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Minutes of the MHNA General Membership Meeting
Tuesday September 16, 2003
University Lutheran Church of Hope, 601 13th Ave SE, Minneapolis

1. Meeting called to order at 7:35 PM by Kelly Carver, president. He welcomed all the new faces in the crowd.
2. The minutes of the August meeting were approved. Members were reminded to renew their memberships, as a new year began for us on June 1.
3. A motion from the floor (J. Kokkinen) was made to delete agenda items after #3 and replace them with a series of motions to be made by Mr. Kokkinen. President Carver asked to hear the motions before the group could consider changing the agenda as notices of the agenda had been sent out to members and many present were here for those items. After Mr. Kokkinen read his motions individually, most were ruled out of order by board member Bob Distad, acting as parliamentarian, because they either contradicted our bylaws, were unconstitutional or had data privacy issues. Mr. Kokkinen withdrew all but three motions.
4. Council Member Paul Zerby addressed the crowd. Earlier tonight, the Heritage Preservation Commission unanimously passed a motion in support of designating the Greek Letter Chapter Houses a historic district. The item will now go to city council’s Zoning & Planning Committee and then to the city council for a final vote. Council Member Zerby thinks of “Frat Row” as a treasure that belongs to all of us. He talked about other historic designations in the city (Andrew Riverside Church situation, Guthrie, downtown car dealer district) and the concept of “property rights vs the greater good”. He cautioned the many fraternity and sorority members present tonight to be mindful of the manner in which they present themselves, in order to preserve their reputation. He said he was not anti-Greek in any way, in fact he has seen some significant leadership come from them.Next Council Member Zerby spoke about the liquor ordinance amendments he proposed. Although he does not think the U area bars are the cause of most of the binge drinking and undesirable behaviors that ensue, he feels this area of the city is “over served”. The SE neighborhood groups supported in part or principle his proposals except for eliminating the ability to transfer a license. When the amendment goes before city council tomorrow, that language will be removed. An audience member commented that most of the hockey riot behavior was from people under the legal drinking age, and that still needs to be addressed.
5. John Kennedy, Executive Director of Portland House, was introduced. Portland House is a halfway house at 514 11th Ave SE that houses men on probation and state work release as an alternative penitentiary. Residents get help with employment and education there. They currently have two community members on their board. Mr. Kennedy urged others to join. There are no sex offenders at Portland House. The name Portland refers to a “port in the storm”. The approx. 25 residents of Portland House stay an average of 90 days to 8 months.
6. John Kokkinen made his motions:
   1. That the MHNA General Membership supports the changes to the Minneapolis Zoning Code proposed by the Coalition of Non Profit Student Housing on behalf of University of MN fraternities, sororities and student co-operatives
   2. That the MHNA General Membership opposes the creation of the Fraternity Row Historic District, opposes the historic designation of any property located within the proposed boundaries thereof, and opposes the historic designation of any other property deemed “individually eligible” by the University of MN Greek Letter Chapter House Designation Study (May 2003) prepared by Carole Zelle of Landscape research, St. Paul., MN
   3. That the secretary shall notify proper authorities of these previous motions

   Note – the series of motions Mr Kokkinen tried to introduce called for actions to be taken by the Secretary, who, feeling deluged, contemplated resigning his position and left the meeting.The motions were seconded by member Andy Huston.

   Although it is our written policy to place all items needing a vote on the official agenda which is sent to all MHNA members, and although these items had been previously voted on and considered by the board and general membership at the June and August 2003 meetings, a vote was taken and the motions passed.

   There was much heated discussion around these issues and how the fraternities and sororities could work with the MHNA to improve the neighborhood for all.

