See Past Newsletters at http://www.shermanhill.org/newsletter/pastnewsletter.html
|
Earthtech Consultants and City Invite Input on MLK Expansion Project Plans at SHA Quarterly Meeting, November 12, 2001
Notice to All Sherman Hill Residents
Bob Mickle to Leave Board, Three Seats Open for Board Elections
It's November, and time for our annual Board of
Directors elections. This year Board member Bob Mickle
will step down due to term limits. The SHA membership
will vote at the quarterly meeting to fill three
positions of three-year terms. You must be a dues
paying member of the SHA for one year to run a seat on
the Board. If you wish to run for an open seat, please
contact York Taenzer or Mary Reavely for a petition.
You must turn in petitions a few days before the
meeting, so act fast.
President's Letter
Once again, it is time for me to write the President's
Letter. You wouldn't think writing a letter to the
neighborhood every three months would be that hard, and
usually it isn't.
NOTICE of Proposed By-Law Changes at the February Quarterly Meeting, February 11, 2002
NOTICE The following by-laws changes
will be voted on at the February 11, 2002 Quarterly
Meeting. Changes to by-laws require a 30-day notice to
the neighborhood, but the Association normally
publishes the newsletter 5 days before the Quarterly
Meeting.
|
The 1620 Pleasant Subcommittee of Bob Mickle, Randa LeJeune,
and Dave Mowitz have been negotiating with representatives
from the County and the City to purchase 1620 Pleasant. Bob
and Sandra are working to negotiate an agreement for the
property that is both fair and affordable to the SHA and the
County. SHA members approved purchase of the property in the
May Quarterly Meeting. Polk County Supervisor Nathan Brooks
leads the negotiations on behalf of the county.
Iowa law requires Polk County to transfer the property for
the property's fair value. Determination of the fair value
can take into consideration any limitations on the future use
of the property, limitations due to negative factors, and the
level of public purpose uses maintained at the property
The SHA is working with the City and the County to specify
uses for the 1620 Pleasant property that would serve public
use purposes. The county could accept public uses in lieu of
a portion of the cost of the property when transferred to a
Sherman Hill neighborhood non-profit organization.
In the future, the property would have to be used primarily
for public purpose uses under the ownership and management of
the Sherman Hill neighborhood. A portion of the PACE program
would occupy the basement of the property to satisfy some of
the public uses requirements. A community center for Sherman
Hill and adjacent neighborhood associations would also
satisfy the public use requirements.
The property needs to be rezoned from Residential Historic
District (RHD) to Planned Unit Development (PUD) to limit the
uses of the property. The Celebrity Care property and a small
eight-car parking lot at the Brady apartments south of 1620
Pleasant are included in the PUD zone to meet the two-acre
space requirement for a PUD.
The SHA would like to thank Rich Raabe for allowing the SHA
to include a parking lot of the Brady in the PUD. A PUD must
be at least two acres in size. SHA could not have filed for
the PUD without including some land from the Brady property.
Mr. Raabe has long been a generous and loyal friend to the
Sherman Hill Association. Thanks Rich.
Every Beggars Night, families turn on their porch lights to
advertise to children that they are celebrating Halloween by
passing out free candy (sometime in exchange for riddles).
Here in Sherman Hill, the number of homes converted to
apartments complicates Beggar's Night. Apartments often are
required to leave porch lights on to avoid liability for
tenants injured by falling off porches. Every Beggar's Night,
going door to door for candy gives a hint of how many more
single-family homes we gained in the last year. Beggars Night
also gives us some indication of how many families with small
children have moved into the neighborhood.
This year, I escorted Ariel and Heather Loheed and my son
Matthew Wells around the neighborhood going to every lit
porch looking for candy. I have a unique perspective on
Beggars Night in Sherman Hill. I grew up here and used to go
Trick or Treating in the neighborhood back in the early
1980s. I was very please to see so many more families on 16th
and 19th Streets. We spent the entire time here in the
Historic District and did not have time to cover 20th Street
completely. Back in the 1980s, I would have to cross the
freeway into Drake Neighborhood after just an hour in Sherman
Hill. Thanks to all the house moves and new construction, I
expect there will be at least six more porch lights on next
year!
Jack Hatch will present information to the SHA membership at
the November Quarterly Meeting about the progress of the
Woodland Avenue Brickstone Project. The project will build 54
multi-family apartments and 58000 square feet of commercial
space at the intersection of 15th Street and Woodland. The
project will consist of a three-story building and two row
house style apartment buildings.
