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Bellevue Board Meeting
July 11, 2000
Minutes

Attendance:  John Butcher, Libby Clark, Mauri Shaw, Chuck Epes, Tim Pfohl, Paula Moolhuyzen, Nancy Reynolds, and Kath Sadler

Guests:  Mike Daily and Councilman Bill Johnson

Tim Pfohl opened the meeting at 7:10.

1. The Crisis Pregnancy Center.  Mike Daily is the director of the organization and its current facility is located at 3202 West Cary Street.  He explained that it is an interdenominational organization and its mission is to help women with an unexpected pregnancy and provide alternatives to abortion.  The funding comes from United Way designations and from churches in the area.  Last year, the Center served 1500 women.  The Center is open Monday through Friday from 9-5 and is open until 8 pm on Tuesday and Thursday.

The Center has learned that medical care is one of the major needs of the women served and they need a different site for this service.  The owner of the Medical Office building on Brook Road has gifted the site to the Center.  The Center will only provide medical services at this site.  The plans are for there to be 4 employees and 2 volunteers per shift at the site and that they would serve 8-10 patients/day at the site.  There are no plans for changes to the building.  They project that the 20-car parking lot will be sufficient.

Since the Center does not charge for its services, the City says that the Center will need a special use permit.  The Center plans to file next month for the special use permit.

The Board thanked Mr. Daily for coming, but did not take a position and wanted to share the Center’s plans at the next full Bellevue Civic Association meeting.

2. Councilman Bill Johnson.  Mr. Johnson stated that things need to change at City Hall.  Mr. Johnson said that that the tax assessor is gone and the City has an opportunity to revisit the system that is now in place.  One idea might be to increase the tax assessments, but to decrease the tax rate. 

His #1 goal is to redirect the funding that is now available for projects like Neighborhood in Bloom (which is a good concept, but money goes to the fund the organization which is unnecessary) and direct the funding to organizations directly for streets, alleys, sidewalks, curbs- investment into the infrastructure.

His #2 goal is to revisit the contract vs. employee theme that has developed over the last several years at City Hall for more accountability.

His #3 goal is to improve the organization structure at City Hall, i.e., to develop a Public Safety Department vs. separate Fire and Police departments.

His #4 goal is to improve the public transportation system in the City by becoming more responsive, especially GRTC.

Other Updates:

·        Imperial Plaza – last word was that the special use permit was pulled for now.

·        Azalea Mall – no new word.

·        95 Exit and the homeless – he had no awareness of the problem.

·        Holton School – asked the School to reduce light voltage or to add shields.

Mr. Johnson also added that he supports and the Police and the Daily Planet and that he does not support the School Administration.

3. The May 9, 2000 minutes were approved.

4. Treasurer’s Report.  Tim announced that Ed Parks could not attend, but did send a copy of the report that shows a balance of $3665.28.  Tim said that the $61.00 from the Plant Swap needed to be added to the revenue that he would give to Ed soon.  Tim also announced that he had asked Ed to split out the dues and the ad revenues for the next report.  There was some discussion that the amount of the Civic Association dues was low and that there had not been an increase in the dues in many years.  It was also noted that there is not a system in place for residents to know when their dues are “due”.  There was no decision made about the current level of dues.

5. Nominations for President.  Vice-President Tim Pfohl asked if there were any nominations for President.  There being none, Tim asked that any nominations be brought to the full membership meeting.

6. Arch Committee.  Chuck Epes reported that Bill Lafoon agreed to do the arch drawings.  Chuck will follow-up with Mr. Lafoon.

7. Neighborhood Clean Up.  John Fisher was not able to attend the meeting, but it was reported that the City only sent 1 truck after John had recruited over 20 volunteers. 

8. Neighborhood Watch Program.  Libby Clark reported that she was having problems with Officer Doug Wacker following up on the new neighborhood watch signs that were needed for blocks that were now covered by the program.  Libby also reported that the program has been busy, reporting the increased crime reports.

9. Garden Walk.  Neither co-chair was able to attend, but several of the group members commented that it was very successful and that the Azalea Garden Center provided a lovely after-walk dinner.

10. Safety Committee.  John Butcher reported that the City was talking about suing the Redwood Apartments on Chamberlayne due to the number of crimes associated with the location.  John also reported that although the MacArthur Apartments were much improved, the Shirley Manor Apartments were still presenting problems.

11. Security Patrol.  Mauri Shaw reported that 4 training sessions had been provided recently which will consistently need to happen in order to attract and train more members.  There are 2 merchants on patrol at this time and hopefully this group can be tapped to provide more members in the future.

12. Traffic Committee.  Nancy Reynolds reported that there is a committee that is being developed with City officials.  She stated that the current priority is Bellevue Ave. and that drawings of options are in process and will be ready by the end of the month.  She suggested that these drawings be presented to the full membership at the next meeting.

