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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Minutes - City Council - Meeting Date: 2/2/2011 Meeting Minutes CITY OF GLENDALE CITIZENS ADVISORY COMMISSION ON NEIGHBORHOODS Glendale Sine Bldg., Conference Room A 6829 N. 58th Drive Wednesday, February 2, 2011 6:00pm MEMBERS PRESENT: Sharon Sprague, Chair Vickie Loya, Vice Chair Jo Ann Caufield Judy Atkins Sharon Brown Matthew Versluis Frank Hinds Barbara Cole MEMBERS ABSENT: Bill Jocewicz STAFF PRESENT: Erik Strunk, Community Partnerships Director Matt Cohrs, Neighborhood Partnership Administrator I. Call to Order Chair Sprague called the meeting to order at 6:03 p.m. II. Roll Call Chair Sprague conducted roll call and noted that Commissioner Jocewicz was absent. Mr. Cohrs announced that Commissioner Heatwole-Chicks officially resigned from the Commission. III. Approval of Minutes — January 5, 2011 Commissioner Brown motioned to approve the January 5, 2011 meeting minutes as written. Commissioner Loya made the second. The motion passed 8 - 0. IV. Business from the Floor None. V. Community Development Advisory Committee Mr. Cohrs stated that on November 23, 2010, the Mayor and Council took action to expand the role of the Community Development Advisory Committee (CDAC) to include the oversight of the Community Housing Division and the Community Action Program. Mr. Cohrs introduced Mr. Strunk and Mr. Chris Flippen, CDAC Chair, who will share information on the CDAC and its new role. Mr. Flippen stated that the major role of CDAC was to review agency grant applications for CDBG funds, conduct public hearings regarding the grant applications and to make recommendations to Mayor and Council regarding funding decisions. Mr. Flippen shared the Council priorities for the current funding cycle as keeping people in homes, keeping neighborhoods stabilized and obtaining core needs such as food, shelter and utilities. Chair Flippen commented that the role of CDAC has been recently expanded to include responsibilities regarding Community Housing and the Community Action Program. Mr. Strunk added that in the last two years, the CDAC has made funding recommendations for approximately $12 million in federal funds. Citizens Advisory Commission on Neighborhoods Meeting - Minutes February 2, 2011 Page 2 of 5 Mr. Strunk explained that due to the changes in the CDAC responsibilities and a Community Action Program requirement, the number of Committee-members on CDAC will be increased from eleven to thirteen. Mr. Strunk gave a PowerPoint presentation on the CDAC, which included the following information: • Key Functions: o Advise and counsel the city in developing, implementing and evaluating the CDBG program and recommended funding. o Advise and counsel city regarding rules and regulations governing the city's Community Housing Program. o Advise and counsel the city in developing, implementing and evaluating the city's Community Action Program and community needs assessment. o Play a major role in the revitalization of older neighborhoods. • CDAC Responsibilities: Make annual recommendations to Mayor and Council on Housing and Urban Development programs: o Community Development Block Grants o HOME Program o Emergency Shelter Grants o Neighborhood Stabilization Program o Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing o Community Action Program (newly expanded responsibility) o Section 8 Voucher (newly expanded responsibility) o Public Housing (newly expanded responsibility) • Neighborhood Revitalization o CDBG funding can be requested for improvements to qualifying, low-income neighborhoods. o Last year, the Floralcroft neighborhood received funds for a shovel-ready improvement project. Design-work for the project was previously funded by a grant recommended to Council by the Citizens Advisory Commission on Neighborhoods. o This may be a possibility for a future partnership between CDAC and the Citizens Advisory Commission on Neighborhoods • Neighborhood Housing o This includes the rehabilitation of qualifying homes, demolition of blighted structures and infill housing. • Homeless Prevention o By keeping people in their homes, many other domino-effect problems can be mitigated, which can save money exponentially. • Public Housing o Section 8: The City of Glendale currently has 1,054 vouchers, which consists of approximately 4,900 individuals in scattered site housing. o Community Housing: The City of Glendale has 155 units in 3 housing complexes (Lamar Homes, Glendale Homes and Cholla Vista Homes.) Chair Flippen commented that the CDAC meets on the third Thursday evening of every