Monthly Archives: November 2007

Tim DePumpo, our vice president, led the meeting. Announcements.

Carlos Montoya, community resource officer. 27 reported crimes in the past month. Thefts (14), criminal mischief to robbery, only 1 burglary, which is unusually low! He handed out 3 page information package. Tim said he sees an increase in enforcement in his area near the liquor store.

Katherine Meldrum is the new safety officer, replacing Karen Harvey, who resigned recently. A motion was made to vote in Katherine as safety officer till year end, by Tim; seconded, ayes 24, abstentions or nays none. Katherine spoke, giving her home number and e-mail through JPUN. There’ll be no safety meeting this quarter. She will be attending the commander’s meetings in the future.

Land use committee: proposed development and OD-9 update.

Brad: 21^st and Eliot group want to rezone to RMU-20, with a short presentation by Derek Ahrens and team. We’ll also vote for the rezone tonight, and JPUN will write to city council re support or not. NE corner, currently zoned R-2. Drawings shown for 6 units proposed. They have already met with the LUC and individuals to seek input re green space, street orientation, setbacks and height. There is a range of sizes, 1200-2000sf. Some units have front porches. Design to be sensitive to the site and immediate neighbors. The exteriors are varied and the units staggered, in very contemporary style. One neighbor asked about gabled roofs (this style is flat roofs). 55’ allowed under RMU-20; with doghouse (roof structure) this project is up to 43-45’ top height max. Prices range $400,000-$500,000, approximately. Next door project is about 24’; there’s a grade difference. This team has worked with the land use committee from the start, said Brad. Brad passed out ballots to vote with (yes or no) Yes: 21, no: 3. JPUN will write a letter of recommendation.

OD-9 (Ed Kieta, who returned to the meeting, spoke): he recounted the recent events of the OD-9 application, where we ended up with just a small portion of the NW section of the neighborhood specified for OD-9. Karen Harvey was leading the process but has recently resigned from the Board. Several neighbors within that area submitted the application by the deadline, but without the approval or involvement of JPUN. We were hoping to exclude the property owners who wanted to be excluded. Overhaul of city zoning is imminent, however.
Barbara on the fundraiser, Nov. 16, Friday at Red Lion Hotel, 5-8pm. There’ll be items, services, and gift certificates put up for auction, and food, drinks, music. Donations are being solicited. Barbara said she is also collecting non perishable food items and donations for the church food bank. Park progress: large planting bed on NE corner of park in spring is now in the works, maybe starting in May. We also usually plant trees throughout the neighborhood in the spring. We may get our restroom renovated if the bond issue passes today. New walkways are slated.

Tim handed out paperwork to solicit people who want to get involved on some level. Tim described the regular meetings and happy hour schedule so people can plan to attend.
Jeremy Cottrell spoke, and Trina, who are homeowners at Zocalo. They are working with David Zucker, planning to open a retail wine boutique May ’08, similar to Mondo Vino. The liquor license process is proceeding. They want to be socially responsible and donate time to demonstrate their commitment to the neighborhood, such as having a recycling hub, possibly. No single beverage items will be stocked, to avoid problems like the store at 25^th and Eliot.

Light rail station, Ed: Workshop for 14^th and Decatur, 2013 is completion date for part of the west corridor line. The Sun Valley neighborhood will be initiating new development around that, with much public investment. It was announced that Thurs. 11/15 there’s a city workshop regarding these nearby light rail stations, Osage, Auraria also, 5:30-8:30 in Lincoln Park. Federal Blvd. corridor update: this will promote revitalization, and proximity to so much additional new development should boost it. The case study for master plan by UCD students was again mentioned, including the W. 25^th and Eliot business area. Marshall Vandenburg attended; mentioned Dec. 6 meeting.

Adjourned.

Ed Kieta called meeting to order. We started with a quorum (8), and were soon joined by more members.

Announcements: Karen Harvey update. Ed spoke to her yesterday. She’s doing good, still waiting for medical results but in good spirits.
Katherine Meldrum’s back to being a committee person on the board, replacing Karen.
The New Life in Christ Halloween party was reportedly a huge success, although with maybe a slightly smaller turnout. There was discussion of the possiblity of a dance next year. This year there was less JPUN participation due to other priorities.

