Judy Settena called the meeting to order and reminded attendees that this was the May West Roxbury Neighborhood Council Meeting, delayed until June 1 due to the Memorial Day holiday.

Police Report - Sgt. Roy Chambers gave his monthly Police report summarizing the activity during the past month. He handed out copies of the report to Council members and the audience. The report gives the times and locations of the 2 drug arrests, 7 housebreaks, 7 car breaks and 3 robberies that occurred in Area E during the month of May.

Sgt. Chambers mentioned that in one incident a woman awoke to find her home being burglarized. She was smart enough to flee the house. Chambers told the group that most folks breaking into a home are not looking for confrontation, but if you try to stop them, you could end up seriously hurt. The best response is to get out of the house and then call for help.

Chambers was questioned as to why Hackensack Rd. was not included in the Area E maps he distributed. He replied that the area was included in the statistics of Area E, the street just wasn’t on the computerized map he had.

Basic Services – There was no formal Basic Services Report, but there is a lot of concern about the prospect of Stop and Shop purchasing the old Pope Lumber site. Residents of the area are upset and want to know what is going on. Many feel that Roche Bros., as a local outstanding citizen, should have been able to purchase the site and relocate their store. Ed Coburn from the mayor’s office stated that although he didn’t know any details, it was his understanding that the property was a part of a real estate trust which was unwilling to subdivide the property and therefore it was going to be a very expensive parcel. Speculation was that the property probably went to the highest bidder and Stop and Shop simply outbid everybody else.

Judy mentioned that she would try to get more information before the next Basic Services meeting (6/15).

Zoning – Seven matters were brought to the full Council following the Zoning committee’s May meeting.

1.) Gold’s Garden Center – 1556 VFW Pkwy. Seeking permission to store loam and bark chips outside, in support of his residential landscaping business. He would be open 7-3:30 5 days/week. The site is currently vacant and the neighbors were pleased that he was going to spruce up the site.

The Zoning committee recommended approving the proposal and the full Council unanimously agreed.

2.) Carol’s Batting Cages would like to expand to include outdoor batting cages. The cages would be toward the back near Billings Field. There appears to be enough parking spaces for the cages. Carol’s has the issue of patrons of the Corrib Pub or softball players at Billings Field using their spaces. The Zoning Committee recommended approval with a 10:00 closing time. The full Council unanimously agreed.

3.) 64 Greaton Rd. – Owners would like to renovate the attic. The home is a two-family today. The floor area ratio is the issue. The full Council recommeded approval on the condition that the owners not come back in the future seeking to make it a three-family house.

4.) 11 Swan St. - The Council approved the Zoning committee's recommendation to allow construction despite the width of the lot being 4 ft short.

5.) 24 Atlantis St. - The Council approved the proposal to turn the attic into an addition, as well as expanding the front porch. The floor area ratio was an issue but lots of homes in the area look that way today.

6.) 350 Temple St. - This proposal has been discussed before with the neighbors. The owners took their recommendations into account and changed the original design. The want to add to the home and rezone it as a 2 family house. The neighbors now approve of the plan. The Council eventually voted to recommend approval of this proposal, but not without discussion.

This proposal was one of many where homeowners want to turn their homes into two families in order to care for aging parents. Although nobody ever wants to deny these emotional pleas to override zoning laws, inevitably, once the parents have passed on, the neighborhood is left with a two family dwelling which becomes a rental, and the neighborhood gradually changes character. Some wanted a groundrule concerning these requests. Bill Smith pointed out that the very nature of these decisions is discretionary, and they are looked at one-by-one. Not all are approved.

7.) 1 Church St. - The Council voted to recommend approval of the plan to renovate an apartment on the second and third floors. The council was concerned that the house remain a two-family, not a three-family.

Other - The minutes from the April meeting were accepted. The Basic Services committee and the Zoning committee will both meet on June 15^th. Also, there will be a presentation on June 10^th at 7:00pm at the W.R. High School reviewing the Gardner St. Landfill project.

Judy suggested and the Council agreed to form an Ad-hoc membership committee to get some people who might be interested in serving on the Council. Kay Ryan and Ed McCormack agreed to head up the search to recruit 5 or 6 new bodies to serve starting in the fall of 1998. The group plans to meet one hour prior to the next full Council meeting on June 22^nd.

Steve Smith described the "One West Roxbury" group, which was formed around the Lyndon School issue but extended to the quarry fight.

Bill McDonough praised the Menino administration for their efforts with respect to the West Roxbury Crushed Stone vs. the neighbors battle. "Significant effort" was put forth by the city, in both time and money. The Council agreed and Judy volunteered to write a letter to the mayor from the Council, "going on the record" with a note of thanks.

A motion to adjourn passed unanimously.

Attendance- L. Costello, W. Hannon, E. McCormack, J. McDonough, W. McDonough, K. Ryan, J. Settena, S. Smith, W. Smith, D. Torok

Secretary’s Note: These minutes and minutes from prior WRNC meetings are now available over the Internet at http://members.aol.com/lcostello/wrnc.