Meeting Minutes, Monday, Jan. 23, 2006

Staring Lane Community Assn. Meeting Minutes

Special guests invited to today’s meeting included Hampton Grenwald and City Council Rep Mickey Skyring. Skyring did attend while Grenwald did not.

Purpose of today’s meeting: to save our homes

Introductions:
No cost to be a member at this times; no dues have been discussed
Members from other neighborhood associations have been invited (including Worthington Lakes, King Crest Parkway, South Hills, Wildwood).

Reports:
PUBLICITY COMMITTEE: Chairman Pattie Herke has contacted
- Chad Rogers with http://www.thedeadpelican.com/ (he wants to be on our e-mail list) chad@thedeadpelican.com chad@thedeadpelican.com
- Veronica Mosgrove (but Ms. Mosgrove has not called her back)
Regarding today’s meeting, the following media were contacted via e-mail:
- WBRZ Channel 9
- Linda Lightfoot at The Advocate
A meeting attendee suggested we try to contact Ed Buggs, but currently his radio station is off the air and no one seems to know where he is working presently. A meeting attendee; Carol O’Neal wrote a letter to the mayor, which could also be a letter to the editor, and read it outloud for the association’s feedback
- New member to the Publicity Committee: Millie Williams

MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE: Chairman Pamela Labbe typed the roster and had copies available for those attending; e-mail notices for today’s meeting along with last meeting’s minutes were compiled on a blog and the blog web site address was e-mailed to everyone on the membership roster list who has e-mail. Dr. Shamlin called everyone on the list without e-mail addresses to notify them of the meeting. No other membership activity has taken place since the last meeting.

BYLAWS COMMITTEE: Chairman Pete Territo is working on the bylaws with Gwynn Shamlin Jr. Pete reported that a meeting was held at Dr. Shamlin’s house with Grenwald with Dr. Shamlin and Pete. Grenwald said that only five lanes would be appropriate. But Pete found out other streets in the area that had only four lanes and no turning lanes and no boulevards. Grenwald said that we must stay with the five lanes for safety reasons. Is the set-back distance from the end of the right-away to the front wall of the house 15 feet? We need to find out this for certain.

FINANCE COMMITTEE: Chairman Howard Polk suggested that because our expenditures are low at this time, we should not charge dues. And instead we should determine dues via a means upon what expense come up. He has an operational cross manual available via e-mail. Polk said that he found out that Staring Lane is NOT a state road; there is no detailed plan for Staring Lane as of yet. There is a possibility that the Staring Lane Project will not start for another 10 to 14 years. The Dept. of Public Works features a link to the Green Light Plan. Regarding specific volume capacity ratio: what is this for Staring Lane? ADT: what does this stand for? No time elements exist in the survey; The road should reflect the residential character of the area and this plan fails to represent this.

CONTACTS OF INTEREST: Mayor’s Rep has been in communication with Dr. Gwynn Shamlin regarding the Staring Lane Project. There are so many unanswered questions regarding this project, admitted Grenwald to Dr. Shamlin.

Wanda Stewart – President of Worthington Lakes Subdivision
135 members in her association; her association supports our efforts in keeping the area taken to a minimum.

WELCOME TO MICKEY SKYRING:
He said nothing is set in stone, everything based on conjecture, no meetings have been held. CSRS has been selected as project planners but their contract is still under negotiation.
- They are the current directors of the Green Light Plan.
- They have an idea of approximate costs
- They are certain BURBANK is ready to go (construction will start there first)
- Staring Lane is not going to be first, but it won’t be soon (nothing determined as of yet)
- Contact for CSRS: Michael Songi
- Contact for traffic count: Mike Bruce

Mickey says that no boulevard is determined, but it has to have curbs, gutters & sidewalks. But Grenwald has said four lanes will not work. Skyring admits that he hasn’t made every meeting, so he might be wrong about this. The engineers are driving this, and mentioning all safety concerns, etc.

Magnolia Woods wants to form another organization just to prevent Staring Lane from going commercial. Committee is in favor of property being taken from both sides to equalize. Those pushing the “overlay district” want to do something different with Staring Lane, as some might find part of it an eyesore.

Mickey says he wants to keep Staring Lane residential, not commercial; but what if he’s not the city council member of this district any more by the time these decisions are being made? E-mail: mskyring@brgov.com

Dr. Shamlin would like to have Michael Bruce or Mike Songi attend the next meeting. We’ll follow up on this, and notice will be sent out regarding the next meeting.

Our attorney, Gwynn Shamlin Jr., is not present tonight. Suggestion is to let the possible lawsuit rest until we can talk to more sources of information.

OTHER ASSOCIATION SUPPORT:
General Assembly of Baton Rouge: Gwen Butler
Wildwood Assn: Mr. Johnson; respresents 150 homeowners; priorities can be changed so easily depending on who has power and money
South Hills: Ms. Clemmons
Magnolia Woods: numerous attendees are also members of this assn.

Syring wants to put turning lanes at Highland and Staring first, before the rest of the projects, to alleviate traffic problems. The light at Perkins and Essen/Staring needs to be synchronized.