7. U of MN Community Relations’ Jan Morlock updated the group on the latest stadium proposal, an alumni gift of $35 million for an on campus Gophers only stadium. A feasibility study is underway and at some later point neighborhood reps will be brought into the process. 15th Ave SE will be repaved next summer and the U is asking the city to include two blocks of 8th Street to the east of 15th (near Bierman Field) that are currently unpaved and considered unsafe. The U is sending a delegation to New Hampshire and Ohio State to meetings on campus riot prevention.
8. Elissa Cottle, NRP coordinator, announced the results of the special reallocation meeting. She reminded the group that NRP Implementation Committee elections will occur at the Oct. MHNA General membership meeting and urged those present to get involved.
9. MHNA member Ted Tucker gave an update on the Schafer Richardson Task Force. A new proposal from the developer is forthcoming., Sept 25 meeting. He feels a good relationship has been forming with the reps from other affected neighborhoods and the developers. He thinks it will be late Nov or December before Schafer Richardson submits paperwork to the city. The travel demand management plan is not yet completed. Gordon Kepner asked about the status of the white elevators on Second Street – are they salvageable?. Ted replied that there was not a great sentiment among the committee members to save them, but the State Historic Preservation Office still has to weigh in. He does not feel SHPO would stand in the way of any project that accomplishes saving and reusing the A-Mill. Tom Lincoln asked about financing – still no public money involved? Ted replied that it was too early to tell – the way it looks now is that the more intense development (of the towers) would fund the historic building redevelopment.To follow up earlier conversation, Ted urged the students present to work collaboratively with the members of MHNA, and cautioned that “this takeover won’t work for anyone”. Board Member Joe Stokes echoed the thought, and brought up the new Community Liaison position that the U is establishing and MHNA is partially funding. This person will be extremely helpful in dealing with student rental problems in the neighborhoods. Our association has worked for a long time with countless volunteer hours trying to get this established and students here tonight should join our efforts, participate and make a difference. (Note – after the meeting, several of the new students volunteered to serve on MHNA committees).

Meeting adjourned at 10:20 PM
Melissa Bean, MHNA Staff

News of the MHNA September 2003 Board Meeting

A question was asked (Ardes Johnson) about the status of appointed board members, specifically if John Miles, non resident property owner, could join the board without having been appointed by an organization. He has expressed interest in joining the board. The by-laws permit adding board members. Dave Polaschek said he is working on language for by law changes. The changes needed concern: whether appointed board members have voting privileges; whether we can reserve a board seat for a non resident property owner; adding language that members must be at least 18 years old. A motion was passed (Gordon Kepner) that the MHNA board would like to recommend to the general membership that we need to add clarifying language to the association bylaws in these areas. The suggested wording:

1. Appointed board members do not have voting privileges
2. Members must be 18 years or older
3. One appointed board member representing non-resident property owners should be added

Our Zoning & Planning committee is taking on a more important role, especially in light of the Master Plan. The board discussed future operations of that committee. Gordon Kepner recommended we come up with a “Truth in Development” statement. The Z & P committee should make a thorough recommendation to the board so we do not have to spend so much meeting time on these items. A motion was passed (Biele): That it takes a minimum of 3 people on the Z & P Committee to make an official recommendation. If the number 3 is not achieved, the developer will be given a chance to present at a board meeting without any recommendation.

NRP – Elissa Cottle, NRP Staff, handed out results of the reallocation voting. There were 69 ballots submitted. Since some of the items will cost more than the dollars allotted, we should think of this as seed money. The $2400 approved for rooming house conversion was too small an mount, so it was added to the home improvement grant program. The vote is considered a recommendation from the neighborhood at large.

Elissa also handed out a page of proposed Action Plan modifications. It showed how these new projects would fit into existing plan. A motion was made and passed (Dave Polaschek) to:

1. Approve of reallocating unspent $400,000 funds from 15 projects in the old action plan to create the reallocation pool
2. Amend the Marcy-Holmes NRP Action Plan, as submitted by NRP staff, to incorporate the new or renewed projects as approved
3. Approve the funding amounts recommended by the neighborhood at the Sept. 9 meeting and by the written ballots for new or renewed projects

Gordon Kepner explained a change in some wording of the Master Plan in Chapter 8, Character & Design. The text now reads “Taller buildings in the area bounded by Fifth Street, 15th Avenue,the railroad tracks, and 14th Ave. The heights of buildings in this corridor should not exceed 10 stories.” The zoning code reads “4 stories”. He felt we should not be exceeding what zoning allows. This means a zoning change would have to be applied for in order to build something taller than 4 stories A motion was made (Bill Huntzicker) and passed to: change the wording from “10 stories” to “whatever zoning allows,” The Master Plan is still in the review phase at the city.

Zoning & Planning report

The CVS drugstore reps came to the last meeting, but their plans were unchanged and did not incorporate the committee’s suggestions to move the building to the sidewalk, giving it a more urban feel, instead of placing it like an island in a sea of parking. A motion was made and passed (Gordon Kepner) to: Send a letter to the developers with our guidelines for the project so that the developer understands the neighborhood perspective. (The proposed site is the old Hardee’s, 10th & University)

Burrito Loco owners were looking for our support to extend hours of operation until 3 am, to correspond with the later bar hours. They asked for late hours on Wed, Thurs, Fri and Sat nights. A motion was made and passed (Brian Biele) to agree to the request for extended hours at Burrito Loco.