Edgemoor Neighborhood Association

Quarterly General Membership Meeting

August 2, 2007

Minutes

The Quarterly General Membership Meeting of Edgemoor Neighborhood Association was called to order at 7:00 on August 2nd at Fairhaven Pavilion. In Brad’s absence, John Erickson facilitated the meeting and Lauri Grove recorded the minutes.

The minutes of the July meeting were approved as recorded.

Survey Response

The results of the Edgemoor Neighborhood Survey were presented by Peter Bolda. He offered that the survey process was an immense amount of work. Surveys were mailed out to all Edgemoor residents, renters and owners using addresses obtained from county tax records. A total of 949 questionnaires were sent out and about 450 completed surveys were returned. The response was better than expected which makes the survey statistically very significant. Many of the responses also included comments conveying concerns, clarifying answers and suggesting solutions. Every comment was taking into account. Peter read over a hand out of the survey results - question by question. For the most part, residents were happy with their neighborhood and expressed a desire to keep things status quo. Traffic, although not a continuous issue would become more problematic with the addition of development on Chuckanut Ridge. Another concern mentioned at the meeting was a problem with neighborhood rentals to college students. The city doesn’t adequately enforce zoning laws therefore issues with college rentals present a problem throughout neighborhoods in Bellingham. A thank you was extended to all that took time to fill out and return a survey. Thank you to all that offered additional comments expressing concerns and suggesting solutions. Last but not least, thank you to all involved in the process of creating, mailing, and tallying the survey.

Guest Speakers

Ham Hayes: Our first speaker of the evening was candidate for City Council (At Large), Ham Hayes. After he briefed us on his personal background, Ham moved into why he was running, issues of concern, and his views. He considered the present City Council dysfunctional; lacking oversight, accountability, and leadership. He continued by expressing the importance of engaging the community in growth management and other critical issues. He suggested that neighborhood associations should report to the City Council rather then the Mayor. Ham took a stand against Chuckanut Ridge and the need to protect the wetlands.

Bill Geyer: Bill Geyer, candidate for City Council 5^th Ward, gave us an overview of his personal background (30 years in urban planning), experience, and political views. He noted there is a ‘sea of change’ occurring with all the growth in Bellingham and the new residents want a higher degree of input. He suggested breaking down the approach to ‘saving’ Chuckanut Ridge by first documenting all the natural resources that need to be preserved and protected. Once that is out of the way, move forward to the next step and so forth.

Dan Pike: (For organizational sake I included Dan Pike with the guest speakers even though he came later in the evening). Dan Pike, candidate for Mayor, listed his qualifications, endorsements, and leadership priorities. He came to Bellingham in 1982 and he noted since then many of the same issues continue to be brought up, but remain unresolved. He offered that his strength was in his ability to bring diverse groups together to find solutions to difficult problems and then get them done. He emphasized protecting Lake Whatcom, finding the best solutions for the waterfront, protecting Chuckanut Ridge, and good communication.

Changes to the Bylaws

As required by ENA Bylaws (Article 9), the city’s proposed changes to the ENA Bylaws were offered in writing for approval at the September ‘Special’ General Membership Meeting. The Board had already moved to accept the proposed changes at the July meeting. However, Sandie Koplowitz questioned removing the requirement for members to pay dues in order to vote. She suggested changing the voting rights section while we were in the process of amending the bylaws to avoid the need to go through the process again later. Consensus was to do so.

A motion was made by Bob Gibb to change article 3.3 (Voting Rights) of the ENA bylaws to remove the requirement to pay dues in order to vote

After general discussion, a decision was made to table that last motion until the next meeting to give the Board a chance to think it through and to suggest new wording for bylaws section 3.3

Reports of Officers

(A decision was made to limit reports since we had a couple unexpected speakers and time restraints)

Treasurer – A report for this month was filed.

Disbursements - $10.00

Income - $30.00

Balance - $2246.92

Committee Reports

Chuckanut Mountain Park District (CMPD) – Bob Gibb reported that an important public hearing for the CMPD Boundary Review would be held at 7:00 on August 20th at the Fairhaven Library. Public hearings would also be held in Skagit County. Apparently there are some questions about a park district so this could be an opportunity for the public to get a better understanding about GMPD. Bob continued with the fact that CMPD still does not have a SEPA sponsor and may have to be their own agent. His report ended with a general discussion about the ‘less then adequate’ EIS planned for Chuckanut Ridge.

Neighborhood Plan Update Committee – A report on the survey response was given earlier in the meeting.

Closing

Meeting was adjourned at 9:15 pm.

Please note the next meeting scheduled will be an Edgemoor Neighborhood Association ‘Special’ General Membership Meeting to be held from 7-9 on September 6th at Fairhaven Park Pavilion. All meetings are open to all residents and we encourage you to attend.

Respectfully Submitted,

Lauri Grove