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03.12.2024
Annual Meeting and Board Election
7:00 pm
In Attendance: Bruce Black, Christina Maggi, Shelley McKechnie, Barber Melton, Leslie Morris, Chris Pelly, Liz Polfus, Storms Reback, Renate Rikkers, Phil Trunnell
Absent: Debbie Francis, Sarah Hess Community members: approximately 75
Chris opened the meeting by welcoming everyone. He then asked for a motion to approve the minutes from the January 9, 2024 board meeting. Bruce motioned to accept, Christina seconded and all board members approved.
Financial Report
Phil provided a financial report:
~ HCCA’s income for last year was $12,441, plus an additional $19,530 in restricted funds dedicated to the greenway and 767 traffic study. Income sources included membership dues and other donations, along with fundraising events like the yard sales.
~ Expenses totaled $8,249, leaving a cash balance of $22,360 at the beginning of 2024. He noted that we are expecting a few large expenses, such as the traffic study.
~ The anticipated expense budget for 2024 is $8,500, which includes mailing a newsletter, membership management software, website hosting, and funds for new projects.
Year 2023 Highlights
Christina described highlights of HCCA’s work in 2023:
~ The most critical work involved the 767 Development Project: organization of a 30 member Working Group, creation of six pages on the HCCA website as a resource center, and the initiation of a traffic study. She said Chris would be talking about future plans.
~ There were several community projects, including the Haw Creek Greenway Campaign, the Little Free Library, Masters Park kiosk and connecting path, and a new welcome sign.
~ HCCA hosted community events, including the Haw Creek Heritage Festival, Living with Black Bears program, Haw Creek Park Cleanup, Chili Cook Off, Game Day, yard sales, and the recent City Council candidates forum.
~ She shared how HCCA has strengthened its organizational infrastructure: launched a new website, expanded social media presence, maintained four active committees, and grew membership to nearly 300 dues paying members. She noted that except for the kiosk, all projects and events were funded from membership dues and donations along with many volunteer hours.
Plans for 2024
Chris talked about the current priority to negotiate community conditions and continue advocacy on the 767 Development Project. He implored the audience to attend the Planning & Zoning Commission’s public hearing on March 20. After P&Z issues its recommendation, we will prepare for the City Council vote scheduled for April 9, where council members will ultimately decide how this property gets developed. A vigorous discussion proceeded with many constructive concerns, points of view, and potential strategies both voiced and heard.
Shelley expressed our gratitude to those who donated to the Haw Creek Park Greenway campaign. Those contributions helped secure a $5,000 grant from Connect Buncombe and will help leverage the grant request to Buncombe County for the remainder of the funds needed, about $63,000. A 16-page application to Buncombe County is in final stages, looking toward a July/August award date. With that timeline, best case completion will be in late autumn, with the actual completion date dependent on contractor availability.
Storms talked about the Haw Creek Hustle, our community’s first ever 5k race, scheduled for April 20. HCCA is working with Glory Hound Events and they are handling registration. All proceeds will benefit HCCA. He also indicated that HCCA will refurbish the landscaping around the new welcome sign this spring. A master gardener has volunteered to help select native plants but before any plantings, there is a lot of preparation to be completed.
Chris mentioned that Jade Dundas, City of Asheville Capital Projects Director, recently reported that the New Haw Creek Road sidewalk extension project is making good progress. Obtaining the necessary rights-of-way was a big step forward, which allowed DOT to complete its final review. At this point, construction should begin mid-July.
Chris reviewed the events that we will be repeating this year and some of the new events we have planned. These events provide opportunities for community connections, a key goal of HCCA. He asked for volunteers to sign up for one of our four committees and also asked residents to become members, as dues fund everything we do.
Board of Directors Election
Storms thanked outgoing board members Sarah Hess and Phil Trunnell. Liz nominated the slate of seven candidates standing for election. As there were no nominations from the floor, the following candidates were elected by acclamation for two-year terms: Bruce Black, Christina Maggi, Barber Melton, Chris Pelly, Renate Rikkers, and Michelle Decker. Stephen Scholl was elected by acclamation to serve a one-year term to fill the vacancy created by the departure of Sarah Hess.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:20 pm, with a dessert social immediately following.
