Date: 11/07/13

Location: Wells Fargo Community Learning Center at E. 6th & Main Street

The purpose of this meeting was to learn about the 8th Street multi-family project being developed by Operation New Hope, the federal grant recently awarded to help improve the Hogans Creek park system, and elect new members to the Board of Directors.

The Board of Directors candidates were introduced, spoke about themselves, and answered impromptu questions from attendees. Jeff Fountain, resident and Pilot Project Development Leader, Aaron Glick, resident and City of Jacksonville Planner II, and Melanie Messer, Associate Director of the Jacksonville Speech & Hearing Center, were the candidates. After the by-law instructions related to election voting were read, ballots were cast.

During voting, Operation New Hope (ONH) presented about the 8th Street development. Designs and rental policy details were reviewed, followed by a Q&A session. Residents were particularly interested in the mixed-income approach, and the details about applicant screening. In summary, 8 units will be reserved for individuals making up to roughly $53k per year and 6 units will be reserved for individuals making up to roughly $22k per year. ONH described how they plan a stringent screening process, including background checks, credit check, references, etc. The cost of the apartments will range from $590/mo to $1303/mo. ONH will seek input from the community once they move forward on refining the rental process further.

The ballots were tallied and all candidates were elected to the Board of Directors.

Details of the federal grant to improve Hogans Creek (and Deer Creek, in a close by area) were presented. In summary, a new non-profit Board will be formed to focus just on this issue. The board will hire an executive director and the new organization will be housed in the SPAR building on Main Street. The City of Jacksonville will contribute money for three years as well. Small projects that enhance the creeks and park system will be coordinated at first, and after a number of years successful completion of these projects could lead to large federal grants needed to fully restore and remediate the creeks and park system.

About 50 people attended the meeting which ended at 7:30pm.