13. Tax Exempt Status and Incorporation.  Tim stated that he is still looking for the paperwork to delineate Bellevue’s situation.

14. Bellevue Merchants’ Association.  Paula Moolhuyzen reported that there is good participation even in its preliminary stages.  The merchants seem to be interested in having an association.  Twyla has been unable to do the association paperwork, so Paula may be completing in the near future.  Paula says that the problem spots are the Laundromat and the end vacant building.

15. Next Meetings/Newsletter:  The next Association meeting will be 9/26 and the deadline for the next newsletter will be 8/18.

The meeting was adjourned at 10:10.

Submitted by:

Kathleen Sadler, Secretary

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BELLEVUE CIVIC ASSOCIATION BOARD MEETING

MINUTES

FEBRUARY 9, 2000

MEMBERS PRESENT:  Tim Pfohl, Mauri Shaw, Kath Sadler, John Butcher, Chuck Epes, Libby Clark, Ed Parks.

GUESTS PRESENT:  Lisa Harr, Paula Moolhuyzen, Florenz Sterling, Michele Banalett

1. Welcome.  Chuck Epes introduced Lisa Harr and Paula Moolhuyzen as potential board members.
2. Trade Winds.  City Zoning issued a “final notice of intent to prosecute” for violations.
3. Minutes.  The minutes for the 11/9/99 BCA Board meeting and the 12/7/99 full BCA association meeting were approved.
4. Treasurer’s Report.  Ed reported that there was not much activity.  All but 2 bills for the newsletter are outstanding.  The distributed treasurer’s report was corrected to the following:

$  324.79

$3194.71

$  510.71

$4030.21

5. Nominations.  Tim distributed a list of Officers and Directors for 2000.  Corrections included:

·        Florenz Sterling was added as the co-chair of the Garden Walk

·        Holly Anna Jones was deleted as chair of Lagniappe

·        George Hubbs was deleted as co-chair of Neighborhood Watch

6. Arch Committee.  Chuck Epes has agreed to chair a committee of one to develop a strategy for the proposed Arch, to include clear design ideas and cost figures.
7. Safety Committee.  John Butcher reported the following:
• MacArthur Apartments – sold to Mr. Sealman of Varina Sealman Realty.  Owner is evicting people and seems to want to reduce problems.
• Traffic Problems – Some discussion about adding stop signs.
• Recent Crime Problem – meeting with Bill Johnson recently, which resulted in a “crime in Bellevue” flyer being developed and distributed.
• Chamberlayne Crime Statistics – Ginter Park Association and Bellevue are joining forces to fight the Chamberlayne crime problem.  There will be a City Council Public Safety Committee meeting on 2/28 at 9am at the Police Academy.
• 1603 Claremont – the siding is up and woodwork is being primed.  “Carl” is fixing it up for the owner in turn for free rent.
8. Security Patrol.  Mauri Shaw reported that there is a training scheduled for 2/19 and also for March and April.  Sherwood Park and Ginter Park will join the training.  Mauri reported that an average day has 2-3 patrols per day and 16-20 patrols per week.

9. Neighborhood Watch Program.  Libby reported that there is an effort to get the City to install additional Neighborhood Watch signs where there are active blocks.  Kath reported that we got 5 new block captains as a result to the recent flyer.
10. Garden Walk Committee.  Michele Banalett and Florenz Sterling reported that there would be another Walk this year, probably in June.  There is a committee meeting soon to finalize the date.  They asked for approval of a $300 budget that was approved by the Board.  They relayed that they would try to involve Westminister-Canterbury in the plans this year. They also reported that there has been a preliminary discussion with Holton Elementary to develop a joint project.
11. Future Meeting Plans and Newsletter.  Tim reviewed the need for future meetings and the newsletter schedule.  The discussion concluded with the following:
• April 18, 2000 for a general meeting – agenda could include new precinct captain and City Council candidates.  In order promote this meeting through the newsletter, the deadline for the articles would be 3/1/00, the print and layout would be 3/15/00 and the distribution would be 4/1/00.
• May 9, 2000 was discussed for another Board meeting.
• Another newsletter for early summer was planned with the article deadline as mid May and delivery on 6/3 and 6/4.
• June, 2000 was discussed as a possible casual gathering of the full Association.  It could be held in Bryant Park and maybe have the new Precinct Captain come to meet people.
12. Azalea Mall – Chuck Epes, Bob Almond, Norma Murdock-Kitt and a Sherwood Park representative met with the prospective owners of Azalea Mall.  The prospective owners see the “fit” for a retail center, examples of stores being Bath & Body, Staples, Barnes And Noble.  They were asked to keep the “green” and to expand park space.  They plan to break ground in September, 2000.
13. Adjournment – Tim adjourned the meeting at 9:30 pm.

