Spicewood Neighborhood Association Annual Business Meeting – 11/15/16

Meeting Summary

The meeting started at 7:05

• Approximately 30 – 35 neighborhood residents attended.
• City Council members Dave Rollo, Andy Ruff, and Steve Volan attended.
• The meeting started with the introductions of the current executive committee members.
• Much of the meeting was a discussion of the pedestrian safety and vehicular traffic on Sare Rd. Dave Rollo summarized the cost issues, sources of funds, and possible options for improving pedestrian safety.
• The challenges of a side path from Buttonwood to Moore’s Pike were discussed but it could not be funded for a few years.
• Dave Rollo is going to support our recommendations for improving pedestrian safety.
• The vehicular traffic issues on Sare Rd were also discussed but not resolution was found.
• Nick Hawes summarized the current status of Smithville offering to provide fiber service to Spicewood. The neighbors asked numerous questions, the installation process was described, and the City Council members provided information about the City’s plan for city-wide fiber installation.
• The executive committee for next year was selected. The members are John Kennedy, Sandy Sabbagh, Andrew Houlne, Brian Roberts, Mark Webb, Shirley Megnin, and Roger Goetz.
• The meeting adjourned at 8:30.

The Spicewood Neighborhood Association thanks Dave Rollo, Andy Ruff, and Steve Volan for attending the meeting, listening to our concerns, and providing information on the City’s processes for improving sidewalks and roads.

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Annual Spicewood Picnic and Association Meeting

The annual Spicewood Neighborhood Picnic was held from 5 – 8 PM on Sunday September 18, 2016 on Round Hill Court. Approximately 80 residents of Spicewood and Spicewood II participated in the picnic and meeting.

The meeting was called to order by John Kennedy at 6:30 PM. John introduced the members of the Spicewood Neighborhood Association, thanked the picnic organizers (Jay and Marti Leslie; Mark and Linda Webb), and thanked the executive committee members who passed out the picnic flyers and a special thanks to Grace and Myles McKay for helping with the flyers.

John Kennedy provided an update on recent executive association activities including working with City Council member Dave Rollo on weed enforcement and traffic improvements on Sare Rd. He announced that the association’s annual business meeting will be held in November. Dave Rollo will attend the meeting and will be prepared to talk about needed improvement to Sare Rd for both vehicular and pedestrian traffic.

The meeting portion of the picnic was adjourned at 6:35 PM.

April 5, 2016 Neighborhood Association Meeting Summary

More than 30 residents from Spicewood and Spicewood II attended the meeting in the Fireside Room in the Sherwood Oaks Christian Church. The meeting started at 7:00 PM with an introduction of executive committee members. John Kennedy summarized some committee activities in the past few months including information about the Spicewood sign landscaping and the Little Free Library. The Library has been named the Eric M. Detwiler Memorial Library. The Spicewood yard sale will be held on June 11 and the picnic will be held late August or early September.

Tim Hemke gave a presentation on the development of The Lakes neighborhood at the corner of Sare and Rogers. He described the mix of housing and retail that will be built, the internal amenities, and the long term development plan. He expects that about 250 housing units will be built over the next 10 years.

Mayor John Hamilton gave a short presentation on some changes coming to the City but most of the meeting time was a Q&A with the mayor. Traffic issues on Sare Rd were discussed in depth. Spicewood residents raised concerns about the traffic conditions both for vehicle and pedestrian traffic. Many residents suggested that a sidewalk on the west side of Sare Rd from Spicewood to Buttonwood help alleviate the pedestrian problems. Many expressed concern that the continued growth south of Rogers, the plans for the County to significantly improve Fullerton Pike to Rhorer and Sare Rds, and the new hospital traffic would create more traffic problems on Sare Rd that would affect Spicewood residents.

The other major issue raised with the mayor was the need for more enforcement of the weed ordinance. One resident pointed out that the City has different ordinances for residential lots and for the tree plot that borders the street. A request was made to the mayor to more strictly enforce the ordinance related to the maintenance of the tree plot.

The meeting adjourned at 8:05.

Spring 2016 Newsletter

The Spicewood Neighborhood Association Spring Newsletter is available by clicking here.

You can also find more information about Spicewood on our Facebook page –  and the Spicewood Nextdoor page. A Facebook account is not needed to see the Facebook page but Nextdoor requires an account to verify that you are a resident of Spicewood.

Neighborhood Meeting Agenda – November 10, 2015

When: November 10 at 7:00 PM

Where: Sherwood Oaks Christian Church Chapel*

Agenda:

• Introductions
• Hand-in-Hand and Caring Companions
• Report of the past year activities (signs, Little Free Library)
• Tentative plans for next year (neighborhood garage sale, picnic)
• Discussion of neighborhood issues ( weed ordinance enforcement, poker house, others)
• Neighborhood communications
• Selection of the executive committee for next year

 

*The meeting will be held in the chapel. Enter through door 20 on the northeast side of the church. The chapel is the 2^nd door on the right.

