDOT recognizes that counts are different at various locations. Most of the street is well above 1000 vehicles in a 24 hour period. In the past CDOT has always used the location with the highest number of vehicles in a 24 hour period to obtain required counts for traffic calming, speed humps, and sidewalks. This same application can be shown on Murrayhill in the fact that the entire street has speed humps. You must have 1000 vehicles in a 24 hour period to obtain speed humps.

The Interim Director of CDOT, Danny Pleasant, met with resident Judy Bratton on Friday June 6th. He replied to President Doss that CDOT is continuing to evaluate our sidewalk ranking process and appreciates the wide variety of interests around the topic. City Council has provided strong direction to enhance the city's "walkability." So it is important to staff to produce sidewalks and other pedestrian amenities as efficiently as possible while remaining sensitive to neighborhood concerns. We will continue to work with City Council to fine tune the criteria while keeping in mind the specific concerns surrounding the Murrayhill project.

Council Member Andy Dulin attended the transportation committee meeting. He walked the final two blocks of Murrayhill the following day at one of the resident?’s request.

President Doss wishes for the process to be fair to everyone. There will always be someone not happy with what is built. However he feels it would be a mistake to eliminate two blocks creating a gap in the walkway system, while at the same time forcing someone else up the street to have a walkway in front of their home, when they might be just as much against it. Mayor Pro Tem Susan Burgess pointed out that the right a way is not a resident?’s yard at the committee meeting. Basically the first 11 feet from the curb is city right a way. This would be the area used to build the walkway.

Pinewood Elementary responded the following on 6/4/08 regarding the sidewalks.
Hi,
As parent advocate of Pinewood I can tell you that YES we do have parents and children walking from Murrayhill and other areas from behind the school. I think a sidewalk would be a wonderful thing for our parents and students. And I also believe that if we had sidewalks, we might have more children walking to the school.
Thank you so much for your concern
Alexandra Cintron

President Doss decided to check to see if indeed there were students walking to the school. It came up at the transportation committee meeting that perhaps since it was an elementary school that walkers would be limited or none.
CDOT Vivian Coleman gave a second presentation on 6/9/08 to the transportation committee. President Doss attended that meeting prior to our HOA meeting. CDOT showed how they apply tier 3 currently. Plans now are to hold the public meeting in about 60 days. Current plans are to still build the walkway along the entire route. Currently the North Side of Murrayhill, North of Woodlawn, has walkways from Woodlawn to Scaleybark.

Madison Park HOA will continue to provide updated information on the process as we get information on the sidewalks from CDOT. Sidewalks affect our communities?’ ratings on the Neighborhood Statistical Analysis Reports. Lack of sidewalks lowers your ratings. CDOT stated at the Transportation Committee Meeting that sidewalks increase property values and are listed as an amenity in communities that have sidewalks.

CATS on-line Bus Schedule Lynx Station Schedule Times
There is now a link on our web site that will allow you to check the train schedules for the blue line at each station. That way you can tell when a train is arriving at our stations. Peak times the trains run frequently every 7 minutes. On weekends the wait can be a bit longer up to 30 minutes.

Speed Limit Signs on Sandridge
A resident requested help with lack of speed signs on Sandridge due to speeding. She stated there were currently no signs to President Doss. President Doss contacted CDOT with her request.
Terry VonCannon, CDOT, reported to President Doss on 5/13/08 that a work order went out that day to have (4) 25 mph signs installed on Sandridge Rd. He stated they should be up in 2-3 weeks. Signs are up. A second resident on Sandridge sent a Thank You note on 6/9/08 for help getting the signs put up.
One resident contacted President Doss on 6/9/08 stating she did not like the sign in front of her home. President Doss suggested she contact 311 with a request to see if it could be moved to a telephone pole if there was one in the immediate area. Signs are generally placed in public right away on property lines. President Doss also alerted CDOT with the residents concerns to ensure the sign was placed at the best location.

Traffic Counts for Farmbrook
CDOT reported the following, ?“Somehow the results got misplaced but the count taken on 11-29-08 was 117 south of Tyvola Rd?”.
Terry S. VonCannon
Charlotte Department of Transportation

Tyvola Road and Archdale Area Future Station Plans
Eudora Alston
Key points are
Adding sidewalks along Londonderry Road and filling in other sidewalk gaps.
The plans are the same as Woodlawn Area Station Plans as far as our residential areas. Plans are to keep the residential area in tact as it currently is in Madison Park. If an area is residential now, it will remain residential.

