 All right good evening folks and thank you for coming out this evening when Tending the Ward 4 and 7 NPA meeting so Ordinarily we have our Facebook live stream going. We're working on that Technology glitch right now, but we do have channel 17 with us this evening and we thank you for being here So I'd like to start off the evening. We are going to go around and do Introductions and announcements and for this section what we if you have an announcement We'd like to try to keep it 30 seconds sort of upfront and then if there's something else on your mind We can talk about that at greater in greater detail during the community members and elected officials forum at the tail end so I will remind us all of our Ground rules is that we try to listen to others who are speaking respect the agenda and the process share your opinion politely and Treat one another with respect and for more information about the 4 and 7 NPA you can find us at the on at the Burlington VT.gov CEDO page under neighborhood services and NPAs if you're looking for more information so With that I think we might as well go ahead and get started and Excuse me James Loop Ward 7 NPA member Chris Trombly Ward 7 steering committee member Ryan Frank Ward 7 steering committee Jeff Clark Ward 7 steering committee Alex Merrill Ward 4 steering committee Matt Hurlbert Ward 7 steering committee Hi, I'm Jenna O'Donnell. I live in Ward 4 Eric Corbett Ward 4 steering committee for any sequence Ward 4 Jackie Schultz Ward 4 Martha Malfus Ward 7 Nancy Ellis Ward 4 Franklin Paulino Ward 4 and North District City Councilor-elect Zachary York Ward 4 Steve Hamlin Ward 7 Molly Mordek Ward 7 Linda Mordek Ward 7 Take him what he found with CEDO Alicia de Mario Ward 4 Currently Ward 4 housing board review Monica Ivancic Ward 7 school board commissioner for Ward 7 as well Nancy Comstock Ward 7 Peter Ireland Ward And the intern with CEDA Erica Bundy Reddick Ward 4 You and if you haven't done so already I'll remind you that we do have an attendance list in the back So at some point during the evening if you would please sign in so we can Keep track of our excellent attendance numbers So from the steering committee Announcements we want to remind you that there are still slots on the steering committee for four and seven that are open and According to the bylaws and yes, the NPA do operate under bylaws and they Provide for steering committee elections in April of each year. So at next month's Meeting and at the end of April we will be holding Steering committee elections. So everybody who's currently serving I think is Potentially up for re-election and if you're interested in serving or if you know someone who would be a good contributor To the steering committee Let us know and we'll get you volunteered Yes, yep, so on the on the backside of today's agenda are all the members of the steering committee So if you are interested or in yourself or if you want to nominate someone else Contact one of us and we can certainly handle that nomination at the April meeting Thank you. Yes, ma'am. I Believe it's nine nine members per ward. So Warrant war four and seven technically could have a steering committee of 18 people and we're currently at about 10 11 So there's room to grow. Thank you. Any other questions before we get started this evening Okay, I guess we'd like to start off with the community development block grant Representatives to ward four and seven or Alex Ferrell and James Lou. Thank you. All right, so James and I represented This NPA on the CDBG board Me for Ward 4 James for Ward 7 so a quick rundown of what this is HUD distributes funds through these CDBG boards to different states and communities Burlington is the only municipality in the state that actually gets its own CDBG money from HUD and the goal is to address the root causes of poverty They they list certain criteria for it, but What our job as advisory board members is is Basically, we review the applications of everyone that's That's gone through this process Working with CEDO to to apply for CDBG funds for either what's considered a development grant or You're gonna ask me that so we meet we meet twice So one is more community related ones more development and housing related so the process is that Applicants have they have to let the city know that they're they're gonna submit a letter letter of intent that they're gonna be applying and Then they submit their applications by January and so the advisory board comes together and we have quite a few three four weeks to review the applications and We we rank them we look at the merits of the program What we thought of the application? and then we We come back together and Decide how to distribute the money And it's a little unique too because I think the process for our city Is much more progressive than some other cities is that one person from every NPA is represented So there's eight people from NPAs and four people that the mayor Has put on the committee and then one person from the state. There is a Vacancy for youth this year They struggled to get you involved, but Unfortunately volunteers, I think get a little overwhelmed or sometimes intimidated a lot of work and It's a lot for young people and the meetings are late. So We're working on that for in the future and working on suggestions on how to get a young person involved on the committee but it is unique because Technically the way the way it's distributed is the mayor has the authority to Distribute this himself with I believe city council approvals that right Chris and so the fact that the NPAs get to send a representative to be part of this body to decide how this is distributed That's that's unique and it's actually really special that we get to have this input Here from folks before the process. We can't always share specifics back during it because of the benefit of the applicants But it allows all of us to have a little bit of a say in how this HUD money is distributed Rather than just you know top down it goes where it goes so The meetings are all public. So if anyone cared to go to the CEDA website, you could look to see I did check and There is no notes on our meetings. They're not okay. So because I was Trying to figure out how much we were allowed to share But That's a great question I asked the same question and I got the answer was no And I think even if the mayor did the mayor did have some priorities And I think the four representatives he sent in shared those recommendations as well as Somebody from the mayor staff. I don't think that swayed anybody. There's very nice Conversations they weren't arguments. They're conversations, but they're long conversations and they're very positive and I really don't think any of those Mayor's top choices really swayed and I I think City Council would Also hold the mayor accountable to his choices, but I think they'll be good and that that would be public if Some you would see what our recommendations were and then if there were a change that would be seen by the public I think one one that I'll quickly share that I think you'd be most interested it is the Lauren type that in my sing it Right. That's the CHD project That's right on North Avenue. So in Cambrian rise. Yep, so that they asked for a hundred thousand dollars So that was something that was up for consideration and was one of the mayor's priorities So that was voted on It's just under 500,000 yeah, like 483 I think was the mount and the requests are always Far in excess of what we're given so hard decisions. They were just over double. I believe the request the community Was a little bit closer than the development the development was at least So it was a little bit harder decisions. Thank you All right, our our next agenda topic is on the at the an NPA resolution to increase the ward budget For NPAs, which is currently four hundred dollars a year to proposal for twenty five hundred dollars a year and that And and that would come out of the The city budget and each as according to the proposal that Chris will explain that the history there At twenty five hundred dollars would be allocated to each of the eight NPAs. So Yeah, so given that Chris is our timekeeper. I'm gonna trust that he's Diligent to his role there you go. So here you go Chris. I can be concise So the reason we stack this up next to the CDBG is because the NPAs used to be funded from the community development barracuda as I see Karina's here very familiar with that Previously the funding was considerably higher as over the years We've noticed that funding is decreased Regulations have increased and so it's harder to use that money. So we as the NPAs Have a budget of four hundred dollars for each ward. So with four hundred dollars last year We spent our money on fancy things like snacks Wireless microphones so that folks who Had a hard time hearing could hear better And we could have wireless mode remotes around the room We bought a wireless mic and mic stand But what we'd like to do is seek a moderate increase in funding raising that to twenty five hundred per ward So that we can increase our mission to further the mission of the NPA So things that could be maybe it's better speakers a better sound system here because the parks department hasn't provided that Maybe it's a crosswalk in the area that everybody wants done But they want it on first or the sign that is at the top of 127. That was a NPA funded project so it's a it's a pretty meager ask and so We as the steering committees from each of the NPAs got together and Kind of came together with what do we want to put forward to City Council? And so on the bottom of your agenda You'll see a resolution for approval for members four and seven twenty five hundred per ward So because we meet as a four and seven. That's five thousand dollars for our ward To increase the capacity to furs of the mission of the NPAs to be included in fiscal year twenty twenty budget, so the city is Finalizing that budget now, so we want to get something to the city council as a uniform voice from each Ward or district So that we can report something back and say we met with our NPA They either support this or they don't or they have some further feedback and we'd like to make that recommendation so we can get in time for Budget increase for this year if we don't it's dealing with Scratching microphones and speakers for another year and so we'd like to turn that over for maybe there's some public comment Regarding is it too little is it too much? Are you okay with it as is? Maybe next maybe baby steps for it How many of us are there? How many people attend a meeting online or here? You know I'm glad he asked that Peter if you actually look at it proportionally some of these are better attended than city council meetings Proportionally, there's what ten thousand residents out in the new north end. This is a pretty good crowd for a for a March meeting we also post that Through channel 17 live online and we do Facebook live So for the folks that can attend because it's hard everyone's kind of got a busy life So we try to make that available for offline viewing as well So what would you get so hundred dollars for each of us? I'm not sure we're looking for a For cash distribution, but it's not a bad way of looking at a grant. Is it is it worth it? Or should we spend our money through the city? Absolutely that and that's and that's essentially what we're asking is Is this five thousand dollars kind of we as the north district? Do you want that just kind of where it is now or do you want to have a little more? Democracy here where we can advocate for smaller targeted projects at night might not be high on the list of Some bigger city projects so we can kind of micro target some improvements At one point there was some discussion about Upping it to 10 or even more thousand, but City Hall was gonna have they weren't kind of gonna own us I think they were gonna have some serious