Madison Park
Octoboer 12th, 2009 Meeting Minutes
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Subject: |
Madison Park Monthly Association Meeting |
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Date: |
Monday, October 12th, 2009 |
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Time: |
7:30 p.m. |
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Location: |
Wedgewood Baptist Church – Activity Center Annex – |
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Presenters: |
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Meeting Chair: Martin Doss, Director |
Attendee Count: |
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Guest Speaker: Randy DeBruhl, DeBruhl Environmental Excavating, Inc. |
22 members 2 CMPD officers |
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(revised 1/17/2010 by Ted Peters, Secretary) |
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Agenda: |
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Welcome: Meeting brought to order by Martin Doss, past President and current Director, at 7:30pm in the Activity Center Annex. Note: Ken Davis, President, asked Marty to take over the agenda of tonight’s meeting due to the illness of his mother. Please keep Ken’s mom in your thoughts and prayers.
- Crime Report – given by Officer Hairston. Sgt. Jackie Hulsey also in attendance.
NOTE: Addresses where reported crimes occurred are denoted in the “hundred block of” the street.
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- 900 Woodlawn Breaking and entering of storage building, victim and alleged perpetrator are known to each other. (9/8)
4900 Prentice Breaking and entering of residence, no signs of forced entry, items taken. (9/15)
500 Woodlawn Damage to property. (9/16)
5500 Murrayhill Theft of jewelry. (10/1)
4500 Wentworth Breaking and entering of residence, rear door kicked in, items taken. (10/2)
700 Brockbank Attempted breaking and entering, neighbor gave perpetrator(s) a strong look and called 911. Crime prevented. Detailed description was given to police. (10/2)
800 Brockbank Breaking and entering, bike stolen, victim and alleged perpetrator are known to each other. (9/10)
5300 Furman Theft of Honda Accord, vehicle recovered.
5500 Farmbrook Theft of Halloween display pumpkins.
???? Kentland Breaking and entering, victim accosted by intruder used cell phone to call 911 and attempted to defend herself by spraying the intruder with an aerosol product. Intruder apprehended by police. [Note: When asked by a member in attendance whether there appeared to be any link to a previous attacked on a female at the adjacent Yorktown Apartments, Sgt. Hulsey replied that such a link was not apparent at this time in the investigation.]
???? Londonderry Gun shots heard, neighbor called 911. Police responded and their investigation yielded no suspects.
Discussion with stories of CMPD police work:
Adoption story: Westover Division is now the proud parent of two female puppies. Found during a drug bust, the puppies were emaciated to the point that it was not clear whether or not they would survive. Well aware of their fate at the animal control shelter, the officers of the Westover Division collectively agreed to pay for the pups immediate medical needs. At the point where it was clear that the pups were going to survive, the officers brought them into the police station during the day and farmed them out to officers going off their shifts to take them home at night. The adopted puppies’ names: (You guessed it !) Cagney and Lacey. They even have access to a nice lawn during the day.
Montclaire story: A series of petty thefts in the neighborhood adjacent to and just south of Madison Park was solved recently by a neighbor’s involvement. Unsolved thefts of lawn mowers, bikes, power equipment, gardening equipment, etc. plagued Montclaire, until a neighbor came upon the scene of another theft in progress. Coming upon the scene at the end of the theft, the neighbor made a determined effort to get a description of the car used to carry away the stolen goods. Tracing the license plate, the police were able to secure the parent’s cooperation in determining that the son was the thief responsible for the thefts and subsequent pawning of the items stolen in Montclaire.
A Neighbor’s Observation: A neighbor who resides on Wentworth, attending the meeting for the first time due to the violent breaking and entering that occurred on that street (see above), noted in her follow up with investigating officers that the Westover Division had recently given Madison Park the designation of being a “hot” neighborhood as a result of the six Breaking and Entering reports filed with the police. Both Sgt. Hulsey and Officer Hairston nodded in agreement with her observation. Sgt. Hulsey said that the designation of “hot” came at her direction when she noted how close together the series of B&E’s had been. In what is a quiet neighborhood, six reports caught her immediate attention. She subsequently changed the patrol patterns of the officers under her supervision. The sergeant did note however that in the case of three (3) of the B&E’s, the victim had a relationship or direct suspicion of a particular individual.
