Boylan Heights Association Meeting Minutes February 26, 2002

The meeting was called to order at 7:05 p.m.

The meeting opened with general updates on projects as follows:

· ArtWalk-The 2001 ArtWalk ended in wonderful financial shape and now has the lovely predicament of deciding where to make contributions. The original organizing committee will meet soon to decide disbursement of funds. Recipients may be art organizations and the BHA.

· Garden Club-The Boylan Heights Garden Club is looking for new leadership. The Club is known for its service projects throughout the neighborhood, including neighborhood cleanup days, plant swaps, planting projects, and workshops. Contact Elizabeth Dunbar if you are interested in helping.

The City of Raleigh will be sending the Pink Truck to our neighborhood on Monday, April 1. Collection of everything you want to get rid of will start at 7:00 a.m. Remember, no tires, batteries, construction materials, or oil paints. Yes to appliances, dried out latex paint (open up those cans now!) Traditionally we have treated the work crew to lunch on the day of pick up. Elizabeth Dunbar will host the luncheon at 422 Cutler St. Contact Elizabeth at DunbarCC@aol.com if you are interested in making something for the lunch. Deliver lunch contributions to 422 Cutler Street before 10:00 a.m. Easter Monday, April 1. We also welcome $$ donations for paper goods or if people do not have time to cook. There are usually about 15 men on the crew.

· TTA Rail Station-According to Don Carnell, Interim General Manger at TTA, the TTA Board voted in January to support the Wye station location, but requested that staff allocate time and money to do engineering studies exploring feasibility of the options that will eliminate an at-grade rail crossing. TTA expects the results of this study by July.

· Police Walkthrough-According to Sgt. Philip Capucille, head of Crime Prevention, the Boylan Heights neighborhood has been added to the downtown police district, which means more accountability on the part of those officers who are responsible for crime prevention, more consistency with our beat officers, and a stronger presence in the area. BHA residents should expect to see officers conducting a door-to-door survey of crime issues in the very near future. They are taking other specific actions regarding areas of concern that we noted on the walkthrough, however, they cannot give any information on those actions at this time.

· Neighborhood signs-The BHA is still raising funds for the second sign. The sign proposal will go to the Historic Districts Commission in early March, with review in April.

· 2002 Neighborhood Summit-On Saturday, February 23, the Neighborhood Coalition for Responsible Development in Raleigh (NCRDR) hosted a daylong program for neighborhood residents to get to know each other and begin the process of identifying common issues. Several Boylan residents attended the program, which featured a keynote speaker who spoke on the importance of civic responsibility and public involvement, breakout sessions to identify common issues, and small group discussion about potential action steps. This was a first step in getting folks from all of Raleigh's neighborhoods together and it will be interesting to see what comes of the event and what future programs neighborhoods will be involved in.

Dan Becker from the Raleigh Historic Districts Commission and several Commission members followed with a presentation on the purpose and criteria of the Demolition by Neglect, in preparation for the BHA's program to identify those structures in the neighborhood that are experiencing such deterioration that they are in jeopardy.

Mr. Becker stressed that the intent of Demolition by Neglect is to identify structures that have such comprehensive problems that their existence is at risk. The goal is to identify the totality of problems with specific structures, not just isolated issues. Commission members take their task very seriously and assess all proposed properties with great care. Mr. Becker circulated samples of reports the Commission has compiled on previous properties. The reports were quite extensive and took a great deal of time and resources to produce. Great care is taken to insure due process for property owners and to respect the rights of property owners.

A question was asked about specific building features, such as the replacement of historic elements with non-historic, non-complying features (windows, columns, doors). This does not constitute Demolition by Neglect, although it can be an issue if the property owners did not have a Certificate of Appropriateness. In this case, the Commission would review the new work as though it were a new application and make a decision based on how the new elements fit into the historic guidelines.

Another question was asked about what to do with properties that are not to the point of Demolition by Neglect, but are clearly in disrepair. Mr. Becker suggested using the Minimum Housing Code requirements as a tool to encourage property owners to fix issues before they get to the Demolition by Neglect status.

BHA officers solicited for volunteers in putting together our 2002 list of properties for the Commission. The BHA will consider the properties at the March meeting and make final recommendations to the Historic Districts Commission in late March, with letters going to property owners. The following folks volunteered to put a draft list together for publication in the March newsletter:

Paul Meyer Jeff Groves Chuck Dopler Stella Boyd

Discussion continued with issues of noise generated by the nightclubs in the warehouse entertainment district, specifically The Office, which has an outdoor performing space. Paul Meyer presented information on the issue, which centers on very loud music being played until the early hours of the morning. The greatest area of concern is Kinsey St., Dupont Circle, Florence St. and the north end of Boylan Avenue. Calls to the police have helped some. Unfortunately, the City of Raleigh has only a few people who go out and measure sound problems for the entire city. Residents on Kinsey Street recently signed a petition calling for the owners of The Office to turn down the music and they also sent a letter to The Office asking that the owners help create a solution that is good for both the business and the neighbors. The owners are working toward fixing the problem by trying to contain the sound within their building. In the meantime, if you have noise issues, call the police so there is a record of public complaints.

Paul Meyer then moved on to discuss the West Side Coalition, a collection of city staff, developers, business owners, and transportation representatives who are working on creating a plan for downtown redevelopment in the area just north and east of Boylan Heights. In December, the Coalition, which is chaired by Benson Kirkman, invited BHA officers to represent the neighborhood at meetings. Discussion thus far has centered on raising money to do a formal study of the area, identifying an effective solution to the informal day labor pickup on Cabarrus St., and the TTA station location. The Coalition meets roughly every two weeks. Paul will continue to keep residents informed of Coalition activities and discussions.

Boylan Heights resident and architect David Mauer led the discussion on the rezoning application for the property at the corner of Florence and Cabarrus. The property is currently zoned R-10, which means a property owner can put 10 dwelling units per acre on the land. The request is to rezone the property R-20, which would increase the units per acre to 20. The property owner would request a Certificate of Appropriateness for demolition of the current structure. However, the property itself is roughly half of an acre, so under the proposed rezoning, the property owner could have a maximum of ten units, and it will probably be less than that.

The property owner wishes to build high-end condominiums on the property. These units will be for sale, not rent, and the property owner has requested that the entire parcel of land maintain the historic district overlay zoning, which means any development or change in the property will have to go before the Historic Districts Commission for approval. Mr. Mauer, who is the architect for the project, stated that final design work could not happen until the property owner knows what zoning regulations will apply to the property, however, he described the proposed project as most likely two historically appropriate structures that will each have four or five units. There will not be a large parking lot; rather parking will be worked into the site so that the project maintains a residential, not commercial, feel.

There was some discussion about a piece of the property called the picnic area and whether the owner would "donate" this land to the BHA. This piece of land borders the creek. Deanna Kerrigan stated that the BHA is not an incorporated organization and is not in the position of managing or maintaining property; however, there may be other ideas for use of the property. It was mentioned that the area proposed is also the necessary 50-foot setback for the property and the property owner should be responsible for maintaining it.

Attendees also discussed whether the rezoning would be setting a bad precedent for Boylan Heights, encouraging other development along the fringes of the neighborhood. Others felt like the proposed project was a major improvement of the site, which currently houses an abandoned building and a field of kudzu.

The hearing for the rezoning proposal is scheduled for Tuesday, March 19 at 6:30 p.m. at the City municipal building. Public comment is being accepted through March 14.

The next meeting of the BHA will be on Tuesday, March 26 at 7:00 p.m.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:35 p.m.