month and invited the Commissioners to attend the meetings. Commissioner Hinds noted that the CDAC was fortunate to still have some funding with which to make a community impact, while the Citizens Advisory Commission on Neighborhoods has lost its grant funding due to city budget cuts. Chair Flippen sympathized with the challenges of lost funding. Chair Flippen thanked the Commission for the invitation to the meeting. Citizens Advisory Commission on Neighborhoods Meeting - Minutes February 2, 2011 Page 3 of 5 VI. Neighborhood Indicators Proiect Mr. Cohrs stated that in the Fall of 2007, staff began work on the Neighborhood Indicators System, a tool for measuring the overall health of neighborhoods in the City of Glendale. During Phase I of the project, research of other indicator or performance monitoring systems throughout the country was completed. Phase II of the project focused on one specific indicator: the condition of housing and digital images of housing in Glendale were captured. Mr. Cohrs stated that Phase III of the project began in Fall 2009. Phase III consisted of reviewing the recommended indicators from Phase I and checking the data sources for the specific indicators to ensure reliability. Mr. Cohrs commented on the basic steps of the Neighborhood Indicators Project as part of Phase III and going forward: • Gathered data from several sources (such as census data and county data) • Cleaned-up and standardized data • Established final models • Discussed models Mr. Cohrs stated that 39 neighborhood indicators were established: 9 economic, 22 social and 8 physical. Mr. Cohrs stressed the importance of using data that could reliably be obtained in the future on a regular basis. Furthermore, the data must be easy to obtain and not too cumbersome to maintain. Mr. Cohrs explained that the 39 indicators are rated on a five-point scale: • 5: Vibrant • 4: Strong • 3: Healthy • 2: Prevention • 1: Restoration Commissioner Cole asked if the goal was for a neighborhood to be at a 5 or at a 3 or 4. Mr. Cohrs replied that 3 (Healthy) is the median and so that is the basic goal. Mr. Cohrs discussed how the neighborhood models were developed: • Cleaned and standardized the data. • Conducted statistical analyses. • Examined, removed and combined indicators. • Obtained indicator score for each factor. • Combined factor scores to create tract score. Mr. Cohrs stated that 18 pilot census tracts were selected as being representative of the city of Glendale. The indicator score had been integrated into a development version of the Neighborhood Information System. Mr. Cohrs displayed a map of the selected census tracts with the current Model Ratings. Commissioner Caufield asked for confirmation that the information was internal to city staff at this time. Mr. Cohrs replied in the positive, noting that there is a lot of detail to the assessment which would be difficult to provide and explain to the public at this time. Mr. Cohrs added that there are only two cities so far discovered in the research that have posted this information online for the public: Charlotte- Mecklinburg and Champaign-Urbana. Mr. Cohrs also noted that the current goal of the information is to provide a tool for city staff and elected representatives to utilize as a policy/decision making guide. Mr. Cohrs explained that this information could be very helpful when identifying a partnership for the Adopt-A-Neighborhood program. Citizens Advisory Commission on Neighborhoods Meeting - Minutes February 2, 2011 Page 4 of 5 Commissioner Caufield wondered how the Adopt-A-Neighborhood program could be established in a neighborhood that does not appear to be initially interested in assistance. Mr. Cohrs replied that staff does need to identify some neighborhood capacity in order to gain a foothold with the residents. Mr. Cohrs gave the example of Granada Estates and the Faith Bible Church Adopt-A-Neighborhood partnership. Mr. Cohrs explained that Faith Bible Church reached out to staff regarding the partnership. Staff then contacted the local school who provided ideas for staff regarding parents in the neighborhood who might step up to be neighborhood leaders or liaisons. This partnership is in the development stages with a goal of kick-off in February, on Serve Day. Mr. Cohrs was very excited about the progress of the Neighborhood Indicators Project and will continue to update the Commission in the future. VII. CitvFest and Serve Day Volunteer Opportunities Mr. Cohrs noted that on Monday, January 17, approximately 500 volunteers from Christ's Church of the Valley participated in CityFest. All projects planned were well attended and successful. Mr. Cohrs discussed the upcoming Serve Day events, scheduled for Saturday, February 26: 1. The Vineyard Church will perform house painting and other improvement tasks in the East Catlin Court Neighborhood, its Adopt-A-Neighborhood partner. 