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City of Lincoln Urban Development Department Mayor's Neighborhood Roundtable Meeting Agenda and Summary August 2007

Chairperson Tracy Lines Corr called the meeting to order at 5:35 P.M., Thursday, August 9, 2007, in the Mayor's Conference Room, County/City Building, Lincoln, Nebraska. Twenty-two participants were in attendance.

Tracy Lines Corr, 40th and A Neigh. Assoc.	Jeff Schwebke, Arnold Heights Neigh. Assoc.
Gloria Eddins, Clinton Neigh. Org.	Kim_____, Downtown Neigh. Assoc.
Cherie Krueger, East Campus Com. Org.	Dorothy Ebner, Hartley Neigh. Assoc.
Gary Irvin, South Salt Creek Com. Org.	Gail Anderson, University Place Com. Org.
Lois Haupt, University Place Com. Org.	Larry Frisch, Witherbee Neigh. Assoc.
Shawn Ryba, Free to Grow	Erik Laing, Free to Grow
Russell Miller, Lincoln Neigh. Alliance	Michael Snodgrass, NeighborWorks - Lincoln
Rick Hoppe, Mayor's Office	Lynn Johnson, Parks & Recreation
Wayne Teten, Public Works & Utilities	Karl Fredrickson, Public Works & Utilities
Marvin Krout, Planning	Nancy Engel, Urban Development
Mark Hunzeker	Mayor Beutler

WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS
Mayor Beutler opened the meeting and asked the participants to introduce themselves. A sign-in sheet was provided for check-in.

MAYOR'S COMMENTS
Mayor Beutler mentioned a follow-up on the budget; there were some disappointments, some good things. We lost the Affirmative Action person although we continue to work on that. We lost the Women's Commission. We are trying to work on some things there, but both of those situations are in a very serious condition right now. We lost some money from the Fire Department we did not want to lose. We got some money back for the Aging Department and the Police Department and are feeling better about those two areas. Some money was taken from roads and transferred to Police. He commented on his observation of the difference between the functioning of the City Council and the Unicameral.

NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION VOLUNTEERING
Parks and Recreation Department: Lynn Johnson, Director of Parks and Recreation Department, indicated the City has 122 park areas. He mentioned a change because of this year's budget. The department maintains 35 public restrooms in park areas. Two of those will close partly because of use and partly because things are changing. Another 13 restrooms are proposed to be open only during an adjoining park shelter use, or an adjoining ball field use. The real challenge is the overnight hours. That is when the restrooms are vandalized. If neighborhood associations are interested in setting up an adoption schedule whereby a person from the association locks the restrooms at night and unlocks them in the morning, Parks Department would be happy to keep those restrooms open during the day so people could use them. They have had great success with the Irvingdale and Tierra Park neighborhoods.

Another effort, this fall, would be a one-day cleanup of all 122 park areas by families, organizations, Neighborhood Associations, Community Organizations, companies, etc. who have adopted a park area. Perhaps it will be called "Hands On Help Out Day." Each group could pick a day (or maybe an evening). They would come and do the cleanup with a focus on placing wood chips around tree trunks. Parks Department will coordinate with the group to have wood chips and equipment available to cleanup and spruce up this fall. This cleanup is one of those little things where if everyone pitches in a little bit it makes a huge difference in the Spring. When you identify which park you want to work with, Parks Department will arrange contact between the organization and the park maintenance staff to set a day and coordinate the effort. Contact Janet Ball at 441-7035 or through the Parks Department switchboard, 441-7847.

East Campus Community Organization volunteered to take care of the three parks within their boundaries. Hartley Neighborhood Association, University Place Community Organization, and Clinton Neighborhood Organization expressed interest in participating.

On a side note, Lynn explained the upgrade of equipment at Peter Pan Park. The previous equipment had been in place for six years. The wood-frame equipment is being replaced with steel-framed equipment which has a projected life of 15 years.

Public Works & Utilities Department: Karl Fredrickson, Director of Public Works Department, and Wayne Teten, Manager of Antelope Valley Project and Street Maintenance, presented some areas in which the neighborhood associations could volunteer.