The Woodland Partners Corporation will own the property with
the Neighborhood Development Corporation (NIC) and the
Neighborhood Investment Corporation (NIC) acting together as
the general manager of the property. The NIC is a newly
formed non-profit organization with a Board of directors
consisting in part of several active members of the SHA: Bob
Mickle, Jack Porter, and David Mowitz. The NIC Board will
work to protect the interests of the Sherman Hill
neighborhood, as stated in the NIC's by-laws. The NIC is
chartered to reinvest all income derived from the Brickstone
Project back into the neighborhood.
Jack will provide an update on all aspects of the project,
including details of $5,700,000 in financing secured for the
project at the Quarterly Meeting.
The City of Des Moines demolished and cleared the abandoned
Celebrity Care Nursing Home at 711 16th Street. The city is
working to secure ownership of the land in lieu of the cost
of demolition. Once the city owns the lot, the city will deed
over the land to the SHA for the purpose of house moves. SHA
Vice President and chairman of the House Moves sub-committee
York Taenzer and City Planner Mary Neiderbach have both
expressed reservations that the city will have time to
acquire and turn over the land to the SHA in time to save
houses from the path of the Martin Luther King Parkway
Expansion project. However, the SHA has submitted a Site Plan
to the City Planning and Zoning Commission for use in
rezoning parts of the properties at 16th and Pleasant from an
RHD district to a PUD district. The site plan specifies that
the SHA will own and use the Celebrity Care lot for
residential housing. Early discussions assume the SHA will
split the land into lots for single-family homes.
The abandoned Celebrity Care nursing home posed a threat to
the neighborhood as a popular location for squatters and
substance abuse. As more and more families with small
children move into the neighborhood, pressure to remove
abandoned structures has increased.
Last Newsletter, I laid the foundation for focusing the
Newsletter on the business before the SHA Board of Directors.
Many of the articles included background information on the
most important items before the Association for everyone new
to the neighborhood, or new to the issues discussed. I used
the minutes from the July Board of Directors meeting to
identify the most important issues before the board.
This month, I am continuing to focus on the business of the
Board. We have included articles on every item and guest
speaker discussed in the last three Board of Directors
meetings. There are 18 articles based on agenda items from
the Board meetings. Because of the amount of items, the
articles are rather short. If you read them all, you will get
a good idea of what we discuss in the SHA Board meetings.
I hope that will encourage some of you to run for the Board.
We have had an incredibly high turnover rate on the Board the
last few years. The Board is addressing concerns by focusing
time spent with guest speakers, improving the quality and
delivery of prep materials for the meetings, and by keeping a
sharper focus on the agenda. Our last Board Meeting was as
long as the rest but went by much easier in large part due to
these efforts.
We need three good people willing to commit one day a month
for three years to help the SHA continue the work of
developing our neighborhood. Please consider taking a
position on the Board.
Most of the interesting things in Sherman Hill happen outside
the Board Meetings. We have included articles on some of
them. The articles are rather short, as the Newsletter staff
can't handle a lot of investigating reporting and fact
checking. Please consider emailing articles to
gwells@gwells.net on items you find newsworthy for inclusion
on the website and in the next newsletter. I intended to
contact all the people discussed in the articles for prior
review, but lost too much time.
The information in the newsletter comes from the minutes of
the SHA Board of Directors meetings and first hand accounts
by neighbors. Sometimes we get things wrong. Last newsletter
I wrote an article implying the Board had not accepted a
resignation from Todd Shroeder. In fact, the Board accepted a
resignation in June. I apologize for the confusion created by
the article.
Finally, make sure you come to the Quarterly Meeting next
Monday at Hoyt Sherman Place. The City and DOT will be at the
meeting to get our final input on the MLK Parkway Project
before they finalize plans for what will happen to the west
border of our neighborhood. If you don't speak up, they
aren't going to read your mind. Be there.
The editor writes all of the articles unless otherwise
credited under the article's title. Bob and Nelda Mickle
reviewed the articles and made several corrections and
suggestions. Helen Groves-Wells established the look and feel
of the newsletter to better integrate it with the Sherman
Hill website and helps with layout every issue. Helen and
Nelda also help me by looking after my son Matthew while I
spent my time typing in minutes to Board meetings and the
newsletter. My thanks to my wife Helen, my mother Nelda, and
my stepfather Bob.
