7:00-7:10pm:
- Introduction & Attendance
7:00-7:10pm:
- Introduction & Attendance
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- Meeting ground rules
- Minutes approval- Richard called for a motion, motion approved unanimously
7:10-7:25pm: Community Updates
- Barre Circle- Ryan and Otterbein Street “Beer Garden” BBQ October 2nd at 4pm
- Franklin Square- none
- Hollins Roundhouse- Black Cherry Puppet Theater will be doing some shows in the Parklet
- Tuesday, September 21 at 6:30 & 9 PM was their first shows back- check out their website for more details on upcoming shows.
- Also now tailgating in the parklet for the Ravens game; Residential Properties in the Hollins Market area, not the market itself, new developer interest from Marcus; Planning a Halloween party- details TBD
- Mount Clare- Wonderful Latino Outreach event on 9/11 led by Mt Clare Community Council with over 100 attendees sponsored by UMB Office of Community Engagement and Senator Antonio Hayes
- Pigtown- Pigtown Festival has been cancelled due to COVID but a few events will be in place of the full festival 25th 11am to 5pm there will be a sidewalk sale with door prizes etc; “Story walk” along Main Street 856 Washington Blvd is the start (Pigtown Library) Trivia 9/30 at 7pm ; virtual sip and paint- see Facebook page of Pigtown Main Street for more details
- Union Square- Sunday Sounds in the Park this Sunday 4-7pm 9/26- The Village Idiots are the band
- Poppleton- Lowes and Allen AME- lot looks amazing and the Family Center at Excel Academy is opened (run by United Way of Central MD) and looks beautiful- Hearing on the Liquor License in the 101 Building and the want to do a follow up with the neighborhood association
7:25-7:40pm: Committee Updates
- Commercial- Entrepre-looza conference- about 50 people came and it was a huge success and next month’s agenda is about Arts and Entertainment District
- Education- moved forward with getting the new youth internship program off the ground- raised from multiple sources including the Biopark- will have 4-6 interns; the committee will be taking on the challenge of Mental Health resources in school; Jane Shaab added that the Community Fund will fund this new internship program along with resources from UMB;
- Historic Preservation- Courtney Hobson completed her research on the Malachi Mills House and some recommendations for end use for the property and the committee will be discussing the recommendations at the next meeting; Booth Street Stable project is wrapping up and almost complete; next committee meeting will be at the stable; elections are at the next meeting (2nd Monday of the month at 6pm)—Malachi Mills was almost for certain a white man and not a free slave, who he purchased the building from was different than originally thought and is slightly older then originally thought; several business uses, a shooting range, a few barber shops, etc. JR asked about how this revisionist history is there a change—so architecturally (still the older wood structure in West Baltimore) it is still significant. Full Report recommendations: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Y2f_43uCrb4Gg23LWCNLEzoIG8ZY3OY6/view
- Housing- Mailing going out from Rebuilding Together regarding their Homeownership Repair Program and it outlines the eligibility- mailer is going out to “legacy Homeowners” (15 plus year of homeownership, there are 944 of these legacy homeowners in the SWP); As well as the Estate Planning clinic coming up at the CEC on 10/16 from 10am to 2pm- make reservations by 10/8 contact Pro Bono Resource Center at 443-703-3052 to make an appointment
- Public Safety- Officer Simpson…he used to attend the Public Safety committee and was a great asset to the committee is now being investigated; 14 teens shot this month—so we need to get back to getting the Poppleton Rec Center opened so these kids can get in there; Gate program is proceeding now that it is focused on the entire SWP not just Baltimore Street- need to target Pigtown and Barre Circle to do outreach to spread the word about the alley gating)
- Vibrant Streets- working with City on Bike Lanes, and have a subcommittee working on murals and wayfinding signs; Committee wanted Donnell to bring forth a concern and ask at the same time: Neighborhood Grant application process is about to wrap up but issue is Poppleton (they haven’t gotten as much as other neighborhoods
Donnell Motion; heather seconded- “To allow projects within Poppleton neighborhood boundary to be eligible for the grant application process for Small Neighborhood grant program, whether the applicant lives in Poppleton or not”
Discussion: any resident can apply from all seven neighborhoods anyway
- Scott, mentioned that applications get “extra points” when they show neighborhood engagement and association buy in/support
- Sonia would like the association to be consulted and for that to be considered when looking at funding the projects
- Donnell, anyone can apply with or without the neighborhood association feedback, but yes, you get additional points on your application if you have the community association backing
- Elizabeth added that they will not fund projects that the community association
- Second by Ashley, motion- passed
- Workforce- Train and Advocacy policy led by Kurt Sommer from West Baltimore Renaissance Foundation
7:40-8:00pm: President’s Remarks
- Lou Packett- Accolades about the amazing soul that Lou was; a ten second moment of silence in honor of Lou.
- Board Communications Workgroup (will schedule follow-up meeting)
- Vision Plan Progress Review (postponed to next meeting)
- George Kleb resigned as the Chair of the Governance committee, Lou passed away and was chair of the Fund Development- October meeting we will see two nominations for both of these positions from Richard
8:00-8:15pm: Executive Director Report
- Baltimore St:
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- Board members received in an email requested update information about the 1325 W Baltimore St project. At the June meeting there was a proposal for the SWP to sell 1325 W Baltimore St, which the SWP acquired as a package with the sale of the former Littlepages properties (1317 and 1313 W Baltimore St). These are not properties the SWP needed, and were an intervention buy to ensure community control. A developer has approached the SWP with interest in rehabbing the 1325 property. There were questions at the June Board meeting wanting to understand the appraisal and structural issues–those reports were ordered and shared with the Board
- Proposal is to rehab the space–first floor retail and residential rentals above. SWP would sell property conditional on being reimbursed for holding costs as well as reimbursement for cost of appraisal and structural report. SWP would hold on to the property until successful rehab and Use and Occupancy with a community approved use. Want to ensure that the developer does not have added costs as the property is in very bad condition, but also does not want to continue to be liable for the property as we do not have the funds to rehab it.
