8-11-2020 – HOWELL STATION GENERAL BODY MEETING – 3RD QUARTER MEETING MINUTES
Chad Murray, HSNA President – opens Zoom meeting at 6:30 pm
Pete Pellegrini - Path Foundation. Joined to update us on paths/ beltline activity near Howell Station. 2 segments under construction now. 1 short segment that starts at Joseph Boone and Northside Drive.
Westside connector 2. 2 miles long, 14-foot wide concrete trail that follows the old rail corridor. Had to maneuver through an apartment complex to tie into railroad corridor. Additional bridges are being installed, and it will also have a tunnel under Hollowell. Project is 60% complete. Are installing lighting and security cameras. Phase 3 is in planning stage. Taking advantage of weather to put in the trail and hopefully see other developers get rolling on nearby projects. Lincoln properties is taking some of the old warehouses. In a demo phase and creating first phase of development. Mixed use. Shops and living.
Westside connector trail on Joseph Lowry - parking available at the old Food Bank Property.
One trail will stretch from Lena St. in Washington Park to Hollowell on to West Marietta.
Kristin Mansfield– presentation on all of Westside Projects.
Westside connector 3. Will be an extension of the existing Westside Trail, which currently ends at Lena Street. Most of the Westside trail 3 is in the right of way of Marietta. They are working with the city, re-striping, re-paving to make a pedestrian-friendly and bike route that is separated from vehicular travel.
Trail will have standard Beltline features. Like what’s on Eastside trail and Westside. Stainless guard rails, etc. There will be vertical connections to adjoining streets where feasible. They are going through concept development. This is the first phase; project just started. They will come to HS to share more info. There will be lighting, storm management. 15-month design process. First 3 months concept development; the following 12 months will be technical matters, community meetings.
Beltline Trail Accessibility for Howell Station - Possible mid-block crossing from the townhomes. Traffic engineer looked at a safe, logical crossing of street. It will have to go before public works to see if it makes sense. We are in a transitional state with the design.
Question – is Marietta Blvd going to be blocked off in anticipation of the project?
Answer – Beltline and Path are working in conjunction with the city departments. They hope watershed will work with them to do a temporary shift in striping to help create an envelope for them to come to the west side of W Marietta to create the trail along the road. They anticipate that with all permitting, etc., that it will be the first of the year that they would want to start construction.
Proctor Creek Trail maintenance. Trees Atlanta does landscape installation and trail maintenance. New landscaping and they clean out kudzu. They do strategic maintenance. It’s an ongoing battle.
Question - will Proctor Creek connect to one of the new trails?
Answer - They are looking at possible connections to the Reservoir Park. The future northwest trail has connections to proctor creek greenway. Hoping that the section 3 will be able to connect to the Westside park
Lee Harrop. With Westside Future Fund – he was original program director for the Beltline. WFF’s mission focus is taking blighted and abandoned properties and putting them to use.
ATL food bank at Jefferson and Lowery has been sold to the Westside Future Fund. Renovations underway. Mission statement -- provide cultural identity of Westside and create a community Dr. King would be proud of. Want a mixed income community. Entrepreneurial spirit.
It’s 3 warehouses that were joined over the years. Want a garden in one of the buildings… With a kitchen in the building, the garden would offer educational opportunities. Opportunity for an eventual rooftop terrace. Hope to rent the space to generate revenue to allow them to partner with non-profits.
Westside Future Fund office will be there. Educational and commercial kitchen. Urban ag. It’s a teaching kitchen. Farmers can rent it out and package their product to get it ready for market. They also have entrepreneurial spaces. Different speakers will come there. This area will be leasable office space/event spaces. Georgia Organics. Urban ag related non-profits will be there. They are breaking ground on renovations this month. The office renovations may start later this month with the intent of having them (WFF) in the office at the end of the calendar year. Foodwell Alliance and WFF office renovations starting this month. Hope all tenants will be in building and warehouse by the end of year.
Lead in the soil in our area. Not promoting urban ag until we get that sorted out.
New housing. 54 single-family properties and several multi-family properties as well in
English Avenue. They have about 40 units along Katherine Johnson Park.
Chad - Upper westside CID – Workshop at the Works on Chattahoochee. Interactive space with history of Upper Westside and see what’s planned for the area. Open until the end of month. We’re being offered opportunity to participate in a visioning process. We’re not in Upper Westside now, but expect to be soon. Consultants are going through feedback from neighborhoods and combining info to share with neighborhoods like HS. We will get a copy of the visioning document.
Howell Junction pocket park at Brady and W. Marietta. Triangle of land. Zoning needs one final approval for construction to begin, hopefully at end of this month.
Knight Park – Chris not available. He’s working with city on the next phase which will involve construction of the pavilion. Park Pride has let us know we need to re-apply for our permit due to Covid. Chris is looking at quotes to resurface tennis court and get a new gate.
Grant – Knight Park Bridge. Old bridge demo’d; city OK’d the new bridge. Grant is talking to contractor. Then we can order a bridge once we are on the contractor’s schedule. Hopefully, in the next 6 weeks.
Events – Due to Covid, most of what we planned this year likely cancelled. Silent auction, chili cookoff, pics with Santa and probably Taste of Howell Station. We may be able to do the pumpkin roll.
Sarah – alternative ideas. Made in Howell Station Market. Virtual – tap into neighborhood talent. We are going to ask for some donations from folks if they want to contribute goods to a virtual online market. Sara will send email and survey to neighbors. End of September.
Meghan – Treasurer’s Report
· Operating checking acct - $6731.62
· Savings 492.02
· Friends of HS - $67, 681.07
Chad- neighborhood dues. They help with activities and events. Go to website to donate. If you shop at Kroger, associate your account with our friends of Howell Station. Same for Amazon Prime.
Chad - Quarry park Update. Phase 1 a is finished. The park is closed due to Covid. Work progressing on phase 2. Naomi Green is our liaison. Attending meetings to be sure HS is represented. They are discussing housing crisis, Hollowell traffic.
Rezoning – working with Keyetta Holmes to see what we can do. Our latest effort is to try and get legislation in place. Brian – Mt. Ephraim not willing to surrender their OIC status for zoning. City is not being very cooperative or accommodating us in any way. 31 different parcels we are looking at.
Question - Dump the pump issue?
Answer - Brian – the picketing is not going to be a regular thing. But we may do another one when it is ready to open. Still some signs if you want one in your yard.
Question - what about gravel roads?
Answer - Brain – they are bidding out and hope to start next May.
Question - do we need a neighborhood directory?
Answer - Sarah – could put it onto our neighborhood website.
Chad – 2 homes knocked down to make way for 4 homes. Ground work started on lower Longley and talks to build on narrow lots on Herndon.
NPU meeting next week – attend if you can. Need good representation, esp to vote on issues impacting us. The corner across from the gas station is applying for liquor license- voting on it at the NPU. This might be attempt to keep Rice Street gas station from getting a liquor license? They can’t be closer than 1500 feet from another liquor store. NPU also working on an ordinance related to the Beltline.
Chad- Jessica Shoemaker asks if there is any content anyone would like her to post, email her directly. Put “social media” in the subject.
Next general body meeting Tuesday, November 10.
Meeting adjourned.
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