See you Monday,
Greg Wells
By Greg Wells and Nelda Mickle
Charles and Marilyn Farr are building a nearly 3200 square
foot single-family house at 740 16th Street with a 670-foot
garage. The builder has already built the foundation and the
skeleton of the house. Marilyn's grandmother lived in the
neighborhood. Marilyn has fond childhood memories of watching
parades from the steps of Hoyt Sherman Place veranda. Welcome
back to Sherman Hill, Marilyn!
The Farrs are following the lead of Sue Terry and Jo Campney
who built their house across the street at 741 16th Street.
Sue and Jo were the first homeowners to build a new
single-family house in Sherman Hill in 75 years. Sue and Jo
proudly displayed their house on the 2000 SHA Walk Tour.
The Farrs acquired the lot from Sherman Hill pioneers Guy and
Sandy Roberts in August. Many residents fondly remember the
lot as the site of the annual Fourth of July picnics until
this last year. Guy named the lot Bowlsby Gardens in memory
of Dick Bowlsby, known throughout Sherman Hill as a good
friend and neighbor shot protecting his house from robbers in
the early 1980s.
From the Architectural Guidelines Building Rehabilitation in Sherman Hill
Traditional fencing materials, such as painted wood picket,
woven wire and iron are appropriate in Sherman Hill. Fences
alone or combined with retaining walls and landscaping help
to define the semi-public space of the front yard. Retaining
walls are a special design feature which respond to the
geography of Sherman Hill. Owners of corner properties have
requirements relative to transparency and setback for fences
in order to avoid restricting driver visibility. The
Department of Traffic and Transportation should be consulted
before constructing a fence on a corner property. The height
of fences along public right-of-way is limited to 4' and
complete enclosure of semi-private space, such as front yards
with a tall hedge row or opaque fence, is usually not
appropriate. The zoning ordinance does not allow solid fences
or walls over 3' in height in street/yard setbacks.
These guidelines were developed for use by property owners
within historic districts.
The Historic District Commission, a citizen board within the
City of Des Moines Community Development department, reviews
and makes recommendations to the City Council concerning all
proposals for designation of historic districts and
landmarks. The Historic District Commission will use these
guidelines in reviewing properties for the issuance of a
"certificate of appropriateness" as required by section
2-205.47(e)(2) of the Historic District Ordinance. The
guidelines were approved by the Historic District Commission
and the City Council on September 11 and 17 of 1984, in
keeping with the goals of the Secretary of the Interior's
Standards for Historic Preservation projects.
For information call Mary Kay Wilcox at 515-283-4164 or Cheri
Borgerson at 515-283-4195 or visit http://www.ci.des-moines.ia.us/departments/CD/PUD2/historicdistrictcomm.htm
Thanks to the efforts of Randa LeJeune and York Taenzer, the
SHA installed individual electric furnaces in Hillside
Apartments. The SHA owns and operates the Hillside. Problems
with the old boiler made fixing the boiler or replacing the
radiator necessary at the end of last winter. Yeager
Incorporated of Newton, Iowa installed individual furnaces
into the apartments. Yeager installed eight electric furnaces
in seven apartments and the basement. Individual units are
preferred as most tenets are entitled to government subsidies
for heating if individual units are used.
Vice President York Taenzer is shopping around for a new
mortgage to refinance current loans on the Hillside and to
pay for the electric furnaces. The Board paid for the
furnaces out of the general account for SHA under stipulation
that the Board returns the money to the general fund as soon
as a bank loan is available. York is currently working with
Bankers Trust to secure an $185,000 20-year loan to pay for
the repairs and to pay off current loans. The current State
Federal Savings and Loan mortgage has a balloon payment due
April 1, 2003 of $124,707.39. SHA has an additional loan with
the Neighborhood Finance Corporation for a little under
$20,000. The SHA also has grants with Federal Home Loan Bank
for $24,500 and with the City of De Moines Conservation
Program for $58,500. The City of Des Moines grant is
forgivable in November 2002. The Federal Home Loan Bank grant
requires renting units to tenets with income restrictions
until May 1, 2008. If SHA does not meet the restrictions, we
must repay all $24,500 back to Federal Home Loan Bank within
30 days.
Randa LeJeune and Jon White have been working with Curt Heidt
of Federal Home Loan Bank to get some of the income
restrictions removed or relaxed before May of 2008. Randa and
Jon are also investigating if grants are available to repay
the cost of heating the Hillside last winter.
Finally, there were some reports of vandalism at the Hillside
from tenants and neighbors. Randa spoke to the Public Housing
groups and the SHA evicted the tenants responsible for the
vandalism. If there are any further incidents of vandalism or
repairs needed at the Hillside, please contact Randa LeJeune
directly at 515-244-3918.
