Edgemoor Neighborhood Association

Monthly Business Meeting

January 5, 2006

Minutes

 

The Monthly Business Meeting of Edgemoor Neighborhood Association was called to order at 7:00 on January 5th at the Fairhaven Park Pavilion.  ENA President, Brien Thane, was present to facilitate the meeting.  Lauri Grove recorded the minutes.  A quorum was present.

·        Membership fliers were labeled and posted for mailing during the meeting.

 

The minutes for the December meeting were questioned by Lois for clarification of the communication report.  Lauri cleared up the budget statement in question and the minutes were approved.

 

At this time, we broke from the agenda format to allow Brad Rose time to give his rep. and committee reports before leaving to attend another meeting:

 

MNAC Representative, Brad Rose, offered that the monthly MNAC meeting was postponed until January 18th therefore he did not have a report.  He reminded residents to read the current Just So You Are Aware Letter from the Mayor for interesting information. The latest issue of Just So You Are Aware can be found on the ENA website.

 

Neighborhood Plan Update – Brad reported that neighborhood plans should be updated in the next 18 months.  In the strategy, a team would be appointed to meet with neighborhoods on an individual basis to collect input for their updated plan.  The team would meet with neighborhoods by priority and Edgemoor was considered low priority.  The process had not started yet, but Brad emphasized the importance of collecting our ideas.  He mentioned holding another Vision of Edgemoor at an ENA meeting. 

 

Growth and Land Use Committee did not meet last month and there was no report.  Brad did highlight the following points of interest;

·        The public comment period for the design review of Fairhaven Harbor was over.

·        The underground parking garage next to the Waldron building had been approved.

·        There would be a public hearing on Jan. 24th to designate the Waldron Building as a local landmark and request to make changes to the exterior of the building.  Send comments to Jackie Lynch.

·        Fairhaven Highlands has submitted an application for wetland permit.  The comment period ends Jan. 18th.  Continue to send comments to Kathy Bell.

For more information please go to the city website or the ENA website.

 

There was discussion about the addition of a Fairhaven Harbor section on the website and it was agreed that would be nice.

 

Report of Officers

President, Brien Thane, received a letter from Mike Botwin and Cathy McKenzie  (Coalition of Southside Neighborhoods) requesting time to attend an ENA meeting to hear our community concerns.  It was agreed to invite the CSN representatives to the February meeting.  Brien then requested ideas for additional speakers for the February meeting.  Brad suggested having a School Bond representative speak at the meeting and Kathy Kaiser agreed to make the arrangements.  In addition, Brad agreed to contact Frank James to present an update for Responsible Development.

 

Brien also received a request from Responsible Development to co-sponsor a presentation by Eben Fodor at a meeting on January 12th. The following motion was made to approve that request:

 

Motion by Kathy Kaiser  to approve ENA as a co-sponsor for the presentation by Eben Fodor on January 12, 2006.

Motion was seconded, discussed, and passed unanimously

 

Brien ended his report with a discussion of the agenda for the February Quarterly Meeting.

 

Treasurer, Lois Miles presented the budget report and handed a detailed report to the secretary to file.  Lois offered that she would meet with Sandie this month to complete the 501 C3 form.  She also asked opinions form the board members present to answer some of the paperwork questions.

Balance – $1598.42

Disbursements –  $ 412.00 (cost for membership mail out)

Closing Balance - $1186.42

 

Committee Reports

Communication Committee Chair, Kathy Kaiser, was still working on the ENA sign and stated that it should be ready for the February Meeting   The Small and Simple Grant was also mentioned which led into a discussion of use for this grant.  An Edgemoor neighborhood sign was offered as one possibility.  Kathy suggested we solicit more ideas in the newsletter and on the website.  Final application is due on February 24th.

 

Hospitality Committee – no report.  The caroling social went well.  Even though it was very cold, several residents participated and enjoyed the evening.

 

Growth and Land Use Committee report was presented earlier in the meeting.

 

Membership Committee - no report.  Sandie would work on updating email addresses for the newsletter which could be used by Committee Chairs as needed to get timely information out to the residents.

 

Neighborhood Safety Committee – no report.  Drive 25 signs still available for purchase.

 

Neighborhood Plan Update report was given earlier in the meeting.

 

Representative Reports

Coalition of Southside Neighborhoods – The following report was sent in by ENA representative, Pam Went…The December meeting took place at the loft area in Skylarks. The location was chosen simply to provide more of a festive celebration of the past year's work. It was a pleasant gathering and we reflected on how we had come together so informally just last January looking for commonality in goals. Certainly directions were found and numerous connections have been made that have helped drive some of the efforts related to development issues over the past 12 months.  The Fairhaven Neighbors petition to the Sate Shorelines Hearing Board is due to be heard the end of February and depositions are being taken by the
attorneys in preparation. As I mentioned in the November report, Ralph Thacker, who took over when Sue
and Michael abruptly left last spring, has been elected as President of the Association of Bellingham Neighborhoods, effective January '06. Although he will stay on as head of CSN until replaced, he is actively seeking someone to take over and is in contact with interested folks. That's about it for now!
Pam

·     Ralph Thacker was replaced by Mike Botwin and Cathy McKenzie.

 

Association of Bellingham Neighborhoods – Representative, Larry Horowitz.  No report was given at the meeting, but links to ABN documents for the month of December are on the ENA website.  A message from the new President, Ralph Thacker covered a change in meeting date and several challenges the association would like to address this year.  One point in particular, involved sending a delegate to all City Council meetings and all City Planning Commission meetings.  Next meeting will be on January 10th. 

 

 

 

New Business

The discussion of ENA Bylaws was tabled until the March meeting.  Areas in question were the fiscal year, whether or not to authorize phone and Internet votes, and how to handle Co-Chair votes.

 

Issues and Concerns

Lloyd Grasdock brought up a change in the WTA bus schedule that sparked a discussion of the new signs along Northwest Blvd. for the green line. 

 

Closing

Meeting was adjourned at 9:05pm.

Thank you for your help assembling the fliers!  The project was completed during the meeting and the fliers will be mailed by this weekend.

 

The next meeting scheduled would be an Edgemoor Neighborhood Association Quarterly General Membership Meeting to be held on February 2nd at Fairhaven Park Pavilion.  All Edgemoor residents are encouraged to attend.

 

Respectfully Submitted,

Lauri Grove