Windom Community

Windom Community Council (WCC) Meeting
February 11, 2010 7:05 pm to 8:50 pm

Attendees: Breanne Rothstein – President, Pat Soulak – Vice President, Katie Louis – Treasurer, Doug Sweet – Council Member, Dave Evans – Council Member, Pat Croal – Council Member , and Heather Day – Secretary

Call to Order – Meeting called to order by Breanne at approximately 7:05 pm.

Approval of Agenda – Breanne inquired if there were any additions or changes to the agenda. No changes were proposed. I made a motion to approve the agenda which was seconded by Dave. The proposed agenda was approved as written.

Guests – Mary Peterson – Representative for Council Member John Quincy and Windom resident, Mary Ubl – Windom resident, Jessica Docken – Tots Rock Coordinator and Windom resident, Del Croal – Windom resident, Adam Lares – Minneapolis Parks and Recreation, Larry Matsumoto – City of Minneapolis, and Jay Moore – Oppidan, Inc.

Parks and Recreation Board update – Adam Lares, Youth Program Specialist came to give an overview of programming at the Windom Community Center. Each community center specializes in different programming to minimize duplication so Windom South (along with Armatage) is a hub for teen activities. There is a girls group which meets weekly to discuss various topics and teach life skills. Youth Line is a program for boys ages 11-17 which also focuses on life skills. Adam estimates that their programming serves 60-90 teens weekly. Adam agreed to write an article about programming for the upcoming Windom newsletter.

Minneapolis Public Works Road Resurfacing Projects – Larry M., Engineer with the City of Minneapolis, came to discuss proposed street resurfacing projects (handouts provided). This year the City will be resurfacing Diamond Lake Road and the second half of Oak Hill (Pillsbury, Wentworth, Blaisdell, Nicollet, 1st Avenue and Stevens Avenue). The proposed projects will go to the City Council for approval March 23rd and a public hearing will be held April 20th. Windom residents will be invited to a community meeting on Monday, April 12th at Richfield Lutheran Church. Both Larry and someone from the Tax Assessor’s office will be at the meeting. Larry believes the start time is 6:30 pm but will confirm and let us know so that information can be included in the newsletter and posted on the website. One of the handouts outlined how taxes will be assessed. Homeowners have several options to pay for the projects and will not be billed until 2011.

Proposed Walgreens Redevelopment Plan – Jay Moore provided handouts and reviewed a proposed redevelopment plan for the Walgreens at the intersection of Diamond Lake Road and Lyndale Avenue. The plan includes purchasing part of Lehman’s Garage, incorporating a drive thru f or pharmacy pick-up (main driver), and moving the building south on Lyndale since Walgreens insists its current store needs to stay open during construction. Jay has met with the City and is the process of meeting with the affected neighborhood associations (Windom, Kenny, Tangletown and Lynhurst). Jay realizes that the project would need several variances and that it does not meet guidelines from the Lyndale Avenue South Renewal – Creek to Crosstown (LASR-CC). Mary Peterson and Mary Ubl who were both involved in developing the LASR-CC guidelines pointed out that proposed plan conflicts with at least three major tenets: the drive thru is in conflict with the pedestrian overlay (i.e., pedestrian-friendly) requirements, the building is not built up to the corner, and there are three curb cuts (i.e., driveways) which is more than the LASR-CC plan allows. According to Mary U. the City would like to see no more than two curb cuts so that traffic is managed within the parking lot rather than impacting traffic flow on the street. Jay mentioned that Lyndale will eventually have a median strip which will mean cars will only be able to exit north on Lyndale. There was a lot of discussion about the proposed plan with suggestions to come up with a different design that builds up to the corner. Mary U. and Mary P. pointed out that this is the first proposed development since the LASR-CC plan was adopted. Developers are not required to get approval from neighborhood associations; however, letters written by neighborhood associations either for or against projects are taken into consideration by the City Council. Since there are several variances that Oppidan would need to build the new Walgreens it was decided to have Jay keep in contact with the WCC and perhaps attend a future WCC meeting. If Walgreens is not able to build a new building on the site they have indicated that they will let their lease expire and close the store in 2014.

Tots Rock – Jessica came to give an update on Tots Rock which will be held 4 pm – 7 pm on Saturday, March 27th. Jessica is hoping to connect with Amanda soon to find out where things are at with sponsorships since she needs to have them finalized by March 7th. Jessica was able to get one new sponsor – Mes Amigos, a Spanish immersion preschool whose students often go on to Windom Spanish Dual Immersion School. Twin Town will also be giving a generous in-kind donation of lighting and sound. Jessica is looking for use of a truck to haul items to the school the day of the event and for volunteers to help with set-up and take down. Pat C. and Breanne expressed interest in having a WCC booth to solicit volunteers. There will be more discussion about Tots Rock at the next WCC meeting March 11th.

Windom Committee Reports

Neighborhood Coordinator’s Report – Amanda was not present so Neighborhood Coordinator’s report was deferred.

Windom Business Association – Breanne recently attended a meeting with several other nearby neighborhood association presidents (East Harriet, Tangletown, etc.). One of the topics that came up was business associations. East Harriet has a very active business association and might be a great resource for us.

Communications – Dave is nearly done with a draft of our next issue and would like to include information about resurfacing and an article from Adam about Windom Community Center activities. Pat S. was able to get one new advertiser bringing the expected annual advertising revenue up to $4,090 (~$400 short of our goal). She has several businesses that seem interested but have not yet committed. Ideas for new advertiser were generated but will not be able to be included in this next issue. Pat S. has also gotten bids from other printers: Wallace Carlson $1445 and Jessen Press $1545 compared to $1645 for Postal Dispatch. Pat S. is trying to get a copy of our mailing list from Postal Dispatch and may switch to one of the less expensive printers. There was some discussion and appeared to be general agreement about hand delivering the summer issue of the newsletter to save money – more discussion to follow at a later meeting.

Fall Festival – the planning committee has not yet met. Pat C. hopes to recruit some volunteers at the Tots Rock event. The three main areas where volunteers are needed are with fundraising, food and entertainment planning, and with assistance the day of the festival.

NRP Phase II/NCEC Update – the NCEC will soon begin meeting twice monthly – Breanne will bring updates.

Treasurer’s Report – Katie indicated that we have $15,061.07 in checking, $10,017.40 in savings, and $7,924.78 in a six month CD.

Adjourn – Dave made a motion to adjourn the meeting that was seconded by Pat C. All present voted in favor. The meeting was adjourned at approximately 8:50 pm. The next WCC meeting will be 7:00 pm Thursday, March 11th.

Minutes Respectfully Submitted by,
Heather Day, WCC Secretary
February 13, 2010