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Third Ward Council candidates Karl Skala and Gary Kespohl will attend an Open House next Friday starting at 7:00 PM at the home of Martha John and James Downey – 2011 N. Country Club. The candidates will each be given a chance to say a few words about their vision of Columbia’s future, and to answer questions from the audience. All members of the Country Club Estates Neighborhood Association and other interested parties are welcome to attend.
Refreshments will be served.
Well, the ongoing rezoning issue concerning the MoDOT property on Conley Road has had another ‘development’. This time, the applicant (TKG Conley Road Investments, LLC) has asked to have the application withdrawn from consideration at the Planning & Zoning Commission hearing this Thursday. You can see the letter here.
As a consequence, there is no longer a reason to have the meeting this evening at the Country Club, as originally scheduled.
I seriously doubt that this is the last we’ll hear of this matter, and expect to be jerked around some more before it is all over. I will post further information here when available.
Jim Downey
Just a quick note to let the neighborhood know that this morning Ray Schroeder passed away. He had been in declining health since taking a fall in November.
I will post more information here when the obituary is published. A personal note can be found on my blog.
Update: got a note that Mary Jo Phillips, also from our neighborhood, passed away last Friday. You can find the obituary announcement here.
Further update: The Memorial Funeral Home obituary for Ray can be found here.
Please, if anyone hears of any other such passings, be sure to let me or Martha know, so that we can share the information with the rest of the neighborhood.
Jim Downey
The Town Hall/Safety Summit last night was poorly attended but informative. Councilman Skala gave a brief overview of the improvements and remaining issues of crime in Columbia over the last few years (same material available here), and then turned things over to the Columbia Police Department. Chief Burton of the CPD and his officers discussed changes to the department, particularly as pertains to the new Beat and Sector Map and scheduling.
Perhaps the most useful discussion centered around the need for citizens to report suspicious activity or problems in a timely and appropriate fashion. The CPD website has a lot of good information and resources available, including contact numbers and online reporting forms. The thing to remember is that information has a very limited shelf-life; it is most useful as soon as it is available – so if you see something happening, contact the police sooner rather than later. I have some personal experience with this.
Lastly, Leigh Britt of the Office of Neighborhood Services gave a quick rundown of what services and assistance that her office can now provide the people of Columbia to help improve our neighborhoods.
If you see a program under either the Police Department or the ONS which you think would be beneficial for the CCENA, be sure to suggest it to myself or one of the other association officers.
Jim Downey
Martha and I are happy to announce that we will host an “Open House” on Friday, March 5th, starting at 7:00 PM, which will also function as an opportunity to meet the candidates for City Council from the Third Ward. Both Karl Skala and Gary Kespohl have confirmed that they will be in attendance, and each will be given a few minutes to make their case for election.
All members of the neighborhood association, and other interested parties, are welcome to attend! Refreshments will be provided – hope that you can make it!
Jim Downey
Last night I attended the first “Infill Workshop” held by the city planning staff. It was a nice introduction to the topic, and I think the audience of participants found the information very useful. The next such workshop is to be held in two weeks – February 24 – and I would very much encourage anyone interested in development issues to try and attend.
One of the most interesting things to come out of the workshop was the introduction of a ‘Visual Preference Survey’ that allowed us to provide feedback to the city planning staff concerning what sorts of buildings we consider to be desirable. The city will be using this information to help shape development policy in the future – and you can have an impact on that by taking the survey. It’s free, will only take a few minutes, and can be done anonymously. You can find the survey here – the more people who participate, the more information that the city will have about what we want our built environment to look like in Columbia.
Jim Downey
Next Tuesday, February 16, there will be a brief informational meeting at the Country Club for our neighborhood association membership concerning the status of the application for rezoning the 16 acre parcel on Conley Road which used to belong to MoDOT. This meeting will take place at 7:30 PM, and will give us a chance to hear from Jean Leonatti (President of the Country Club) prior to the Planning & Zoning Commission hearing on February 18th.
I will be attending to hear the latest developments in the case and to formulate a position for the CCENA to take on the matter. I will post a follow-up here on Wednesday, for all those unable to attend the meeting.
Jim Downey
As mentioned in the last couple of posts, there are several items of interest to our neighborhood association coming up. There is the first “Infill” educational workshop tomorrow night, and Councilman Skala’s Town Hall on Thursday. It does also look like the MoDOT rezoning issue will go before the P&Z Commission on Feb. 18 (more on that, later). And I just got a notice about the following meeting:
CONTACT: Thaddeus Yonke, AICP
Boone County
Senior Planner
(573) 886-4330
or
Patrick Zenner
City of Columbia
Development Services Manager
(573) 874-7246
Public input sought for ‘East Columbia Area Plan’(COLUMBIA, MO) – The city of Columbia and Boone County planning and zoning commissions will host the second in a series of public information meetings regarding the East Columbia Area Plan (ECAP) Feb. 23 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. in the Columbia Benevolent Organization’s meeting hall located inside the Elk’s Lodge, 4747 Elk Park Drive East (east of Cedar Grove Elementary School off State Route WW). The purpose is to present draft findings related to the infrastructure and environmental conditions of the study area as well as obtain community feedback on desired goals and objectives intended to guide growth on the lands generally bounded by I-70, US 63, New Haven Road and Rangeline Road in eastern Boone County.
Preparing plans ahead of development and engaging the public is the purpose of this joint effort. The planning commissions invite all affected or interested residents to participate. The program schedule is as follows:
5:30 – 5:45 p.m., Open Q&A
5:45- 7 p.m., Presentation
7 – 7:30 p.m., Q&AParticipants in this second informational meeting will be asked to comment on draft findings related to the study area’s
infrastructure and environmental conditions. These comments will assist the joint commissions in further developing the plan in a manner that best captures the values or ideas considered most important by area residents. Future meetings will be held to provide residents the opportunity to see the progression of the planning process. Prior to final plan adoption by City Council and the County Commission, a public hearing will be held offering residents yet another opportunity to comment on the plan.Draft copies of the Infrastructure and Environment chapters will be available for advance public review after Feb. 16 online at
http://www.gocolumbiamo.com/Planning/EastColumbiaAreaPlan_ECAP.php or at the city or county planning department offices.
I will be planning on attending all of these meetings, and will report back here on any relevant information, but I would encourage others from the CCENA to attend as well.
Jim Downey
