Edgemoor Neighborhood Association

Monthly Business Meeting

October 2, 2008

 

The Monthly business Meeting of the Edgemoor Neighborhood Association was called to order at 7:05 p.m. on Thursday, October 2, 2008 by President Brad Rose.  Lauri Grove recorded the minutes.  A quorum was present.

 

The minutes from the September meeting were approved as submitted.

 

Reports of Officers

President’s Report: Brad summarized the evening’s agenda which would include guest speakers representing the Port of Bellingham vision for the waterfront and Joel Douglas from Lairmont Manor.  He asked officers and representatives to keep reports to a minimum to allow time for those presentations. He did want to let everyone know that the caretaker house in Fairhaven Park would now be the Center for Local Self Reliance.  The goal for the center would be to teach the community sustainable living with "how to" basics, for example how to plant a garden. The center would be a wealth of information for the do-it-yourselfer.  Pam Went would be on the board. View details about the Center the ENA website.

 

MNAC Report:  Brad quickly touched on a few items discussed at the last meeting.  He suggested checking the City of Bellingham website to view list of vacancies for various committees and boards - a good way to get involved with your community.  Brad talked about the Citizen Forum put together to provide opportunities for citizens to get to know about and discuss future growth.  They meet on the 1st and 3rd Friday from 12-1 at the Fountain Community Church on Broadway.  He went on to say that due to staff and budget problems the City had suspended reviews of neighborhood plan updates.  He touched on the neighborhood In-fill Toolkit project stating that it still needs work. The public would have a 60 day period to review the final ordinance before the Planning Commission hearing.  Brad suggested sitting in on discussions at the MNAC meetings.  He ended his report reading the CSN letter to Tim Stewart requesting extension of the public comment period for the Fairhaven Highlands DEIS.  Brad agreed to e-mail a copy of that letter so it could be include in the minutes.   

 

Treasurer’s Report:  Diane submitted her monthly report showing a balance of $3513.44 in the ENA account.  The only expense last month was a $43.19 check written to Lois Miles to reimburse her for expenses incurred hosting National Night out Against Crime.

Income – $0

Disbursements - $43.19

Balance - $3513.44

 

Communications: No report

 

Disaster Preparedness: A quick mention was made of a possibility of a citywide theme for Disaster Preparedness/Map your Neighborhood.  A suggestion was made to make signs and supply information promoting Disaster Preparedness at the next National Night out against Crime.

 

Growth and Land Use: For the record – Pam Went sent a report to the board about the new Center for Local Self Reliance, informally referred to as the Caretakers House or the Caretakers Garden.  The center is in the process of becoming incorporated as a nonprofit in the State of Washington, applying for 501 c. 3, engaging a temporary nonprofit umbrella, creating a brochure, developing a website, getting a PO Box, a "coming-soon" sign, and all the other necessary housekeeping to get the show on the road.  Pam looks forward to bringing us all news of this exciting new neighborhood project.

 

Membership: No report.

 

Neighborhood Safety: No report

 

Committee Reports

Neighborhood Plan Committee:  The committee had the draft of the updated Neighborhood Plan pretty well written up and posted on the website. The next step would be to plan a meeting for review and final approval. However updated plans are really not a city priority at the moment.

 

Chuckanut Mountain Parks District:  Dr. Gibb reported that the petition for signatures for the CMPD had been deemed invalid.  The description of the boundaries was the point of attack and the judge sided with the opposition against the proposed park district.  Dr Gibb questioned whether or not we wanted to save CMPD?  To do so would require a revised petition and renewed enthusiasm since we would have to start from scratch collecting signatures.  However, lessons were learned and would be avoided in the next go round.  It’s ‘food for thought’ to be discussed at the next meeting.

 

Representative Reports

AOBN: John Erickson stated the monthly meeting was sparsely attended.  He mentioned concerns voiced at the meeting about the Citizen Forum.  We talked about the fact that the AOBN membership has diminished and perhaps should determine relevance or break up.  Could be a good way for all neighborhoods to come together and communicate, but it often takes too long to get anything accomplished.

 

Muffins with the Mayor was actually bagels, an hour, 7 or 8 neighborhood representatives, Linda Stewart, David Webster and Mayor Pike.  Talk included rental properties and the spin off problems such as traffic, garbage, upkeep and parking; the In-fill tool kit; and the pervious sidewalks/bike lanes in Silver Beach.

 

CSN: No report. Brad read the CSN letter to Tim Stewart earlier in the evening.

 

RD: Joe Yaver reported that RD was still 'alive and kicking'.  They were proceeding to identify peer review experts to go over the key areas in the DEIS for Fairhaven Highlands.  They were working on ways to educate the community with views of the impact of the proposed development on the site.  They were continuing with fund-raising to defend preservation or to purchase property with the help of the city and residents pledges.  Joe, and others, voiced their continued concern with traffic and the level of service rating on roads.

 

Guests:

Joel Douglas began by thanking Joe Yaver for all his help advocating diverse use for the Lairmont Manor.  It is a vital resource for the community.  Joel was at the meeting to get our thoughts about possible in-fill plans in Edgemoor on the two open parcels surrounding the Lairmont.  He passed out a flyer proposing single occupancy adult/retirement apartments.  Planning is in the beginning stages and thoughts are for 4/5 story condos with allowed density of 28 units per acres.  The individual apartments would be about 450-600 sq. feet.  Joel would like to hear any feedback.    

 

The Port of Bellingham vision for the waterfront was presented to the group starting with a brief history to help everyone understand the huge challenges facing the project.  Renderings illustrating the various ideas for buildings, public spaces and aspects of the development were displayed and discussed. These ideas were the result of extensive planning and preparation. However, there are differences between the Port and the City’s vision for the waterfront that need to be settled before the project can get underway  Officials are still negotiating options for street alignment, connections to downtown, preserving historic buildings, and costs.   In the end the port, the city and the public would need to agree on and adapt one plan.  Go to the City of Bellingham’s website to view details.

 

Closing

The next meeting scheduled will be an Edgemoor Neighborhood Association Board Meeting to be held from 7-9 p.m. on November 6th at Fairhaven Park Pavilion.  All residents are welcome and encouraged to attend.

 

Respectfully Submitted,

Lauri Grove