The meeting convened at 5:02. Hogate moved to approve the agenda, seconded by Volm, carried by unanimous vote. Volm moved to approve the minutes of the February 19 meeting; seconded by Hogate, carried by unanimous vote.

OFFICER'S REPORT/CITY COUNCIL INFORMATION. Kahoun reported on recent Council items including the adoption of the new NRB governing ordinance, adoption of the City's 2004 budget, and setting the public hearing on the annual HUD performance report (CAPER). The CAPER will be on the March 19 NRB agenda.

HOUSE MOVING ORDINANCE. Kahoun advised the Board this was not an action item. Gary Fox, Bill Stowe and Pat Kozitza presented revised procedures for communicating with residents when houses are to be moved. They discussed licensing of movers and notification to utility line owners, neighborhood associations and residents along the route. Stowe said when possible, his department would make every effort to avoid removal of public trees. Muldoon said she wanted specific language put in about that. Fox said the language was already in place in the "shall not cause undue damage to property" clause. Stowe said each situation had to be considered separately, but he would consider language Muldoon would prepare. Neiderbach agreed, saying the language needed to remain flexible because sometimes several factors needed to be weighed in each case such as the historic value of the property to be moved.

Hansen said she was in favor of the changes presented, and requested notification for neighborhood associations and schools. Muldoon asked if there was usually much street damage. Fox said there wasn't because the weight was spread out and wasn't as much as a bus or semi. Muldoon asked if anyone had ever sued the city over trees; Stowe said he didn't recall any such suits. Volm asked what public trees were; Stowe said that meant trees on the parking as well as those on public land. Hogate asked when these changes would go to Council; Kozitza said March 24.

Hogate moved approval; seconded by Hawkins.

Volm congratulated Stowe on the super job his department had done this winter with snow removal. King directed Kahoun to prepare a letter conveying the Board's motion of approval to Council.

GREENWOOD HISTORIC NEIGHBORHOOD. The Board received final copies of the Greenwood Neighborhood Plan.

NEIGHBORHOOD RECOGNITION UPDATE. Kahoun distributed results of the survey so far showing which neighborhoods responded. Board members volunteered to give reminder calls to those neighborhoods that had not sent anything in yet.

INGERSOLL CORRIDOR UPDATE. Kahoun and Van Essen gave the Board an update on the Ingersoll Corridor. Kahoun said traffic load is the biggest issue at the moment. Ingersoll currently carries 14,000 cars per day, Grand Avenue carries 17,000, and it is expected most of those will shift to Ingersoll as soon as Grand closes for construction.

Van Essen presented the Corridor committee's issues and goals including changes to lighting, plantings, turning lanes, shared parking lots, bike lanes, rush hour bus lanes and angle parking. Hansen, who is on the committee, said the business owners were finding the slow-moving nature of the public process to be very foreign. Volm asked how solid the business association was; Van Essen said in the past there was always an organization, but the faces changed frequently. He said he believed the current group was committed to carrying the Plan through.

PY2003 CDBG AND HOME CARRYOVER. Schulte presented Board Communication No. 701 which detailed carryover recommendations for 2003 CDBG and HOME projects. He said the figures represented 12/31/02 data and NCS had made some additional fund commitments since then, which were detailed in a memo from Jay Leipzig.

Volm said asked whether the $769,000 Economic Development had in hand meant that they would not be asking for CDBG funds this fall. Schulte said they hadn't received any additional funding for the past three years. Volm asked if any of it could be attached for reuse; Schulte said the Board had recommended that previously but Council had not taken the recommendation, and felt that the funds should be kept on hand in case a large project came on the scene. Schulte said holding the funds wouldn't cause a problem with HUD unless it was a much larger amount.

Lumley moved to approve the recommendations contained in Board Communication No. 701; seconded by Hawkins.

Schulte said the City had received notification from HUD of how much funding Des Moines would receive this year for CDBG, HOME and ESG. CDBG will be $5,151,000; HOME will be $1,144,102, and ESG will be $178,000. CDBG is up from last year, and HOME and ESG are down. Schulte said there were delays in the Federal budget and they had applied for a partial allocation to receive part of the funding now.

2004 CONSOLIDATED PLAN SCHEDULE. Minks presented Board Communication No. 702 containing the proposed schedule for the 2004 Plan. She said the deadline to receive proposals had been moved up a little. Lumley asked if the phrase "additional allocation committee" meant another group would be looking at the proposals. Minks said that referred to the review group, which consists of staff and other people having particular expertise in the category of proposals being reviewed. Schulte said this group rates the proposals, but does not make the staff recommendation. He also said the way the staff recommendation is developed may be different this year after transfer of the CDBG staff to Housing Services.

Hogate moved to adopt the recommendations contained in Board Communication No. 702 and forward them to the Council; seconded by Volm, carried with Lumley passing.

NEIGHBORHOOD DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATOR'S REPORT. Kahoun distributed the Neighborhood Update. She said she had prepared a letter for the Council agenda conveying the Board's recommendations for candidates to fill the vacant seats and the request for waiver of term limits, but the City Clerk and Legal felt the two issues should be separated. The nomination part was prepared and went to Council, but Kahoun said Legal had told her the term waiver would require another ordinance change. They asked for additional rationale as to who it would apply to, how long it would last and why it was being requested. Hogate said she would speak to it when the nominations were presented at Council.

Volm said she opposed requesting the waiver and was unsure how it could be applied equitably – would a waiver be requested for some members but not for others when their terms expired? She felt that members needed to serve their two terms and then move on. She said sometimes through the years when a strong member left, she wondered if the Board would be able to carry on, but it always had and she felt it would continue to do so.

King said the majority agreed with the motion when it had been voted on. Lumley said she envisioned the waiver as being for everyone and just lasting a few months. Volm said it was better not to request any official action and just let those whose terms had expired keep on serving. Kahoun said she will prepare a draft letter for the Chair's review.

COMMITTEE/REPRESENTATIVE REPORTS. Hogate presented suggestions for changes to the way the Board does business and for future agendas including having the charter neighborhoods come for a recheck on how their Plans are going. Muldoon suggested a survey be developed to send along ahead of time. Hogate requested a committee be appointed to get the invitations out and a standing committee to support neighborhoods.

Kahoun said some neighborhood associations had recently asked staff and the Board to get involved in issues that were not necessarily in the Board's or City's purview. She said the primary purpose of the City recognizing neighborhood associations was to facilitate information flow and it was inappropriate for City staff to get into governance issues.

Muldoon said a protocol needed to be developed and issues of fairness needed to be sorted out. Kahoun said she had told these neighborhoods that if there were issues that the Board should be involved in, they needed to contact the Chair and ask to be on the agenda.

Kahoun said she would ask Mary Neiderbach to draft a guide and invitation for the charter neighborhoods and set up a schedule.

OTHER BUSINESS. Muldoon requested that someone from the Parks Department come and discuss proposed closings and land sales with the Board. She asked that Council Member Frank Cownie also come. King said he would prefer Don Tripp, Parks Director.

Volm advised the Board to read the article regarding the loss of staff at the Botanical Center.

The meeting adjourned at 7:10 p.m.

Betty Volm, Secretary