Tyvola Road will become commercial/residential mixed use from Smith Language Academy to South Blvd.

The future will see the area adding more streets in the section currently York Towne. This would create shorter blocks and connect to South Blvd. The future look is similar to what you see in Southend currently. You would also see this type development being installed where Tyvola Mall currently sits and the Foodlion Shopping Center. Construction will be mixed use with retail on ground floors and residential and office on upper floors. The goal is to control the growth and make the growth attractive.

How soon will we see this happening? Presenters at the public meetings state it will be up to 50 years into the future! It will not happen overnight. Land will be converted to the desired use as things redevelop in the area.

Construction height adjoining the current residential homes would be permitted at 4 stories. Farther away from the area the height could climb to 10 stories. Presenters said 10 story heights most likely would only be on the West side of the light rail. Possibly like Old Pineville Road and Tyvola. You can see the plan online at www.charlotteplanning.org.

Ice Trailer at Tyvola Mall
Express Ice
1238 Tyvola Rd.
B1881813

This project was permitted through CTAC by Ron Jones who is a commercial plan reviewer on 4-16-2008. That permit has been closed out and is legal.

Tom Johnson
Urban Forestry Specialist, C.A.
Engineering and Property Management
This was considered a commercial project with City Engineering and Property Management providing the permit.

Queens Sports Complex Update
Update: Queens plans to start construction this summer on the Field House and the Welcome Center which will be under construction through August 2009.
--
Mallory C. Benz
Assistant Director for Media and Public Relations
Queens University of Charlotte

Deer struck on Tyvola Road
John and Debbie Olsakovsky witnessed a Deer being struck on May 20th on Tyvola Road. The remains were not removed even after they call this in to 311. President Doss contacted the Animal Care and Control Division of CMPD. He was copied on the following email from Animal Care at CMPD. Use caution when driving in the area. Deer are seen often along Tyvola Road and Archdale in our area.
Please have an officer respond to this location and determine if the deer is deceased. If it is still alive, handle it appropriately. If it is deceased please have 311 contact Special Services for the dead animal collection. Also, research the chronology with 311 to determine if the call was cancelled and why.
Thanks,
Mark
Mark A. Balestra
Director, Animal Care & Control Division
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department

Matching Grant Update for National Night Out 8/5/08
Supplies have been ordered, received, and paid for by our Matching Grant. Our HOA commitments have all been filled from a cash standpoint on the grant. We still owe toward the grant volunteer time which we will earn toward the grant at 13.00 dollars and hour. Check reimbursements were paid to President Doss for items he purchased as advances for the HOA, and to the HOA directly last week by the City of Charlotte.
Parks and Rec will be providing a ?“giant?” slide again this year, along with snow cones and cotton candy. There will be lots of attractions for all ages.
We are still accepting Sponsors for the event. If you or your company would like to participate in this fun event contact us at once. Martydoss@aol.com

Sue Valentine-Plyer, Treasury Report- we currently have $1,060.91 in the bank with 58 paid members. Please pay your 2008 dues!! It is $20 a year. Checks can be mailed to Madison Park HOA, 5026 Currituck Dr, Charlotte 28210

Open Discussion / Concerns/ Issues
A Couple of attendees had concerns with people parking vehicles along Wedgewood Drive in the street. President Doss responded that the city (CDOT) considers vehicles parked on the streets as a traffic calming tool. It is not illegal to park fully on the streets in Charlotte. Residents should park facing the direction of traffic. Failure to park the correct direction could result in a citation from the police. Also pulling up onto the lawn partially can result in a Parking on the Lawn citation. Please remember to park completely on the street if you choose to park in a street.

Next month we will have someone from the Sugar Creek Waste Water Treatment Plant to speak to the group. But, if you have any questions or concerns before then, you can contact Roy Purgason at rpurgason@ci.charlotte.nc.com or 704-553-2124. Debra Campbell is our neighborhood representative for the SCWWTP stakeholders group

The sidewalks along Tyvola Road at Glenham and Baker that were covered with debris and overgrown shrubs have been cleared by the homeowners. Remember you are responsible for keeping sidewalks bordering your property clear. Thanks to those residents for taking care of the problem so quickly.

Matt Magnasco reminded people to throw out oily rags carefully. Someone he knows disposed them in the trash can, causing the trash can to catch fire.

Adjournment