The meeting convened at 5:10. Volm moved to approve the agenda, seconded by Hawkins, carried by unanimous vote. Volm moved to approve the minutes of the March 5 meeting; seconded by Hawkins, carried by unanimous vote.

OFFICER'S REPORT/CITY COUNCIL INFORMATION. Kahoun reported on recent Council items including approving a contract for $25,000 to help renovate the Mickle Center.

SALE OF PARK LAND. Tripp was present to answer the Board’s questions about a misleading article in the Des Moines Register that stated the Park and Recreation Department was planning to sell park land. Tripp said no parks are to be sold at this time. Tripp said the Parks Department manages all City-owned land and the parcels to be disposed of are generally small portions of unused right-of-way, alleys to be vacated, floodplains and unbuildable lots being sold to the neighbors for sideyards. He said if the Parks Department ever planned to sell a park, they would hold a meeting with the nearby neighborhood associations. He also said the $17 million figure in the article wasn’t just for park maintenance, but for maintenance on all the City property.

Tripp said the City owns approximately 28% of the land within the City limits, including 8,000 vacant lots, all of which had recently been inventoried and categorized as to whether the City needed to keep possession of it. He said the City sells off land when they don’t - for example, when the Corps of Engineers built a levee near 63^rd Street and land that had been floodplain was then okayed for development. He offered to show the Board a presentation on vacant land that had been prepared for the budget hearings.

Pulliam asked whether the City would be taking possession of land along the freeway when it is offered by the DOT, and in particular, a piece that is being proposed for a convenience store. Tripp said the City probably would not if there was no reason to own and maintain it. He said he would check on the parcel Pulliam was concerned about. Kahoun said the Sherman Hill Neighborhood Plan calls for economic development there since the commercial strip was taken out for the freeway expansion. Hansen said her neighborhood, North of Grand, was hoping to expand backyards when the freeway is moved slightly north.

Tripp said there was no standard policy in place and it might have to be addressed.

Tripp passed out copies of the Capital Improvement plans for park construction. He said the Department was affected by the City’s budget crisis and was very appreciative of all the volunteer help they get. Volm said she was concerned that the education position at the Botanical Center was cut. Tripp said many of the position’s functions would continue to be carried out. He also distributed a trail map.

PRESENTATION OF 2002 CAPER REPORT. Schulte said the CAPER report would go to Council on March 24 and he gave the Board a synopsis of the goals and outcomes, expenditures and activities of CDBG, ESG, and HOME projects over the past year. Among other things, the goal of housing projects is to leverage private dollars to Federal dollars 3:1 and that goal is being met. The Public Works cleanup project is paying for itself in program income and it is hoped the need for it will go down. Schulte said one thing that is not making much progress on goals is an increase in rental units. Schulte said copies of the full report (500 pages) would be available at Neighborhood Development, and he asked the Board to provide their comments by Friday, March 21.

FOREST AVENUE CORRIDOR UPDATE. Kahoun and Drost gave the Board an update on the Forest Avenue Corridor. Kahoun said they were blending work on this area with development of the King Irving Plan as they had so many issues in common. Drost said residents want the area between MLK and 24^th Street cleaned up to be safe for kids walking to school. The committee has developed an eight phase plan and have progressed through five of those eight stages. An Iowa State class has helped with some of the demographics research. There are 21 contaminated sites (former gas stations) and the State got a grant to assess the extent of contamination. A focus area will be chosen but its location has not yet been identified.

Muldoon said she hoped the east end of Forest would be chosen because there was an empty lot where Tedesco wanted to put a convenience store. Kahoun said the consensus of the committee would determine the location. She said new development for this area is not easy to attract – many parcels are shallow and there are parking problems. Muldoon said Drake students could move east and they wouldn’t need as much parking. Kahoun said the majority of Drake students didn’t live near campus and were not as pedestrian as students at most campuses. Pulliam said the dorms were being turned into suites and now it wasn’t just freshmen and sophomores on campus – upperclassmen and graduates were wanting to come back and live on campus. He felt this was an ideal time for new developments along Forest.

King asked what "Other" stood for on the racial demographics. Drost said it was there for people who said they were of mixed race or who didn’t want to put down any specific race.

CHARTER NEIGHBORHOOD EVALUATION DISCUSSION – deferred to next meeting.

NEIGHBORHOOD DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATOR'S REPORT. Kahoun said she had received a request from Lyla Dozier who wanted to put the recent revisions to the House Moving Ordinance on the agenda again and all the neighborhood associations invited. Kahoun said Dozier felt that the Board had not followed protocol when they took an action without having the item marked "action" on the agenda. Kahoun asked what the Board would like to do. Volm said she thought Dozier had a point about acting without prior notice on the agenda and perhaps some further protocols needed to be put in place. Hawkins requested the House Moving Ordinance be on the next agenda.

Kahoun said the upcoming Boards and Commissions dinner would be the 20^th, and the City Clerk asked the Board to come up with the five biggest accomplishments of the Board in the last 20 years. Members submitted their nominations.

Regarding the annual survey of recognized neighborhoods, Kahoun said the website is being updated now and staff will bring a list of associations to be de-recognized at the April 2 meeting. She distributed copies of the associations answers to the survey question, "What would you like the City and NRB to know about your neighborhood."

COMMITTEE/REPRESENTATIVE REPORTS. None

OTHER BUSINESS. King reported that he, Hogate and Muldoon had attended a zoning workshop. King said he thought it was very good, but Muldoon said she felt it was perfunctory since no one took down people’s comments and it was not recorded.

The meeting adjourned at 6:40 p.m.

Betty Volm, Secretary