Edgemoor Neighborhood Association

Quarterly General Membership Meeting

November 1, 2007

Minutes

 

 

The Quarterly General Membership Meeting of Edgemoor Neighborhood Association was called to order at 7:00 on November 1st at Fairhaven Pavilion.  John Erickson facilitated the meeting and Lauri Grove recorded the minutes.  We did not have a membership quorum present.

 

The minutes of the September meeting were approved as recorded.

 

Reports of Officers

President’s report – No report

 

Treasurer’s report – Lois was not able to be at the meeting, but she did turn in a statement for the permanent record.  We received a $934.61 reimbursement check form the City that was deposited in the ENA account on Oct. 20th which brought the balance up to $3,121.72.

 

MNAC – For the record, Brad was reelected to continue as our MNAC representative.

 

Board Nominations – After briefly reviewed the process, John Erickson asked for volunteers to form a nominating committee.  Pam Bakke, John Brown, and John Erickson agreed to form the group.  The positions up for election this year would be Vice President, and Treasurer as well as any committee vacancies. 

 

Guest Speaker

Chore – Volunteer Chore Program representatives, Josie Presley (Program Director) and Kristen Horton explained the services provided to seniors and adults with disabilities by the Chore volunteers.  This program targets low income or disabled seniors living on their own that need some help, but do not qualify for assistance and might otherwise fall through the cracks.  Volunteers serve low income clients free of charge by helping with housework, shopping, minor repairs, communication and simple tasks.  To date the program had about 200 applicants for service and 80 volunteers.  To volunteer time or donations contact the Whatcom Volunteer Center on State Street at #734-3055.

  

Committee Reports

Disaster Preparedness – Pam Bakke passed around a pamphlet that would be distributed later in the evening during the presentation by Don Davis.  She brought up a few interesting points and recommended hard hats as one of the essentials to have on hand in case of a disaster emergency.  Lloyd Grasdock volunteered to help with the disaster preparedness program if needed.

 

Chuckanut Mountain Park District (CMPD) – Bob Gibb reported that the State Department of Ecology named the Whatcom County Boundary Review Board as the Lead Agency to review the CMPD SEPA documents. Since they would be contracting that out they are looking for an agency to work with small organizations.  CMPD requested extension of the deadline until the SEPA review would be complete.  Please visit http://.chuckanutmpd.org for progress updates, information, and meeting dates.  Bob also reported that the EIS contract for Chuchanut Ridge had been signed by all necessary parties.  The scoping schedule would not be out for about a month and the scoping process won’t happen until after the New Year and the administration change.  Once the study was done it would be reviewed by the Planning Director to determine whether it was complete.  Responsible Development contracted with an expert, Letitia Wheeler, who wrote an environmental impact report 12 years ago and was also one of the bidders for the new EIS.  She is familiar with the area and well prepared to help with the scoping process.  His last bit of news was that Laurie Evans would no longer be CEO of Horizon Bank, but would remain as President of the Board.  Not sure how this would effect the Chuckanut Ridge development.

 

Note – John Brown offered a ‘moving protest’ in the form of a car sticker asking Horizon Bank not to destroy Chuckanut Ridge.  The sticker would be sold for $15.00 and would not harm the car.  If interested contact him at www.Gilbrow@yahoo.com   Thank you.

 

 

Neighborhood Plan Update – Martin Nickerson presented for approval a work program with a timeline to use in the revision of the neighborhood plan as well as a draft outline for the plan.  The timeline follows one used by Fairhaven Neighbors.  The committee continues to meet to work on updating the plan and asked for more residents to offer input and insight into the process.  Kathy was asked if she would consider attending meetings – anyone interested in getting involved with updating the neighborhood plan should contact Martin or John for a meeting schedule.  A suggestion to spend more monthly meeting time working on the plan was met with general approval. Pam added that Fairhaven Neighbors would be meeting at Fairhaven Middle school to present their draft proposal for the updated neighborhood plan   

 

Growth and land Use – Pam reported a request for a Conditional Use Permit to build an oversized detached garage at 4125 Clarkwood Drive.  Due to time constrains Pam offered to e-mail any important additional news.

 

Communication – Kathy questioned whether ENA should send out a neighborhood mailing in January and it was determined that she would e-mail board members for approval.  Earlier in the evening, she requested that any hand outs or reports for discussion at the meetings should be sent to Sandie in advance so she could circulate information in preparation for the meeting.

 

Representative Reports

No reports

 

Guest Speaker

Don Davis, the Emergency Management Specialist for the City of Bellingham was kind enough to talk with the group and field question on the subject of disaster preparedness.   He defined a disaster as a rare event that would exceed the capacity of emergency services.  At such a time it would be mandated to do a damage assessment and then triage where to put forces.  Don passed out a Map Your Neighborhood (MYN) pamphlet and outlined the program highlighting some of the important points.  Edgemoor would be particularly vulnerable because of the limited access into the neighborhood.  Concerns about the program, how the City of Bellingham planned to make this a workable plan and how tests would be conducted to keep the program effective were addressed by Don.  One ending point mentioned was that this program should help get everyone thinking, planning, and establish a higher level of disaster preparedness – and that‘s a good thing.

 

Closing

Meeting was adjourned at 9:00pm.

 

The next meeting scheduled will be an Edgemoor Neighborhood Association Monthly Board Meeting to be held from 7-9 on December 6th at Fairhaven Park Pavilion.  Meetings are open to all residents and we encourage you to attend.

 

Respectfully Submitted,

Lauri Grove