Edgemoor Neighborhood Association

Monthly Board Meeting

April 3, 2008

The monthly Board Meeting of the Edgemoor Neighborhood Association was called to order at about 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 3, 2008 by President Brad Rose.  Lauri grove recorded the minutes. A quorum was present.

Minutes:  The minutes of the March 6, 2008 meeting were accepted with a change noted in the adjournment time.

Reports of Officers

President’s Report: Brad reported that the 2^nd Planning Academy titled, Green Bellingham: Achieving Infill and Enhancing Character, would start on April 30^th and meet on Wednesday evenings through May 28^th. Brad solicited volunteers to attend. John Brown, Brad, Martin and John Erickson agreed to alternate participation in the 4 workshops.

Most, if not all of the concerns brought up in the scoping process, were addressed in the EIS for Fairhaven Highlands. Brad went over the process - a draft statement would be presented to the City for review as well as an opportunity offered for public comment on that draft. A final Environmental Impact Statement would then be put together and sent to the City. No additional public comment would be accepted on that final report. Brad did not have dates for any of that, but would keep us well informed. He commented on a letter sent to Mayor Pike by the developers offering to sell the property for an unreasonable $26 million. The mayor refused to buy into any timetables and stated the city was not in any position to buy property at the price proposed. Joe interjected that in his opinion this is an all or nothing situation – once the area is disturbed for building that would compromise the entire property. Is this a set up – a game being played? According to RD’s lawyer the property is way over priced and rates should be based on market value. Dr Gibb suggested Horizon consider donating half the property to the Western Foundation as a tax write off to offset some of their investment costs.

MNAC Report: Brad reported that Police Chief, Todd Ramsey, would address code enforcement at the next meeting. Efforts were being made by the police to deal with parking problems at Western. They would be enforcing the 24 hour parking limit. Watch when parking to ride the bus – you could be ticketed.

Brad passed around a flyer for Health Counts – Community Conversations sponsored by the Whatcom County Health department. Citizens are encouraged to participate in 9 forums to discuss health issues, share thoughts and generate ideas about how to make Whatcom County a healthier place to live. Contact Susan Sloan with questions at ssloan@whatcomcounty.us or at #676-6724 x50838.

Treasurer’s Report:  Lois submitted her monthly report showing a balance of $4007.96 in the ENA account. The only expense this month was a $25.00 check written to cover our 2008 AOBN dues. The check was given to Martin Nickerson and he in turn mailed it to the AOBN. Diane volunteered to take over Lois’ position as ENA Treasurer – Thank you, Lois, for doing such a wonderful job!!

Income – 0

Disbursements - $25.00

Balance - $4007.96

Communications: Sandie proposed that it would be more informative to send the ENA Newsletter out a week or so after a meeting rather than just before the meetings as it has been circulated. That would allow her to include more timely news from the meetings.

Disaster Preparedness: Brad offered that he received a booklet put together by (need name) from the Guide-Meridian neighborhood that was a very well prepared guide for the Map Your Neighborhood Disaster Preparedness program. Everything, including fundraising, was addressed in the book. Lois agreed that she did a very thorough job. Lois and Pam should have more information to share with us next month. The City of Bellingham has some information about Emergency Management on their website – click into Services.

Growth and Land Use: As stated last month, the Fairhaven Neighbors updated neighborhood plan was not recommended by either the Planning Department or the Planning Commission for docketing by the city. However, Pam reported that the Haskell property rezone request was going forward. Development on that property could greatly impact views of the water, traffic flow, and Padden Creek Estuary. A Design Charette, recommended by the Planning Department, would allow for important public input on the type of development intended for the property and the site specific zoning. Be prepared – Brad offered that Tim Stewart stated that he would like to have a consensus upon completion of the brainstorming session.

Membership: Sandie questioned ‘if and when’ a neighborhood mailer was planned to go out this year as well as the intended contents. Now that we have Bulk Rates through ABN it would be much easier on our finances. It was agreed we would get a mailer out with information about the updated neighborhood plan. I don’t think any specifics (dates, etc...) were decided.

Neighborhood Plan Committee: Drafts for the first 4 chapters of the neighborhood plan had been circulated to board members for review. Much work has gone into these revisions so please take the time to read them and offer comment. Martin mentioned that they planned to revise the tone in chapter 4 to make it less aggressive. In addition, there was a new outline drawn up since the last meeting. Martin suggested that utilities could be a point of concern since the neighborhood was responsible for maintaining storm sewers and that could potentially be a nuisance. Questions were asked about sewer/water maps and Public Works was working on getting a map of the sewer system to us. John did some research on park space in Edgemoor and one designated area was located behind the Briza neighborhood along Chuckanut Bay. Martin questioned interest in a trail or clean up of the beach. Infill in Edgemoor was discussed with mention of possible multi-family development on the ‘Jones’ property off Viewcrest Road. Brad offered that would be a way to develop with some density in return for saving as much wooded area as possible on the property. The Neighborhood Plan Committee meets on the 3^rd Tuesday of the month at Martin’s house.

Neighborhood Safety: Nothing was submitted for the NTSP from Edgemoor. Sandie questioned the confusing round-about (that was actually put in by the neighborhood so the city had nothing to do with it). What we would need to do is determine the dominant approach through a traffic study and then suggest a solution.

Chuckanut Mountain Park District: The Skagit County Boundary Review Board denied application and rejected the Park District. CMPD was exploring their legal options to challenge the decision. Eminent Domain was used as a scare tactic by what Dr. Gibb referred to as a well-funded organization opposing any formation of a park district. Earlier in the evening Sandie mentioned comments at a garden club meeting concerning ‘eminent domain’ and Bob responded that eminent domain had never been and was not intended to be exercised by the park district. In addition, one year had been spent trying to straighten out SEPA problems and they have not yet been settled. CMPD might end up being charged with the cost of the SEPA lead agent and that could end up being quite expensive. CMPD was not into fundraising so any donations to cover legal fees would be welcomed.

Representative Reports

AOBN: John Erickson reported that 12 neighborhoods were in attendance. He mentioned plans to invite real estate agents and developers to meetings to infuse the flavor of their thinking into the organization. He offered that the Cordata neighborhood’s attendance problems were helped with signage and suggested that we might want to acquire more signs to place throughout the neighborhood to better advertise meetings.

Business

Diane Maclean was elected by the Board as interim ENA Treasurer to serve a two year term (2008-2009). Welcome Diane!

v A motion was made to appropriate funds to purchase Quicken for Diane. Sandie agreed to make the purchase and receive reimbursement.

Motion was approved

Closing

The meeting was adjourned about 8:55 p.m.

The next meeting scheduled will be an Edgemoor Neighborhood Association Board Meeting to be held from 7-9 p.m. on May 1^st at Fairhaven Park Pavilion.  All residents are encouraged to attend.

Respectfully Submitted,

Lauri Grove