Minutes for March 11, 2013
Update on Hoyt Park area plan
Lead: Toby
The last meeting of the Hoyt Park planning committee was on Monday, February 18. The city has incorporated changes discussed at the January and February meetings into a revised version.
There were quite a few changes that the committee is considering. Some about density, some on pedestrian/traffic issues. Minutes from the meetings are available on-line, but for them to make sense, you’ll want to reference the plan. (changes on the plan currently in blue are from the first revision, current ones will likely be in the next revision of the plan). Toby felt that it was a productive process, and that concerns and suggestions from the neighborhoods were being taken into account.
Release of the plan was originally set for March 4th, but has been pushed back, likely to the 18th or so. Then the neighborhoods will need time to go through the final plan and decide to accept or reject.
BJ also talked about the adoption process, and where the plan goes within the city before going to the Council for adoption.
Even if RBNA accepts the plan, it may be a good idea to reiterate some of the points that we feel strongly about as a group. Even if the plan includes the things we identified as key, we want to make sure they stay in the plan, and are remembered in future years.
There was interest expressed in having members review the letter before it is submitted. It will be drafted by a few key members/officers and then circulated for input. We will find out as soon as possible when the letter will be due.
Reminder: You can create an account with the City of Madison for email alerts about the Hoyt Park Plan: https://my.cityofmadison.com
Friends of Hoyt Park
Lead: BJ
Friends of Hoyt Park has requested a Rocky Bluff representative on their board. Their next meeting is Thursday, March 14 from 6:45 to 8:45 p.m. @ Sequoya Library. The board meets every other month (except Aug. and Dec.) on the 2nd Thursday of the month.
BJ will go this month, but not as a permanent basis. The Friends of Hoyt Park is going to vote at this month’s meeting about whether they want to add that seat to their board. Gunnar might do it going forward, but we can also open it up to the larger group at the April membership meeting.
http://www.hoytpark.org/index.html
Hoyt Park being included in a neighborhood association
Lead: Toby or Julianne
Toby explained that at the February 18 Hoyt Park planning meeting, the topic came up that Hoyt Park is bordered by several neighborhood associations and whether it should be included in Rocky Bluff or should it be separate and not be in any neighborhood association. At that meeting, Jule Stroick (City Planner) explained that the City likes to have a complete blanket of NAs, not going around parks, but including them. But the Friends of Hoyt Park feel a lot of stewardship and history caring for that area. The functions of a neighborhood association and a friends of a park group really are different, with overlap.
Jule offered to organize a meeting with reps of the bordering neighborhood associations to discuss this more along with how all the associations can work together with Friends of Hoyt Park. That will be for an hour before the Friends of Hoyt Park meeting on Thursday, March 14th. BJ, Phil and Carolyn will be attending. BJ would like some input to take to Jule and the other NAs.
Topics to be raised could include, does the City have the same obligation to send notifications to a Friends group as it does to communicate with NAs? That is something to ask, because if not RBNA could be serving an important service to Hoyt Park.
It was hard to imagine when we would be in conflict with the Friends of Hoyt Park, but of course, issues could come up, and leadership could change in the future.
Is there a precedent somewhere else in Madison where there is a friends group whose “territory” is within a NA?
We should clarify what the City’s preference is in situations like this – if the City really likes to have parks within NAs, then that carries some weight.
If it seems that removing Hoyt Park from RBNA’s boundaries, we would need to take it to the April membership meeting for a vote.
Friends of Quarry Park
Lead: Betty Bauhs
BJ, Gunnar and Betty met about Friends of Quarry Park, with Betty really taking the lead in getting it going. But we’re looking for someone to take it on going forward. Nathan and Jamie are also involved.
We have plans for garlic mustard removal in conjunction with Madison Parks Earth Day Challenge on April 27. The City will be giving us garbage bags and picking up, also matching volunteers to us. Day of, we’ll start about 9:00 at Stevens and Barlow at the gate, bags and ID hand-outs. Hanni who lives next door to the park is willing to help at a table to organize volunteers. Betty will do some pre-event scouting so we can get people in the places of high need. She will also put together a flyer that we can distribute to RBNA members, plus Sunset Village people that border the park. We’ll also reach out to the dirt bike group.
We should also have sign up sheets there for Friends of Quarry Park, future clean up, etc.
Another work day could be dealing with trees and branches that came down from winter storms.
Make Music Madison
Lead: BJ
Email was sent to members in February explaining this. Is there interest among members to pursue this further? BJ said that one of his neighbors might be interested, but it doesn’t seem like it’s a great fit with our territory or our members. Maybe the church parking lot? It would definitely need someone who would really coordinate it. No one has come forward yet.
RBNA website
Lead: Barb Wagner
Barb got it up and running at www.RockyBluffMadison.org so check it out! Feel free to submit ideas for content, photos, etc. Please review and give us suggestions. We’ll plan to put agendas and minutes on the web site, and that way, we can just send people a link to that. We’ll also put the by-laws another founding documents there. For now, Barb will continue maintaining/developing it.
Things we’d like the website to do:
- Display documents, like meeting minutes or pdf’s
- A moderated community bulletin board
- Post events
- Link to our Facebook page
- Provide history and stories of the neighborhood
- About RBNA – mission, constitution, by-laws, officers, geographic boundaries
- Links
- Contact us
- Photos
Nominees for Treasurer
Lead: BJ
Need nominees at this March 11 meeting so that we know if there is more than one person interested.
Treasurer will be elected at April annual meeting
Monday, April 8 Annual Meeting
Lead: BJ and Toby
Amendments to be voted on:
- Meetings will be held at least quarterly.
- Special meetings may be called by two officers with at least one week’s notice.
- In the case of no business to conduct, a quarterly meeting can be canceled by two officers, with as much notice given to the membership as possible.
- Annual meeting will be held in the second quarter of the calendar year (April to June)
Toby will lead the meeting as BJ is on vacation
BJ contacted First Baptist Church and the lower level meeting area has been reserved
Time will be 7 – 9 on Monday, April 8th