VPWG Minutes FINAL
April 8, 2011
Attendees: KPelling, JRichter, DD’Anna, JThoma, JHuck, DKolke, MO, MO, DMiller, EGill, MPasula, PLavelle, RGermany, MUrishko, TPiazza, PJohnson, ABrose, BDavidson
Co-Chair ABrose called the meeting to order at 9:15am, welcome and introductions were conducted.
Minutes: Minutes for the March VPWG Meeting were held till the May meeting.
Treasurer’s Sale: Co-Chair ABrose reviewed the status of recent past and upcoming treasurer’s sales and the status of parcels moving through the process.
Information was distributed in the monthly packet.
Info request process info was requested to be included in the monthly packet.
ACTION: BDavidson will add new members to the email list.
ACTION: BDavidson will schedule a refresher/orientation session for the end of April/May
Property Reserve: Staff and Co-Chair reviewed the Status of the Reserve, parcels due out and the process for that.
GLS List: The Status of the GLS priority lists were discussed
ACTION: BDavidson will re-send the lists to Melissa and the County
ACTION: ABrose and MUrishko will work to schedule the meeting in the month of April
Land Recycling Task Force:
May Meeting – 2nd half will be a robust discussion on the LRTF
Co-chair KPelling and Staff BDavidson gave the update on the task force/subcommittees’ work
-eliminate blight, change markets, have land ready when revitalization projects are ready, work with community groups -
why not the city – liability of mass land owner, disjointed departments, cannot ‘discriminate’ purchaser
The group had a brief discussion regarding the current work of the task force and the goals of the state and local pieces.
Brownfields Conference:
Conference attendees BDavidson, JThoma and JRichter reported out on take aways and lessons, policy priorities, trends learned from the conference, specifically:

*Demolition
*Scattered-Site / small parcel remediation
*Urban Agriculture (community gardens)
*Environmental Justice – community organizing
*Sustainability
*Networking/Connections made
*Funding (sources and fundraising)

Mayor Tom Murphy – Keynote (ULI Sr Fellow) – who specifically spoke about Pittsburgh’s process – the work to get the community input on these large-scale redevelopment sites.
Next Steps: JThoma putting together a presentation for council offices on options for blight elimination on small-scale sites
ACTION: BDavidson will convene a meeting of the local conference attendees to distill lessons learned to the Pittsburgh/SWPA CommDev community. JThoma offered to invite additional ‘experts’ to the session to help us think through Pgh better-accessing brownfields resources.
Discussion: The way we are demolishing our buildings is creating more brownfields, how do we do this better, and prevent the further creation of brownfields?
PWSA Discussion:
What are the recurring issues/themes when interacting with PWSA (both in development and w/r/t residents, paying bills, etc)
Real-Estate Closings – can’t close in time, or takes forever as PWSA takes the longest to get the paperwork/info together [Dye-test compiance and meter readings, eg]
Staff is not ‘friendly’, especially at their service desks
Shut off Water vs Water Furl (you have to keep your own paper trail)
When demolishing a property, shutting off the furl at the street
Sewer (&Water) Lines – finding and capping the lines and then can’t move forward until the inspectors come out and sign off on inspection (when dealing with private contractors. But the City does not ‘have to’ do this – they pay the $3-4k to not have to do this)
Announcements:
ServePGH – Love your Block program – launch Mid May
Vacant Lot clean-up grants – info session Monday April 11th, 6pm –6th fl City-County
Applications due Monday April 18th
Condemnation Lists
Pittsburgh TODAY Vacant Property Series
CDSummit – VP Sessions
Resignation of Co-Chair Kendall Pelling
There was no new business and a motion was made to adjourn at 10:50am. JR/PJ

Respectfully Submitted,

Bethany E. Davidson

Staff, VPWG