Newsletter Update - September (and so it begins)
- Katelyn Holappa
- 4 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Hi folks,
In an effort to get some information out about a community meeting (see below), I'm publishing this a bit early in the week than normal. As such, this will be pretty bare bones on release, but please check back later or that, once it becomes available (late Tuesday or early Wednesday).
Katelyn
Table of Contents
Regular Council Business
Meeting Details:
The Salem City Council currently meets on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of each month in the Council Chambers of City Hall at 7 pm.
The next meeting taking place on September 10th.
Agenda Highlights:
Check back later for details, once the agenda is published.
Council Subcommittee Updates
The council maintains five standing subcommittees on which different Councillors serve, in addition to a Committee of the Whole, which meet as needed to discuss business outside of the regular bi-weekly Council meetings.
I serve on OLLA, PHS&E, and C&ED, as well as the Committee of the Whole with all other Councillors. As a member of those committees I have "voting power" and count towards the quorum. More information about subcommittee assignments can be found here, on the city's website.
Check back later for details.
Potential Changes in the Neighborhood
Community Discussion on New Parcel Use along Furlong Park:
The Salem Park & Recreation Commission is considering a proposal from Juniper Point Investments (i.e. the Riverwalk Condo Development) to invest in the city owned land between Furlong Park and the Riverwalk Condo development. This land is presently being used as a construction staging area and was previously park of the junk yard. It is, however, legally, part of Furlong Park.
The current proposal is to build a small, ~10 space parking lot for public use (see Figure 2, below). This lot would be for public use.
In preliminary discussions with the developer, members of the Park & Recreation Commission, and City Staff, as the Ward 6 Councillor I advocated that this decision be made with as much public feedback as possible. It was agreed that we, as a neighborhood, would meet with the developer to discuss his proposal, as well as other potential ideas for use of this parcel. The goal is that the people in our neighborhood have direct influence on how, or even if, this vacant public land be developed, and that together, we can guide this potential project and ensure that the resulting use will best serve our community.
This discussion is an opportunity for community members to learn about the the potential plan, provide feedback to the Ward Councillor (hi, that's me!), and to help inform the conversation that the Park & Rec Commission will have at their September monthly meeting on the topic.
Please feel welcome to RSVP via the Facebook even, here, but all are welcome, regardless.
For a brief dive into my thoughts on there proposal, please consider the following. If the developer puts up a parking lot, we'd get some new off-street parking spaces (in the neighborhood of 9 or 10), but every taxpayer in the city would be on the hook for the maintenance - just like we are for the rest of our parking and roadways. This small addition would not be a lot of money, but its also not nothing, and I'd encourage the city to find a way to reasonably charge the people using these hypothetical spaces for the use. i.e. it'd be paid parking. This makes sure that all of us who will never park a car here aren't paying for it anyway, and it'd likely discourage people from storing cars there long-term (to keep them usable). Something to consider is how tourists could end up utilizing this, as well as potentially the neighbors during snow emergencies. Nothing is set in stone, and there would be details to iron out on the implementation.
So, if the neighborhood really wants the extra parking I'm all for it... but I want to make sure we understand the cost. Maintenance costs & opportunity costs.
Personally, I'd love to see us utilize this space for another use. I serve as the Council Liaison to the Salem Food Policy Council, and I'm keenly aware of the issues around food access in our city. Even on former junk yard land, we may be able to put up some raised beds and utilize this land to grow free food, and/or herbs, for the neighborhood. Throw a gazebo in there and we could have a really nice, welcoming, space instead. I feel like we all deserve to have more of those.
Finally, and this is a really nit-picky point but I'm going to make it anyway, I think the location of the proposed path is in a useless space. Their proposal is the same in Fig 1 &2 and connects the river-walk pathway to the (new!) sidewalk on Franklin St. via the southern end of Furlong park (right beyond that stand of trees beyond the Left Field line). My thought is that, instead, we should be extending that path into Furlong Park and connect it near the pavilion. This is the main path through the park, and it would effectively connect the 2 river-adjacent pathways, rather than letting the ball field separate them. See Figure 3 for a visual of this proposal. Especially if we end up putting parking in there, I don't see people using the proposed pathway and it'd just end up being a waste of money.
Upcoming Events & Activities
Flyers for Upcoming Events:
See below, including the flyer for my standing office hours at Konna every Tuesday morning! Please feel welcome to stop by and say hello, share issues or concerns, and support a local North Salem business and gathering place.