input into our meetings. Well, this won't happen now I think there's been some I battle of ideas of what does the role of the NPA serve? How do we oversee that? What's the role of CEDO in that? And so the reason we came to this Resolution was this is kind of a base hit This isn't the home run that I think everyone's maybe looking for where there's a bigger Ask and maybe we can take this as a small advancement towards a bigger increase in future years, but We want to try to maintain the autonomy of the NPA's where it's really run by community members We set the agenda. We're asking the city to come. We're setting the topics It's not the city that's sitting those topics and they're not You know, it's not censorship and and you also want to have a sustainable model so that Through whoever's in City Hall or whoever's in government. It's a sustainable model for the residents and in their district And I think you'll notice that each District or ward is very unique to three or five Is has very different agendas than we do so we want to maintain that autonomy So that each this this $5,000 would just be unique to us instead of a city-wide distribution So one idea that some of us neighbors had was to perhaps have like a dinner or a potluck dinner So I can't tell you $5,000 per year. I mean that's that would be great but if we could spend part of that money on Having more of a social gathering and I think that would attract more people and people with children They do something similar for the war two three NPA and I think it's really successful So it'd be great if we could do that here in the new $5,000 a year might be a pretty meager dinner for everybody What correct absolutely, and so that's why you know, we We realize sometimes it's it's easier to ask for maybe small steps to advance that one unique thing about two three is They do have a community dinner prior to the to the meeting, but it's not funded by the NPA. That's wholly funded Partially funded wholly funded it so I've heard a little bit of everything, but that's certainly a model that We would want to discuss as a as a community if we were awarded this allotment How do we want to use that? Is it a community dinner? Is it targeted development or an improvement on something in the neighborhood? I think it's for us to decide for ourselves that works for that neighborhood. Does that work for us? I'm assuming this Conversation right now is not about what we want to do with the money It's just about whether or not we want to ask for the money. That's correct Okay, so I'll hold my opinions about what to do with the money for now I would just say that the one thing if you're going to bring this to City Council is you have to prove to them that our District cares and I mean I get that maybe this is a good turnout, but We have to prove to them that there are enough people in the ward or the district or whatever that actually are going to show up and actually give a crap and We're going to do something and so I guess that's my only That's on the forefront for us as well because you know We want to make this worthwhile for the residents and if that's not where you guys want to go Well, you know, that's that's why we're bringing it to the group to share What what's the what's the direction that we want to go in as a group at $800 a month? We're doing Facebook engagement Live TV engagement That's it. So From porch for them. That's right. Usually see my name once upon a time there. So that's that's we're so we're we're me here I'm knowing how government funding works. Yes, as you're seeking to go from several hundred to several thousand Is it a use it or lose it or are you allowed to have a carryover so currently it's spend it or lose it And so I would imagine that's the same scenario That's part of the reason why we you know, we're kind of going for a base hit not the home run because How do you spend down such a big amount in a reasonable? Physically responsible not open the fraud, you know, we're being mindful that this is money put forth by the taxpayers. So Absolutely Yes, I totally agree. Yep. My name is Karina Driscoll I think many of you might know that I ran for mayor last year And I want to speak up on the resolution, but also I should say I just moved back to the new north end I'm living on first street and I'm very happy to be back having grown up here and joining three family households out here again It's a great place to live And what I also just wanted to say is that one of the major issues that the campaign was public engagement Community engagement and we talked about the NPA's, you know, when they were initially formed in the 1980s They were formed to empower people throughout the city to have a say in what we do with our funds what we do with our With our government and frankly if there's not a lot of power You don't have a lot of interest and long ago, you know, the CDBG funds, which we were just talking about, you know Million dollars would be distributed essentially at the recommendation of the NPA That's a lot of citizen power and you better believe people were attending Some amazing programs were started in the city of Burlington in that period of time because a million dollars and a whole lot of everybody's ideas Some really great things happen. So talking about five thousand for the new north end is a drop in the bucket But hopefully what it can do is give us the opportunity to do more community engagement Whether we choose to use it for dinners or otherwise I think it would help increase attendance And I think what I would say is having spoken with a lot of people. I'll just contribute that I think the desire is there for that community engagement throughout the city and the desire to participate in the neighborhood planning Assemblies and have them be more than that more than they are and have them feel that autonomy and listened to and I've only lived here for a couple months again But I'm very happy to be back and look forward to participating in the NPA and doing whatever I can to help Encourage turn out as well because it's up to us and I think with a little bit of money we can do we can do a lot Okay, so I I would say that We kind of drifted away from Focusing on the don't go away Because you have to moderate the question We sort of drifted away from focusing on the revolution to already beginning to think about what we would do with that money which We need to Formally vote we need to formally vote take a position on it and then The steering committee would love to put this on the agenda for a future meeting where we could actually focus on How those funds might be spent so With that Chris, I'm gonna let you so show hands for those in support of the resolution As typed on the agenda you just raise your hand Any opposed I'd like to say it was unanimous that is fantastic Thank you very much. That's the only dance thing that we've had in the north district. I want Thank you very much everyone. Take care So for a little bit of context with this And our $400 on a new mic Thank you Yeah, so if I could just quickly add a little bit of context at the All wards and PA meaning that several of us occurred Attended a couple of weeks ago it was interesting to see that currently Cito tracks our spending of our $400 a year and so far Only one of the wards in the city had spent any of that money because Nobody bothered to spend any of their $400 because Sort of for a lack of imagination of what are we going to do to have impact with $400 so So all right, so I'd like to move on when our Representative from the Parks and Rec summer program Gary Rogers is here that Director of Parks Superintendent So I'm going to give you the mic because I'm not sure exactly what it is you want to tell us So first I'd like to say that Cindy White who's the director would like to be here tonight She's at a pack meeting that is running late And I'm very happy to be here. I'm the recreation superintendent for the city. My name is Gary Rogers and Cindy asked me to come by tonight to talk a little bit about new summer programming that we have going on this summer in the parks Recreation Waterfront Department, so I'm going to start with events and an event. That's very dear to many of your hearts The Letty Beach Bites, which happens Which happens down at Letty Park is going to be expanded this year Because we were doing every other Wednesday And occasionally we had rainouts because this is Vermont in the summertime. We might go two three weeks We'll have a beach bites. So the new plan this summer is to start Wednesday June 19th and go every Wednesday to August 7th With the exception of July 3rd Which falls on a Wednesday and the other Update on that is that this year we will be providing live music. So that's something that we haven't done the past We've had some DJs occasionally, but we'll have bands this year also It's been a real success and we really feel like bringing Events to this part of town, which you know a lot of times When you look at where events are happening in the city We don't get a lot of events out here in the New North then so we want to bring Programming events to this part of the town and we're very excited to expand that program so another Family type event that is being offered this year. That's that have been offered is we're doing trips history trips to three different historic sites for Takanarogo, Albert and battlefield the Crown Point So But that's new and they're gonna be family trips and also senior trips Some other new adult programs. We're offering adult ballet for the first time here at the Miller Center We have messed around with adult music programs learned to play instruments Some have been hit and missed we haven't tried that in a couple years So at the Old North End Community Center at 20 Allen Street, which was formerly seen shows of school We're actually offering a series of piano lessons ukulele lessons and guitar lessons Individual lessons and group lessons. So we're gonna try that again to try get people involved with learning some music We really are ramping up our 50 plus programming in this summer. We have some great trips So there's a history hunters trip for 50 plus We also are doing a vineyard tour and that's something that we've thought about during the past if you haven't so we've got three different Vineyards on the docket to go visit with 50 plus. We make it very reasonably priced So it's $7 for the transportation wine tastings are on you, but I'm interested in In that sort of tour That those registrations try to make it easy for everyone in the city There's like pickups all around to be a pickup a Heineberg Center pick up at The Champlain senior center, which is located 20 Allen and a pickup at our pine Street office in the south end So that people from different parts of the city can't participate Let's see. Oh, we also have some nature rocks that we've never done for the seniors So getting seniors outside when I say seniors 50 plus. I'm about six months away. So, you know, I'm in that category myself So the nature walks Robert Frost trail button-based a park and then a trip to the Vermont Institute of Natural Sciences, which is where the Raptor Center is if you have not been to the Raptor Center in Quiche It's really quite spectacular. They have birds of prey there incredible Eagles Condors hawks of owls of all sorts and they're all birds that are mending or can't be released in the wild It's very educational and it's really a very interesting place to visit If we Pivot to kids We have many many camps. So we have our champ camps that we've been offering which are licensed childcare camps for many years I'm just gonna focus on some new things that providing this year Adventure ropes course. This is actually second summer. We're doing this, but we've hired over the University of Vermont to offer camps at the UBM ropes course great, they fill up They build up every year and we do multiple sessions