Edgemoor Neighborhood Association
Monthly Business Meeting
June 4, 2009
Minutes
The Monthly Business Meeting
of the Edgemoor Neighborhood Association was called to order by Brad Rose, ENA
President, at approximately 7:05 p.m. Lylene
Johnson recorded the minutes.
The minutes from the May meeting were approved
as submitted.
It was noted that Board
member information on the website needs to be updated by adding Martin as chair
of the Growth and Land use committee. We
still need a Safety committee chair to meet the requirements of the
bylaws. Sandie Koplowitz will do the
update.
Reports of
Officers
President’s Report:
The Planning Commission will meet June 25th to
hold two public hearings – to consider text amendments to the Birchwood
Neighborhood Plan and to consider amendments to the Big Box Ordinance.
Deadline for comments regarding the
The comment period for
There has been a determination of non-significance on the
Samish area sub area plan, so that ball is still rolling.
MNAC Report: Jim
Darling has resigned as Port Director.
Mayor Pike reported progress between the city and the port regarding the
GP site; they have conceptual agreement.
They are still encouraging public feedback, which can be posted on the
city or port website. The plan is to
have the site function at people rather than car speed, with bike and
pedestrian access to the waterfront. 5
or 6 historic structures will be analyzed in terms of usability. Railroad tracks will be moved to the bluff
side to avoid going through the center of the site. The plan is for 2 main tracks, with more trains
at higher speeds. Joe Yaver raised a
concern regarding hazardous loads. LEED
certifications will be sought. The Port
will be selling the property to raise the money to pay the development
costs. Boardwalks have been discussed
but will not work. The NOAH decision is
still in process – the pull is between technical benefits versus number of
voters. The library wants to look at a
waterfront site as well as the others that have been under consideration.
David Webster, Chief Administrative Office for the city,
spoke about the Legacy Project. It is a
look 50 years ahead. From the
neighborhood level, the city will be looking at what it wants its legacy to be,
and from that, decide on the commitments it will make. Areas to consider include those such as clean
water, the economy, growth, etc.
The insurance policies for the neighborhoods have been
renewed.
There is discussion about a change to the Type 6 process
– how land is rezoned in the city.
Currently 3 different entities (Planning Director, Planning Commission,
City Council) can docket proposals, which leads to more projects than staff can
handle. It is proposed that Council be
the only entity to docket projects for consideration. The Planning Commission will discuss on June
11 – comments can be sent to Marilyn.
Neighborhoods need to spend the money allotted to them by
the city or they will lose it. A plan
must be in place by September. It was
suggested that new meeting signs be made saying “General Meeting” or “Monthly
Meeting” rather than “Board Meeting”.
August 4th in National Night Out Against
Crime. Activities could be spread around
that date rather than on that date. Lois
chaired this last year. Some groups have
talked about having a combined meeting with other neighborhoods – one event
with CSN would be a possibility. Could
this be combined with the Edgemoor 5th year celebration? Brad will propose a group gathering at the
CSN meeting. Lauri will chair the
Edgemoor section. She will check on the
availability of the large space at
June 2 is the 1st Gallery Walk of the season
downtown and will repeat on the 1st Friday of the month.
There is a festival at Elizabeth Park every Thursday.
The grand opening of the
No Treasurer’s Report:
Committee Reports
Communications/Marketing: Sandie
Koplowitz: A mailer to the neighborhood
was discussed. The purposes would be to inform
about ENA, invite to the picnic and encourage involvement. Sandie will an informational timeline of the
Chuckanut Ridge project.
Including neighborhood real estate market
information on the website was discussed.
3 data possibilities were presented by Lylene Johnson. Joe Yaver moved and John Erickson seconded a
motion to add a link to active listings and a list of pending and sold
properties in the neighborhood to the site.
The motion carried.
Sandie
offered to build a 1 page website for CSN if the other neighborhoods
agree. Brad will propose it to CSN.
Sandie
took the GIS (Geographic Information Services) class. The software shows all infrastructure and
allows one to place an existing building in a location and see all views of the
building. It is currently implemented
for
Representative
Reports
AOBN: John Erickson:
Neighborhood dues of $25 are due – the Treasurer will be asked to pay
them.
8
neighborhoods were represented – 4 were from the South side.
John
Carpenter, from the City Finance Dept, gave an overview of city finances. The budget is $250 million per year. The city deals with 6 unions, has 65 monetary
funds and 42 boards. Most revenues come
from real estate fees and taxes. There
is no quick fix to the shortfalls.
Bruce
Clawson of Banner Bank spoke. What actually
makes up Tier 1 assets is a gray area.
Deposits are listed as liabilities on a bank’s balance sheet. He discussed local banks, of which there are
currently 16. Local & regional banks
hold 70% of their assets as commercial or residential real estate loans. For national banks, this number is closer to
20%. There may be fewer local banks
after this economic downturn is over.
CSN: Brad
Rose: The CSN meeting is next week. He will bring up the CSN website proposal
& how to present the EIS information for Chuckanut Ridge to neighborhood
residents. The possibility of a
candidates’ forum was discussed.
Tomorrow is the last day to file.
If there are only 2 candidates for a seat, there will be no primary for
that seat. Only residents of the ward vote
in a primary election; all city residents vote for all positions in the general
election. City council, port commission
and county council positions are up for election.
The schedule for discussion of the
Chuckanut Ridge EIS has been set. The
new EIS was delivered to the city May 20.
They are currently reviewing. A
camera ready version will be ready June 23rd. Public hearing is scheduled for July 14th
or 15th. The 45 day comment
period will end August 7th.
Preliminary Final EIS to the city September 25th. City will review in October. Camera ready Preliminary Final EIS published
November 23rd.
RDNOW: Joe Yaver:
Responsible Development is concerned that there will be insufficient
public engagement in this process in the summer and would like to have it
delayed. Issues are discussed behind the
scenes, and the important testimony and input will be expert against expert. RDNOW has experts in the various aspects of
the project, but they need time to review the findings of the EIS and prepare
responses. A letter is being sent
objecting to the schedule and asking that the meeting scheduled for July be
held after Labor Day. Brad pointed out
that the deadlines for the process are set by statute and triggered by the date
of submission of the EIS. Discussion was
held on whether the ENA should draft a letter to Tim Stewart asking that the
public meeting be held closer to the end of the comment period. No resolution was reached.
Closing
Meeting was adjourned at 9:04
The next meeting scheduled
will be the Edgemoor Board Meeting to be held from
7-9 p.m. on July 2nd at Fairhaven Park
Pavilion. All residents are encouraged to attend.
Respectfully Submitted,
Lylene Johnson
Minutes are subject to approval.