McDaniel Civic Assn.

Minutes 5/19/06

Spring Meeting

McDaniel Civic Association
P.O. Box 7075 Wilmington, Delaware 19803
web site: http://www.neighborhoodlink.com

The McDaniel/Concord Manor Civic Association meeting opened at 7:00 PM on Monday, May 19, 2006 at Aldersgate Church by RJ Miles, Vice President. Debby Waxman, Secretary and soon-to-be-elected Treasurer, Mike Lauser were present. There were approximately 30 people for the meeting.

RJ started the meeting with a treasurer’s report showing that we are in good fiscal shape. We have a current balance of $3,092 in the Wilmington Trust checking account with about $1,200 in dues ready to be deposited. The CD is currently $18,000. RJ explained that although this may seem high, it is good to have for those years when are snow expenses are high. For instance, this year our snow plowing costs were $1,200 and $375, of which $900 and $281 were reimbursed by DelDot. However, the snow depth must reach 4” for this reimbursement to kick in. If we have a number of snows of, say, 3 ½ inches, we would have to pay the full amount ourselves.

RJ touched on the Community News that are being left on resident’s driveways. The publisher advises that if there is a paper still left on the driveway from one delivery to the next, they are supposed to pick up the old one, not deliver the new one and record that this house does not want delivery. There is also a phone number in the paper where an individual may opt out. In polling those present whether or not they would like to opt out as a community, six voted yes, everyone else would like to continue receiving. RJ said he would give them until our Fall meeting to see if they can be in compliance. The problem is not just the unsightly papers piled in people’s driveways, but during this last rain storm, many were carried to the drains and blocked them.

RJ then asked if anyone present would be interested in the current vacant President’s position, or RJ could move up to President if someone would volunteer for Vice President. No interest.

He asked that those with an interest in a Garden Club to note it on their dues renewal. Anyone who has an interest in beautifying Goodley and/or Shellpot Park would receive funds from the Civic Association to do so.

He also asked if there was any interest in a Community Watch, newsletter delivery help and party volunteers – all of which can be noted on the dues slip.

The room was polled to see if a spring, in addition to fall, yard sale was of interest. No interest from anyone.

Saturday, August 26 was set as the date for the next summer party.

RJ then got us up-to-date on the Shellpot Park renovations. After the wonderful work that Brian Holler and his group of fellow boy scouts finished, the next stage has been postponed. Code requires power lines to not be over children’s play sets or pavilion. Unfortunately, the $45,000 cost to bury Delmarva’s lines is not feasible. Therefore, the proposal is to send the ice rink back to a natural state and make the park smaller, with mulch around a play set, resurface basketball court and install pavilion. If there are no objections, it can probably be finished this summer.

An area of concern that RJ addressed was the number of floods our neighborhood experienced during the last intense rain: 310 Cleveland Avenue, bottom of Windley, the intersection of Marianna and Brookfield were a number of locations cited. Marianna and Brookfield, in particular, are below grade, but it would be cost prohibitive to raise. In any event, that would just send the water into someone else’s problem. RJ has been in touch with Janet Kilpatrick of Greg Lavelle’s office, as well at DelDot and the Conservancy District. Several options include building a retaining wall, extend the underground pipe, and even letting the County have eminent domain for stormwater utility. This could mean actually taking someone’s house to build a retention pond. These things are being looked into.

At this point, State Senator Charlie Copeland spoke about a bill that would assess homeowner’s and businesses a fee based on the amount of asphalt on the property. This would help pay for addressing some of the flooding needs.

Senator Copeland also talked about the recycling bill as our landfill currently has just about ten years of life left. Concerns were raised about the viability of a mandatory recycling law. He did raise an item which has received little or no press; that is that DNREC has banned yard waste in our landfill starting this January 2007. A company has come forward trying to get permits for a commercial composting facility.

State Representative Greg Lavelle continued on the subject of the yard waste ban. He says Delaware Solid Waste Authority is ready to step in the take over pick up of this, but it is unclear what having a monopoly will do or how much it will cost.

He informed us that each representative district gets a little over $200,000 each year for street paving, and this year Shellpot between Marianna and Florence, Orchard between Cleveland and Concord, and part of Windley Hill are on the schedule, as well as patching parts of Lyndhurst. In view of the fact that it will cost about $80,000 just to do the Marianna/Florence section, the money does not go very far.

The question was raised about what to do with all the commercial properties that are eyesores; i.e. graffiti, crumbling fences, repairs not being made. Lavelle assured us he’s aware of the problems and let us know that he has been working with contacting the owners. He has had good success with the areas behind the Acme and the adjacent stores. The trash and overgrown weeds have been cleaned up and the Acme, in particular, will continue to police the area on a twice-weekly basis. RJ has also been contacting some of these owners with some success.

County Councilman Bob Weiner then took over on the same subject as graffiti is a pet peeve of his. He asked the group to empower themselves and call 395-5555 whenever we see a problem in need of correcting. He then suggested we try and not think of government having to do everything, but to do some things ourselves.

He also spoke on the subject of county taxes and the idea that county workers are guaranteed an 8% raise for the first ten years of their service which will then be 3 1/2 % yearly after that. He’s looking into this. He doesn’t believe taxes should be raised until the fat is cut.

When one resident complained about a particular neighbor, Weiner reminded us that it is up to us to continue to call the code officer on these problems. If they don’t hear from us, they can’t fix it.

RJ then took back the meeting where it was motioned, seconded and voted upon unanimously for Mike Lauser to become the new Treasurer, as well as adding his signature to RJs for the checking account.

Someone asked for painting to be upgraded on speed bumps, which RJ promised to look into.

Someone asked on the status of Citizen’s Bank moving onto the dentist’s property and was informed that this was a non-starter. No further word on the property is available.

A neighborhood watch was then touched upon again, and of specific mention was the incident on a rainy night in April when Springer was vandalized about 2:00 AM. These are teens from our own neighborhood – parents need to be more diligent in watching their children.

Eric Levin was then given the floor to talk about his candidacy against Greg Lavelle. He promises to get roads fixed and to look into what Dover did or did not do with regard to the Delmarva rate increase. Greg Lavelle then spoke for a couple minutes as to his qualifications.

A motion was put forth to nominate RJ for President, which was seconded and unanimously voted on for approval.

The next meeting will be held on Monday, September 18. The meeting adjourned at 9:15 PM.

Respectfully submitted, Debby Waxman