And just to let you know I haven't mentioned this yet, but there are scholarships available for youth Infraseniors, so if you are a senior or if you have family with children and you're looking for help Please contact the Parks and Recreation Waterfront Department We actually are on the verge of making a big announcement about some scholarship money that we were receiving From a donor in the city that's coming next week and it's a really sizable Donation to our scholarship fund that we're very much excited about We we tell people we won't we don't want to turn anyone away when it comes to youth programming. So Please get that word up for us that if you are a family or know a family who might need a little financial assistance Contact the Parks and Recreation Waterfront Department and we'll make it work for you. So ropes course We're offering to disc golf camps. I know disc golf has sometimes been controversial here in the center town But it is one of the fastest growing sports in America And so we are offering a beginner disc golf on camp and we're also offering a traveling disc golf camp where We're actually to take the kids by bus to different disc golf courses around the state of Vermont For the week. So we're gonna visit like four different disc golf courses and play disc golf around the state It's gonna be kind of fun. I think I might enter both my kids in that one actually I'm loving some disc golf these days We also on the disc Just we're talking about this Ultimate Frisbee we this will be the second year we're offering ultimate Frisbee camp last year We had 30 kids participate. We expect even more this year Ultimate disc is you know, I'm supposed to call ultimate Frisbee the markets Frisbee's trademark but ultimate disc for Frisbee is going to be a varsity sport this year throughout the state of Vermont. So Vermont Principal Association has said Starting this year ultimate is a varsity sport. Last year the club team at VHS had over 60 participants So part of what we do with the Parks and Recreation Waterfront Department is look for trends, right? And so that's a trend where we're offering camp kids are joining a few years back 10-15 years ago It was lacrosse, right? And so we have 125 kids that I use lacrosse program from about 25 to 125 in five or six years so The current trend is ultimate Frisbee and there's going to be a lot of teams like Probably 15 to 20 teams right up the bat In the state of Vermont playing ultimate Frisbee this year as a as a varsity sport along those same lines volleyball became a varsity sport for both boys and girls two years ago Um, we were the only state in the nation. I gotta look back for you. We're the only state in the nation that did not have Girls varsity volleyball as a varsity sport or in other states. We're the only one So we're on board so it's been two years So this will be the second year where we're offering middle school and high school camps for volleyball So that program is also growing at VHS. So we're trying, you know, we try really hard to Look at the trends and after those camps a couple other things We just received we just got word last week We received a $27,000 grant from the nrpa, which is the national record park association and the walmart foundation To expand our summer meals program. So for those of you who don't know Our summer meals program takes place at five different sites throughout the city And we're going to expand it to a sixth site this year and that site is going to be the skate park So with all the kids down the skate park. So we I just actually had a meeting We just actually had a meeting with um, the lake shimplain sailing center and the Brolin food service pat matt and then duck davis at brolin food service who are awesome They organized the summer meals program for the city and Lake shimplain sailing centers on board for all of their camps. We do three or four camps at the Skate park as well, and we really feel like we're going to get a lot of walkings To that program because you know that with the Beautiful redesign of the bike path That is right now the middle of the waterfront when you know, just three or four short years ago It was like the end of the waterfront now It is the center becoming the center of everything. So we're very excited to offer a free meals program there and very thankful the nrpa and to the walmart Corporation for providing these funds the other part of this grant is Joining summer meals programs for youth With senior meals programs. So a multi-generational generational piece So this summer at the old north end community center where the shampolyn senior center is located We have a daily meals program there. So All of our sites will be visiting once a week monday through thursday and doing eating meals with seniors and doing programming with seniors so very excited to To kick that off this summer also I think you know, we're in a unique situation where we do both as a as a city and as a department We do a senior meals program and a youth meals program and that really opened the door for this funding So we're excited about that So that's what I got. I'll take all questions. Yes Yeah, if you need financial assistance for park and pass That program is in place and if you call the main line at eight six four zero one two three We'll put you in touch with the person you talk to for park and pass So we do offer free parking passes Or folks who need that assistance And call the main line and we'll get that To you. Yes, I love to explain a little tower keeper program. We are very fortunate to have A group here in the new north end called the tower keepers k e y p e r s and the tower keepers Starting in Well, it'll be a couple weeks probably now depending on what how the weather goes. Is that when you start mother's day mother's day to Columbus Day Every every day Some of the tower keepers opens the tower in the morning and then closes it at dusk We've actually done a couple of 5k running events with the tower keepers in the past And they have a fantastic volunteer organization Like many of ours tower keepers friends of leddie park who very much are involved here in the new north end Our Volunteer group that helps with the trees. There are very many organizations and we're very lucky to have the tower keepers Anything you'd like to add about the tower keepers? Yes, if you'd like to be a tower keeper, please contact the main line VNK hill actually is the contact for that, but if you call the zero one two three number look at a hold of band for you yeah, so This is the brochure. It came out in north avenue news Um about I won't say it's like three weeks ago now So if you if you have it in your house, please look at it. It's got lots of great stuff in it It is available in most public buildings around the city The last thing I'd like to say is I there are flyers in the back Planning for leddie park. There'll be a meeting here A workshop on april 9th from 530 to 8 to talk about some strategies for planning for leddie park Because we're looking at some different renovations. We're looking at potentially a new tree shop being on site and potentially pavilion Some some different ideas for leddie park and we're looking for public input So that meeting is april 9th at 530. Thank you very much for having me. Thank gary by the way The um ultimate team won the state championship at the bhs club team won the state championship. All right, so This year this year is going to be official, right? If they can if they can defend it Officially the state championship is rock principal association. That's awesome so as as one of the As one of the tower keepers that and you know get gary helped us put together the The 5k runs that we've had in the park in the fall in the last two years I can attest that he actually runs as fast as he talks So that we're Well, thank you gary. Thank you. Yeah So we're We're conserving our time quite well. I think So our our next speaker is a Um, alicia de marco de barrio was the executive director of of birchwood terrace and you have Yep, which we will can I get some help here to Okay, yes So there are Expansion development plans at birchwood terrace that she would like to share with us. Thank you. Thank you for having me as I've mentioned my name is alicia de mario and I'm the executive director at birchwood terrace and for those of you who may not know Who we are what we do? We are 144 bed skilled nursing facility here on the north end of burlington on a corner of star farm and north avenue and we Have a 50 bed special Care certified memory care unit all simers dementia unit a 54 bed long-term care unit and a 40 bed rehab and We've got a lot going on at the facility, but part of the reason I am here is to talk about Talk about an issue that came up actually back in august of 2017 Which you're saying well that was a long time ago and yes it was But it's taken us about a year and a half to come to some sort of some form of resolution to our problem So back at that time The city had put in an ordinance where there was no longer going to be parking along star farm avenue in front Of the school and at that time what that did was it forced a lot of traffic Into and onto our property some of that was Guests and visitors some of it was folks from the school Some of them were our own employees But really what that did was it created kind of a parking jam within our community Which led to a lot of parking on some grass areas So we received a notice of violation for parking for the facility With immediate compliance Requested so really what that What that came to fruition was that the city had our facility Zoned for 45 parking spaces Now state and federal guidelines and requirements have minimum parking Minimum excuse me minimum staffing requirements for a facility like ours And we roughly on average At our high peak hours have roughly about 95 cars in our parking lot So zoning for 45 was really quite inadequate just for staffing alone let alone guests visitors physicians Vendors anybody who wanted to come visit their loved ones at the facility so that really kind of Um precipitated a very long discussion with the city about how we might be able to come into better compliance Really what that led to is they said you needed immediate compliance And so we worked very hard to find out where we could park Which was in the neighboring neighborhood in gray meadows That was not well received As you can imagine when you have 40 additional cars lining your streets and kind of Locking your mailboxes and garbage cans God bless them, but they did a nice peaceful protest one morning And made a lot of calls to the city and the city kindly said please bring all your people back into your parking lot And we will work together to come up with a resolution So the problem was really twofold for us is that As In a residential zoning district. We were only allowed 35 lot capacity Which we already exceeded With our current parking situation. So that was our first barrier The second barrier was that the current city zoning ordinance for this type of facility Only allows one space for every four residents So um at 46 spaces. We were capped there as well So throughout this past year and a half. We've been working with the city very diligently to kind of take a look at this Uh as as a whole and say, you know, this doesn't make a lot of sense for what we do in the population we serve Um, the first initial reaction was to build a two-story parking structure By gray meadows, which we quickly said that is not going to to work Let's work together to come up with something different um, so the city at that point agreed to allow us to um Be considered a senior housing Which then uh automatically increased our lot capacity to 40 percent So with that we checked to see how much additional parking we could get and it allowed us some It allowed us in a roughly an additional 30 spaces. So that brings us to 75 um So that was our