Pinehurst Village Committee Minutes 02/23/04

Pinehurst Village Committee Minutes-FINAL

February 23, 2004

Mid-Month Committee Meeting

Call to Order=

&nbs= p; Tom Pellegrino called the meeting to order at 7:10 pm. Those in attendance were: Guy Reese, Sasha Raab, Dottie Ward= , Tom Pellegrino and Mary Patil. Qu= orum was confirmed and the meeting proceeded.

Approval of D= ecember 3, 2003 Initial Brainstorming Session Meeting Minutes

&nbs= p; The meeting minutes of the December 3, 2003 meeting were distributed in advance= to all attendees via email prior to this meeting. The minutes were read aloud by Mary Patil. There were not changes= noted by attending committee members nor were any changes provided in advance. Tom Pellegrino motioned to accept = the minutes as is. Sasha Raab sec= onded the motion. The minutes were = approved unanimously by the attendees.

Review of eac= h Action Item Status

The email address project w= ill be completed in the future by Tom Pellegrino; it will remain open for now.

Tom Pellegrino is still wor= king on obtaining a complete plot map of Pinehurst from the city; this action item = is in progress.

The Pinehurst 101 Session w= as held on February 4^th, 2004. Notes are available from Mary Patil and are filed in the Pinehurst Village Committee Notebook. T= his item is completed.

Sasha Raab provided a Pineh= urst Village Committee notebook to Mary Patil at the February 4^th, 20= 04 meeting. This items is comple= ted.

Permission from the LLA Boa= rd to do Holiday Decorations in Pinehurst next year is still a work in progress. Helen Evans should be working on g= etting the permission in writing.

New Business<= o:p>

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Discussion on what we want = to focus on from this point forward. M= ary Patil explained the offer from the LLCS to attend a future meeting to inform the committee the status of the Pinehurst easements. Attendees agreed that we will ask Charlotte Dusaid to arrange for the appropriate staff to attend and update = the committee. Agreed that the ne= xt Committee Meeting in March was preferred date. Tom Pellegrino suggested we have t= hem arrive at 7:30 pm to allow for the committee to work through regular busine= ss such as approval of minutes etc.

Discussed our goals for this meeting and complied the following questions for the appropriate staff to address:

1) Please provide a complete list of Pinehurst residents that easements are still nee= ded from. Please include the lot number, physical or contact address and contact information (including name= of homeowner).

2)&nbs= p; Please provide a plot map showing the proposed easements for the residents in question along with background information on the discussions previously held with the homeowners and the reasons or statements given in response to the request for the easement.

3)&nbs= p; Please be prepared to provide historical information on all conversations that occurred with the residents in question to help us to understand the state of mind and determine what role, if any, the committee= can play in trying to obtain the easement or assist in an alternative solution.=

4)&nbs= p; Please explain WHY all the easements weren't obtained BEFORE the engineering was completed to the degree it is (90~95%).

5)&nbs= p; Has the land that is being asked for under the easements been apprai= sed?

6)&nbs= p; Are we permitted to approach these residents as either a committee o= r as neighboring residents to discuss the matter further with them? What, if any, are the legal ramifications?

7)&nbs= p; What types of negotiations are permissible to obtain the easements?<= o:p>

8)&nbs= p; Will we be condemning the land if the easements are not obtained?

&= nbsp; Agreed that we will write our interpretation of the answers we are provided in response to these questions, include them in our meeting minutes and provid= e a copy to the LLCS staff that attends for any changes/corrections and their f= inal approval.

&nbs= p; Moved to discussion of issues we want the committee to focus on in order to get Pinehurst residents involved, active and passionate in the committee’s efforst. Tom Pellegrino sugge= sted the Pinehurst Pool as an issue. Sasha Raab suggested we have our meeting with the Pool committee as previously discussed at the Pinehurst 101 session in order to prepare ourse= lves to involve the residents of Pinehurst effectively. Then we will take our results and = ideas to the LLA Board to try to move the project forward.

&nbs= p; Tom Pellegrino commented that we need to make sure we pick projects that we can= get Pinehurst residents motivated and get people involved in solutions. Dottie Ward suggested we keep our efforts small and focused until we are ready and prepared to move forward a= nd get residents involved and convince them we can make a difference.

