UPCC Board Meeting Minutes for May 2013

Dana O’Connor opened the meeting by thanking RoofStar Colorado for providing refreshments. The open board positions are still available, so please see Dana if you are interested. Our dear friend and board member passed away this past week, Mary Meyers. She will be greatly missed. The community Garden in Observatory Park is almost ready to get underway, please see the table with information regarding help. The Prairie Park is full of undesirable plants, known as weeds – they are working with the city and few other arborists to get some newer and healthier vegetation. More info on our website. The Harvard Gulch Improvement initiative is in its infancy stages, and this process may take awhile to get the project to completion, but Dana plans to see it through. Any ideas, thoughts, or funding please email Dana. The neighborhood Garage Sale is June 7th & 8th, please feel free to contact Pam Adams or Traci Samaras if you would like to be included on the neighborhood map.

 

Katie Mochan with the University Park Home tour. A great outpouring for sponsorship this year. Tickets are $20 now, and $25 on the day of. Tickets are available at the school or online. It takes about 250 volunteer hours on the day of the event; so more volunteers are always welcome. The proceeds are benefit the PTA, and the Principal along with the PTA and a team choose where the funds go.

 

Allan Wilson, University of Denver Assistant Director Facilities Management & Planning talking about upcoming construction. Field Expansion to the West of the Richie Center. The1900 block of High Street houses on the East side will be torn down since DU already owns them to expand this field. The timeline to complete will be this coming November. 2306 E. Evans, that building will undergo a complete renovation. The school of Engineering 2300 blocks of York behind this will build a new building. Centennial Halls will undergo a kitchen renovation; The Science building will undergo some modernization, a Pool renovation that may take about 8 weeks. Building an indoor golf facility in the Richie Center, and adding a new ribbon board to the stadium. Magnus area is also looking into LED lighting to cut some costs. Water conservation is a big deal, so there may be a few brown spots on the campus. 70% of the students that tour actually enroll, and the beauty of the campus is really helping. A question asked about additional pedestrian help at Evans & University. DU is concerned and knows the volume is too much for this area. They would be interested in partnering with the community for more help from Denver. 29th of May is the next Good Neighbors meeting at DU – 1921 S. York Street. Another concern is the High School graduation traffic and just a bit more signage and awareness.

 

Pam Adams presented the slate of Executive Board for 2013-2014

Co- Treasures: June Morgan & Ryan Zorn

Secretary: Traci Samaras

Vice President: Jennifer Schmidt

President: Dana O’Connor

 

Updates about the potential development on the East side of the 2400 block of University from Pat Cashen. A New York based company owns this property, and has for about 30 years. The current zoning is for 3 stories which is GMX3. The developer is interested in a higher building and the immediate neighbors were opposed as so was the board to any zoning changes. The Denver planning staff has received the letter. The 2010 zoning changes that Denver made, are felt to be fair by the board. Tessler Development out of New York. A comment was received that people would like to see more to this development. Dana would like to table the discussion to a different time with some of the angry residents. Again, this is in the infantile stages. Michael Hicks would like to join the committee.