big victory. We went in front of the drb The beginning of the year and they agreed to allow us to exceed the maximum parking requirements Because we're really only allowed 45 So that's our big victory at this point the additional 30 spaces. It's still not adequate, but it is Certainly better than what we what we're um allotted at this point. So just roughly Just to show you what this is going to allow for us to do This is really a two phase when we approach the drb We let them know that we're going to approach this in two phases The first was to ask for a waiver to exceed the maximum parking capacity, which is what they've granted The second phase is we're going to go in front of them again Hopefully in the next couple months and ask them to Revise the zoning ordinance for parking requirements for this type of facility Because it really needs to be about one space for every two residents versus one to four and we have Enough land to make this work with what we have without any additional traffic Coming on to those streets. So we think we've got a good shot But really what we're looking to do. We actually just have two small lots here currently And we're actually just going to expand them further down towards north ave We're going to enhance all of our all of our Screenage We're going to put better screening here With our landscape. We've been working with a landscape architect and we've got a really beautiful design plan We've been given till august 1st to complete this project They granted us a little bit of an extension because During this time our staff are going to need places to park So the school was kind enough to allow us during the summer months To park over in that parking lot so it didn't interrupt our service or our care to folks with Giving staff an opportunity to get to and from work I'm still Currently looking At options to see how we can or how and where we will park the additional 20 vehicles After august 1st that typically come to our lot We want to make sure that we have plenty of spaces for guests and visitors Most of the guests and visitors that come to visit folks in our facility Are frail and so obviously having Close parking and accessibility to come visit their loved ones is going to be very important so that must Mainly mean that staff are going to have to be parking off-site at some point. So we're still looking at those options We've contacted in the past. We've contacted st. Mark's and The elks lodge and a couple different churches We've contacted palm aloe realty to see what they might be able to do to help But really at the end of my day My goal is to make sure that we're minimizing the impact on residents and anytime you have to have your staff parking off-site It creates a barrier for them to get to work to provide care So we're taking a hard look at that because at the end of the day I can't impact patient care They're my priority their needs need to be met and and that's really what we're here for So we're making some progress on this. We plan on going back and asking for for Again an amendment to the current zoning laws With a thought that we would add a third parking lot here, which would give us plenty of parking So that's really what we're going for my fingers are crossed The city has been very kind to work with us As long as they have and we're going to continue Along that that path Just some additional news I guess from the facility standpoint is December 15th, we had a change of ownership We had been a kindred facility for the last 20 plus years And kindred decided that they were going to get out of the long-term care business They had a hundred plus facilities nationwide and they ended up selling them all With uh birchwood and starfarm being the last in their line of business to sell Part of that is because of the process the state of vermont has to Have changes of ownerships and facilities like this When we came here about six months ago, both of the new owners were were here Their names are isaac rubin and ari earlickman Their commitment is not only to the residents in the facility, but to the community at large And so they're very regretful that they were unable to be here today They have been here for the last two days, but had a prior commitment this evening Wonderful men very good to the very good to the facility and to the staff They have a big plan for a remodel of the facility For those of you who have been there were 53 years old And I have to believe that the curtains are original So I'm really looking forward to some of the upgrades That they're that they have planned part of the hold up for the upgrades was that we needed to get through our annual survey I didn't want to be in the middle of a construction project during survey Our survey concluded today, and I'm very proud to say we were deficiency free Which is a big feat in our line of work. So we're very proud of the work that we're doing there And that's the second time in three years that that's occurred. So really unheard of we're really happy but some of the Things that they're looking to do And if you've been in our facility, you won't recognize this But they're very much looking to modernize the facility So this would be when you come in the front lobby And if you have been there recently, this is Lovely shades of pink and blue wallpaper So it's going to be much much different and we really want it to be a destination for folks We're really proud of the where we work I believe we provide the best care in town and it's nice to have a building that hopefully will reflect that as well. So We've got a lot of exciting things occurring. So hopefully within the next couple months We'll have some construction going on and give the facility a facelift. So we're really excited about that as well There any questions for me You very quickly said we rejected a two-story parking lot. Why not two or three stories and solve all the problems? well The big solution to that was to clear cut that two-acre piece of wood On near grain meadows and it's you know one of to clear cut a two-acre piece of wood Wooded area to build a multi-million dollar parking structure really wasn't feasible and it's very difficult to maintain as well And it certainly the neighbors and great meadow. It's the only barrier between the facility and the neighborhood And it just was not well received Simply a band-aid. So what? What are you guys going to do if you if you keep growing and you keep Expanding there's gonna you're going to very quickly come up against this again Well, we're not expanding. We haven't expanded our services at the facility in 20 plus years So when I say we're expanding we're we're doing a facelift, but we're not we're not We're not increasing our capacity We have always had this amount of traffic It only became much more prevalent when the parking ban came on and all of those folks that were lining the streets Are now coming on to the into the parking lot. So it's really not increasing traffic at all We don't have any more employees than we have had in the past There's we can't exceed that amount of Of 144 residents the capacity will will remain the same and we're landlocked There's no place for us to go other than up And I don't necessarily see that happening anytime soon either So it's really not expanding or exceeding anything we're doing now It's just simply managing the same flow and the same traffic But more responsibly instead of parking on the grass creating parking lots to do so With this even with the additional Even with the additional 30 spaces now It's not going to be adequate. So I'm Working feverishly to figure out how and where we're looking at incentive programs for staff as far as carpooling Taking public transportation part of the issue is is with a 24 7 operation public transportation Even though we have a bus stop right at the end of the road It is limited to the times that the that public transportation comes to that area We've actually we've got a corporate uber account and a lift so that we can help try to get people to and from work And you know, we're just trying to get through a brief period of time until hopefully we can Get that additional third lot and bring everybody back on site Which uh Which uh, which street is which? Um, this is star farm road Right, that's what I thought and this is north af. Okay. Who owns the property at the west end of that building you're building The very west end that two acre lot wood lot is ours as well We don't really want to do anything with that. Um, you know to cut down woods to To create a parking area where we're already existing currently parking doesn't make a ton of sense and it Quite honestly the folks in gray meadows You know, not not a fan. I mean, it's a nice little barrier to have with with the folks in those neighborhoods I respect that for sure Curious why this parking ban on the street went into effect I think it went into effect primarily because there was some concern about About people or children getting hit crossing the road or with cars parked along It's kind of hard to see as if you're a vehicle coming down that street I really think it was meant for the protection of children. Um, I think it Had the unfortunate side effect of Of this of creating a parking problem for us, but um, We're working on it so The question I have is if this is if you sort of are in need of more parking You know, my husband and I we work during the day. We live right on altered street Yep, have you sort of talked to some local residents about, you know, I'm happy to offer up, you know, my driveway If part of the issue is you don't have enough Parking, you know, we're not using our driveway when we're at work. You're more than welcome to You know, have a have an employee park there if you're having a parking issue And I'm certainly You know, I'm happy to talk to the residents in the area to see if that's a possible Solution to some of the overflow that you may be experiencing and I would greatly appreciate that I pretty much our peak hours are during shift change during the day and we do stagger our shifts So that not everybody is coming in at the same time and everybody is going off So the obviously the big bulk of our Employers employees are the nursing staff And so We have the nurses aides the one who are doing the direct care They come in a half hour earlier than the licensed nurses to help With that problem as well But there is about an hour from two to three in the afternoon Where where that flow is so heavy That it often exceeds what we're capable of of doing. So I would greatly appreciate that that would be very helpful Wonderful. Thank you So thank you for I drive by your facility every day Hi star farm road Thank you for your commitment to preserving those woods You're welcome We're down and it does seem like it would be a sensible approach If you need any advocacy, I'd be happy to as far as increasing your parking into that Looks really long. Yes, and I guess the only issue I would have is There's any way to do that with Semi-pervious or pervious pavers So we can manage stormwater runoff And that was part of the problem because we exceed lot capacity what they were hoping that we would do part of the I learned a lot about zoning laws during this They're quite fascinating and quite complicated But the zoning ordinance specifically indicates that you cannot use pervious and impervious for parking So really what they wanted us to do was they wanted us to pull up our fire lanes Which are currently impervious and lay pervious pavers The problem with that is the fire department said absolutely not Absolutely not So we kind of got into a little bit of a battle with And it's not really safe for seniors if you're putting in pervious pavers we have frost heaves they raise they lower So to me that wasn't a really viable option just because of what we do in the clientele we have So what we are looking at doing though with this is really