A story of Drug Deals in Public Places: A neighbor wanting to discuss her observation of a drug deal in the Walgreens’ (at South and Woodlawn) parking lot led to Sgt. Hulsey relating the details of how drug dealers conduct their business. The use of a public place to transact the sale is routine she said. By way of example she told of a series of arrests that led to the capture of a major dealer in the Charlotte area. A drug user was arrested in the process of committing a crime. He agreed to identify and set up a sting of his supplier. Upon the arrest of that lower level supplier, he, in turn, agreed to identify and participate in a sting of the major dealer. The lower level supplier and the major dealer set up a transaction for a specific location in a well known grocery store parking lot and the police responded to that location and the sting was set. Five minutes before the appointed time of the exchange of drugs, the major dealer called the lower level supplier on his cell phone and changed the location of the transaction to another public place. Police were able to respond flexibly to the new location and apprehended the major dealer. The dealers and suppliers do not want to risk the possibility that they will become a robbery victim. The speed with which the sale and exchange take place prevents witnesses from getting an accurate description of either party.
Note to residents:
PLEASE do not leave valuables in your car, regardless of whether it is locked or not. This includes cell phones, i-Pods, GPS devices, CDs, etc. These items are easily portable for you, and also for thieves. If you must leave them in your car, please make sure they are not in plain sight; do everything you can to keep them from being visible to someone who walks up and looks in your car. Lock them in the trunk; put them in the glove box, or even better, take them inside your house and always lock your car! It takes only a few seconds to smash a window, unlock a door, and grab an item out of a car.
Cars parked on the street are especially vulnerable. But, items have been taken from cars parked in carports and driveways. So, no one is immune. Safeguard your property. If there are no items in your car to steal, eventually they will either stop trying or move to another neighborhood where people are more careless.
If you leave items in your car, or visible in your car (especially power cords, mounting brackets, etc.) you are essentially advertising that you have something worth stealing in your vehicle and are assuring that you will become a crime victim. We live in a very safe neighborhood; but, for anyone who is looking for something to steal, it takes very little temptation to make them do it!
Westover Division CMPD Newsletter Response Area 3 (specific to our community)
The division has a very nice newsletter that the Division leaders Captain and Response Area Commanders send out each month. To get the newsletter in its full content form along with maps, send an e-mail to Sergeant Hulsey jhulsey@cmpd.org. [Portions of the content of the newsletter routinely appear on the discussion pages of the HOA website.] To request the newsletter, type “Sign up for Newsletter” in the subject line of your e-mail to the sergeant or call 704-432-2442. The newsletter is available in Spanish upon request.
Special Guest Speaker – Randy DeBruhl, DeBruhl Environmental Excavating, Inc.
Mr. DeBruhl began his remarks by noting that Madison Park was developed in the mid to late ‘50’s at a time and place where gas had not been installed. [In fact, the “all-electric home” was a prominent feature of the early advertising of the development.] As a result, oil-fired furnaces presented a cleaner and more construction friendly alternative to coal-fired furnaces in the post-Korean war building boom. Fast forward to today. Throughout Charlotte leaking underground oil tanks present an environmental hazard and a real estate transaction nightmare.
Signs that an Underground Storage Tank (UST) may still exist on your property: Outside your home, look for two pipes protruding above ground near the driveway of the house and adjacent to the crawl space. Inside your crawl space, look for two greenish-colored copper tubes coming through a foundation wall from your yard. [Note that Piedmont Natural Gas should have a record of when your home was connected to their distribution system.]
