NOTE: Updated 2004 Jun 28 April & June minutes are on-line. Sorry for the delay--we are working to have the previous meeting minutes up by the end of May. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Lake Claire Neighbors Minutes of 2004 General Meetings and Executive Committee Meetings ----------------------------------------------------------------- Minutes of each meeting are added in reverse chronological order. Just scroll down until you find the latest meeting. We have an all volunteer staff, so there may be a delay in posting of minutes. ----------------------------------------------------------------- General Meeting 2004 Dec 09 Frazer Center ----------------------------------------------------------------- Executive Committee Meeting 2004 Nov 30 ----------------------------------------------------------------- General Meeting 2004 Nov 18 Frazer Center ----------------------------------------------------------------- Executive Committee Meeting 2004 Nov 09 ----------------------------------------------------------------- General Meeting 2004 Oct 21 Frazer Center ----------------------------------------------------------------- Executive Committee Meeting 2004 Oct 12 ----------------------------------------------------------------- General Meeting 2004 Sep 16 Frazer Center ----------------------------------------------------------------- Executive Committee Meeting 2004 Sep 07 ----------------------------------------------------------------- General Meeting 2004 Aug 19 Frazer Center ----------------------------------------------------------------- Executive Committee Meeting 2004 Aug 10 ----------------------------------------------------------------- General Meeting 2004 Jul 15 Frazer Center ----------------------------------------------------------------- Executive Committee Meeting 2004 Jul 06 ----------------------------------------------------------------- General Meeting 2004 Jun 17 Frazer Center Meeting called to order by Dan White At least 24 people and 3 guests in attendance. (unsure because people kept coming in late) Detective from 6th precinct spoke on thefts, said we need to record serial #s on our belongings, keep list in safe place, such as a safety deposit box, and to keep on lights on our porches to prevent stealing of potted plants. Another officer then spoke on one burglar they apprehended because the burglar dropped his own cell phone while fleeing the scene. Carl McCalla, running for Judge, DeKalb State Court, introduced himself and passed out fliers. Dan Salmond read letter drafted to potential buyers of the MARTA property located on DeKalb Avenue at Casson Street, about conditions that the neighborhood would like or dislike in a development of that sight. The letter would be from Dan White, our LCN president, and Natalyn Archibong, our Atlanta City Councilor. Included in some of the desirable conditions to LCN were to be pedestrian friendly, to have improved landscape buffer, to NOT include a gas station, and to have a maximum 3- story height. The letter also encouraged any prospective developer to contact the neighborhood association when considering purchasing the property. Someone stated that Clayton (with Robert Reed firm?) had said the development would make more money as dense residential with commercial zoning. Dan Salmond: PATH was complete from Rocky Ford to East Lake Marta station, crosses from Rocky Ford over DeKalb Avenue, going down DeKalb Place, up Howard Circle to McLendon Avenue, and up McLendon to Clifton Road. McLendon Ave. "improvements" update: Dan White said that designs on lane width were still being looked at, while the city halted any more construction on the project in Lake Claire until design modification plans had been finished and seen by Natalyn Archibong, but that bulb-outs should be made narrower to make room for the bike path. Construction was continuing in Candler Park, though. Dan White on budget - that we had positive civic projects in mind, half a dozen brought up by LC neighbors and that if funding is needed for a project, it needs to be brought to the Exec Com., then to the neighborhood meeting for a vote. He also mentioned that $1000 had already been donated to the Frazer Center for our work with Friends of the Frazer Forest. Also mentioned that expenditures over $100 must be voted on @ meeting. Pat Marsh spoke on home tour, to be October 9, from noon until 6 p.m., and that there would be 8 to 10 homes on the tour. Also, this year the home tour committee was going to try to find restaurants to sponsor each home and have their food at the home, enabling us to up price on tickets to $15 - $20. Also mentioned that we need to find these sponsors. It was brought up that some people were wanting to have secret ballots instead of a show of hands for voting on variances, because people did not want to foster bad feelings with neighbors when they voted against them, and also because they were intimidated in general about voting against the variances at the meetings. The vote on this