Sarah saw Karen also and said more help would be needed later, with continuing treatments. Karen expressed appreciation for the flowers Barbara sent. She’s still recovering from the surgery. Sarah reported more details.

Treasurer’s report: Susan is doing the liability insurance research, getting quotes and coverage information for comparison. Susan said the Hartford seems to be the best. Approximate cost: $800, no more. She said that’s reasonable. We are registered with the Colorado secretary of state now. We are current and up to date with charitable designation. $808 balance in the treasury..

Annual fundraiser: Sarah said did we get invitations? Apparently, some people didn’t. We have some Broncos stuff and gift certificates for Jack N Grill and other local businesses. Some Developers said they would send checks. The Red Lion will be picking up half and cost of the banquet room occasion. Sarah will play music (CD’s anyone?).

If you call to solicit contributions, let the rest of the board know in an e-mail.

Get out there and call and get at least one donation.

Tim: There is now a group doing theatrical events at their new storefront space at 25^th and Eliot. Hopefully they’ll have a good streetfront presence.
Do we have a banner? We can get one…what size? 3×4 feet is good….saying Jefferson Park United Neighbors.

Land use, Brad: 28^th & Clay coming on line. Jet Urban Development; will present at next LUC meeting. They did a property at 12th & Delaware. MMD’s 55 unit place also. Stann project tore down the house. Rezone planned for 21^st & Eliot, 4-6 units, Derek Ehrens. On W. 24^th, Clay and Decatur project is not dead, not in foreclosure (Ed). Maybe they’ll unload. Frontview Crescent….

20^th and Clay, 20 units, that we haven’t heard of yet. We should be getting updates re zoning at our JPUN post office box. Brad is still soliciting developer contributions.

OD-9 Brad didn’t get an application from Dierdre yet. Ed passed out the draft of a letter to city council regarding the application that was submitted by Karen and some other parties. Ed solicited the comments and revisions from the board. Talk to Rita to see if it’ll be officially accepted at the hearing. Brad: make the wording more forceful that we want those parcels excluded. Barbara said “right!” Duly noted. Put it in bold. We’ll all agree on it and then move forward. Brad said maybe we’ll also include a letter from the land use committee. Next month’s newsletter could run a chronology of events to do with OD-9 for everyone’s information and what to do if they want to pursue anything further. (Barbara suggested.) Affected property owners will get both letters with a short cover letter. We’ll try to attend the hearing. We can speak at planning board, but not at every stage of this application.
Bill: there was a major furniture in alley problem. The mess was disposed of finally by the city; absentee property owners didn’t do it. They were even fined for thousands of dollars, and paid up rather than clean up the alley.
Parking issues discussed.
Park progress by Barbara. She, Steve Smith of River Drive met with Keith from parks, NE corner flower garden planned and will be supplied with plants. If we maintain the original plot well, we can have another plot. Our restroom building will be renovated if the bond issue passes. ADA ramps and all new paths, and the basketball court will be improved. $50K from Spanos will be for walkways.

Town square, 25^th and Eliot. Ed: regarding the Tepper building; when and if building sells, we want to get a developer to save some of the building vs. scrape off. Also the 5-unit directly north of liquor store; hoping the ownership will change there too. Businesses would be appropriate there in the future, eventually. The yellow duplex on Eliot changed hands and hopefully will renovate also (B-2 zoning). Other updates are going on in that area. Ed is looking to move into a larger space on W. 38th; put his present office on market. Then he’ll be leaving the neighborhood. Just to let us know what may happen.

Elections. New blood needed. Or new roles. Find new people who might be interested in certain neighborhood roles and recruit them for volunteer service. Last year’s election procedure was discussed. We need to make clear what are the responsibilities involved. Regarding election nominations, whether current members, officers or write-ins, get a list together. Next meeting Tuesday we can get this started and communicated. Suggested was to list current board, and people can either opt to continue or decline, and other people can be added, sending out the info to JPUN members in a group e-mail and/or hand out at the next Tuesday meeting.

Meeting adjourned.