Home heating oil tanks are non-regulated, non-commercial tanks that are exempt from the “technical regulations” that apply to regulated UST’s. Even though home heating oil tanks are exempt from these technical regulations; some groundwater regulations will apply if there is a leak or spill from your tank. There is no requirement to remove old heating oil tanks. The question resolves to one of determining if there is a leak in or has a spill occurred from your tank. The only way such a determination can be made is to remove the tank. [Testing samples of soil drawn from the sides of the tanks are not definitive. Oil leaks flow with gravity to the bottom of the tank and spread from there.]
UST’s and A Sale of Real Estate: The Debra Campbell Story. The “resuscitating foundress” and past president of the HOA hired Debruhl to remove a heating oil tank from her property one month prior to the closing. The sale of her home was made contingent on the removal of the tank. Debra wanted to sell and leave Madison Park, leave her ancestral home and, of all things, move closer to her grandchildren in and around Dallas, Texas. The short story is that Randy’s team found that her tank had leaked and contaminated the soil beneath. There ensued a $10,000 bill for testing, removal of the contaminated soil and offending tank plus overall environmental cleanup and certification by a geologist and a chemist that the site of her old tank was clean and not polluting the groundwater. The good news in all this mess is that Randy was able to guide Debra (as the statutory tank owner) through the process required to recover the majority of her monetary outlay from the Non-Commercial Leaking Petroleum UST Cleanup Fund of North Carolina. Randy also replanted the fig tree (planted by Debra’s father and removed at the same time as the tank) in his own yard. Randy reported that the tree is doing just fine. Debra reportedly did handsprings (several) on hearing the news of the recovery of her money.
Randy stayed for the entire meeting and answered questions from members after adjournment.
Neighborhood Updates
- Flooding within Madison Park -- Meeting held 10/01/09 at the Marion Diehl Senior Center
Ken Davis and Martin Doss from the Madison Park HOA board along with about 25 neighbors from the flood zones in our community attended the City/County storm water meeting for residents that are affected by flooding along Montford, Wedgewood and Mockingbird. Residents south of the Bradbury bridge continue to endure flooding of their yards, garages and air conditioning units when we have heavy rains.
There is limited money available for buyouts of the effected homeowners -- especially when these properties, for the most part, are considered in a lower priority class in that the inside living spaces of most of their homes are untouched by the flooding. One resident (believed to live on Mockingbird Lane) told how he has waterproofed his foundation and uses a pump to keep the water out from under his home. He said supplies could be purchased from local hardware stores for a do-it-yourself project. He said during the last flood he was surrounded by water but didn't even have to turn his pump on. He also raised his central air off the ground to prevent it from being flooded.
The City has identified an erosion problem in that portion of the stream that was reworked in the South Blvd Phase II project completed last year. A work project/study is being developed to correct that problem.
There is also sediment has built up under the new bridge that has reached status “A”, the highest priority, but will take several weeks before it is corrected and crossed off the work list. The reason is because all A classification projects are assigned on a first come, first served basis. The city/county has many other A-list projects to get to before the one recently designated in Madison Park.
Officials said residents can help by not dumping grass clippings in the stream. Call 311 to report any blockages of the stream.
The area that floods is in the F.E.M.A. flood plain. Flood plain maps change from time to time. We have a direct link on the HOA web site so you can key in your address and see if you are in a flood plain.
One thing we learned was that a 100 year flood does not mean that you only see this type flooding every 100 years. Every year the area has a 1% chance of seeing a 100 year flood. At a time yet to be determined, a monitoring gage will be installed to facilitate a reverse 911 call to effected homeowners.
The flood plain maps are being updated and future updates perhaps will allow some homes to qualify for buyouts.
Both incumbent District 6 Rep Andy Dulin and District 6 Candidate Jane Bott Childrey were in attendance.
- Elections Board of Directors and Officer Elections
The HOA is accepting nominations for all elective officer and director positions of the HOA. Any homeowner can forward their name or that of another homeowner in the neighborhood to the nominating committee. [Renters can certainly participate in the activities of the HOA and are encouraged to do so; but, renters cannot serve on the board since we are incorporated as an HOA. Officers and Directors are expected to attend the HOA’s monthly meetings and help with events held in our community.