• Sidewalk Inventory. The Sidewalk Inventory would provide a database so Public Works would have a better grasp of the scope of the need.
• Detention Cell Inspection.
• Street-side litter cleanup in the Spring prior to the first mowing.
• Cleaning graffiti from construction projects such as the Antelope Valley Big T, the Overpass by the Devaney Center, the Vine Street Bridge, and in other areas where the traffic and trail traffic is light and people are less visible while tagging.
• Reporting streets missed by snow removal operations (Snow Partners)
• Maintenance of Landscaped Medians (traffic safety concerns might override volunteer participation).

Mr. Johnson and Mr. Fredrickson fielded questions and comments from the Roundtable.

RESTAURANTS AND THE SALE OF ALCOHOL
Marvin Krout presented information regarding a proposed amendment to the City Zoning Ordinance covering restaurants and the sale of alcohol [Change of Zone No. 07046]. He and Mark Hunzeker, attorney for the applicant, outlined various provisions of the proposal.

The situation involves a restaurant desiring to locate within a strip mall and serve alcohol, but the property lies closer than 100 feet to the abutting residential area. Currently, no process exists for an exception to the 100-foot rule. This measurement is linear to the closest portion of the licensed premises from a residential lot whether a public door, or public parking, exists at that closest point.

The 100-foot rule does not pertain to the City's B-2 and B-5 Zoning which are the newer districts in the City where a new rule was established such that if certain safety requirements are met any alcohol sales establishment may obtain a conditional use permit. The condition being the spacing requirement defined as measuring from the residential district to the public access door of the establishment.

The proposed amendment is an attempt to carve out from other alcohol sales uses a restaurant which simply services alcohol as an accessory to food sales use and to allow it, as a conditional use as in it would be in the B-2 and B-5 districts today, subject to some conditions. One of the conditions requires similar spacing to a public access door from a residential district. That door would have to face away from the residential area.

Another part of the proposal is to define a restaurant. Currently, the Zoning Code does not do so. The conditions to be approved would have limitations on the operating hours. The restaurant would have to close at midnight and the outside area associated with the restaurant would have to close at 11:00 P.M. It also would require the restaurant have more receipts in food sales than receipts from alcohol sales so it really is a restaurant. Mr. Krout gave the example of the difference between Brewsky's (by proposed definition not a restaurant) and Lazlo's (by proposed definition a restaurant). The restaurant must serve full-course meals based on a state statute. The idea is for it to be a real restaurant which can serve alcohol and treat it in less restrictive way than a bar or other uses which are alcohol sales uses.

This proposal is an effort to balance protecting the neighborhood from a noisy bar, but avoiding vacant commercial space within established neighborhoods. Part of the challenge in many older neighborhood commercial areas is the depth of the commercial area being one block, or less. The areas affected by the proposed amendment are: B-1, B-3, H-1, H-2, H-3, H-4, I-1, I-2 and I-3. This proposal is not to provide for a special use permit, but to apply the current rules for the B-2 and B-5 areas to the older areas for only restaurants. The staff report has been prepared and is going to the Planning Commission. The Planning Commission hearing is next Wednesday, August 15, 2007.

Mr. Krout and Mr. Hunzeker entertained questions and comments from the Roundtable.

SEPTEMBER AGENDA
The next meeting of the Mayor's Neighborhood Roundtable is scheduled for September 13, 2007, 5:30 p.m., in the Mayor's Conference Room, County/City Building, 555 South 10th Street, 2nd floor. The September agenda will include a continuation of the discussion of neighborhood association volunteering (partnering with City government); Dave Landis, Director of Urban Development Department, presenting his vision for the department; and meeting the new fire chief.

Tracy mentioned two handouts Scrap Tire Collection (61 K PDF) and a Neighborhood Resource Guide, (162 K PDF) produced by Free to Grow.

ADJOURN
There being no other business, the meeting adjourned at 6:40 p.m.

Submitted by David G. Ensign
Urban Development Department

Urban Development Community Development Division Mayor's Neighborhood Roundtable

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