Edgemoor Neighborhood Association

General Membership Meeting

May 3, 2007

Minutes

The ENA General Membership Meeting was held on May 3, 2007 at the Fairhaven Park Pavilion. Brad Rose, the ENA President, facilitated the meeting and Kathy Kaiser recorded the minutes for Lauri Grove, our ENA secretary who was unable to attend the meeting. A quorum was present.

The minutes of the April 5, 2007 Business Meeting were approved as recorded.

Report of the Officers

President’s Report – Brad presented a letter addressed to Tim Stewart of the Bellingham Planning Department in support of the proposed changes to the Fairhaven Design Code brought forward by the Fairhaven Neighbors for the ENA to consider supporting. A lengthy discussion followed concerning the reason for the letter, whether or not there was time to present the letter to the entire ENA by e-mail, whether or not those present should be responsible for representing the neighborhood and whether or not the letter represented accurately the intent of the our neighborhood if approved? A motion was eventually made, after discussing the concerns and questions of those present, to approve the letter as amended eliminating “the members of” in the first sentence and correcting “it’s to its” in the 3^rd paragraph. (Copies of the original draft and the approved letter are attached.) Brad then encouraged individuals to write and send their own personal letters stating their opinions on this issue to the Planning Department.

Treasurer’s Report – Lois Miles reported as follows:

Income $30.00

Disbursements $91.30 to Sue Kahn

Balance $3,317.28

MNAC Report – Brad welcomed Kathryn Hanowell, who organizes and facilitates the MNAC meetings, and introduced her to the membership. At their recent meeting it was decided to conserve paper by abbreviating the informational packets available at each meeting. After brief neighborhood reports were given, Malcolm Fleming, Chief Administrative Officer of the city, discussed the issues related to the development of the Georgia Pacific site. Issues of concern are the allocation of park versus commercial land use, height restrictions, clean-up, and cost of the project. The Bellingham Police Department then presented a disaster preparation project where neighborhoods would be organized into pods versus neighborhoods. An Emergency Preparedness Committee is being formed by the city and the city has requested that the Edgemoor Neighborhood be represented. Brad wondered whether or not we should add an “Emergency Preparedness Committee” to our Edgemoor Neighborhood Committees and if there was anyone willing to serve as a representative from our neighborhood to the city wide committee which will meet for the first time on May 22, 2007? Brad also announced that the Silver Beach Neighborhood Association was holding a “History of Silver Beach” meeting in the multi-purpose room at Bloedel Donovan Park on May 10^th.

Kathryn Hanowell then commented that our neighborhood has a wonderful newsletter. She asked Sandie if pictures could be added to the newsletter and was told that digital pictures can easily be incorporated into the newsletter.

Several members asked Ms. Hanowell about the Fairhaven Bridge as they had noticed during an inspection that the bridge is not built to earthquake standards and some erosion has occurred to the north support pillars. Complaints have been sent to the city but so far the bridge hasn’t been treated as a major concern. Discussion continued as to which neighborhood the bridge is part of and whether the city or state is responsible for maintaining the bridge? It was suggested that perhaps a South Side Coalition Meeting could address this situation.

Membership- Sandie noted that we have 2 new members.

Safety – Lois Miles reported for the committee that the sidewalk proposal discussed at the last meeting was submitted to the city for consideration. Also the committee chairs spoke to the city engineer regarding the circular planting on Briar/Hawthorne Roads and the city declined to become involved. Lois reminded us that routine markings to locate gas, phone and cable lines have been occurring recently in the neighborhood.

Chuckanut Mountain Park District (CMPD) – Dr Gibb reported that the CMPD committee has gathered over 3,000 signatures and that there were over 2,300 approved signatures, enough to place the issue on the November ballot. However, there are still a few elements to address before the issue can be placed on the ballot. Kathy Mohebbi is assisting with the Boundary Review process. It takes 45 days for the Boundary Review to be completed, so the committee is targeting an August 15^th deadline for submitting their materials.

Growth and Land Use – Brad Rose reported that there are several issues and building projects in various stages in the Fairhaven Neighborhood which we should all be aware of as they will impact our surroundings. Pam Went then mentioned that the Coalition of Southside Neighborhoods is organizing a few informative events. One will be held May 15^th to look over the comprehensive scheme proposed for the use of the Port property in Fairhaven. The CSN is also in the planning stages of hosting either one or two forums this summer to allow candidates for city offices to address the Southside Neighborhoods. In the near future CSN will be meeting with the local press to inform them about the Coalition and their goals.

Association of Bellingham Neighborhoods – No Report

Other Business –

Brad announced that the Whatcom Land Trust was unavailable to speak at our meeting due to another commitment, a fund-raiser for their group. The Land Trust is tentatively scheduled for our General Membership Meeting in August.

Brad then introduced Seth Fleetwood, presently one of our County Council Representatives, who is running for the position of mayor. Mr. Fleetwood presented information concerning his background growing up in Bellingham, some insight into his goals for the city if he were to become our mayor, and fielded questions from the group.

Neighborhood Plan Update – The co-chairs, Martin Nickerson and John Erickson, reported that their committee had held 3-4 meetings concentrating on compiling a neighborhood survey. They then distributed the preliminary survey packet and asked for comments on the questionnaire which can be used in formulating a final survey packet. The goal of the survey is to gather information on our neighborhood priorities so that the Neighborhood Plan can be updated. Surveys will be sent, by about May 15^th, to everyone who lives or owns property in Edgemoor. The goal is to compile the information gathered from the survey by the end of June. The committee may need assistance with the mailing of the surveys.

Ralph Thacker then addressed the group to announce that he has written a booklet on Dan Harris. He plans to donate 10% of his proceeds to a neighborhood project which may involve preserving a portion of Gordy Tweit’s historical collection. He suggested that perhaps the commercial entities and the neighborhoods working together could come up with a location and funds to create a permanent display of Gordy’s memorabilia. Ralph is organizing an 81^st birthday party for Gordy, who helped immensely with the writing of his book, on June 4^th at Lairmont Manor. Everyone who wishes to help Gordy celebrate is welcome to participate in this celebration.

The meeting was the adjourned.

The next meeting scheduled will be an ENA Business Meeting to be held from 7-9 p.m. on June 7^th at Fairhaven Park Pavilion. Meetings are open to all residents and we welcome you to attend.

Respectfully Submitted,

Kathy Kaiser