Nominations can be made directly to Madisonparkhoa@hotmail.net. The cutoff for nominations will be 10/30/09. This will give time to the nominating committee to discuss and consider candidates and prepare a ballot if needed for the 11/9/09 meeting. Those candidates who are voted into office at the 11/9/09 meeting will begin serving their terms on Jan. 1, 2010. Note that the December meeting of the HOA is a limited-business Holiday Social. Directors serve 2 year terms with a limit of 2 terms before a required 1 year break. Officers serve 1 year terms and can be re-elected with no limit on terms. Officers are President, Vice President, Secretary, & Treasurer.
- Holiday Social – December 14th
Anyone wishing to help with the planning of the Holiday Social should send their info to Madison Park HOA at Madisonparkhoa@hotmail.net
- Wedgewood At Murrayhill – All Stop
As of 10/1/09 Ken reported to Marty Doss that the responses were coming in at a high “in favor” rate. This is similar to what the HOA has found in the past in petitioning door to door to gain all stops where residents desired them. Very few if any residents have voted no. Those locations were Baker at Cooper, Seacroft at both Chedworth and Fairbanks. These previously installed all stops have helped calm traffic. Residents in the immediately effected zones have been generally satisfied. Ken sent the official responses to date to Marty this evening ...3 “against” and 31 “for” the installation of the all stop. Under a signed petition process, such a result would have ensured the passing and installation of the all stops. Under the non-petition process employed in this instance, the next step is for the Board / HOA to vote and send its recommendation to move forward with the installation, in effect, rendering the “western” intersection of Wedgewood and Murrayhill an all stop location. Once the HOA takes this action, the Charlotte DOT will send out notice and give 30 days for appeal/feedback prior to installing the all stop.
NOTE: A motion was made and seconded to recommend that the “western” intersection of Wedgewood Drive and Murrayhill Road be configured as an all stop location for the purposes of increased vehicular safety and traffic calming. The motion carried unanimously.
- Neighborhood Statistical Area (NSA) -- Updates for NSA areas 196 and 197
Area 197 is currently named Madison Park. Area 196 which was formally called Closeburn/Glenkirk was renamed Montclaire/Madison Park in June 2008. It took years to make that change, but the HOA finally was able to accomplish that task with Montclaire’s help. [The history of the HOA’s efforts over the years is well documented in the online minutes of the association.]
Now that the name of area 196 has been changed to Montclaire/Madison Park, the next phase of the HOA’s effort was to permit both Montclaire and Madison Park to change the boundary on 250 Madison Park deeded homes south of Tyvola. [Those homes were originally left off the Madison Park area 197 map and have been in the 196 area ever since.] Study year 2010 presents the HOA with the opportunity to rectify that oversight and so regroup all our homes onto study map NSA 197 called Madison Park. The area 196 and 197 maps are a little different than our actual boundaries because they include the retail sections of South Blvd.as well as two (2) light rail stops. Both the Tyvola Road and Woodlawn light rail stops are already on the Madison Park NSA 197 map and that would not change.
On 9/17/09, Marty Doss spoke with Mayor Pro Tem Susan Burgess asking her if she recalled making a call to Stanley Watkins a few years ago from her dining room regarding the neighborhood’s request to change the boundaries of the 250 homes south of Tyvola which would permit all of Madison Park to be on one NSA map. Susan did recall Marty’s request and her conversation with Stanley Watkins. Marty requested that she now relate to Pat Mumford (now over the department formerly headed by Stanley Watkins) that she was aware that the agreed upon changes could be made in 2010. [Pat Mumford has a new position that was created for him. Stanley Watkins left his position with the city shortly after his department, Neighborhood Development, combined with Business Services to become the current Neighborhood & Business Services Department that Pat Mumford now heads.]