Submitted by:

Kathleen Sadler, Secretary

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BELLEVUE CIVIC ASSOCIATION BOARD MEETING

May 9, 2000

Members in attendance:  Tim Pfohl, Chuck Epes, Lisa Harr, Florenz Sterling, Ann Dervishian, Kath Sadler

Guests in attendance:  Hilda Braswell and Nancy Reynolds

1. Treasurer’s Report.  Ed Parks sent a report that is attached to these minutes.  Tim said that he asked Ed to provide a report with the revenue sources detailed, including the dues and the ad revenue.  Ed had told Tim that we should be receiving an infusion of funds from the ads in the near future. 

Janet Brown and Kath Sadler coordinated a Plant Swap that generated $61.00 for the Bellevue Civic Association treasury.  The funds were given to Tim at tonight’s meeting.  The funds are not designated for a specific purpose.

2. Secretary’s Report.  The minutes of the 2/9/00 Board meeting and the 4/18/00 general meeting were distributed.  The minutes were approved pending any corrections at a later time.  Kath Sadler reported that all the minutes are now on one disk and are ready for John Butcher to put them on the Bellevue website as requested by Tim at the last general meeting.

3. Imperial Plaza.  Hilda Braswell of the of the Hermitage Preservation Association attended the meeting and explained that the Association is opposed to the project proposed by Imperial Plaza of renting their property acquisition at 4006 Hermitage (former church site) to Sheltering Arms for use as an out-patient rehabilitation facility. Their Association vote was taken on 5/2/00.  She explained that they are opposed to any use that does not conform to existing zoning regulations for Hermitage and they support maintaining the residential use of Hermitage. 

In light of the position taken by the Hermitage Preservation Association, the Board members felt that it was more appropriate to defer to the position of the Hermitage Historic Association but to seek the input of the Bellevue membership at large, particularly due to the informal vote (for the Imperial Plaza project) that was taken at the 4/18/00 general meeting.

Hilda reported that the timeframes are that the special use permit will be introduced at City Council meeting on 5/22/00 and then it will go to the Planning Commission for review on 6/19/00.  The Planning Commission will present its recommendation to Council on the night of 6/19/00 that will vote on the special use permit on 6/26/00.

The Board decided to organize a flyer distribution, which will occur on the weekend of June 3 and June 4 in conjunction with the Garden Walk distribution plans.

4. Traffic Subcommittee of the Safety Committee.  Nancy Reynolds introduced herself as the new chair of the Traffic Subcommittee.  She attended a City meeting recently where some of Bellevue’s problem areas were discussed, including Westbrook, Bellevue and MacArthur Avenue.  Nancy said that one of her major concerns was the 2-way traffic on Pope Avenue, which is 1 way.  She said that a City employee, Mike Sawyer, is in the process of developing some strategies to deal with the problems.  She also said that John Butcher supported a survey in order for the Bellevue neighborhood to have the opportunity to express their concerns.  A survey will be prepared for the next newsletter.

5. Neighborhood Clean Up.  Tim reported that John Fischer said that the City only sent 1 vs. 5 trucks for the Clean Up on 5/6/00.  John had organized over 20 volunteers and had to send home 15 volunteers.  John Fisher is trying to get the City to send extra trucks to the neighborhood this week to pick up the “stuff” people left outside, intended for the Neighborhood Clean Up. 

6. Safety Committee.  John Butcher was not able to attend.  Libby Clark reviewed some of the e-mails sent recently by John.  Tim reported that the owners of Azalea Mall Garden Center are very concerned about the Azalea Mall property.  The section between the side entrance to the Mall and Westbrook (which is overgrown with weeds and brush) is being used for prostitution and dumping.  According to the Garden Center owners, the Mall owners are not concerned about any maintenance violations issues and will just pay any forthcoming fines.

Libby,

 

Thanks for handling the report for the Safety Committee Tuesday.  I will think of you kindly and often from Florida.  Here is the info I can think of.  Please add anything else you think the Board might be interested to know.  I will copy the Committee with this and invite them to send you anything else that they would like the Board to know.

 

Paul Johnson has joined to Committee to work on the Chamberlayne situation.  Capt. Kiniry produced the arrest records that show an astounding number of arrests at the Redwood.  See the web pages for details.  We met Capt. Kiniry Thursday; he said he will support a nuisance or other action against the Redwood.  Meg Lawrence will speak to Team ZT next Thursday (5/11) about civil enforcement as the key to the Code enforcement problems that took so much space in the Times-Dispatch last weekend and, in due time, as the key to the Redwood situation.  The Chamberlayne Ave. property owners are organizing and already we are seeing "no trespassing" signs and other indicia they are beginning to activate to deal with the disorder over there.   One of them (Jack Cullather) has demanded a meeting with Chief Oliver to complain, I am told, about the badmouthing of the landlords.  He hasn't begun to hear serious badmouthing. 