providing enhanced stormwater drainage And we're doing with this current project that's going to be completed by august 1st We're we're creating in a stormwater drainage and enhancing it enough where that even when we add this third lot it's going to be covered in the original plan Sounds like you're right on top of it. So I appreciate I've been working hard Yeah, so but and and just I'll put you on the facility because it's definitely the type of resource that we need in the community. So Thank you encouraging everybody to make sure that we don't make your life unnecessarily difficult Well, thank you. I I appreciate that Any other questions? And thank you for your time. I appreciate it At least let me see. Thank you very much very thorough presentation, we appreciate that. Yeah all right, our Next presentation is from the public's work department and we have director chavin spencer and Olivia The wreath yep is the The engineer on staff who's currently working on the unsignalized crosswalk project and although the the original invitation to dpw for this meeting was spring update and and uh dpw was planning on coming to the april meeting to do general update so actually the Primary focus of the presentation tonight is on the uns status of the unsignalized crosswalk project on north avenue. So That's going to be the focus of Of your discussion, correct? Okay, so, uh, I haven't met you in person. So Olivia That's you I'm just going to give it to chippin first so he can Thanks so much for having us this evening. I have with me senior engineer susan mulzon and Olivia doris who's a public works engineer We're excited to tell you about the status of the north avenue unsignalized crosswalks or watch a little of the March madness you decide We will uh, we will help keep on time. Congrats on a successful facilitation of a meeting We are to cut to the chase. I excited to tell you This construction project will be underway by the end of next month And i'm going to turn it over doris to run through a short presentation that will answer any questions Thanks chippin um, hi, i'm olivia doris again public works engineer. I'm the current project manager on this project And To give a brief overview Not that they're present, but we did have a lemuron dickinson consulting engineers as a design engineer on this project Don at weston excavating has been selected as the contractor And stand tech consulting services as for the resident engineering services on this project A quick project overview for those of you who may not be Completely familiar with the scope of this project. Um, it does involve Five a total of five new crosswalks Ward street clarney drive and village green drive Courier place goss court and dodge court green acres drive and kayuga court Um, just a brief a brief project history of this project is the product of the north avenue 2015 north avenue corridor study um through that corridor study um a total of nine potential crosswalk locations were Brought up for discussion and input Among the public and among the north avenue quarter public advisory committee Of those nine potential locations Though those locations were voted on and ultimately led to the selection of these five locations for implementation based on Again public input the need the proximity to bus stations et cetera The city did obtain a federal grant through the vermont agency of transportation for the completion of this project, which alleviated some of The money that would have been otherwise needed from taxpayer dollars This amount was about 220 thousand dollars, which was which is great That does mean that we there are a certain amount of federal guidelines and protocols that we have to follow Which does stretch out the timeline a little bit So the timeline In march 2016 the design consultant Was selected and from march 2016 to july 2016 was project initiation ground survey And in 2016 july 2016 started public outreach efforts utility coordination All the federal and state processes which included the project permitting and investigation Environmental assessments right of way planning and acquisition and of course the design work and construction estimates All elaborate a little bit more on those steps to the next slide, but in july 2017 City council approved the north avenue lane reconfiguration and that solidified The project scope to what it is today We're currently in the pre-construction phase back in january we Um posted the project put the project out to bid um And we got a couple a couple of proposals Since then we have selected a contractor and a resident engineer And we are slated to go to construction at the end of next month So federal funding requirements as i previously touched on um there's A number of requirements that we need to follow to use federal dollars First and foremost is to execute a cooperative agreement With the state of vermont We have to use external design consultants. We cannot use our own forces To to design the project There's a very iterative Design and review process with a bit variety to see a transportation and and the federal government We're required to Make a number of submittals including conceptual plans preliminary plans final plans Conceptual plans and project estimates and those all require Certain number of weeks even even months to Um to to work through through v-trans so it's a it's pretty lengthy process We need to process federal and environmental documentation through fhwa. This includes environmental Assessments make sure that we're not um negatively impacting The environment and um causing An increase in and impervious Um And overall increase in impervious surfaces that We can't counteract We have to go through a right-of-way phase Again a very iterative process that requires Right-of-way plans acquisition right-of-way clearance From the city and from v-trans We have to obtain utility clearances and we have to procure our construction contracts again because We're not allowed to use any of our own forces for for any construction operations so Some of the crossing features include Rectangular rapid flashing beacons or rfb's a lot of you are probably familiar with Several of these throughout town including pine street their Pedestrian initiated flashing beacons. They're they're pretty great ADA accessible concrete sidewalk ramps so that makes facilities accessible for for everybody and safe It will be providing new crossing facilities that exist existing bus up locations where they're greatly needed today um One good feature is a bump out on ward street, which is I have I think I have a photo later, but it just kind of it's like a curb extension that goes into the road So it enhances the visibility for pedestrians and shortens the crossing distance Pain and centerline medium mediums and some of the intersections to narrow the travel travel lanes Produces a track at traffic calming effect at a couple of the intersections New street lights to meet lighting standards for crosswalks And restraping existing crosswalks Just a quick vote of the rfb's again a lot of you are probably familiar with these But they're solar powered and they have a pedestrian push button then they Just flash and and make pedestrians visible to oncoming traffic Um, just an example of one of the intersections. This is kayuga court and green anchor strives So here we have the painted mediums that kind of narrow the travel way approaching the intersection Um, I think these are yeah, these are repainted crosswalks new 88 compliant sidewalk ramps And our new street lighting and rfb's will be located at crosswalk here Um traffic controls always a concern for good reason Um traffic is going to be maintained in accordance with state and federal specifications The contractor will be required to submit Traffic control plans which will be reviewed by dpw Myself included the resident engineer vtrans So we can make sure that we're maintaining a safe Safe and well operating Um traffic and um We don't anticipate any Significant traffic disruptions Will occasionally have to Close a lane or close a shoulder to make room for some striping or for maybe some curb work But we don't anticipate any closures or any major disruptions like that. Um, we will If any major disturb disruptions do pop up or Even even minor ones. Um, we will Communicate that to the public well beforehand Um and pedestrian access will be maintained throughout the project site at all times. So Um for me any Any questions So, um, I live on kayuga court and I cross there Pretty often with my two-year-old to get to the bus stop because it's on the other side of the street um, so I guess my question is if Yeah, you're aiming to get this done by august But if it doesn't get done this construction season What's the backup plan to make sure that no one else loses their life on north? Because that happened this year This project will get completed this year The hardest part of getting this project Uh, completed is where we've come to today at this point with a construction contract signed We are ready to go and I'm excited. Olivia has joined the team here at public works She's a new engineer for us to give us the capacity to get this project across the finish line So, uh, you have my word that we will get it done this season It's it sounds to me like an awful lot of the cost of this is comes from the feds. Was it worth Taking all that money from them. I'll bet you if nothing else all this money has to go out to the city We could be paying locals to design it and do the right things I I don't want their money And I don't I bet you you two engineers could have done it Much cheaper if you just done it with logic and not federal rules Sir, I'll take a stab at that. It's a good question We have been able to use while yes, we couldn't use our own internal staff We were able to use external staff which allowed our team to focus on other projects So I will acknowledge and let's not kid ourselves all those extra steps Do require extra time and extra resources But fundamentally, uh, the it is a net positive to the local taxpayer For us to bring in these external funds Uh, we were able because we outsourced the design work to get Seven miles of paving done last year over three miles of sidewalk and a number of other projects So I hear your point. It does cost us extra money. It is still a net positive What's going to be the overall cost to this and I would remind everybody it's not federal money It's our money. It's tax money So the total cost of the project is $330,000. So with the $220,000 about $110,000 of local matching My question is I wanted to see I picture the bump out and try to see if that's Possible to do another another streets and how do you determine that? That's a good bump out or that street deserved one is supposed to the other ones Um, and can you clarify how many RFBs will be per Crosswalks, so I think total is five Yes, so one on each one on each side for each crosswalk Yep And so as far as the bump outs go, um, the bump about works here because we have um parking on either side of the bump out Um, for some areas it doesn't we don't necessarily have that extra width or perhaps there's there are other plans for That quarter there's there's bike lanes that we just can't put a bump out across Sometimes there's storm water that we have to think about. Um, this one. We were able to make it work for the storm water um, but there it kind of just depends on on the intersection and The overall plans for that The street I'm interested in what's in front of Cambry and So these are the locations that are going to get constructed through this grant in addition there will be two crosswalks Across Cambry from Cambrian rise across north avenue as well that are getting constructed by the developer and not by us Yes, the northern crosswalk was put in there will be another one at their south road And then they're planning on relocating. There's currently a midblock