matter will take place at the July meeting. Dan White mentioned that we would be returning funds to the general budget for things that had been earmarked over 2 years ago, but never acted upon. Rocke Thompson, a LCN for more than 35 years, with the Clifton Shelter at the corner of Connecticut and McLendon spoke about the shelter. He said that the shelter was a 501c nonprofit, and that the church had disbanded, but the shelter was staying. Susan Casey is our neighborhood rep. This fall is the 25th anniversary of the shelter, an emergency shelter and transitional housing for men. They would be having a anniversary celebration at Morningside Presbyterian Church, which was to include recognition of people who had "graduated" from the shelter. Also mentioned that the shelter needed help with advertising and selling tickets for the event. Someone brought up the fact that the shelter had actually been on the tour of homes at one time and that it would be a good idea to have it on the tour again this year as well to help give the shelter publicity and an opportunity to pass out literature on what the shelter does and what things it needs to be donated, including kinds of volunteer help. Also mentioned that the LCN actually met there at first. The center is having a garage sale on July 31 and needs donations of garage sale items but no clothing and needs help the Friday before to set up the sale. 404-373-3253 Doug Barlow mentioned that Koshi Yoga was moving into the church on the corner of McLendon and Nelms and that it had a street meals project. Dirk Botterbush of The Candler Park Market presented a check to the LCN for $250, proceeds from the last neighborhood wine tasting. He said that the next tasting would be on Monday July 12. Kathy Evans: There would be a Friends of the Frazer Forest workday on Saturday, June 26. Also that the DeKalb Ave. mural project , for the mural to be on the co-housing wall, would be selling panels for $40 each. Variances: Applicant Glen Kaplan continued on variance request done in May, when he had not been able to get signatures from the immediate neighbors. He is asking for a reduction in side yard setback from 17.5 feet to 7.5 feet on the Ridgewood side of the parcel. (Lot is on the northeast corner of Marlbrook and Ridgewood.) There was a lengthy discussion on this matter. Neighbor next door to the east is selling lot. Some neighbors were concerned about the trees and their roots if a full basement was dug out on the relatively flat lot. Neighbors also very concerned about having a huge boxy house looming over their bungalow sized houses and wanted a house that would blend in with the styles of the neighborhood. Neighbor Dina on the other side of Ridgecrest particularly upset about the large box appearance so close to the street and her house (if applicant were to get variance). Kaplan said he was willing to use the slab that the old shed/barn is currently on, instead of digging out the lot to have a basement garage and also mentioned other changes he was willing to do, such as reduce ceiling heights and reducing the height of the house from the ground. Also willing to try to reduce look of box house by using gables, inset room, porch, etc. Neighbors said they appreciated that he was willing to work with them, but still wanted to see drawings for the modified house scenarios. Kaplan said it would not create a hardship over time with him to delay the variance until next month and bring in new drawings. Neighborhood voted 14-0 to defer the variance until the next meeting. Tom Stemen at 2028 McLendon requested a variance to construct a 2nd story addition altering the roofline of his house, but not the footprint. Variance needed because existing house is 4.5 feet from property line. The roofline was to go up 4 feet in front. He had approval from all neighbors except one on Tuxedo. His variance was approved 15-0. Meeting lasted about 2 hours. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Executive Committee Meeting 2004 Jun 08 ----------------------------------------------------------------- General Meeting 2004 May 20 Frazer Center ----------------------------------------------------------------- Executive Committee Meeting 2004 May ----------------------------------------------------------------- General Meeting 2004 Apr 15 Frazer Center Meeting called to order by president Dan White. At least 28 people and 2 guests in attendance. (unsure because people kept coming in late) Officer Naylor reported crime stats from previous month--most of them had been reported in the April newsletter. 