In 2006, Stanley Watkins told both Marty and Susan Burgess that Neighborhood Development wanted the statistical data boundaries of areas 196 and 197 to remain the same for a complete 10 year cycle. He reiterated this in any of his correspondence and conversations with Marty adding that the boundary change request could be honored during the study year 2010. Marty wanted to make sure that the HOA’s request for such a change did not get overlooked as study year 2010 approached. This was the reason that Marty reminded Susan Burgess of Stanley Watkins’ earlier agreement and asked her to follow-up with Pat Mumford. The commitment to making the boundary change was even restated in the paper work that was turned in during the area 196 name change process. That process took place in the summer of 2008 following upon work begun in 2007.
The response from the city was as follows.
10/08/09
Council Member Burgess and Marty Doss,
Residents in the Madison Park NSA contacted Neighborhood & Business Services with a request to redraw the neighborhood boundaries for Montclaire/Madison Park in the 2010 Quality of Life Study. While this request was scheduled to be considered in the Revision Project for the 2010 Quality of Life Study, when the budget was reduced for the 2010 Quality of Life Study by $85,000, the Revision Project was eliminated. The 2010 Quality of Life Study has been contracted to move forward utilizing the existing neighborhood boundaries, except for nonresidential areas that had become residential.
The 2010 Quality of Life Study Revision Project was to include: redefining neighborhood boundaries, renaming Neighborhood Statistical Areas (NSA’s), reviewing data sets, and a civic engagement component to glean input from community stakeholders concerning changes to the current study and opportunities for the study moving forward. The $85,000 eliminated from the budget would have funded these revisions.
Should funds permit, we will include the Montclaire/Madison Park request in the 2012 Study. We will also forward this information to the Metropolitan Studies Group with University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC), our contractor for the project, for their records.
Tom Warshauer
Community and Commerce Manager
Neighborhood & Business Services
Susan Burgess has said she would see if she could help make this happen sooner given that the promised changes are apparently not going to be honored during study year 2010. She feels as Marty does that the cost to make the boundary change would be very minimal. The staff at UNCC is paid regardless of what they work on, and, in past years, Marty has, free of charge, supplied maps to city staff with the boundary change clearly delineated.
- Old Business -- NONE
- New Business
- Treasurer’s Report: We currently have $1,109 in our account. The HOA has 55 paid members. Membership forms (and payment of $20 dues via credit card/PayPal) are available on the community resource table located at the back of the meeting room at each meeting, as well as online at http://www.neighborhoodlink.com/charlotte/madisonpk/ . In lieu of signing up online, you may also complete an application at your convenience and mail it and your check to Madison Park HOA, PO Box 242432, Charlotte, NC 28244. Note: Dues paid beginning October 1st qualify as a 2010 dues payment. 5 members have already paid their dues for 2010.
- Open Discussion
- Madison Park Neighbors Urged to Chat about Water Bills Noting a recent problem with her water bills, a neighbor is requesting that all of us review our recent bills and begin sharing what we find, good, bad or indifferent, with our fellow neighbors. She pointed to the chat facility within the HOA’s website as the way to communicate our findings and urged all of Madison Park to begin squeaking the wheel. To quote, “As a group our voice will be heard.” Points of discussion might start with glaring billing errors and how those errors were resolved with the city billing department, glaring meter misreads, etc.
- Flight of Honor Returns to Charlotte from Washington, D.C. Tuesday, October 20th At approximately 8:00pm, veterans of World War II will return to their homes in the 14 counties surrounding Charlotte after having toured the WWII memorial in our nation’s capital. The Flight of Honor will land at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport. Please consider being a part of the welcoming committee honoring these men and women for their service to us all.
New Members/First Time Attendees
3 new members were in attendance:
Margaret Sexton – Wentworth Place
Liz Wagner and Rodney Graves – Wedgewood Drive (the new owners of Debra Campbell’s house)
Adjournment: Time: 8:55pm.
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