Minutes March 12, 2008

Minutes of General Meeting

Present:  Karen Nady, President, Frieda Romanchuk, Vice President, Ernest Berger, Historic Preservation and Cathy Barnette, Governmental Affairs

Absent:  Lon Johnston, Treasurer, Tomasina Werner, Press Liaison, Louie Nady, Finance and Don Terry SEEDS

Guests: 24 members/ guests or representatives serving on:   Downtown Re-development authority, Museum Board, Village Point Board, Beautification Committee, Baldwin County Bi-Centennial committee, Lake Forest Property Owners Assoc., Trailblazers, Library Board and Daphne City Planning Commission.

Guest Speakers: Mr. Starke Irvine, Downtown Redevelopment

Program: Comments from Mr. Irvine to be followed by discussion by community members and leaders attending the meeting.

Ernie Berger opened the meeting at 6:40 p.m. and thanked everyone for attending.  After brief comments regarding Mr. Irvine’s community involvement, he introduced Starke Irvine.

Mr. Irvine provided OTDA with a copy of the Daphne Redevelopment Authority’s structure and current goals.  He recapped these for the audience:

The Downtown Redevelopment Authority:

• No boundary per legislature
• 7 official members, 8 board members/non-voting
• Group started off exclusive my design as compared to Village of Springhill who was  inclusive by design.

• Overlay district established in Daphne Land Use Ordinance

Accomplishments

• Statue designed by Fran Neumann

• Oak Tree Grant for Streetscape ($10,000 matching grant)

Initiatives

• Priority to bury utilities on Main Street
• Desire to widen sidewalks and narrow streets—part of recommendation from Dan   

           Burden during a walking audit of Daphne.

• Vision to create uniformity down Main Street from South boundary to Bayfront Park with 

           a tree, planting a lighting scheme.

• Architectural Guidelines are under discussion

Questions:  Can the City provide incentives for retrofitting businesses, etc?

                 What about parking in Olde Towne?  Need for shared parking e.g. Christ the King,        

                        Lott Park, etc.

            Creation of Elizabeth Yelding Park (Guarisco St. and Manci Ave.)

            Frustration from DRA regarding the inability to receive funds from City

Ernie thanked Mr. Irvine for coming and providing information and opened the floor for discussion:

We asked the question “What do you want your community to be when it grows up” and “What suggestions do you have to improve our community?” Here are the residents responses. 

Community Brainstorming:

Look at impact fees to pay for needed infrastructure with growth, future fire stations, etc

Assemble a team for Grant writing.

Promote follow up between civic groups, don’t need to re-invent wheel

Find sources of City income for DRA projects

Investigate the option of the City sponsoring incentives for downtown redevelopment 

Clarify Beautification Committee duties and increase budget

Lower lumens at night in public lighting to save energy

Examine potential public/private partnership at Lake Forest Yacht Club

Traffic and roads

Sheet of steel on Hwy 98!

City must determine impact of growth and address traffic e.g. extend Pollard Road into Lake Forest.

Create a turn lane at intersection from Target & Staples parking lots onto Hwy 64

Create a Veterans Parkway along Hwy 13

Address impact of traffic from current schools and plan future schools with traffic flow in mind

Compile a list of uncut roads and plan future use

Private roads should have the same requirements as city roads (setbacks, services, etc.)

Beautification/identity

     Plan fountains and small sitting areas as a “signature” of our community

Enhance charm and character of Daphne with distinctive identities for each district such as:

      sign style, flowers, flower boxes, visual images, goddess, shirts, flags, etc.  

Establish green spaces and plan future parks as we develop to the east

Use small unbuildable or irregular pieces of property as green areas and/or pocket parks                               

Look at linking unused or uncut roads into walking trails throughout the community

Plan appealing height limits

Identify scenic areas and highlight them

Develop a district appropriate “lighting-scape”

Olde Towne Specific

Architecture/scale/preservation in Olde Towne

Encourage mixed use development

Add historic preservation to the land use ordinance

Develop architectural themes  

Create a program to preserve or purchase properties of historical/cultural interest

Establish architectural covenants

Preserve quaint, small scale buildings

Parking in Olde Towne

Develop program for shared parking e.g. Christ the King, Lott Park, etc.

Investigate feasibility of downtown parking garage

Small improvements: signs/lights/plants in Olde Towne

 Improve coordination between civic/city groups

 Continue to enhance landscaping and streetscape

  Encourage highlighting older style plants such as Camellias

  Establish a design theme for directional signage       

Bay access/water in Olde Towne

  Complete the Bay Trail

  Assist Village Point Foundation to enhance efforts

  Develop a plan for all potential waterfront access points, open, reclaim or purchase for the future

  Improve May Day boat launch and expand launching facilities (and throughout the City)           

Baldwin County Bicentennial/history:

  Look for activity in Olde Towne to support Baldwin County Bi-Centennial

  Re-establish the May Day celebration in May Day Park

  Find a way for citizens to show individual commitment to Daphne history or identity, e.g. planting flowers at mailboxes, flagpoles, etc. 

The meeting was adjourned at 8:05 p.m.