&nbs= p; Dottie Ward suggested we organize a Spring Event that is for the good of the commu= nity and will help get people together and fired up. One idea was a Spring Easter Egg H= unt, another was a summer event like a cookout with a Battle of the Bands or an extension of = their own “Pinefest” party they hold in their neighborhood. Guy Reese reminded the members tha= t we need to be careful how we title some events, keeping them general and avoid= ing offending anyone.

&nbs= p; Tom Pellegrino suggested some kind of beautification project so that the reside= nts can see physical results of our efforts. Dottie Ward suggested a Satu= rday Clean Up event. Sasha Raab expressed her concern that a clean up event won’t get the community revved up the way we are hoping.

&nbs= p; Tom Pellegrino commented that we need to think out of the box and perhaps put s= ome of our ideas in the Lake<= /st1:PlaceType> Talk and invite res= idents to give their feedback. Ultim= ately, if we cannot get people interested and involved, our committee is ‘de= ad in the water’ and will be prevented from accomplishing anything. Guy Reese suggested that if we are= going to do something that is community service related that we approach the local schools in advance to get their approval of the activity to qualify for required community service of local students. Dottie Ward agreed explaining that= her daughter has the same needs of community service hours from her school.

&nbs= p; Guy Reese suggested we look over the list of issues that Sasha Raab and Dottie = Ward prepared for the LLA board bu= dget meeting recently. For example, the swamp area on the other side of the bowl might be a good proje= ct to work with the Trail Blazers on to fix/clean up. Guy Reese offered to chat with Bill Strang from Trail Blazers more about this possibility.

&nbs= p; Another item on the list was improving/upgrading the tot lot at the intersection of Edgewood and E. Lakeridge. All agreed this was a good idea, b= ut unfortunately funds would be required that are not readily available to us = at this time.

&nbs= p; Sasha Raab suggested that we look into a beautification project for all the common areas in Pinehurst. But first= they need to be identified and then inspected physically to see what can be done with each to improve them and make them community friendly. She suggested that we do a tour wi= th Stephen Hembree if possible. One idea was to add a gazebo or dock on the lake. Sasha agreed to look into getting = all the common areas identified with Joy Gurley’s help.

&nbs= p; Sasha Raab and Dottie Ward also suggested an innovative fundraiser with their “House Tours of Pinehurst” idea. Basically we would arrange for 10~= 15 homes in Pinehurst to agree to open their house for self guided tours and we would charge a small fee. Mary Patil suggested that doing this at Christmas time first for the added attraction of seeing how other people decorate their homes for the holidays would be a good start to this.

&nbs= p; Mary Patil suggested that maybe the committee should focus first on the LLCS/Easements issue, the Pinehurst Pool problem and a few small tactical issues such as improvements to common areas and tot lots. Tom Pellegrino agreed, but reitera= ted that we need to get the community involved and passionate about the issues first in order to get them to attend our meetings/events. Mary Patil clarified t= hat we should vote on these suggested issues as a full committee at the next month= ly meeting on March 3, 2004. The= n we will list these in the next edition of Lake Talk and start getting the residents informed and fired up.

&nbs= p; Sasha Raab suggested that we start advertising our regular monthly meetings in Lake Talk as well; the group agreed. Sasha also suggested that we confirm with the other members that our date and time is still good for all to encourage full attendance. She commented that sometimes= it is hard to make the LLA Board meeting two days prior (on Monday) only to attend our Village Committee Meeting two days later. Tom Pellegrino agreed. Guy Reese suggested that we implem= ent a rotation schedule where one Village Committee member agrees to attend the L= LA Board meeting to report back to the rest of the committee. Everyone agreed with this idea. Sasha Raab volunteered to attend t= he next meeting on Monday, March 1^st. If she cannot attend for some reas= on, she will notify the committee so that someone else can volunteer to attend = in her place.

&nbs= p; Tom Pellegrino asked whether there were any other resident comments, issues or letters received. There were = none.

&nbs= p; Agreed the next meeting is set for Wednesday, March, 3^rd starting at 6:= 30 pm. The agenda will include o= ur meeting with LLCS staff on the Pinehurst Easements, discussion and vote on = the issues we will initially focus on and how we are going to get the community involved.

Adjournment

&nbs= p; Sasha Raab made a motion to adjourn the meeting.= The motion was seconded by Tom Pellegrino. The attendees unanimously agreed.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> The meeting was adjourned at 8:20 = pm.

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