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Monday, February 3, 2014

East End Area Council Minutes

Call to Order – Jeff Kirschner, president The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm at the LeBlond RecPlex. There were 23 people in attendance, including 14 residents. Contact: cincyjeff6@yahoo.com Secretary’s Report – Barb Rider (in absence of Jackie Weist, secretary) The Dec 3, 2013 minutes were circulated; there were no corrections. Contact: jweist@fuse.net Treasurer’s Report – Jeff Stewart We have total liabilities & equity of $22,580.43. Expenses in December were $195.26 to Riverview East Academy for an academic award breakfast, $32.02 to Wimberg Landscaping for lawnmowing, and $15 to Chase Bank for service fees. Contact: jstewart@gfrlease.com Police Report – Det McBeth (in absence of Off. Germaine Love) There was a District 2 town hall mtg on Jan 7 with new Chief Blackwell and district commanders. The December crime report included 6 B&Es, 13 Felony/Larceny/Thefts, 1 Burglary, and 1 Aggravated Robbery Armed (known suspect). The usual report/map was not available as the crime analysis has been away. Det. Bellamine has investigated most of these, and has signed warrants on most. Betty asked about a break-in on Sat night. Det. McBeth was unaware of it, but will report on it at the Feb. meeting. Contact: 979-4480 or germaine.love@cincinnati-oh.gov LeBlond – Alayne Kazan, director Alyne reviewed membership costs: $10/yr. adults; $2/yr. children; $70/yr fitness. Contact: cincyrec.org/dr Riverview East Academy – Charlene Myers, principal • The Health Center planning grant has been approved. Architectural plans will be finalized at the next meeting, which includes about 30 people (the Local School Advisory Comm). The center should be open in Aug. It will be primarily for students, but there will be community hours. Withrow HS has just opened their Health Center, and the REA committee will tour it. They have a lot of latitude on what they want to do with it. • They are encouraging volunteerism, but recognize that it can be challenging for some. Dr. Vickie McMullen, the new school resource coordinator, is developing ways to encourage and support volunteers. Volunteers are needed for office work, etc. as well as tutoring. Contact: myersch@cpsboe.k12.oh.us NSP – Barb Rider, NSP manager Barb explained that each of Cincinnati’s 52 neighborhoods will receive $5000 in 2014. She reviewed what NSP funds can be used for (i.e. neighborhood improvement, communication, development, services, education). The next deadline to submit proposalsl is February 7; the last is April 18. At today’s meeting we will hear more about the Waterworks wall art project that was discussed in December. At the February 3rd meeting, a vote will be taken on using NSP funds for the project. Barb said that it is advisable to have one project, rather than a number of small projects (to reduce paperwork with NSP). Contact: barb1rider@aol.com Community Relations – Jane Sites, co-chair Sandy Hoover, co-chair, will produce the online newsletter while out-of-town. She met with former editor Betsy Urban to transition the work. The next Meet and Greet will be Tuesday, Feb 18 at 7:00 at Tostados. It is pay-as-you-go; Jane will have nametags & sign-up sheets. Jane will try to get a speaker on the Eastern Corridor. Jane said that the Community Relations Committee is supposed to do Outreach & Educational Programs. Patrick Ormond said that should involve reaching out to residents & businesses to tell them what EEAC does (i.e. advertising a meeting at a park and inviting East Enders to attend and get more involved). There was a discussion on neighborhood boundaries (Jane suggested inviting residents from the condos between Kemper & Eggleston, shown as the EE on the Proposed Land Development Code Use Based Zoning map). Jeff said that the planning department is going to redraw a master map of all 52 neighborhoods. Patrick Ormond said that there’s been a boundary controversy between Mt. Lookout, CT, Mt. Lookout, EE, Linwood for decades. In the 1990s, it was decided to let the boundaries overlap. An example of the confusion: Walworth residents benefitted from being in the EE and getting low-cost mortgages, but now claiming they are part of CT. Contact: jane.sites@cchmc.org shoover216@aol.com 3E – Community-wide Entertainment District (CED) - Nick Motz Nick explained that a CED is a designation on paper that provides businesses with a pool of liquor licenses. In 2012, Columbia Tusculum initiated a CED on Eastern Ave, but lost momen-tum. In 2013, the EE, CT and Linwood got a 501c4 designation for a joint district (3E). Their goal in 2014 is to restart the process with a 3 community-wide CED. They have hired Bradley Thomas, attorney at Manley-Burke. He has created CEDs for Short Vine, Clifton Heights & OTR. Brad explained the boundary map that he has created for 3E and will file with the City. The applicant will be 3E Business Association. The map follows zoning; no single family homes are in the CED. A traditional liquor license, for businesses not in a CED, costs $30,000 +/- on the open market. With a CED, the liquor license fee is $2500+/-. The liquor licenses must stay in the CED area and can never leave. Licences in CEDs are issued according to the same criteria as regular licenses. Businesses in CEDs are issued a license if/when they qualify and if there are available licenses. If the business closes, the license goes back into "escrow" and becomes available to another viable applicant in the CED area ONLY. A CED can help create