crossing over to the gas station Uh, they're going to be moving that slightly to come out where the shared use path comes up from the burlington bike path And hits north avenue to facilitate an old north end to bike path connection I just sorry That crosswalk doesn't currently have a signal On it is is that crosswalk at Cambrian rise going to have a signalized crossing I don't think that there will be one to start Um, I just want to say thank you. I'm really excited about the work that you're doing And I think it's a good use of tax dollars to make our community safer and more livable and A school commissioner. I'm glad that our students will have a safe place to cross the avenue. So thank you very much I also wanted to say thank you for putting the hard work into this The one question I do have is are you going to also be installing the chirping devices so that folks who are blind will be able to know when The lights have changed. Yeah, those will those are Typical to rfb all rfb Just to be clear for rfbs. It does not stop motorists So while yes, there will be some audible indication that the lights are on This is a different situation signalized intersection where pedestrian gets a walk signal and there's an audible note to let them know that they have Right to enter the crosswalk. So Just note that these are advisory devices and we ask pedestrians to wait for traffic really to yield before they enter the crosswalk You you mentioned that um ward street is going to have a bump out and there's parking on both sides of the street Um, I thought that when we did the north avenue quarter study that phase two was going to Remove parking on the south end of north avenue Um, is that still going to happen? Uh, so it's a good question. Uh, there is parking only on one side of north avenue down by ward street The what olivia I think was saying was parking on both sides of the bump out on that same side of the street So, uh, there is a northbound bike lane in that location. Uh, the Uh plan btv walk bike did Come up with the concept of greenways and helping people get around and off busy streets So one of the recommendations, uh prior to parking being Potentially removed on that section of north avenue was to create a neighborhood greenway on lake uterus And so those signs and markings are expected to go in this year Yeah, but when you were doing the north avenue by quarter study The the thought was that you were removing Parking in our neighborhood and also it was going to happen in the south end and For you to say that they're now the bikes are now going on lakewood estates or lake uterus yeah, um The the bikers Very adamantly said you wouldn't drive just Montpelier to go to or you wouldn't drive to st. Albans to go to montpelier So, I don't understand why that philosophy isn't still working and why Parking isn't being removed from the south end of north avenue as was promised So one of the pieces as we unfold the plan btv walk bike is we do look for where we have active projects and other construction projects This last year we removed parking on lower Pine street this year we're proposing going to the commission to remove parking on flin avenue to start implementing that plan We can and did discuss in the north ab corridor the possibility of removing parking on that Western side of north avenue. That is not an active Request at this point or an active project But is in we have we haven't implemented all of the plan yet. So we haven't initiated that effort yet Do you all have um more presenting about north avenue and construction on north avenue? Was tonight's presentation just about the crosswalks. That's what we had understood We are we are planning to come back in april To do the whole construction season soup the knots uh and have a An overview to hand out Yeah, yes, um dpw does have a agenda request in with the steering committee to come back And talk about all the other projects at the april meeting Haven bits just came back tuesday. So we're still We can thanks and would have a much better update for you in april Thanks for all the improvements you've done around the city. I especially the last summer there was an incredible amount of work done And I really appreciate the improvements for bicyclists in town and i'm looking forward to more this summer But one thing that I was and this presentation kind of explains Why it's taken so long for crosswalks on north avenue, but i'm still Miffed that You know and I walk around the old north end and the hill section a lot because I work at uvm And we have the fancy flower pots with the white You know traffic calming devices and I know those cost money to put in Why do those have priority over crosswalks on north avenue where we're just trying to cross the street, you know And and I see it's like different costs and months right and Your your insight is correct. Uh, we were able with this federal funding source to apply for Durable infrastructure capital dollars a lot of what you're seeing with the flowers And the ballers are not durable infrastructure that we could have applied for that type of funding for local dollars Are more flexible dollars and can be implemented more quickly That's part of our quick build program and the intent of that is to experiment and deploy and if successful Then we can install curve and the expensive Capital improvements that are durable for the long term. It just would have been nice to see him last summer Yeah, and I and I will say we had four other federally funded pedestrian projects over the last seven eight years This north avenue crosswalk project will be the quickest of getting from grant funding to construction We did the cliff street sidewalk. We did the flin avenue sidewalk Those took Six to eight years. We did the um, well the one we haven't gotten to yet the Champlain Uh, elementary pedestrian improvement project is still moving towards construction And then we had the colchester avenue project which took a similar amount of time So I acknowledge that four years seems like a long time and it and it is but this is going to be a durable improvement for generations Any other questions? Thank you. Um, thank you, sir and Colchester avenue, you know, we have a crosswalk there But it's always very hard for drivers to see the beacon flashing in the morning and I was just wondering Or here do you have any plan in making sure that? Um, the car drivers can see the beacon driving, especially in the beginning Wednesday and so Sure, um One of the things we talked about how many rfb's will there be one of the things we have done in burlington As our standard design is not only have the rfb's on both sides of the road, but have the lights flashing both directions So there's really four sets of rapid flashing beacons two facing one way to the other That's the city going over and above to ensure that drivers are going to see north avenue is also in north south road Not experiencing the same kind of early morning or late evening Kind of driving into the sun and not being able to see these and our engineering team has worked hard to locate these Ensure sight lines so that they will be safe You get a number of bollards between the police department and park street How many times are they going to get knocked down before you give it up and just leave it alone? Thank you pat. Um, so we have uh worked on enhancing our Pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure We are exploring these quick build installs that are lower cost to try out These designs and then figure out how to tweak it adjust it Before we consider making an expensive capital improvement. I do acknowledge that that has been a difficult area It's been a difficult area for our plow teams to navigate around those And I give our plow team a lot of credit for navigating burlington's narrow streets We are taking that Experience is saying okay. What do we do there? There it for dominant left turn there from uh from battery on to Sherman street there So it is one that our team is looking and reviewing We just installed it last year and trying to figure out how to improve protection while Being able to maintain it through the year and provide it safe for drivers. It is a complicated balance and we're still working on Okay, thank you. We look forward to seeing you in april and we'll be in touch to Finalize the agenda topics for april. Great. Thank you so much for having us. Yep Anybody would like my business card for some contact information? You can see me. I'm happy to hand them out Okay, so for the final uh segment of our meeting, uh, we're going to invite our We have two of our city council folks here and Our and two of our school board people and two of our city council folks here up to the table We were We were informed that the two state reps Mr. Hooper and Gino Sullivan Are delayed in Montpelier. So so they're not available So The other um We'll get you some microphones in a minute folks, but the other uh in introducing this segment of our meeting The steering committee is really trying to enhance the concept of dialogue. So Unlike past meetings, we're actually going to start this meeting with our You know access to our elected officials With questions from the audience so that we can begin this segment with Dialogue and questions that are on your mind and then if School board or city council folks have specific Messages that you want to deliver then that will be an opportunity to do that In responding to some of the questions. So again, uh focus on dialogue and kind of Turn this dynamic around a little bit. So, um, I'm going to give up my microphone Or for anybody has any Actually, let's do it this way Jeff if if you can Give the microphone to folks who have questions and I'll give Our The speaker table the other one. Okay Make sure they're working My first question is why can't the snow plows get closer to the curb? Why can't the sidewalks in Burlington be cleared to the point you don't have to climb the mountain to put a coin in the parking meter And the one this year to my heart is wonder. We're going to get a sidewalk or turn our street back into a dead end how to scroll We just miss mr. Spencer here He would have been the but uh, I obviously I know what you're doing Spencer So mr. Spencer, uh, we're talking about the the snow plow distance to the road and and uh, preventing those mounds up between the parking meters. Um, and then this Second question from the the gentleman is regarding the end of cottage grove I think there's been a summer quest from the neighbors in that area to have you guys looked into Yeah, okay, you know what I'm talking about. Yes So on the first question around the parking meters It is quite time consuming to shovel around the parking mirrors We do once once we plow the streets and the sidewalks We clear out some neighborhood streets that are too narrow to allow passage without removing snow Then we move to removing snow downtown and we do it on Overnights from 2 a.m. To 7 a.m. So that we can get around without parked cars in the way We to do that more efficiently one of the things we're doing as you see on st Paul street that we're reconstructing is we're going from parking meters to parking kiosks So instead of having 20 poles or 30 poles that we have to go around and then we have to plow out to Four kiosks per block that we can shovel out and give everybody safe access to those kiosks here around So that's the first answer to help that issue the second question of cottage grove We have seven miles of sidewalk of streets that have no sidewalk We have 95 miles a total street so you can do the math There's a percentage of streets including cottage grove that do not have sidewalk Cottage grove is a challenging one in that the street in the right of way is very narrow If we want to advance the sidewalk project there It is likely going to either remove parking or impact people's Green space next to their homes. It is a tight