The Buckhead Council of Neighborhoods Board Meeting July 11, 2013 Peachtree Presbyterian Church 6:30 – 8:30 PM Meeting Minutes
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The Buckhead Council of Neighborhoods Board Meeting July 11, 2013 Peachtree Presbyterian Church 6:30 – 8:30 PM Meeting Minutes Attendees Full Name Neighborhood/Organization Email Address 1 Yolanda Adrean City Council District 8 [email protected] 2 Jay Ash Watershed Management 3 Andrea Bennett NPU‐B Chair ‐ North Buckhead [email protected] 4 Gordon Certain North Buckhead [email protected] 5 Charles Cobb Brandon [email protected] 6 Kathy Collura Peachtree Heights East 7 Tom Gordon Ardmore Park [email protected] 8 Tiffany Harlow Zone 2 Community Prosecutor [email protected] 9 Diane Horton Neighbor Newspapers 10 Barbara Kennedy Collier Hills [email protected] 11 Jim King Chastain Park [email protected] 12 Walda Lavroff North Buckhead [email protected] 13 J. S. Lynn COA Watershed Protection 14 Ann O'Connell Mt. Paran‐Northside [email protected] 15 Garth Peters Memorial Park & Buckhead [email protected] 16 David Ross Peachtree Battle Alliance [email protected] 17 Margaret E. Tanner Deputy Commissioner, Watershed [email protected] 18 Megan Thornton Northside Neighbor [email protected] 19 Tom Tidwell West Paces Northside tom@tidwell‐law.com 20 Dan Whisenhunt Buckhead Reporter [email protected] 21 Jack Whittaker Buckhead Forest [email protected] 22 Jackson Wilson Grant Estates [email protected] Representation by Neighborhood Neighborhood Attendees (Designated BCN Rep/Alt shown in bold) 1 Ardmore Park Tom Gordon 2 Brandon Charles Cobb 3 Buckhead Forest Jack Whittaker 4 Chastain Park Jim King 5 Collier Hills Barbara Kennedy 6 Grant Estates Jackson Wilson 7 Memorial Park Garth Peters 8 Mt. Paran‐Northside Ann O'Connell 9 North Buckhead Gordon Certain, Walda Lavroff, Andrea Bennett 10 Peachtree Battle Alliance David Ross 11 Peachtree Heights East Kathy Collura 12 West Paces Northside Tom Tidwell BCN 2012/13 Officers (Executive Committee) Office Officer Neighborhood E-mail Chairman Jim King Chastain Park [email protected] Vice-Chairman Tom Tidwell West Paces Northside [email protected] Secretary Gordon Certain North Buckhead [email protected] Treasurer Barbara Kennedy Collier Hills [email protected] Communications Bob Schneider Garden Hills [email protected] Member at Large George Mirgorod Pine Hills [email protected] Member at Large Ann O’Connell Mt. Paran Northside [email protected] Parliamentarian Glenn Delk Historic Brookhaven [email protected] BCN Board Meeting Minutes – July 11, 2013 BCN Standing Committees Committee Chair E-mail Executive Committee Jim King [email protected] Communications Committee Bob Schneider [email protected] BCN 2012/13 Liaisons Topic Liaison E-mail Education Leslie Churchill [email protected] Membership (Open) Parks Gordon Certain [email protected] Property Taxes George Mirgorod [email protected] Public Safety Barbara Kennedy [email protected] Tad Linder [email protected] Kim Kahwach [email protected] Redistricting Jim King [email protected] Transportation, Development and Infrastructure Diane Cox [email protected] Ron Grunwald [email protected] Deborah Wathen [email protected] Kristy Gillmann [email protected] I. Welcome & Introductions Jim King called the meeting to order at about 6:35 PM. II. Approval of Minutes Minutes for the May and June meetings were not approved due to the lack of a quorum. III. Admit New Member Neighborhoods No neighborhoods asked to be admitted to BCN. IV. Guest Speaker - Deputy Commissioner Margaret Tanner, Watershed Pprotection, Atlanta Watershed Management Margaret Tanner is a professional engineer who runs the city’s Office of Watershed Protection. Her email address is [email protected], and the Watershed Management web site is at www.AtlantaWatershed.org. Watershed Protection deals with the watersheds, the runoff that comes from those watersheds, the health of streams, and the health of the ecosystem. This includes stormwater, which has a big impact on the city. See Margaret’s presentation at http://tinyurl.com/WPBCN. This has been a particularly rainy year, with rain so far this year is at double normal levels. What can the city do about rainfall? Bigger pipes? No, that just makes the problem worse, causing more erosion with streams being deepened and widened. Instead, they want to restore what they can and make it more natural. However, development leads to impervious surfaces. Surfaces are paved and covered with buildings. Soil becomes compacted by heavy equipment used in construction and will not absorb water like it once did. Some parts of the city are now 90% impervious. The consequence of development is increased erosion and pollution. Stream flow becomes more