new restaurant licenses (i.e. Cilantro in CH, Venue 222 in OTR). There were many questions, with the following answers: • With a CED, there can be no open containers; there must be a level 2 (minimum) food service license. Community councils, schools, churches maintain the right to challenge a license. • The proposed 3E CED doesn’t go west of Schmidt Field because it must be contiguous, and not involve single-family homes. • Existing liquor license owners, especially when they go to sell (unless they sell to someone not in district), may be at a disadvantage. • The timeline: Meetings with other 2 neighborhoods this month, vote and obtaining letters of support in February, then 60-90 days are needed for approval. • Licenses stay within district, and cannot be sold outside of district. • Wine stores would be allowed (only if serving food as well). • Existing protections for schools remain in effect (i.e. 500 ft minimum from establishments that sell liquor). • The City benefits via more income tax, the county benefits through increased property taxes paid, and the state receives the license money. • Marinas have special licenses that are less expensive. • This is not a zoning overlay; rather, just a designation to liquor control. • City Council can eliminate or modify the CED at any time. • The CED application intent is published in the Enquirer, but notice is not mailed to residents adjacent or in the CED. Betty moved (seconded by Patrick – withdrawn*, then seconded by Regina Moss) that we notify residents living adjacent to this district by simple letter and invite them to the Feb 3 meeting. The motion failed. The vote on Feb 3 will be emailed to the 300+ news-letter online recipients and will be posted on the Delta sign. *Laurie Keleher had a point of order, challenging Patrick’s right to be involved with votes/motions, as he is neither an EE resident or business owner. He said he received a lifetime membership for serving as president for 10 yrs in the 1980s and 90s. Contact: nick@nickmotz.com President’s Announcements - Jeff • Flower pots – Jeff was contacted to see if we want flower pots through the Business Improvement Program (No). The other flower pot program involves the large pots we received from the World Choir Games in 2012; Laurie can contact those who maintain them on their property to see if they’d like to continue. • Clean up Sat, April 26 – before the Flying Pig Marathon. 5 dumpsters will be made available from Keep Cincinnati Beautiful. We can get rid of used tires. Michael Bolan will find locations (i.e. Hof) for dumpsters. We’ll need a packer at each dumpster. • Liability insurance is required by NSP; Jeff is getting bids and will present them to the Board. Old Business Clean & Safe Grant Project – Matthew Andrews (architect with City Dept of Transportation) Matthew provided an overview of the proposed project that will improve safety and appear-ance of the Waterworks wall east of St. Rose’s Church on Riverside. Phase 1 would go near the main entryway. He has teamed with Melisse May, Michael Bolan and others to create a design, which has been awarded $5000 by the KCB Clean & Safe Grant Project. Matthew has done many of Cinti’s gateways; he believes this will be a regional draw. Phase I includes the first 4 panels of vertical gardens (supported by steel trellises and bordered by vertical tile mosaics), security cameras, and solar lighting. The cost of Phase 1 is $20,000 and is covered by $5000 from Safe & Clean, the proposed $5000 from EEAC/NSP funds and over $10,000 of in-kind services and personal donations. Matthew is volunteering his design and architectural services. The mosaics will be created by EE artists the Kovermans and will feature historic figures from the EE. They are donating one panel and providing the other three in Phase 1 at reduced cost. Ridge Engineering from Northside will provide the steel for $4000, and a company in Oakley will do the galvanizing. Waterworks will fabricate the steel trellises ($4000 in kind contribution), and will provide ongoing maintenance of the wall and plants. The sidewalk will be cut out and soil put in for native plants. Volunteers will install the project. Once the first 4 panels are underway, other grants (i.e. NEA) and sources of funding will be pursued to complete the 22 panels needed to cover the entire wall. Melisse has worked to register the EEAC to enable the EEAC to apply for federal funding. Completion of Phase 1 will serve as the basis for grant requests to complete the project. Total cost estimates for the entire project are $40,000 (trellises) and $40,000 (22 panels), including the $20,000 cost of Phase 1. We will vote on using NSP funds for the remaining $5000 needed for the first 4 panels (Phase 1) at the next EEAC meeting, Feb 3. Announcements or New Business • Regina reported that a recent accident at St. Andrews knocked down the pole, street light & street sign. Jeff said that he will be happy to make contact with the City to correct the situation (Officer Love was suggested as a contact). • Alayne reported that LeBlond received a $50,000 grant from Interact for Health (previously the Cinti Health Foundation) that will be used to purchase outdoor exercise equipment, interactive playground equipment, and to add connectors when bike trail comes along river. She has also met with police to upgrade security cameras. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 8:25 pm. Next Meeting: Monday Feb 3, 2014 at 7 pm at LeBlond RecPlex. NOTE: You can read EEAC minutes or sign up to have East End news emailed to you at