corridor That said our goal is to have a sidewalk along one side of every street in the city We need to find grant funds to expand the sidewalk network a lot of what we're doing is replacing sidewalk That's crumbling. We're trying to secure other people's money to expand the sidewalks network. Thank you So I on my way to this meeting tonight I drove down cottage grove because I've been seeing a lot of posts on front porch forum About that situation And I do occasionally use that as a shortcut particularly when the schools when the app If I need to come down star farm road When the school's getting out and everybody is Making that congested sometimes I do use that and I try to be cognizant of not driving fast there would it be usable to closed off A dead-end street again and force people You know make it not an option for people from my neighborhood to drive through Would it be even feasible to do a survey of the residents there? Two questions one would the residents who are there support it? and you know when gray birch came in it it ceased being a A dead-end street should we get that end street again? Um, I excuse all right. I'm going to Exercise my moderator prerogative here and try to refocus the conversation with our elected officials And unfortunately ask that some of that conversation is going to have to We're going to have to save that to april When dpw comes back if you want to talk about street configuration so Here we go. Let's try this again I have a question for One of the councilmen What can be done if anything about the camping that's going on in letty park? near hanna birds So it's all done if you notice gone It's going to be removed every day. It's there. It's going to be removed every day if they come back Okay, so this has been an ongoing issue for a long time I have worked hard. I have heard the city. It is gone. It is gone as of monday morning And and we were promised that it won't come back. Okay What's that? growington police and so There's an ordinance, you know in the city that you know no camping in our public parks um I think we've been Locked with that in certain parks, but this particular campsite was right near soccer fields Right near softball fields We had a homeless veteran pass away there oddly enough on september 11th A very very nice man a very great man actually And it was really really sad It was one of the initiatives I worked on this summer I was really disappointed that There was no public statement issued on this man's death here in the new north end The city did not acknowledge the death What's that? Natural causes. He was a heavy heavy drinker. I think he had a lot to drink that night But he visited my store every morning for coffee. I got to know him personally He was a brilliant man He chose to be homeless. He actually had an apartment on east avenue in broonton He was very generous to the homeless people He would come out and Kind of mingle with them and take care of them and buy them things But he had chosen to be homeless I think he had had chosen that this is the way he kind of wanted to end his life to be perfectly honest with you but anyways, it was sad because I I Contacted the city. I contacted cito. I wanted his death acknowledged I wanted to make sure that his family knew he was a vietnam vet And I didn't get very far with it And I and I know those things are kind of dicey, right and they're Private information and it's hard to do but anyways getting back to the camp. It's gone It's not a great place for one. I am one city council that have advocated for years For a wet shelter, which we do have downtown. I've advocated for more money We have a place in broonton for people that have substance abuse problems that don't have to stay at night They don't have to stay outside at night, right? The city has gotten better. We could do much better, but we've gotten better Taking money out of our budget for the for the shelter downtown and so there is no reason for camp sites particularly in that particular site Around so many kids and so many families and so that site has been removed Um, so and it won't it won't return I think that's a great segue in what I wanted to say. I am part of the public safety committee and in the public safety committee The cd attorney alongside with the police our center they come up Yeah, um, they they come up with um an ordinance homelessness Uncomplement policy. That's what it's called. It's not adopted homelessness uncomplement policy So basically if homeless are camping somewhere where they're not supposed to right? There is now a proper way in coming talking to them The police alone cannot come and say you need to get out of here. There should be at least we give them warning 30 days 60 days And in most cases when the police should come police should not come alone Police should come with a professional like social worker Speak with them and make sure that they have access to services. So they do intake So basically you take your name and also put you on a waiting list for a shelter Now there are also other elements of it. Basically sometimes they they leave their belongings Bags their stuff and what the city is looking into right now If we move them away And sometimes they leave their stuff and the city takes it what the city will do with them So now people are you know brainstorming ideas. Yes, we need to talk to this person who owns this belong this building That is not using so we're figuring that out But now aclu Which is an organization is getting involved into this. It's not done there, but tomorrow We have the city The public safety committee meeting and I think that would be a hot topic There are homeless people will be also coming to speak on their behalf Now sometimes they camp in properties that doesn't belong to the city But Yeah, but and I think we have also an element where the community members need to weigh So what you talking about this government? I had no idea I had no existence But at the same time we have homeless homeless people who are camping in the woods. They don't bother anybody They don't want even all the homeless to come there and the police have no problem with those people But sometimes public place or private place People should not camp there So Just wanted to add that but tomorrow I think the conversation would be Interesting it will be a city hall at 5 30 Thank you all for everything you're doing I did just want to ask the school board members if there was an update on the principal searches And if there are still any opportunities to participate in that process Sure, we have a little Piring um, so there is a public forum on monday April 1st from 6 to 8 at located at IAA um, focusing on hiring principals for IAA essay and Champlain school Integrated arts academy so the H.O. Wheeler um And I don't know if you want the low down of all the principals in the town so So Flynn Flynn school here in the new north end Has an interim principal this year Who unfortunately didn't apply for the position? The search committee came up with three candidates three best candidates The superintendent Chose Lashon Whitmore cells who is currently the principal at essay sustainability academy or barns To be moved to Flynn however the school board voted that moved down And so now we're still trying to determine who has the final say in this And so so this was Two weeks ago yesterday that we voted this move down So it's taking a while to figure out what's going to happen there The high school search Um ended up we came down to one candidate, which is the current principal noble green um And the school board decided to extend his interim position for one year and this was done a week ago Or maybe 10 days ago and um Hopefully he will accept the interim position for one more year and We will urge the superintendent to get the application process going sooner get the ad out in october So that by end of january we're ready to make an offer because at this time All the other candidates that applied have already accepted positions elsewhere so um and then yet just um monday at iaa or h o wheeler public forum six o'clock Unfortunately, it overlaps with city council swearing in ceremonies There's nothing I can do about that Okay So I just had a quick question. I saw a lot of um Posts on front porch forum about the sort of increased costs of the park And I'm just wondering if we can just shed some light on where those costs are coming from because I saw a number of folks asking questions about where Where why is this extra money and where is it coming from? Yes So basically you're saying why the park cost has gone up from 4.6 to 5 why the bids has changed So I think there are one of them is a council You know because we've been delaying this project for years Since we started when I was city council We needed to create an ad hoc committee You know and sometimes when you make an agreement with the developers you have to respect it And also the cost of materials anything don't stay the same everything changes And I think one or the element is also the the soil contamination, which they did find out back then And also in one point The cd did not really look into The extra factors I like such as the environmental regulations And also waiting for some type of money And I do definitely do think that where we are right now it's not about Why it went up But why the council voted To move forward even though we knew that cost has changed But to me what's really important as an elected official Is downtown is a living room of the city Downtown is not should not be considered as any other neighborhood It's where businesses is taking place is where Tourists are coming. It's where we go to enjoy the city It should not be considered that way But this city has a culture of group of people stepping up sometimes and I don't say that before many people don't like it To sabotage involvement matter engagement matter, but also when you elected people you should let them give them the trust To lead the work and also you have You concern you speak up, but at the same time To not try to stop things I don't think that that that is fair to those people that we elect to do the work But specifically for the park. I think what's important is The taxpayers property taxes It's not more than 1.25 million dollars And also my amendment that I introduced is for the mayor to keep on looking another 250,000 dollars, which pass also at the council, right? This park is going to be beautiful. This park is going to be wonderful We all going to enjoy it. It is going to make Burlington stay competitive Stay the best in in in the region You know and at the same time We will enjoy it north avenue When we were driving to bike lane Huge problem. Many people didn't like it and people who Were against it come to me and say they enjoy it change is hard right That's just I'll just be brief on the park it's either You wanted us to To do the park and it's a very expensive park. I'll be the first to say it was before the increases Right. It's a that's a big price tag To reduce the whole park. Do I think it desperately needed it? Yes Do I Do I think that I would like to see our park as an extension of church street and welcoming for everybody and having shows And events in that park. I do Okay But with delays came cost rise We we tried to work with the keep it park green people which I have a lot of respect for But you know in that and those delays and pushing the dates back the rates went up You know product goes up sd. Ireland The two the two people that bid on the project are now telling us You know if we didn't have a deadline by march 31st that they weren't wouldn't be able to start the project this summer You know, it's there's a lot of things concert. Nodale spoke to these things brandately monday night actually So why cost go up in these things and what happens in these big projects? And I actually Felt bad that we had taken some money away because