96 Corolla stolen, 6 vehicles broken into. Items taken were cell phones, sunglasses, money. Bikes are also often stolen from this area. Scott Pendergrast was introduced by Dan Solomon. Mr. Pendergrast is the real estate for MARTA. There was a discussion about MARTA property bordering Casson and DeKalb Ave. Talked about buying property through the Atlanta Development authority instead of letting it go to open auction. Possibly develop into community center (? Some group of neighborhood developers had mentioned this) or pedestrian friendly development. Said that the possibility of a Kirkwood rail line had been eliminated, so MARTA was now ready to sell this property. $620,000 & $415,000 would be the minimum bids for these 2 properties. MARTA hadn't decided when to offer these properties for sale, but June at the soonest. Mr. P. then explained the bidding process and how contingencies could be placed on bids. Someone asked who was in the "neighborhood group of developers," but Mr. Solomon replied that he'd rather not say at this point. Bruce Fort mentioned that commercial/residential zoning. Currently C2 zoning. We would have to have owner's support to change zoning. Kathy Evans spoke on the variance by applicant Glenn Kaplan for 1804 Marlbrook. The variance requested the 17.5 foot side yard setback be reduced to 7.5 foot on the Ridgewood side. Size of the house would be approx. 2800 square feet heated. A neighbor asked how high the house would be, but Mr. Kaplan said he wasn't sure. Mary Jo Bryan mentioned that it could not be higher than 35 feet without a variance on the height. Someone asked how close the house would be to the next door neighbor, and Mr. K. said 11.5 feet. Mr. Kaplan did not have all of the signatures from neighbors. The BZA meeting is a week from tonight's meeting. There was some discussion that the LCN had voted on a variance and let someone else go on to the BZA without all of the signatures, but someone else said that the missing signatures in that variance had not been line of site neighbors. Mr. Kaplan was told he needed to get the rest of the neighbors' signatures, ask for a delay at the NPU meeting, and come back to the next LCN meeting to get a vote on his variance. Ryan Gesser gave a McLendon Avenue update. Said we should see progress w/in the next 2 weeks. Some people had wanted a bicycle lane and others had wanted to preserve the trolley track (which was not feasible due to cost and space needed for traffic calming). Bicycle group very upset that bike area had been removed from plan. LC Freedom Park Conservancy, Andrea Rimer, talked about sidewalks added, need for more funding and staffing. Some art work would be put in park, starting with something honoring John Lewis for his role in the civil rights movement, which would go in near the Ponce de Leon Moe's. Said they also needed help with grant proposals and finding office space. Bob Schreiber said he thought LCN should pull out of the Freedom Park Conservancy since the neighborhood did not border Freedom Park. Others said that we might as well stay in it and have a vote as to what happens, and Andrea Rimer said that she would like to continue as our representative there. Dan White spoke on giving a $1000 donation to the Frazer Center for the forest. Some said that a donation like that should be raised by the Friends of the Frazer Forest (FFF), while others pointed out that the funds were needed to start building trails that were in very bad condition and causing runoff from damage done by local resident use. There were also discussions on earmarking the donation to the work done by FFF, while others said we should let the Frazer Center determine how the donation would be used. Then pointed out that the FFF could not continue work on trails and signage without the funds earmarked to the FFF. It was decided that someone from LCN should talk to the FC about this issue. It was decided to defer the vote on the donation until the next meeting. (13 voted to defer) Kathy Evans reported on the Atlanta Treekeepers, which is a group founded to strengthen the tree ordinance. More that 10,000 trees of diameter 24 inches or greater had been cut in Atlanta during (? Time period?) Noah Glassman was to discuss the noise problem on DeKalb Ave., but had to leave before the meeting was over, as it had lasted well past an hour. Rodney Zell came to announce that he was running for the DeKalb County Superior Court seat that was to be vacated. July 20 is to be the primary. Jeryl Rosh is running for KeKalb Probate Judge, primary also July 20. Meeting lasted about 2 hours. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Executive Committee Meeting 2004 Apr ----------------------------------------------------------------- General Meeting 2004 Mar 18 Frazer Center ----------------------------------------------------------------- Executive Committee Meeting 2004 Mar ----------------------------------------------------------------- General Meeting 2004 Feb 19 Frazer Center ----------------------------------------------------------------- Executive Committee Meeting 2004 Feb ----------------------------------------------------------------- General Meeting 2004 Jan 15 Frazer Center ----------------------------------------------------------------- Executive Committee Meeting 2004 Jan ----------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2004 Lake Claire Neighbors, Inc. P.O. Box 5942 Atlanta, Georgia 31107 http://www.lakeclaire.org/