Blair Hills Association Meeting Minutes- May 17, 2011
Annie Wilson opened the meeting at 7:10 PM at the Community Room in Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area. The attendees are listed at the bottom. Bobbi Gold agreed to take minutes in the absence of secretary Barbara Carson. Bobbi read the minutes from last meeting on April 19. No changes were made.
Lenawee Traffic. Jon Melvin reported on potential modifications to Lenawee Avenue to reduce problems caused by rush-hour cut-through traffic. Some basic plans have been approved by City Traffic Engineer Gabe Garcia, subject to approval by the engineering department and later the City Council. The proposed traffic mitigation plan includes two or perhaps three speed tables, greatly improved cross walk striping at three intersections, and some narrowing of the intersection at Lenawee and Vicstone Court, the details of which are to be worked out by engineering. Jon couldn’t show any definite diagrams because certain details remain to be worked out. The intent of the changes is to narrow the street to cause drivers to slow down. Estimated cost of the changes is $30,000. We expect to present the plans to the City Council for approval in late June. Some residents made other suggestions for reducing speeding by cut-through drivers.
Brush Clearance. Jon read a preliminary notice from the Fire Department which will be sent to residents that should clear away brush around their homes to reduce fire danger. Noting that there is much brush on property owned by various public agencies around the perimeter of Blair Hills, we need to get them to clear it. Jon offered to communicate to Culver City Fire Marshall Mike Bowden our concerns about brush in surrounding park land and at the currently unoccupied Ohr Eliyahu school.
Bridge Housing Project. Due to a loss of state funding, the Bridge Affordable Senior Housing project proposed for a portion of the ranch property is on hold.
School Property. Mary Ann Greene reported that two other charter schools are interested in purchasing the Linda Vista / Ohr Eliyahu school property. Neighborhood residents are concerned about traffic, noise, violations of the conditional use permit, and the gas line that runs underneath the property. We agreed to write an informative letter to the CCUSD school board, the Culver City Planning Commission and Planning Department, the City Council, and realtors describing the issues. Mary Ann, Mim Shapiro and Rosalie Kirsch will work on the letter.
Lydia Moore. We expressed our sadness at the passing of longtime Stoneview resident Lydia Moore. Hospitality Committee chairperson Dorothy Steiner has sent a condolence card from the BHA.
Perham Water Tank. The steep slopes around the water tank above Perham Drive have been covered by black plastic tarps for years, to prevent mudslides. Mary Ann reported that the water company is finally doing some major concrete construction to stabilize the tank and shore up the soil.
Subsidence and other house problems in Blair Hills. In a general discussion, many of the meeting attendees described various problems with their houses over the years, such as subsidence, beams cracking, cracks in walls and foundations, mold, floors buckling, water beneath the house. We shared a lot of information from our own experiences and from outside experts and discovered that there may be more than one cause of problems at any given house, including:
We felt that the discussion had been worthwhile, as we all learned things about our local problems. We plan on asking certain experts to give a community talk about these kinds of issues and what we can do. Experts mentioned include Charles Herbertson, CC Director of Public Works, and a geotechnical engineer once employed by Kerri Payne Lue.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:35 PM. Submitted by Bobbi Gold
Attendees:
Bobbi Gold
Annie Wilson
Mary Ann Green
Mim and Hank Shapiro
Jon Melvin
Terry Keelan
Rosalie Kirsch
Cheri Sakai
Kerri Payne
Hideko Marsh
Janeice Edwa
Walter McGriff