2. Christ Church of the Valley will perform neighborhood clean-up, house painting and various tasks in the Heart of Glendale. The Church will provide about 100 to 200 volunteers. 3. Faith Bible Church will be painting homes and performing yard clean-up in Granada Estates, which is the kick-off for this Adopt-A-Neighborhood partnership. Commissioner Cole wondered if staff needed the Commissioners to work as lead on any of the volunteer projects. Mr. Cohrs explained that the Commissioners are welcome to participate in the volunteer projects, but it is city requirement that a staff member must be present as a project lead. Commissioner Loya commented that she participated in the fruit-gleaning project at Sahuaro Ranch Park and it was a very successful event. Commissioner Loya was pleased that the event was very family-oriented. VIII. Staff Updates and Commission Items of Interest Mr. Cohrs stated that he was recently invited by a peer at the City of Chandler to facilitate a meeting for the City of Chandler's Two-Year Strategic Plan. Mr. Cohrs enjoyed the experience and was able to share ideas with City of Chandler representatives. Mr. Cohrs provided an updated on the following: Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Funding Request- • East Catlin Court Historic District (Spring 2008): A contract was awarded for the design of streetscape improvements on 57th Avenue from Northview to Gardenia and Gardenia from 55th to 56th avenues. Design was completed, submitted to the city at the end of May and was approved. Staff applied for fiscal year 2011- 2012 CDBG funding for construction of Phase 2. The hearing for the CDBG grant was held on January 26, 2011. In the current economic climate, basic food, shelter and utilities were the funding priorities. Citizens Advisory Commission on Neighborhoods Meeting - Minutes February 2, 2011 Page 5 of 5 Neighborhood Outreach - Mr. Cohrs stated that there were no new neighborhood registrations in January and staff edited, printed and distributed 426 neighborhood newsletters/flyers in January on behalf of two neighborhoods. Community Volunteer Program Mr. Cohrs announced that during January, 785 volunteers completed more than 2,350 volunteer hours. Mr. Cohrs noted that the CityFest projects along with the Martin Luther King "A Day On, Not Off" projects were very well attended and successful. Community Mediation - Mr. Cohrs stated that in January, 3 new mediation cases were received, 20 cases were active and 6 cases were resolved with mediation services. Mr. Cohrs announced that a partnership has been formed with the Glendale Police Department for the use of mediation in cases between citizens and the police, which is moving forward. Furthermore, six new mediators were chosen to join the program. Community Education - • The Glendale University Graduate Class "Tour of Oasis Water Treatment Plant" will be held on February 24 from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. • The calendar for Glendale University 101 Spring 2011 session has been published and classes begin on March 7, 2011. So far, twenty students have registered. • The Winter 2011 HOA Training Academy has been scheduled from January 25 to February 19. All eight classes will be held at the Glendale Adult Center. A total of twenty-nine residents have registered. • Financial management classes will be offered soon in partnership with the Thunderbird School of Management. Details will be provided soon. Glendale Public Housing Capital Improvements - Mr. Cohrs noted that Mr. Krause has been working on certain projects with the Housing Division due to his expertise in the area. Projects include the following: • Painting of Glendale Homes, (35 buildings) • Remodel of Six bathrooms and Flooring at Lamar Homes • Rebuilding of the Three Burned Units at Lamar Homes • Cholla Vista Bath and Kitchen Remodel • Lamar Housing (Replace Front doors and Windows) Upcoming Events - Mr. Cohrs provided an update on the following: • Saturday, February 26, 2011 - Annual Serve Day: Volunteer groups will complete projects such as neighborhood and park clean-up, house painting, gardening, food delivery to the needy and much more. IX. Adjournment Commissioner Loya motioned to adjourn the meeting at 8:06 p.m. Commissioner Cole made the second. The motion passed 8 - 0. Respectfully Submitted, 1>n/S-ems Denise Kazmier z % Recording Secr ry