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
v
A question was posed whether or not to purchase
more Drive 25 signs. Also the need to
draft, present, and approve a 2007 budget was brought up.
v Barbara
Zielstra discovered that too many details were required to apply for the Small
and Simple grant this March. She would,
however, continue to research and put together a proposal for landscaping the
Willow Street entrance so that ENA would be ready to apply for the grant next year.
v An EIS
needed to be done on the Chuckanut Ridge and RD met with the Mayor to request
that it not be done by someone on the payroll of the City or the developer.
v Brad
would like to write and send a letter to the ’76 Station’ developer to
consider building sensitively to suit
the area since it would be, in a sense, the entry way into the Edgemoor
neighborhood. He would like to remind
him to think about the community that has patronized him for the last 25 years
when choosing building materials and design.
The letter was approved.
v Sandie
mentioned that a writer from Edmonds contributed to the ENA blog.
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