 

Our favorite Councilman got reelected.  He promises support on the Chamberlayne project including enfrocement if it comes to that.  Ginter Park has formally endorsed the project through Team ZT to work with the landlords over there to start getting better control over tenant behavior. 

 

John Rupp has appointed Ass't City Att'y Greg Lukanuski to look at civil enforcement options on Chamberlayne.

 

The Merchants on Bellevue and MacArthur appear to be organizing.  Pam Wiegardt is joining the Committee to work on streetscape issues, particularly on Bellevue. 

 

Annette Lane is joining the Committee to work on MacArthur Ave. issues.  As a first step she will be updating the data on calls for service on MacArthur, where we expect to start to see the effects of the work Mr. Seelmann is doing at the MacArthur Apts.  We have reports of two dealers who have moved into the Shirley Manor; no confirmation yet.

 

Nancy Reynolds will be joining the Committee to work on traffic issues.  She, John Barrett, Winnie Cobb, and I met Mike Sawyer of Traffic Engineereing on April 19 to discuss traffic problems in Bellevue.  We discussed speeding problems, particularly on Bellevue at Monticello/Crestwood, on Bellevue in the 1200 block, on MacArthur Ave, on Newport Dr., and on Westbrook Ave.  We also discussed one-way violations on Pope Ave. and stop sign violations at Fauquier & Crestwood and at Newport & Stratford.

 

Sawyer provided data on accident rates.  I will post them to the Web Pages for general availability.  We were not surprised that the high accident rates are on the arteries peripheral to the neighborhood.  We will be glad if the City can redesign the intersections in question to reduce the rates.  The abiding concern of our neighbors, however, is the interior of the neighborhood, particularly the areas I list above.

 

Sawyer held the view that passive controls such as traffic circles, islands, et al. that do not require enforcement are preferable, albeit more expensive.  He correctly thinks that enforcement alone cannot succeed and that all-way stop signs could well be avoided with other controls.  We were interested in his idea that providing "gateways" at Bellevue and Hermitage, Bellevue and Brook, Fauquier and Brook, MacArthur and Laburnum, et al. will calm the traffic entering our neighborhood.  We expect to hear back from him shortly.

 

The front window of the barber shop at 1219 Bellevue Ave. has been broken and taped with duct tape for awhile now.  The neighbors have complained to the owner without result.  I emailed Claude Cooper and it was fixed during the next week.

 

I had a call from Betsy Ryan.  Betsy is an artist, living at the corner of Seminary and Bellevue.  She works at home where she can see the street.  She is offended by the disorder, particularly the prostitutes, spilling into her (and, thence, our) neighborhood from the Abbey Square/Redwood area.  I am hoping we can connect with Betsy in a way that will provide the Patrol and Watch Distant Early Warning of trouble walking down Bellevue from the Combat Zone.

 

7. Neighborhood Watch Program.  Libby Clark announced that there would be a meeting on May 16, 2000 at 7pm at Westminster Canterbury.  Libby said that all the section leaders and block captains were mailed the announcements and that she is trying to deliver announcements door to door to each house on the blocks that are not covered by the Program.  She said the Paul Kiniry and Doug Wacker from the Richmond Police Department are expected to be the speakers for the meeting. She asked for $19.00 reimbursement for the mailings and the Board members approved the request.

8. Garden Walk.  Florenz Sterling, Co-chair of the Garden Walk, reported that there are 15 gardens signed up for the event on June 11, 2000 from 2-6pm.  She asked for volunteers to help with the neighborhood-wide flyer distribution.

9. Arch Committee.  Chuck Epes reported that he has located a stone mason (Stone Cold?), which was recommended by Mark Holmberg.  The mason needs an architectural drawing, which will be provided by Bill LaFoon.

10.  Upcoming Schedule. 

• Tim asked if we thought a summer event would be well received, something just for fun at a place like Ginter Botanical Gardens or Bryant Park.  Tim said he would check on the cost of having an event at one of these places first.
• Next board meeting will be July 11, 2000 at 7pm.
• Next newsletter is not planned at this time.

11. Holton School Ad Hoc Committee.  Libby announced that Joe Kelly had left a message saying that there would be a meeting at his house, 1520 Avondale, tomorrow night at 7pm.  His phone number is 264-3632.

12. Westminster Canterbury Resident Association.  Libby Clark announced that the Resident Association President is interested in coming to the Bellevue Civic Association meetings to participate more in the neighborhood and to keep Bellevue updated with their development plans.

13. Adjournment.  The meeting was adjourned at 9:10pm.

Submitted by:

Kathleen Sadler, Secretary

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