East Silver Lake Ballpark - What's Happening?

Several people have asked me about the work going on at the East Silver Lake ballpark. Here's the scoop.

The Park Department is removing the fence, spraying the outfield grass to kill it all in preparation for regrading and leveling of the field. Apparently stormwater runoff fron the grounds and the culvert (at the 9th Street hill) have flooded the field making it unplayable. The regrading of the field will include a swayle to divert water to the parking lot and to the storm water drains at the street.

They are removing trees at the culvert to allow grading there as well (this was the former "clump" of bushes we had cleaned up a year or so ago).

Overall, we should have a much better field to play in.

Pint's Pub on North Broadway - What Happened?

At the July 18, 2005 city council meeting, the council reversed a Planning and Zoning Commission (P&ZC) 4-3 vote to deny the Conditional Use request by Mr. Todd Powers to relocate his Pint’s Pub establishment to a North Broadway location formerly known as Whiting’s Nursery. This was done in a 1 ½ hour public hearing after listening to nearby resident’s objections stated at the P&ZC, presented via a signed petition by 88 residents of the area and repeated at the council hearing. WHY? What went wrong, if anything?

Many are concerned that the system failed them, ignoring that their major concerns were listened to and addressed with conditions of operation which is exactly what this process was designed to do.

The simplest explanation is that our zoning and land development laws required this action. The property in question was already zoned as B-4 requiring a Type II Conditional Use permit – that is meeting standards defined in the Land Development Manual Section 61.146. At the time of the P&ZC hearings the P&ZC members in a 4-3 vote felt that the conditions for approval did not provide adequate protection from the detrimental features of the proposed establishment. I agreed and said so to Mr. Powers.

The major concerns at the time were noise, traffic impact to Hwy 63, and close proximity to a children’s playground. Other issues were brought up but were not supportable.

I have a detailed accounting for each concern and am willing to either discuss them or send you a copy. It's too long to get into with this vehicle. The net is that Mr. Powers, the petitioner, agreed to significant changes to the conditions of approval between the hearing at the Planning and Zoning Commission and the appeal at the City Council. This is not unusual.

The residents should not look at this as a loss. Because of their concerns and Mr Powers desire to mitigate these concerns they now have:

- a committment to never having to contend with a tent or outdoor amplification.
- a 3 foot berm and an 8 foot solid fence separating Pint's Pub property from an adjoining playground and from the neighborhood. In addition, the new fence will extend along the fence at the back of AL's Specialty Marine property, shielding AL's boats and equipment from view of the patrons using the parking lot (an unexpected bonus).
- a new frontage road running to the south exiting at the Shopko North Hwy 63 entrance to relieve traffic from HWY 63 and potential re-routing to 41st Street and Alberta Drive.

So, again, nothing went wrong. My rationale to support the neighorhood and the denial of the P&ZC were largely overcome by Mr Powers new agreement to conditions. The only one supportable concern over routing of traffic to the Shopko exit was not
supported by anyone else and I can understand why.

I suggest we relax and wait and see what happens.

Anonymous Patriot on Northern Heights

What a nice surprise to drive on Northern Heights Dr over the 4th and have it decorated with a flag at each mailbox.

I asked several residents about this and they weren't aware of who did this wonderful deed. Was this a neighborhood effort? A small group of patriotic citizens? A single person?

I would like to thank whoever did this and I'm sure so would all of us who cherish what our flag means and what the 4th of July means.

If you read this, thanks!