this is my thought on this It is a very expensive project But if you're going to do it, you might as well do it right And what we did monday night is that we kind of We kind of took the public bathrooms out I mean, how do you do that? I mean that was the big part of this thing, right? So right now we approved this project And I spoke against this right We took the public bathrooms out And then we took some beautiful granite work being done, which was expensive I get it and but now it's just going to be concrete So in 10 years we'll be pricing the concrete, right? Well, I mean, we just really didn't do this project justice Even on monday night when we passed this, right? I would have been much for the price tag that was there monday night Do the park once do it right and move on But we chose not to because there were counselors that were uncomfortable about the price cost And I understand that but at the end of the day you could pay now or you could pay later And if we do these projects now and we think we're going to put the bathrooms in later And we're going to do the nice granite work later the price tags are even going to be more And so that's very unfortunate and so It is what it is, but we'll go forward and we'll we'll do the best we can with it Question over there Hi, my name is Nancy and I It's kind of an announcement because I couldn't get here early But I want to invite everyone on april 11 to come back to the Miller Center regarding park Freddie park is got Slated to have a lot of changes potentially done to it. It's time to make a lot of improvements There's some interest in building a pump track there, which is a bike park similar to the skateboard park, but with sand and bikes so and improving trails and making other improvements So they decided to have a meeting that will Bring a lot of people and ideas can be shared and concerns can be made But thanks for taking care of Yes, we will. Yep. All right, april 11 Six to eight year And just for you that maybe might not realize it. There's a group that's been Together for a long long time I've had the privilege to work with them over the years and assist them but friends at letty park And that group is very strong. They'll all be here on the 11th I've always said one of the best decisions I've ever made some people in this room might not like it But you know when I spoke up and made sure that ultimate frisbee, you know the Golf frisbee would not go to letty park and and it turns out to be I think a good decision If when you look at the areas that they went to and the parks that they've ruined and water barrier in other places that it's really I I've always Thought that that was the right decision and letty park is a gem Here and I hope everybody comes on the 11th because it's a big meeting and it will be the future of letty park So I hope you can all come I'll be here as well Um, can I ask for clarification because gary rogers was here spoke earlier and the flyer he handed out says April 9th So is there a distinction between I think it's a ninth Right, so there are some flyers here at the miller center, correct So yeah, thank you nancy, but it is april night Okay, so as we are getting close to wrap up um I want to sort of go back to the table and ask if the school board folks have something additional to say and also um counselor elect Polino give you a few minutes as well, so Yep, before we do that. I don't need to hit we had a question. Do we do a week? We take them Okay, well in order to facilitate this conversation If everybody's willing to stick around for a couple more minutes after nine o'clock and we'll squeeze in A couple of questions and then we'll give the folks a chance to wrap up, okay Everybody agreeable How much could have been saved if we didn't do the water? Park thingy in the park That's a good question and I will say this is another sticking point in the city, right? There was there was a major personal donation made for that particular part of the park It's been done. It was done by the pommel family and they had a family friend who Had a little daughter that's been in a wheelchair. This was the story that we received Monday night and her entire life and was never able to Really go out and venture into water parks and into pools and and so the donation was made Really define that fountain area and turn it into a splash pad And and so we were told Monday night at the meeting that that was really non-negotiable that that the million dollar gift that we received was kind of you know dedicated to that particular area and So we were kind of tied to that and We've had that discussion in the city when we get major donations like that But I will say and I've said it all along That there are people like the pommel those and there's people like the peacores and other families that are very very generous to this city Okay, I've done amazing work okay, and And by and and yes, they have the resources to do it But there's a lot of families that have resources that don't do what these families do They send 500 kids to summer camps the pommel family We get a lot of heat for taking these gifts I will tell you That they are well worth it in the long run for the quality of life for the city of bronyton and for our youth And so I never shy away. I'm thanking the pommel those or any other family that steps up and makes a gift like that Me it's part of bronyton And I I just appreciate the efforts that these families have done For for the city of bronyton and for the families of bronyton So I I know it's hard for some people to understand why that splash pad's there But there's a reason and I can argue that reason Thanks Commissioner gulick Thank you I'll take it as a good sign that we only had one question tonight regarding the school. So that's good. Thank you We wanted to say thank you to the voters of bronyton for passing the school budget that felt great All all the wards passed and it was close to 70 percent. So thank you so much for that Um, I also wanted to say that on april 2nd. So that's next tuesday. We will have our organizational board. So we will be revoting on a chair and a vice chair As well as a secretary And we will also be welcoming kendra source. Who's the new district board 4 and 7? commissioners, so that's exciting And I also just wanted to make a plea. I am on the early ed task force We're working on early education in the city of burlington And we would like to get as many people as possible to Fill out a survey about pre-k early ed in the city You do not have to have children. You do not have to be a toddler. It is for everybody Everyone who lives in burlington. So if you could go to the bsd Vt.org website, you will see it right there on that page. It says early ed task force releases pre-k survey If you click on that, it's an online survey. We're just trying to gather as much information as we can As we move forward with expanding pre-k in the city of burlington. So I would really appreciate that Thank you I just wanted to let everyone know that uh, we had a great beyond black history month event last friday at the high school We had almost 300 people in attendance And we saw performances by choirs from cp smith school and edmund school um, iaa children had the fifth and first grade buddies And the monday morning drummers performed us and as well as j. Colu performed, which is a city group and same with a 2v2 which i think stands for apricot to vermont There was a lot of tabling by local organizations And then the they fed us a nice dinner and there were sampling drummers at that Dinner so it was a nice event It was the second annual and I believe it's going to be held again march 2020 So try to put that on your calendar and it kind of moves around But typically we'll have it in march Because the superintendent says that black history doesn't end with february And he's right Councilor polin polino you got a few minutes. So I just want to say thank you to everybody. Uh, I know I introduce myself I want to I'm really uh truly honored to have received everybody's support I'm here to work with every single person in this room outside this room supporter non supporter And I've tried my best to meet people who've reached out to me Um, I have a couple announcements. I'll be at the bagel cafe every second and fourth saturday from eight o'clock Until nine unless people show up then I'll I'm certainly glad to Stay past that time I'm having an event on april 5th, which is a friday from five to seven. It's really just a welcoming event for me Franklin polino See there you go. So i'm just looking to introduce myself further and give you a chance. I will provide some food I'm excited what i'm going to be able to cook for the event, but more of a community event It'll be here at the miller center five to seven Um, I'll send out a facebook on frank polino for city council. Um, that's my page Um, I also plan on being at the jolly every so often I hope counselor dang and I know Counselor heart net and hopefully mr. Wright will will join us and I'm really just looking to bring everybody together and continue this conversation that were There are a lot of good ideas that I think we can put pencil to paper and And work together on so thank you Thank you, and I believe we have one more question I'll just leave it as a remark since we are closing after the night, which is just that you may have known That we did just pass the resolution of the npa to support $5,000 for the new north end And we hope that we'll have the council support for that. Um, and that we maintain our It's important to me that the npa may npa maintains its autonomy And I think that I just want to convey that I think there are a lot of people in this room Who are committed to making sure that this npa has energy and I think that $5,000 Is a very small Asked to be able to do that. So this is our our resolution. So yeah two words. So If you want to comment on it, that's fine, but it's also the end of the meeting. So I just want to I I do want to comment that because you're two of the counselors out here Counselor jang and myself are probably two biggest supporters of the npa resolution where the ones are brought to the Regional council and we'll be glad to support this even though I'm not on the council. I'll go to speak at that time I will take this opportunity Just to thank everybody. It's been an incredible eight years for me. I've been so lucky As I said on Monday night other than being a dad, this has been the best experience of my life There is nothing more humbling To grow up in this city attend the public schools Play it all the soccer and little league games right go to the high school here Run a business on north avenue for no 20 years Then have your family grow up and your daughter go to the school that you went to and your wife is working for the city It's just It's just so humbling to serve the city and then to go back and serve on the council It's just been an incredible incredible run I got some family issues with my mom that we're going to be dealing with we're going to take care of And if the opportunity ever comes back for me to be able to serve the city, I would want to do it I'm not burned out. I'm not frustrated I do give the administration hell once in a while and I do have their representation, but I look forward to being here at all the mpa's as I usually do I'll be staying on the pack. I'll be working closely with the schools, which are just The best value in this in the world at public schools here in broingson. I'm just unbelievable So anyways, I want just want to thank you. You'll see me around and I'll be active And I'll always be supporting the mpa's So thank you freedom All right, and with that I'd like to close our meeting by thanking all of our presenters In the audience. Thank you for all of your participation This is what makes it work and we will see you again on the fourth Wednesday of april Thank you very much. Good night