Mike Kearnen and Erin Moody addressed the September Board of
Directors meeting to express interest in buying the Hillside
from the SHA. Mike and Erin have been looking for a property
to purchase in Sherman Hill over the last year. They are
interested in purchasing a multi-unit commercial property,
and then acquiring a single family home in the neighborhood a
few years later. SHA Vice President York Taenzer recommended
to Mike and Erin to wait until the SHA refinances the loans
on the Hillside later this year before making an offer to the
Association.
In our great nation's time of grief, it is inspiring to see
that we can endure and prevail. We were very blessed to see
folks attempt to return to their normal routine, bringing old
friends and supporters and welcoming new guests to our silver
anniversary walking tour of homes. Over 2400 people attended
the tour, a new record. We have many people to thank, so
let's start with the tour hosts: The Wallace House
Foundation; Chet Guinn; Dale and Dwayne Hatcher; John Hansen
and Jennifer Pecsok; Jeff Thompson and Caye Dreiss; Jeremy
Sievers; Larry White and Mike Whitmer; Karen and Jim Sievers;
Marc Schelle; Diana Rezac; Anthony Horvath and Wade Scherrer;
and Tex and Randa LeJeune. Your homes never looked lovelier
and your generosity insured our success. Thank you so much!
Many others made important contributions to this year's tour.
Heartfelt thanks to: Betty Jo Wilcox for the yummy food;
Sonja Roberts, Sandra Neff, and Randa LeJeune for
volunteering time to organize the event; Nelda Barrow Mickle
for a great job coordinating the volunteers; Deb Copeland and
Jeremy Phillips for hosting meetings and the post party;
Darrell Mertz of Ampersand, Inc. for all his work on the
beautiful publications; Jeremy Sievers of Adaptive Easel for all his work
on the beautiful online tour; Greg and Helen Wells of Joe Wired for promoting and hosting
our tour online; our ticket outlets- Borders Books, the
Callanan Collection, Chocolaterie Stam, Galleria Custom
Framing, Hoyt Sherman Place, Lydia's Gift Shop, and Oddities;
Carter House Inn for donating two nights as door prizes; the
Chat Noir for donating gift certificates as door prizes; and
the scores of volunteers who helped everyone during the tour
(some worked all four days!).
We hope we haven't forgotten everyone. So many people were
involved in making this tour successful, including you, our
neighbors, whose community pride have made our neighborhood
so beautiful.
Tom Sullivan from the Hoyt Sherman Foundation addressed the
Board August 21. The Foundation is building support to apply
for a Vision Iowa grant for renovations to the Hoyt Sherman
Place Theater. HSF will add dressing rooms beneath the stage,
install air conditioners, and build a loading dock on the
back of the property exiting out onto 15th Street. HSF will
have to excavate part of the hill on the north end of the
property to make space for the loading dock. HSF will also
add seating capacity, and replace the current seats with
seats that meet the current fire code. HSF will probably opt
for a continental style seating without a center aisle,
similar to the civic center.
The Board voted to support the Hoyt Sherman Foundation by
writing a letter of support to aid in securing a Vision Iowa
grant for the renovations.
The Board approved a resolution September 18 to support the
efforts of Hugh and Lynn Loheed to renovate 702 and 708 20th,
and to demolish the green duplex at 2003 and 2009 Pleasant.
Lynn presented the Board with a petition signed by several
neighbors at the SHA August quarterly meeting. Details about
the Loheed's plans were published in the last quarterly
newsletter and can be found on Helen Groves-Wells's Sherman
Hill website at http://www.shermanhill.org .
The SHA Board approved money to buy 821 16th Street and 828
15th Street from Willie Glanton. The Board also approved
money to purchase 714 20th Street from Richard Fix and is
awaiting appraisal on 830 19th Street. The Association will
use the lots for house moves to save historic structures from
the path of the MLK Expansion project. Purchase of the
Glanton and Fix lots will close December 15, pending
financing from the NFC.
York Taenzer negotiated purchase of the lots as Chairman of
the House Moves Subcommittee. York is now soliciting bids
from house move companies as the committee matches up lots
with houses. Many Thanks to York for his hard work on
purchasing these lots!
Sharon McLaughlin purchased three lots at 17th and Crocker to
move her house out of the path of the MLK Parkway Expansion
Project. The foundation has already been poured.
