I.  Announcements

Wiliam Collinge presented an update on work  by Friends of Amazon Creek to block approval of the  Conditional Use Permit application for a new cell phone tower at the Crossfire Ministry at the corner of West Amazon and Fox Hollow. He presented a summary of the survey on public attitudes about cell towers that has been circulating recently as well as a letter he proposed that the board might submit as testimony in the public hearing. In a meeting with the planning staff they were requested to submit testimony by end of April.

II.  Approval of Minutes

Minutes of the March meeting were approved.

Len raised an objection to the past practice of publishing draft minutes on  Southeastneighbors.org.  After some discussion the board agreed that future draft minutes will be emailed only to board members who will have at least 48 hours to respond with comments or corrections before the secretary  publishes a final version on the web site.

III Outreach

A. May Annual Meeting

Discussion of annual elections to be held at the meeting on May 12.  We will be voting on 3 at large seats and for Chair and Co-Chair persons. Heather announced that she is willing to serve for another term. Madronna will not run for Vice – Chair again.Board terms for Emily Fox , Deborah Noble , and David Saul are expiring.  Emily and Deborah are prepared to serve another term,  David will be leaving the board at the end of his term leaving the positions of secretary and newsletter/website editor open. Heather  (president) and Bill (treasurer) will present annual reports  on the budget and activities of the association. After some discussion we agreed to try and schedule a presentation by city staff on the South Willamette Improvement project.

B. Next Publication

Planning to send out a postcard to announce the annual election  meeting  on May 12.  Copy will be due to printer by April 25.

Also planning the next  email Newsletter  to be sent out by early next week.

C. School Board Debate

A debate for 4J School board candidates will be held on 4/30 at the Hilyard Center.This debate is sponsored by Southeast Neighbors, South Hills (Crest Drive), and other volunteers from the Eugene Neighborhood Association program. The moderator for this event will be Rick Levin from the Eugene Weekly.

Jim Torrey, Kevin Cronin, and David Nickles have committed to participate. Volunteers are needed in various roles to facilitate the event. Sign up to help at http://www.signupgenius.com/go/409084fa5ab2ba13-4jschool. Share https://www.smore.com/r7d2k with your contacts to promote the event.

D. Recycling Competition

Local Elementary Schools are sponsoring a competitive drive to collect unwanted electrical equipment for recycling at Next Step. The school collecting the most will receive a trophy.  Heather and Debbie have been working with ELAN (Emerging Leaders in the Arts) to plan a family oriented art event that will create a trophy from recycled materials to be awarded to the winning school.

E. Bulletin Board

After some discussion board agreed that Tugman Park is the best location for the project, Duncan Rhodes agreed to work with city staff to expedite the process of planning , approving and installing the board using the Community-Initiated Park Development Process or “CIPDP”. CIPDP requests are reviewed and facilitated by the parks planning manager, Neil Bjorklund.

F. Neighborhood Festival and Picnic

Discussed and agreed to try to schedule 9/13 for our annual event,  Heather will follow up on reserving the park,  Emily volunteered to coordinate the musical entertainment again this year. David agreed to produce a poster.

IV Land Use Issues

A. Sikh Dharma Community Applicant Meeting

David and Debbie attended the meeting and reported that the proposed application is not controversial. The Sikh Dharma temple has been operating for 38 years without the required conditional use permit. The application is needed to bring the facility into compliance with the land use code.

B. New Cell Tower at Crossfire Ministry

The public hearing for the CUP is scheduled for May 27.  Board voted unanimously to  craft testimony opposing the application  for the public hearing.  WIlliam Collinge will forward the text he proposed to Heather and she will circulate the draft to the board for discussion.

C. Annexation Request

Heather received a notification from the Planning Dept regarding Annexation of a property into Eugene.  The application does not seem to be controversial.  Deborah N. agreed to review and confirm that.

D. Spencer Butte Park Closed

The park will be closed about 1 day per week for safety reasons while a new trail to the summit is under construction. A partial closure is in effect  Monday – Friday 7am – 4:30pm. The project may extend through the summer.

Check the city web site at http://eugene-or.gov/index.aspx?nid=2827 to get the latest information.

E. Headwaters Legal Bill Fundraising

Deborah reported  $7500 has been paid toward the debt.  We will transition routing of future donations  through Eugene Neighbors Inc (ENI) rather than through  the Be Noble foundation.

Discussed potential fundraising projects. Agreed to approach the  Old Paddock or other venues  about an event where part of diner’s tabs are donated towards SEN.

 V Tugman Park

Len reported that the trees we recently planted are doing well.  There has been little need to water as conditions have been quite wet.  Len will work with  Carrie Karl to plan our next work party  – most  likely on a weekend day.

VI Emergency Preparedness/Safety

Neighborhood Disaster Planning

A meeting to develop a neighborhood disaster response plan is scheduled for Thursday April 23 at  7pm at the Hilyard Center. Interested neighbors are welcome to attend,

Emission Regulation/LRAPA

Len reported on his work on extending  the current enforcement season for home wood heating. The LRAPA board is scheduled to consider the issue at their May 7 meeting.

Board voted unanimously to empower Len to represent SEN at the LRAPA  meeting in support of  extending the LRAPA enforcement period  to run from  October through March.

Community Organizations Active in Disaster (COAD)

Heather proposed  and board unanimously  supported  a motion to join this coalition of organizations involved in disaster response. Heather offered to represent SEN at their meeting on Wednesday April 22 from 3-4:30pm at American Red Cross , 862 Bethel Drive.

Wildfire Community Preparedness Day

Saturday May 2  local CERT volunteers are planning to table at Haggen Supermarket  ( formerly Albertsons )  to educate the community about  minimizing danger of wildfires in the neighborhood.

CERT Community Meeting

On May 4 and May 6 from 5-9 pm in the   Good Samaritan Community Room,  local CERT volunteers will host events focusing on pet safety and preparing to protect our animals during emergencies.

Meeting Adjourned  at 8:30 pm