Last Meeting

January 9th, 2002

 

Historic Glenwood / Brooklyn Neighborhood Association
Minutes from Meeting - January 9th, 2002

The first Association meeting of 2002 proved the proposed format for 2002
Association meetings will be quite successful. There was a great donation
of pot-luck dishes for everyone's enjoyment, and our first featured speaker
was great, and drew quite a number of new attendees to the meeting.

Chris Ernst, President of the HGBNA, kicked off our first 2002 meeting by
re-capping the progress made in the 8 months since the formation of the
"new" Historic Glenwood/Brooklyn Neighborhood Association. Since the two
former associations agreed to join forces, much has been accomlished:
Committees have been established, we have a neighborhood website up and
running, we had a very successful Fall Fling and Holiday Tour of Homes.
There is still much to be done in 2002, but we've made great progress to
build on.

Chris then introduced our Guest Speaker: Larry Strickland, Zoning
Inspector Supervisor for the City of Raleigh. Larry gave a brief
background and history of zoning in Raleigh, then discussed the duties of
the Board of Adjustments, and the process for requesting variances and/or
special use permits.

Zoning was not established in Raleigh until 1923, and although the Glenwood
and Brooklyn neighborhoods existed at that time, they were not included in
the original zoning. Larry showed us the original Zoning code - which
consisted of a mere booklet! Since that time, the Zoning Code has grown,
and now exceeds all other City codes combined. There are currently 294,000
residents within the city limits of Raleigh, and in addition to that, the
Zoning Code for Raleigh includes 185 square miles of jurisdiction, covering
a total of approximately 350,000 residents.

The Raleigh Board of Adjustments, a quasi-judicial function, has 3
functions:
- Hear variance requests (variance to the Zoning Code)
- Issue Special Use Permits
- Appeals function

The City of Raleigh has no jurisdiction over the Board of Adjustments, and
the only way to overturn a Board of Adjustments decision is to sue the City
before Superior Court. The Board is comprised of 8 members, 5 voting and 3
alternate members. Four of the five voting members are appointed by the
City Council, and 2 of the 3 alternates are also appointed by the City
Council. Variance and Special Use Permit requests require a 4/5ths
majority to be approved.

The Board meets on the 2nd Monday of each month in the City Council
chambers. Citizens can apply for variances on their own. There is a $200
filing fee for a variance. Citizens are encouraged to bring a much
information and documentation as possible to support their request -
pictures, architect renderings, exhibits, etc., will all help to present a
clear argument to the Board to support your request. Variances are
required if an addition or building on your lot will encroach into setbacks
as defined by the Zoning Code. In addition, a variance may be required if
you house is currently non-conforming according to the Zoning Code and you
are planning an addition.

For more information about the Zoning Code for Raleigh and the workings of
the Raleigh Board of Adjustment, go to the City of Raleigh Planning
website at: http://www.raleigh-nc.org/planning/

After Larry's comments, the Association Council held their business
meeting. The minutes from the business meeting follow below:

Each Association council member was asked to outline their thoughts and
ideas for 2002.

Goals & Priorities for 2002:

Communications: (Jan & David Johnston)
Establish neighborhood newsletter; publish calendar with events & meetings;
need to establish account/logistics for printing of fliers and other
communication vehicles. Will need assistance with articles/input/layout,
etc. Need to develop a core team of contacts for flier/communication
distribution and Block Captains. Website: Establish specific domain for
website. Cost = ~ $350 first year, ~ $300/year thereafter.

Program Coordinator: (Cathy Camann)
Has program speakers lined up for February and March meetings. February's
topic will be neighborhood safety/security, March's will be gardening,
preparing your garden/yard for planting. Trying to line up other speakers
for future meetings, including Chief of Police, Council Members, etc. Send
ideas for topics and/or speakers to Cathy.

Jeff Roberts:
Need to establish structure, voting procedures, funding, membership
dues/fees, etc. LOGISTICS & STRUCTURE. Need to move on establishing the
"new" Association as a 501C3 (not for profit) organization.

At Large - Jill Averitt:
Concurs with need to get flier distribution process established. Roy
Attride agreed to work with Jill and Jan on this topic. Also, need to
identify goal(s) to work on - e.g., park playground equipment, crossing
zone over Glenwood to the park, other neighborhood goals or needs.

Social: (Jennifer Attride)
Determine which events we want to establish as annual events - Holiday Home
Tour, Fall Fling? Pancake Breakfast? Others? Would like to establish a
"welcome packet" for new neighbors, including a history of the house,
information about the Association, website address, etc. (Peggy Upchurch
suggests expanding this "outreach packet / basket" to neighbors for deaths
in family and/or new babies). Need to determine date for Pancake
Breakfast.

Marcea Barringer:
Wants to finalize mission statement for Association. Work with Jeff on
501C3 designation for Association. Working on Contractor Listing, but hard
drive crash has caused problems. Hoping to restore the data, otherwise
will have to re-build.

Phil Poe:
Linkage with CACs and other neighborhoods. "Neighborhood College" starting
in March. City-wide Neighborhood Summit at end of February.

Finances (Mary Ann Turner):
Re-iterates need for structure so we can underwrite what we want to do.
Need to be a legal entity so we can set up a bank account.

General discussion:
Benefits of not-for-profit status: The Association would not have to pay
taxes on goods/services. Also, contributions or fees paid to us would be
tax-deductible to the donor.

Meeting logistics: Agreement on general format of 6:30 - 6:45 Social &
food; 6:45 Speaker/program. Business meeting needs to be extended from 30
minutes to one hour, so business portion would be from 7:30 - 8:30.

Next meeting: Wednesday, February 6th. Coordinator: John Reese.

Thanks!

Jan

 

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