irregular, with reduced “base flow”, affecting the ability of fish to survive. Watershed Protection advocates “Green Infrastructure” to address the problems resulting from development. The idea is to slow water flow down and get the water to soak into the soil. Page 2 of 6 BCN Board Meeting Minutes – July 11, 2013 The city implemented a new “Post-Development Stormwater Management Ordinance” this year. It requires adherence to Green Infrastructure for new development and significant redevelopment. This web page has links to many relevant documents: www.atlantawatershed.org/greeninfrastructure/. In particular, see “Green Infrastructure for Single Family Residences” at http://tinyurl.com/WPBCN2. New FEMA flood maps are available for the City of Atlanta. See page 36 of 38 from her presentation. Margaret also provided a handout of the new FEMA flood map for Buckhead. See http://nbca.org/BCN/Minutes/Buckhead Flood Map.pdf. An attendee asked how we get a flood map of particular neighborhoods. Margaret said to send her an email ([email protected]) and she will forward it to the appropriate person. In an answer to another question, she said if stormwater flows from one property to another, that is a private property issue and the City doesn’t get involved with that. Another questioner asked if we get help with things like rainwater harvesting and cisterns. She said to send her an email. She said rainwater harvesting groups exist around the country—google “rainwater harvesting atlanta”. Page 3 of 6 BCN Board Meeting Minutes – July 11, 2013 Restoration projects were also discussed. This sometimes involves “laying back” a creek’s bank, which widens the creek and slows the water flow. Sinuosity restoration is another restoration technique – natural streams don’t flow in a straight channel and that slows the water flow. V. Committee and Liaison Updates Communications Committee – No report. Education – Tom Tidwell said new millage rate is the same as last year, but since the tax digest has increased since last year, tax increase hearings were being held. Executive Committee – Did not meet. No report. Membership – No Report. Parks – No Report. Property Taxes – No Report. Public Safety – Barbara Kennedy said Major Hobbs had reported that larcenies from autos were up 1%, burglaries were down 4%, auto theft is down 5%. Don’t leave stuff in your car or you risk being broken into. She said Hobbs added that home invasions typically are not random crimes – there’s usually more to the story Redistricting – No Report. Transportation, Development and Infrastructure – Jim King said he had contacted Laura Beall of the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority about speaking to BCN about the topic of Developments of Regional Importance (DRIs). He expected her to come in August or September. There are rumors of the redevelopment of the Rose Hill apartments on Rowell Road in North Buckhead. There was discussion of another development on Peachtree Road at Collier Road in the area near Café Intermezzo – the neighborhood is concerned. The redevelopment of the old Atlanta Jewish Community Center is being considered as a rehabilitation center. The conversations between Buckhead Forest and Peachtree Road United Methodist Church were reported to be “not fruitful” thus far. The neighborhood remains hopeful. VI. Old / New Business Bylaws Change Email Voting Sufficient ballots were submitted in June to approve this bylaws change. Revised bylaws are available http://nbca.org/BCN/BCN_Bylaws.pdf. Film Ordinance – Yolanda Adrean reported that the film city ordinance had been passed. The neighborhoods were left out originally, but a lot of language was added to protect neighborhoods. There will be a 24x7 hotline available to the public. The ordinance includes notice provisions. XII. Community Concerns – No Report. XIII. Announcements – None. IX. Next Meeting – August 15, 2013 X. Adjourn - The meeting adjourned at about 8:15 PM. Note: The opinions expressed by the speakers and individual neighborhood representatives in these minutes do not necessarily represent those of BCN or its member neighborhoods. Prepared by Gordon Certain BCN Secretary August 12, 2013 BCN’s web page is at www.BuckheadCouncil.org Page 4 of 6 BCN Board Meeting Minutes – July 11, 2013 Page 5 of 6 BCN Board Meeting Minutes – July 11, 2013 BCN Organizational Status as of 7/11/2013 BCN Dues Representation at BCN Board Meetings 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Neighborhood 2009 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 3 12 11 11 12 meetings meetings meetings meetings meetings Jul Oct Jan Apr Jun Jun Feb Feb Mar Dec Sep Nov Aug May 1 Arden/Habersham 2 Ardmore Park 100% 67% 91% 92% 83% 3 Argonne Forest 33% 4 Brandon 5 Brookwood 17%