Minutes of CONA Meeting

7:00 p.m., March 19, 2008

City Hall Building

Bloomington, Indiana

Board Members Present:
6th & Ritter - David Walter
Arden Place - Kathy Berry
Elm Heights - Kathie Holland
Southampton - Richard Carr
McDoel Gardens - Elizabeth Cox-Ash
Prospect Hill - Sarah Ryterband
Eastside - Molly O'Donnell
Maple Heights - Greg Alexander

Business Meeting

The minutes from the February 19, 2008 meeting were approved as corrected.
David Walter reported treasury balances as follows: Checking: $672.83 and Savings: $7,777.65. The reimbursement for Dan Burden's speaking fee has been deposited along wit dues from Old Northeast, 6th & Ritter Longwood-Devon, Sycamore Knolls, Matlock Heights, Bryan Park, Prospect Hill and McDoel Gardens.
The Board discussed CONA's web site www.conaonline.org. The site is hosted by Smithville Digital on their Bluemarble server. Smithville Digital wrote a letter stating that, because of lack of business for the server that they were going to discontinue the server and CONA will have to move their web site to a new provider. Greg Alexander said that he could host the web site on a spare server that he has at no cost to CONA. Greg said that he is hosting other web sites for non- profits and it would not be a problem for him to provide this service. After some discussion, Molly O'Donnell made a motion to accept Greg's offer and move the CONA web site to his server. The motion was seconded by Elizabeth Cox-Ash and the motion passed by voice vote.
David Walter then opened a discussion about the CONA web site and how it might be made better. David noted that the web site was developed as a class project by IU students several years ago. The web site appearance has been the same and the photographs are now out of date. Greg Alexander said he can update the web site monthly and add any content to the web site if it is sent to him. This can be neighborhood news, information about upcoming events and links to other web sites. He said it is be possible to add a Wiki - an on-line document that anyone can add to or change - on the web site so that people can make comments and add information to topics of interest.
Sarah Ryterband reported that the Prospect Hill neighborhood association is going to follow the lead of McDoel Gardens and request City Council approval for a Conservancy District for their neighborhood. Elizabeth Cox-Ash said that she had spoken to three other neighborhood associations that were interested in being Conservancy Districts. Sarah said that the City Council will consider their request on April 9 and April 16. Sarah asked the CONA Board if they could attend the meetings to show their support. It was noted that the second date is the same night as the CONA Board meeting, so perhaps after the CONA meeting Board members could go downstairs to the City Council meeting to participate.

David Walter asked her if the April 9 meeting will be the first or second hearing for the ordinance. David said that the City Council has to hear the ordinance three times - the first time it is read into the record, the second time they have an initial exchange of information and a preliminary vote, and the third time the City Council takes a final vote to approve or disapprove of the ordinance. David explained it is important to appear for the last two meetings to be able to voice an opinion and support Prospect Hill's request.

Molly O'Donnell asked if there was any opposition to the request. Sarah responded that a couple of people who own a property near 3rd and Rogers seem to be opposed, but she has not found a great deal of opposition otherwise from the neighborhood. Elizabeth Cox-Ash said that when McDoel Gardens made the request that there were signed petitions against the ordinance however, over the years the property values have come up in the neighborhood and several homes have been sold to families who appreciated the protection of the Conservancy District.
David Walter said that he would not be able to attend the April CONA Board meeting. He asked if someone could take meeting minutes for him. He has arranged for Miah Michaelsen, the Assistant Economic Development Director for the Arts from the City of Bloomington Mayor's Office to present a program on the Bloomington Entertainment and Arts District at the April meeting.
David Walter reported that the Redevelopment Commission was considering using TIF (Tax Increment Funds) from the Downtown TIF for roof replacement and exterior repairs to the Buskirk-Chumbley Theater. The theater is owned by the City of Bloomington and it receives an operating subsidy from the TIF. The theater is used for about 300 performances or events each year which brings a lot of people downtown. The theater is considered an economic development for the city's downtown and therefore is eligible to receive funding from the TIF. When the theater was restored by the Bloomington Area Arts Council, there were not enough funds available to pay for a new roof. It is now critical to replace the roof and repair the exterior masonry to keep the building dry.
David Walter reported that he and Jack Baker had decided to disband the Planning Committee as of this year. David said that the Planning Committee was one of the oldest committees, predating the formation of CONA. It was originally called the Neighborhood Association Group (NAG) and a few representatives from the core neighborhoods would meet with Mayor Allison to make her aware of neighborhood concerns and request services from the city departments. It was out of this group that CONA was formed and became a legal non-profit organization.

Because Jack Baker is on the Plan Commission and Planning Department provides adequate information on their web site and through the local newspaper about upcoming projects as well as having their meeting broadcast on local cable TV, it appeared to Jack and David that they were not getting any new information that was not already available.

David also said that the city is much better about responding to neighborhood problems such as over occupancy, trash, parked cars and loud parties than it used to be when NAG first started meeting. Kathie Holland said that she would miss the Planning Committee report and hoped that CONA would still be the first to know of what is going on in the city.

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 8:00 PM.