Election of Officers
In a subsequent email vote by the newly elected board on March 17, the following officers were approved by a vote of 11 to 0 with 1 abstention: Chris Pelly as President, Christina Maggi as Vice President, Bruce Black as Treasurer, and Stephen Scholl as Secretary.
Submitted by Stephen Scholl, Secretary, March 18, 2024
01.09.2024
7:00 pm
In Attendance: Chris Pelly, Christina Maggi, Phil Trunnell, Renate Rikkers, Sarah Hess, Storms Reback, Barber Melton, Bruce Black, Debbie Francis Guest: Greg Duff of Glory Hound Events Absent: Leslie Morris, Shelley McKechnie, Liz Polfus
Barber motioned to accept the minutes from November 29, 2023. Debbie seconded and all approved.
Financial Report
Phil provided a financial report, which included almost $4,000 in general donations since November 14, plus restricted income for the greenway project and traffic study. There is $421.85 left in the Masters Park account and there was agreement to use this remaining amount to buy logs and gravel for the entrance to the trail.
Haw Creek Hustle – 5k race – Greg Duff
The Community Outreach Committee met with Emily Oldenburg of Glory Hound Events on December 4. Their proposal was emailed to the board. Highlights:
~ Saturday, April 20, 2024; 2.5 – 3 hrs. includes packet pick-ups and awards after
~ We have a good start/finish location and good course; there’s only one other race in East Asheville (Beverly Hills)
~ Greg has a mailing list of 8,000 people and a strong social media presence
~ Greg thinks 250 racers is a reasonable goal @ $30 - $40 each, which includes shirts, totals $8,750 gross income
~ Total expenses for the event are estimated at $5,600 - $7,300
~ Since HCAA does not have its own insurance, we can look at event specific insurance at approximately $300
~ HCAA would be responsible for sponsorships, but we have verbal interest and/or commitments from 7 local business
Storms agreed to be the point person for this event. He made a motion that we proceed with the event; HCCA would front $1,250 to Glory Hound Events, which is 50% of their fee. Christina seconded and all approved.
Membership Update (Communications & Development Committee)
Historically, our total membership has been around 100 – 110 members. We purchased the Wild Apricot database/website in July 2022 and officially launched the site at the end of 2022. On December 31, 2023 we had 296 members, which includes 121 new members acquired in November and December. Five new members joined in January for a current total of 301.
Our contact list in the database has doubled from 335 to 652.
Community Outreach Committee
~ Chili cookoff was successful with approximately 40 people attending
~ First Game Day of 2024, including a puzzle exchange, was 1/6; next one is 2/4
~ Yard Sale in May
~ Tree Pruning workshop on Feb 24 at Haw Creek Commons; the $25 registration fee will be paid to Justin Holt, the expert who will lead the workshop
~ March 16 is a pollinator workshop, this would be a free presentation
~ March 23 will be a workshop on tree/shrub selection for WNC gardeners
~ Additional event to host someone from Buncombe County Tax Assessor’s office who would discuss the upcoming property tax appraisal process, details TBD
Clean & Green Committee
First meeting of 2024 will be in February to finalize the design and budget for the landscaping around the new welcome sign.
Haw Creek Park Greenway Campaign
Shelley has prepared and submitted a $5,000 grant request to Connect Buncombe.
We have a letter of support from the City of Asheville Parks & Rec that will be used to request funds from Buncombe County Open Spaces Fund; this will be our largest single funding request, which will be submitted in the next few weeks.
767 New Haw Creek – Working Group
The 767 Working Group met twice in early December and created five committees. These committees are handling the priority topics identified to organize our opposition to the scale and scope of this proposed development.
Immediate next steps will be strategically placed yard signs, continuation of the traffic study, and monitoring of the timeline for when this project will come before the City’s Planning & Zoning Committee. HCCA is also looking at hosting a City Council candidates forum where this topic would be discussed.
Annual Meeting and Board Election – Tuesday, March 12 at 7:00 pm
The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 pm.
