CBC 09-07-2000City Beautiful Commission
September 7, 2000
Sister Cities Conference Room
Members present: Nash Abrams, Dottie Funk, Tim Heiple, Randy Stocks, and Karol Zoeller
Others present: Scott Carter, cultural affairs administrator
Chair Dottie Funk called the meeting to order at 11:35 am.
A motion to approve the minutes of the August meeting was made by Karol Zoeller, seconded by
Randy Stocks. It was approved unanimously.
Randy Stocks gave the financial report. Additions to the account were monthly interest and a
contribution to the City Beautiful Celebration by the Convention and Visitor's Bureau. The
operating balance is $382.21.
Land Alteration Taskforce
The ordinances have been presented to the City Board. There are still two issues outstanding.
The first is the "in lieu" account. Currently a cap of the value of 10 trees is all that is required
for the account. Concern was expressed about whether this is adequate protection. It was
suggested that a proportion should be established. After discussion, it was decided that it was
important to start with any sort of in lieu account, but that it needed to be monitored closely.
A motion was made by Karol and seconded by Nash to send a letter from City Beautiful
endorsing the establishment of an in lieu account. It passed.
Much discussion centered around who would not want the trees on commercial sites. Are the
owners of the property or their tenants, the business owners, the ones who are concerned about
trees blocking the views?
City Beautiful Festival
Tim reported that Gayle would be sending out letters to plant societies, the Nature Conservancy,
and the like to solicit exhibitors. Contact is also being made with museums and other institutions
that might wish to participate.
A reminder was made that April 7 is the date of the festival.
Nash and Karol are working on artists and artisans to invite. Suggestions for contacts were given
to them.
Tim is keeping in touch with Skip Rutherford and others involved with the Presidential Library.
There are still plans to use the Choctaw Station for an event on April 6. Tim would like for there
to be some sort of announcement about the library.
Gateway
With the proximity of Acxiom's new building to the proposed site for a gateway, Nash feels it is
the obvious source of funding the project. Discussion centered on whom was the best contact
person. Randy commented that a better definition of the project really needed to occur before
proceeding much further in asking for money.
The next step is to get some conceptual drawings done. Tim offered that perhaps money made
from the festival could pay for these plans.
Landscape Awards
Dottie reminded everyone that the Landscape Awards are coming up. There are three categories.
Please have a list of suggestions in October. They will be voted on in November. Bob Brown
usually provides a list of suggestions but welcomes the input from the commission. The
ALLTEL parking lot was suggested.
Tim then reminded people that one of the desired occurrences at the festival was awards
presentation. If the Landscape Awards were going to stay in the fall, he hoped that the
commission would consider Polish the Rock awards in the spring.
Parks & Recreation Report
Scott reported that the master plan is going well. Over 100 people attended the last community
meeting. The next meeting is October 12. Dottie then asked him to explain the urban forestry
position. This is being advocated by Parks and Recreation to serve as an arborist and educator.
Tim made a motion, seconded by Karol, to support this and send a letter stating such to the City
Board.
Commission Merger
Dottie then mentioned that Bryan Day had talked to her about merging the City Beautiful and the
Arts & Humanities Promotion Commissions. This is being discussed because of overlap of
duties and as a way to create a stronger advocate in the community. Questions centered on the
exact role and duties of the other commission. The general consensus was that this warranted
further investigation and discussion.
Vision Little Rock
Randy reported on his work group —Environment, Land Use, and Solid Waste. They are still in
the education phase, where they are discussing recycling. Because of low demand, recycling
glass is not working. Another thing being discussed was implementing a "Pay as you Go"
system of trash pickup. Randy also requested that these reports be added to the agenda each
month.
Dottie will meet with the highway commission about trees. She will invite them to the next
meeting.
The eeting was adjourned at 1:24.
S iteley Carter