- Developer has received approval from the relevant neighborhood associations for the concept.
- A Board resolution is needed to sell the property. SWP will form a joint LLC with the developer which will allow the SWP to maintain control while the developer has the control needed to raise financing from banks. Joint LLC is a mechanism that has been used on housing development projects.
- Tony: allow the SWP to sell 1325 W Baltimore St to the developer contingent on repayment of holding costs, reimbursement for appraisal, and a successful Use and Occupancy based on approved community use.
- Richard: Did we offer the property to the public at large? No, not through a formal public process. The purchase of the properties was announced to the commercial committee and to the community. As a result the developer approached the SWP and the appropriate neighborhood assocaitions.
- Why are we selling a property valued at $139,000 for about $7,000–cost to rehab exceeds the appraised value, we bought it for a $1, this process provides control in the process as well as an opportunity to reduce a liability.
- Richard: why not allow another developer the opportunity to acquire the property and maybe raise more money for the SWP
- Tony: have had issues in the past finding developers to do this kind of work, this is a difficult property, and the developer has been working with the relevant neighborhoods for years.
- Bill: concern about the language around ‘common ownership’ would like an experienced real estate attorney look at the proposal. Also concerned about the appraisal report’s quality.
- David: what legal separation would look like in the form of the LLC/joint ownership, what would happen in case of a fire, etc
- Scott: thinks he’s in favor, important to get things moving to move along vacant properties, shouldn’t necessarily be thinking about getting the most out of projects for the SWP in terms of money. Understands that the SWP remains a partner until the use and occupancy–if something goes bad along the way the SWP would have the ability to take control
- Tony: still conversations that can be had with our attorney
- Richard: is there anything to vote on? Tony: request would be to provide permission to sell the property
- Jason: how does it work for a developer to partner with the SWP–Tony, lets connect offline
- Heather: would like a more open or transparent process–would like to hear about other projects that the developer has done
- Laura: an open process is good, but an open process can lead to problems if we want to maximize profit or community ownership and input
- JR: if they can do it (the developer) fine with me, have seen this before (1518 W Baltimore St)–developers promised the world and now the theater is vacant, doesn’t want to be painted back in the same corner
- Ashley Watson/Greywood Group– involved in the SWP area, own a property on W Baltimore St, project 1411 (1411 W Baltimore St). Purpose is to purchase property and rehabilitate them for impact. Never any intention on coming into the community and not doing the work. Live in the neighborhood and are doing great work in the area. https://www.greywoodgroupllp.com/. Have been involved in this property for quite some time, this was put on hold and have revisited it. Have provided everything requested by the Board.
- Offered to take on full ownership (to take on full risk) but board wanted joint ownership
- Question- Is 1325 W Baltimore fully financed? Answer, Developer- yes- We did crowd funding (using Community Wealth Builders), and bank lending combined- in 1325, open retail shell, and two apartment units on top
- Kris H makes the point that the optics could be bad so we need some talking points for the board to clarify the transaction; Tony argued that moving forward we will most likely take a different approach, however this has been three years in the making and someone we have been working to request the board approval for the sale of 1325 W Baltimore to Greywood Group
- Motion made to move forward with the sale made by Richard Seconded by David
- Ashley Valis – abstain
- Kelleigh Eastman – Abstain
- JR Lee – abstain
- Scott Kashnow – Y
- George Kleb Abstain
- Jane Shaab – Abstain
- Abigail Breiseth – Yes
- Jane Buccheri – Yes
- Chuck Callahan- Yes
- Edith Gilliard-Canty Y
- Gregg Herlong – abstain
- Heather Kangas Abstain
- Kris Hoellen – against
- Laura Dykes – Y
- Bill Marker Y
- Jose Resendiez (absent)
- Donnell Nance abstain
- Richard Parker against
- David McGill Y
- Sonia Eaddy/Liberty Henderson (non voting)
- Motion passes
- Operational Updates- Office is opened 9am to 5pm Monday through Friday and still working on the HVAC issues, but the staff is there and in compliance with city covid restrictions ; DEI survey and consultant will be reaching out to at least 12 Board members for interviews and please be responsive to them so that they can be on time with their report to us
- Rachel Goodrich our SWP Workforce specialist is pregnant and will be out in March- Lisa Rawlings will be taking on some of Rachel’s duties and will be hiring an intern to work with Lisa will Rachel is out. Congrats Rachel!
8:15-8:30pm: Open Forum
- Donnell- the audit report has been submitted to the Board and we ask that you take a look at it and then we can go over it next month at the board meeting
- Kurt Sommer- Selected a General Contractor for the 5 N Calhoun Street property that West Baltimore Renaissance Foundation will lease out to various programs
- Kris- Farmer’s Market will be ending this week at the B&O so please go support it one last time; October Food Truck Festival Saturday October 2nd; Dog lovers- Oct 16th Dogs are invited to ride the train
- Scott- October 16th Cyclovia – cyclists gather together and have tons of activities going on; family friendly
- Bill Maker- SOWEBO 5K October 3rd Sunday in Union Square https://sowebolandmark5k.org/ – ages 16 and under are free
- David MacGill- Could someone post the LLC or shareholder agreements that the Board has entered into
- Heather- Syringe litter—Sparc can help with this- Heather sent an email to the board about this
8:30pm: Adjournment & Executive Session
Jane adjourned, Donnell seconded- approved
- Approval of Executive Session Minutes