 

Spicewood Neighborhood Association Winter Meeting Summary

Spicewood Neighborhood Association Winter Meeting

December 8, 7:00 PM

Sherwood Oaks Christian Church

Attendance: 23 residents of Spicewood I and Spicewood II

 Meeting Summary

1. Carmela Garcia from ReStore gave a short presentation about ReStore’s services and their need for materials and volunteers, especially when students are not in town. Call 812 331 2660 for more information.
2. Update on Spicewood Signs: The sign installation has been delayed by changes in the City’s contracting procedures. Currently, the funds for the signs and landscaping are encumbered for the next fiscal year. In January, the signs and installation will be on the Board of Public Works agenda for its approval. Assuming all goes as expected, the signs should be installed in spring.
3. Update on the Little Free Library: The Library is ready for installation but the site chosen for the Library had too many tree roots to install the Library post. The executive committee will discuss alternate locations when it meets early next year.
4. Update on The Lakes Neighborhood: The developers are working with the County Plan Commission on approval for the overall design. More information is available on their website – http://lakesneighborhood.com/.
5. Online communications: There was a fairly extensive discussion about setting up and maintaining a NextDoor website for Spicewood. NextDoor is a password-protected neighborhood website that is limited to Spicewood residents only. The Bloomington City Police Department will use Nextdoor to communicate with neighborhoods. There was unanimous agreement that Spicewood should have Spicewood Nextdoor site and that all neighborhood residents should be invited to join it. Information about NextDoor can be found at https://help.nextdoor.com/ and in this document – Info about Nextdoor.
6. Update on Spicewood finances: Early next year, the executive committee will open a checking account for the Association. The EIN needed for the account has been obtained. The funds donated at the picnic will be deposited in the account. The Association is part of the Council of Neighborhood Associations (CONA) which allows use of the CONA 501c3 status. Future purchases can be made tax-free and donations to theAssociation will be eligible for tax deductions.
7. Executive Committee – the current executive committee members (John Kennedy, Sandy Sabbagh, Mark Webb, Shirley Megnin, and Amy Anderson) were selected for another term.

The meeting adjourned at 8 PM.

Winter Meeting Agenda

Spicewood Neighborhood Association Meeting
December 8, 7:00 PM
Sherwood Oaks Christian Church, Rm 362

To reach Rm 362, enter door #3 and go upstairs.  Door 3 is on the southwest corner of the building. The stairs and an elevator are on the right just past the foyer. (http://newmedia.socc.org.s3.amazonaws.com/uploaded/c/0e1937037_church-map.pdf)

Meeting Agenda:

1. Introduction of the executive committee
2. A short presentation by ReStore about their services
3. Update on Spicewood entrance signs
4. Update on Little Free Library
5. Update on The Lakes neighborhood (http://lakesneighborhood.com/)
6. Discussion of online communications – email list use, Nextdoor, others
7. Spicewood Neighborhood Association finances – checking account and CONA services
8. Selection of the executive committee for next year

The main topics for the meeting are online communications for Spicewood residents and the association finances including the financial services provided by CONA to assist neighborhood associations.

Online Communications

Currently, Spicewood has a website (https://spicewoodneighborhood.wordpress.com/), a Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/SpicewoodNeighborhoodAssociation) and an email list. The website is primarily for Association documents. The Facebook is used for limited neighborhood communications. About 30 residents have “liked” the page and see updates posted on it. The page is open for any residents to post on it. The email list is used for communications about meetings and important information. About 70 residents are in the email list.

Nextdoor is a private neighborhood website – https://spicewood.nextdoor.com/about_us/.  A Spicewood Nextdoor site was created but no invitations have been sent to Spicewood residents. If enough interest is shown for Nextdoor, invitations can be sent. If you want to join, click on this link: https://nextdoor.com/invite/txaswcajnwxgcjsbxtnn.

The following is part of an article from the HT about Nextdoor:

Posted: Tuesday, October 7, 2014

The Bloomington Police Department is now communicating online with local neighborhoods in an effort to improve safety and strengthen neighborhood watch efforts.

Using a private social network for neighborhoods called Nextdoor, Bloomington residents can join private neighborhood websites to share information, including neighborhood public safety issues, events, activities and local services. The Bloomington Police Department will be able to post information, such as safety tips and crime alerts, to Nextdoor websites within the city.

Each Bloomington neighborhood has its own private Nextdoor neighborhood website accessible only to residents who verify that they live in the neighborhood. Neighborhoods establish and self-manage their own Nextdoor websites. Police will not be able to access residents’ websites, contact information or content. Information shared on Nextdoor is password protected and cannot be accessed by search engines. Nextdoor is free for residents and the police department.

In addition, we received an invitation to join Nextdoor from Sgt. Pam Gladish who is the Bloomington Police Department’s officer assigned to help neighborhoods.

Sergeant Pam Gladish from the Bloomington Police Department would like to invite you to join your neighborhood’s private website on Nextdoor.  Neighbors are using Nextdoor to:

• Track down a trustworthy babysitter
• Get the word out about a break-in
• Organize a neighborhood garage sale
• Ask for help finding a lost pet
• Plan for an emergency

 Financial Opportunities through CONA 

The Spicewood Neighborhood Association is part of CONA (Council of Neighborhood Associations – http://conabloomington.org/). CONA is an umbrella organization that helps neighborhoods interact with local governments and provides services for neighborhood associations. All neighborhood associations recognized by the City are members of CONA.

Two services provided by CONA can be useful to Spicewood.

1. CONA is a 501c3 organization which allows us to use their nonprofit status to purchase materials without paying taxes and CONA can accept tax deductible gifts for Spicewood.
2. CONA is working with an IU class to develop a new CONA website. The development also includes templates for neighborhoods to host their websites on the CONA site. CONA will also provide training to help neighborhoods start and maintain their websites.

CONA currently does not charge dues to the associations but is considering requesting neighborhoods pay dues to support CONA activities. Spicewood would pay $50 each year.

Picnic Announcement and Summer Newsletter

The Second Annual Spicewood Picnic announcement and the Spicewood Newsletter can be accessed at the links below.

• Picnic Announcement
• Summer Newsletter

Send questions to SNA47401@outlook.com

 

Spring Association Meeting Minutes

The meeting minutes from the meeting of April 8, 2014 are posted in the Meeting Minutes tab above. The minutes are posted sequentially.

Spicewood Neighborhood Meeting

The Spicewood Neighborhood Association will meet on Tuesday April 8 at 7:30 in the Sherwood Oaks Christian Church. Click here to learn more about the meeting.