April 2015

Minutes Date

Treasurer’s Report: Same as of last month $765.73

Announcements

Library events – Qigong on Thursdays noon-1 through mid-May; International Seed Library Conference May 3-5; Plaza planter party Sat. May 16 9-10 a.m.

Property on Main was not sold to Sister Jose’s Shelter but will be sold to 2 artists moving in from out of town.

There is a meeting to discuss restrooms in Estevan Park bathrooms on Wed. April 22nd from 6-7:30 at Oury Rec Center, 600 W. St. Mary’s Rd.

Discussion

Keith Bagwell reminding us of the Board of Supervisor’s meeting to discuss the bond package – Tue. April 21st 9 a.m., 130 W. Congress. There is currently $25 million for neighborhood reinvestment; $160 million for roads. The projects will be separated into seven different questions to vote on. Total bonds package at this point is $815.76 million. Everyone is encouraged to attend and show support.

Infill Incentive District is looking for a representative to sit in on design/review committee. Motion to nominate Natasha Winnik to be neighborhood representative for Infill Incentive District committee. Passed 10-1.

Whistle Stop Depot discussion

Background from prior meetings. In January, Nancy B. from Whistle Stop presented information about applying for a Series 7 liquor license. She explained this would make it easier for organizations holding events at the site that they wouldn’t need to apply for a special liquor license for each event. This license is for beer and wine only. After discussion at the meeting no one raised any objections. In March, neighbors that live across the street from Whistle Stop came to the meeting and did express concerns about noise, parking, lack of notice for license application and what would happen to the license in the future. After discussion, the neighborhood voted to write a letter to the state liquor board opposing this license. After Whistle Stop was notified of this letter, they have to go to the state liquor board again. New information was presented to neighborhood board members that would have changed their vote if that information had been available at the time so Whistle Stop is here to present this information.

Carl W from Whistle Stop was disappointed with neighborhood letter as he has felt the neighborhood has supported ideas Whistle Stop has brought forward over the years. Nancy and Carl do not want to have a bar. He admitted that they need to be better at being aware of who is renting out the facility and what they have planned (there was a rave there that caused concerns a number of months ago). Vince asked how many events they have held since opening – approximately 75 events, ½ have had no alcohol.

Nancy from Whistle Stop addressed points in the letter.

  1. Lack of notice – she came to the January meeting and discussion was available in the minutes. There was a sign posted on the wall of the building. When she requested from the city to post the sign on the fence she was told no by the city. Nancy passed around the letter from the city telling her no.
  2. Noise – they have a decibel reader and have purchased an LED decibel reader where the lights will flash when they go over noise limits. They have never been cited for noise violations. The night of the rave they police were called multiple times but they were never cited. Whistle Stop is zoned industrial and the homes across the street are zoned C-3. For commercial buildings, from 7 a.m.-10 p.m. reading can be 72 and from 10 p.m. – 6 a.m. reading can be 65. For industrial zoning it can be higher (85 and 70 respectively).
  3. Zoning – there is both land zoning and land use code. The property is zoned industrial (a 12 page document was passed around indicating all the uses that are ok on under industrial zoning) but Whistle Stop is bound by the land use code of Civic Assembly, which is different than event center (like the Fox or Rialto). Under the land use code of Civic Assembly, Whistle Stop can not be a bar.
  4. What happens in the future – if Whistle Stop doesn’t get the liquor license they will sell the property and a developer will have an acre downtown to do anything within the zoning allowance. If they sell in the future, the license can be sold, but any future owner will need to go back to development services and the state liquor board. Any other use for the property will have to go through zoning. You can’t move a liquor license location, or change the name of the owner without going through entire code process. In order to turn the building into a bar whoever owns it would need to change the building to make it compliant (bathrooms, liquor storage, etc.) Currently the building is compliant for civic assembly land use.
  5. Parking – Whistle Stop has an agreement with the City of Tucson when they have large private events to reserve 50 spaces in a row at Pennington garage and use valet parking, shuttles, Pedicab. If needed, they can reserve more than 50 spaces, using another downtown garage if necessary.

General questions, comments – How many people are allowed at Whistle Stop per fire code? 300 people. They don’t rent to U of A any more unless there is a faculty advisor involved. For special events liquor licenses now, it can be cocktails, beer and wine. The deadline to get any information to the state liquor board is this Wed. April 22nd. Comment about individuals expressing own concerns but letters from neighborhood when only a small percentage of people come to the meeting is an issue. It is a mixed use street; live/work neighborhood. Concern about people driving through the neighborhood after drinking when they come to an event at Whistle Stop from other neighborhoods.

Motion to write a letter to the state liquor board based on new information that we retract our letter opposing the liquor license for Whistle Stop. Passed 9-0, 2 abstentions.

Parking on 5th St. between Main and Stone. The city is looking for comments about this in regards to Downtown Links. What do we want parking to look like in the future along 5th Street? There is a concern today for both businesses and residents along 5th St. One idea is 2 hour only. Another idea is residential permit or a mix of both. What are the options for businesses to get residential permits for their employees? We will ask Tom Fisher from Transportation Dept. to come to our May meeting to discuss options.

9th Ave/Ash Alley cul-de-sac. The city is looking for comments for their new plan for this area. A map was passed around. There will be no road connecting 9th Ave and Ash. The cul-de-sac will be used for fire and trash to turn around, the pavement will only be open for bikes and pedestrians. Motion to support revised design for Ash Alley/9th Ave cul-de-sac passed 11-0.

Neighborhood cleanup and roll-off dumpsters – discussion tabled until May meeting.

Committee Reports

  • DNARC – report already sent out
  • Downtown Links - no report
  • Neighborhood Garden – no report
  • Dunbar Coalition – Bid sent out to repaint fencing.

Motion to approve March minutes passed 11-0.

Elections passed 10-0:

  • President – Sky Jacobs
  • Vice President – Nancy Bender
  • Secretary – Vince Pawlowski
  • Treasurer – Gail Toomey
  • Parliamentarian – No candidate

Meeting adjourned.