Edgemoor Neighborhood Association
Monthly Business Meeting
March 1, 2007
Minutes
The ENA Monthly Business Meeting was
called to order at 7:00 on March 1st at Fairhaven Park
Pavilion. Brad Rose facilitated the
meeting and Lauri Grove recorded the minutes.
A quorum was present.
The minutes of the February Quarterly
Meeting were approved as recorded.
A special request was made to begin the
meeting with the CMPD report followed by the guest speaker representing Project Labyrinth
.
CMPD – Dr Gibb, with the help of Joanne
Peterson, presented the petition ‘clipboard packet’ to be used in the
door-to-door drive to collect signatures.
He went over details, addressed ideas to collect signatures, and
answered questions to prepare petitioners.
To date the committee has collected 125 of the 1500 signatures needed to
put the park district on the ballot. He
reiterated that signers must be registered voters within the district
boundaries. If we want to save the Chuckanut Mountains – We need to do it now!
Guest Speaker, Samantha DeSoer,
from Project Labyrinth presented the organizations proposal for construction of
a permanent labyrinth in Fairhaven Park to be located in the open area next to
the small pavilion across from the tennis courts. The labyrinth would be an
inlaid circular path about 62 feet in diameter that would wind around and lead
to the center and back out again. Representatives from Project Labyrinth were
attending neighborhood meetings in an attempt to both inform and create a
positive mutual relationship with the community. The labyrinth offers an artful way to utilize
the park, honor the space, and bring neighbors together. Temporary labyrinths have been constructed in
various locations. Samantha suggested
viewing the Spring Equinox Labyrinth, planned for March 20th on the
Village Green, to see if we all agree with the vision.
Motion
by Sandie Koplowitz to appoint John Erickson to take over
as ENA Vice President for the 1 year remainder of Niall Hackett’s 2 year term.
The
motion was seconded and passed unanimously.
Treasurer, Lois Miles,
reported that ENA spent $150.00 this month and specified that $25.00 of it went
toward ABN operational expenses. We still
need a representative to attend ABN meetings on the 4th Tuesday of
the month.
Income
- $540.00
Disbursements
- $150.00
Balance
- $3153.58
MNAC - Brad Rose, mentioned that the
results are in for the Mayor’s public involvement assessment. The survey resulted in recommendations to
better keep citizens informed and involved in the process. The Alabama neighborhood took a survey and
Brad offered that a generic survey was available to neighborhoods.
Neighborhoods continued work on traffic issues and updating neighborhood plans.
View details and more in the Just So You are Aware newsletter.
Communication – No report
Hospitality – No Report. We
still need a volunteer to Chair this committee.
Growth and Land Use – Pam e-mail Brad with the following report
(summarized)
Proposed developments at 12th
and Donovan, and at 14th and Old Fairhaven Pkwy were being
monitored. There would be a
pre-application meeting concerning a low impact cluster of small homes at 20th
and Old Fairhaven Pkwy. In addition,
there was a new request in Edgemoor for a conditional use permit to construct
an oversized single family residence (9300 sq. ft.) at 4600 Fieldston Rd. on
Clark’s Point. Pam offered that more
information about these developments could be found on the City of Bellingham’s
website at www.cob.org. Brad questioned how members felt about
oversized homes built in Edgemoor which
sparked a general discussion. Also,
there was word that the City and Port are considering locating a parking garage
below the bluff, north of Mill. That
information came from the Fairhaven merchants association - both CSN and the
merchants group would be following that proposal. In conclusion, Brad reported that the
Fairhaven Harbors redesign was not approved as submitted. After reviewing their options, the developers
decided to stay with the original design.
Membership – Sandie reported
we have 85 new members.
Safety - The following committee report was given by
Lois. Don had a discussion with Sergeant
Dave Richards regarding a couple concerns the committee was trying to
resolve. He questioned direction arrows
at Hawthorn and Briar around the existing round-about and also reducing speed
on Fieldston Rd 300-500 blocks. Sgt.
Richards said he would put a traffic officer at 300-500 blocks of Fieldston for
a lengthy period of time. The officer
would also focus on the stop sign at Hawthorn and Fieldston. In addition, the police would do a drawing of
Hawthorn and Briar. Safety was now in
touch with, Kathryn Hanowell, the City’s Neighborhood Service Coordinator. E-mail Don Miles at dbmiles2@comcast.net if you have any
concerns, questions, or ideas.
Neighborhood Plan Update - John reported he was planning to start up a
steering committee to update the plan.
Brad suggested he name a date for the ‘kick off’ meeting and 7:00 PM
Tuesday, March 27th at (John’s home) 620 Chuckanut was agreed upon
for the first meeting.
CSN – The
following report was submitted by Pam Went
‘The Coalition of Southside
Neighborhoods was busy this past month.
A letter was drafted on behalf of all five neighborhoods to the Planning
Commission. The letter applauded the new
tone in the Planning Department and the efforts that have been made to keep
neighborhoods more informed and involved.
It went on, however, to remind commissioners that this had not always
been the case and provided a summary of some previous interactions between the
City and the neighborhoods that resulted in litigation. It provided documentation of earlier
agreements that had not always been followed in the spirit in which they were
made, and provided documentation to further inform the commissioners of some of
the Southside’s development history. The
letter was signed by all five CSN Presidents and delivered in person to the
commissioners at their February 8th meeting. Members of CSN also attended the Planning
Commission Meeting addressing the request to rezone the Haskell property. They
were pleased to see the commission support the Planning Department’s
recommendation that it should not be considered until the Fairhaven
Neighborhood has been able to update their plan. City Council would make the final decision on
this.
Part of Pam’s report included a
suggestion to discuss with the ENA Board the idea of having a mechanism in
place to compensate whoever incurs the CSN expenses involved in printing,
photocopying, and sometimes binding all the wonderful communications and
presentations to the City, Port etc. In
addition, to cover expenses for the CSN binder in the Fairhaven Library.
A
motion was made by Sandie Koplowitz to approve up to
$200.00 a year to cover ENA’s portion, to be equally divided by the five CSN
neighborhoods, for print and material expenses incurred by CSN.
The
motion was seconded and passed unanimously.
Business
The meeting was
adjourned at 9:10.
The next Monthly
Business Meeting would be held on April 5th at the Fairhaven Park
Pavilion. All residents are invited to attend.
Respectfully
Submitted,
Lauri Grove