Neighbors on 20th Street were quite surprised last week when
the DOT closed Center Street at 20th Street. The city closed
the intersection for sewer reconstruction in conjunction with
the Interstate 235 expansion project. The City rerouted
northbound MLK traffic through Leynor Street. The DOT and
City of Des Moines departments did not notify the SHA before
closing the street. Neighbors report the north end of 20th
Street is now much quieter, but are put off by the lack of
communication from the City and the DOT.
The Board passed a resolution October 23 to vacate a portion
of 19th Street south of Woodland. The SHA membership passed a
resolution recommending the Board to pass this resolution in
the August quarterly meeting. The Board delayed the
resolution until Board member Greg Wells contacted the
property owners on 19th between Woodland and High Streets.
Leland Hecker owns the Meyrock and two houses south of the
Meyrock on the east side of 19th Street. Scott Thomas owns
1901 High Street. The Board was unable to reach Theodore Hill
who owns 1823 High Street.
The Resolution passed by the Board calls for recommending to
the City Council to vacate 19th Street between the alley
south of Woodland Avenue and High Street, and to remove the
no parking restrictions and one way traffic restrictions
between the alleyway and Woodland Avenue pending approval
from Mr. Hecker and Mr. Thomas. The resolution also calls for
turning over the vacated land to the adjacent landowners with
exception of a small walkway. SHA Secretary Greg Wells is
awaiting response from the landowners before sending the
resolution to the city.
Mrs. Vicki Thompson donated an antique pump organ in memory
of her late husband, Jack Thompson to the SHA. Mrs. Thompson
donated the organ for display on this year's house tour and
to stay in the neighborhood in the future. The organ was on
display at Tex and Randa LeJeune's house during the tour.
Randa suggested the organ should move to Dave Schlarmann's
house. The SHA thanks Mrs. Thompson for the fine gift.
|
|
ADDRESS |
SALE PRICE |
DATE OF SALE |
YEAR BUILT |
SQUARE FEET
|
NEW OWNER |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
663 19th Street |
65,000 |
08/20/2001 |
1885 |
1597 5310 |
Paul Mangan |
|
1916 Crocker Street |
64,000 |
08/06/2001 |
1889 |
1624 6000 |
Robert Lower |
The SHA Board elected Greg Wells to the position of Board of
Directors Secretary following the resignation from the Board
of Carlton Salmons. The Secretary is responsible for keeping
the minutes of SHA meetings. Greg hopes to make editing the
Newsletter easier by keeping the minutes of the Board
meetings. Minutes of Board Meetings are available to
association members by appointment.
SHA did its annual cleaning of the Historic Street Lamps
before the House Tour in August. Our contractor used duct
tape instead of heat resistant shingles for reflectors in the
lamps, and had to redo a portion of the work. Some lamps were
broken and required repairs. The SMID, a self-imposed tax
district, pays the costs for cleaning and repairs of the
historic Street Lamps. The SHA Board operates the SMID on
behalf of the City. Please report any broken Street Lamps to
an SHA Board Member or to SHA Executive Director Sandra Neff.
Last week another empty house owned by the City in the path
of the MLK Expansion project was set on fire by squatters.
The brick apartment building 959 21st Street at the corner of
MLK and Cottage Grove was burned on the first floor by
squatters. A much bigger blaze started by squatters burned
down two structures across the street at 2012 Cottage Grove
earlier this year. KCCI received an Emmy nomination for its
live coverage of the blaze. The City owns two empty houses
north of 959 21st Street. Most of the other properties
purchased by the City for the MLK Expansion Project still
have tenants.
SHA Board of Directors members York Taenzer and Greg Wells
met with residents on 20th Street, HDC Commissioner Judy
McClure, Jack Porter, and SHA Executive Director Sandra Neff
to discuss the future of the T. Fred Henry Park lots. The
Association held the meeting to discuss how many houses to
move to the lots once SHA acquires the land. After much
discussion about historical footpath, tree lines, density,
and appearance, those at the meeting came to a consensus that
two small houses would be fine.
A number of concerns were successfully resolved at the
meeting. In the future, the SHA Board will seek input from
the neighbors immediately affected by proposed actions before
reaching a decision on what action to take.
This November, the Association will be celebrating 25 years
of House Tours and Community Revitalization at the November
Quarterly Meeting. The Board will hand out several awards for
recognition of service to the neighborhood.
Membership form
|
Sherman Hill News is a
publication of the Sherman Hill Association, Inc., a
non-profit corporation with offices at 756 16th St.,
Des Moines, IA 50314. The Association is dedicated to
the restoration of the Sherman Hill Historic District,
enhancement of the district's social environment and
commitment to the district.
|
Neighborhood Real Estate Sales