The ENA monthly meeting was called to order at approximately 7:05 pm on Thursday, May 6, 2010 by President Brad Rose.  Lylene Johnson recorded the minutes.  A quorum of the Board was present; there were a total of 14 people present.

 

Minutes from the April meeting were approved as submitted.

 

RD Now Report from Joe Yaver:  Bound copies of the Citizens EIS (reports by RDN experts and letters from community members) re: Chuckanut Ridge is now available for sale for $12.  ENA has a copy which can be checked out from Brad.  Dr. Gibb added that the developer of that project was fined last year by DOE.  The developer has filed an appeal, claiming that his reputation was damaged.  RD Now is collecting information to document the developer’s poor development practices with the intent of providing a friend of the court brief to back up DOE.

 

Reports of Officers

President’s Report (Brad Rose):

               TIP project meetings are being held.  Meetings on 5/11 and 5/24 will provide opportunities for public input.  There are no projects proposed that are specific to our neighborhood.  Dr. Gibb questioned whether the planning addresses emergency services access to our neighborhood and expressed concern that there is lack of adequate access.

               Planning & Development Committee will be holding a public hearing on the Puget Neighborhood Plan.

               Block Watcher is a monthly publication by the police department.  The group wondered if it is or could be available on the COB website – Linda Stewart will check.

               Ski to Sea will be at the end of the month.  Registration closes tomorrow.

               We need an MNAC alternate.  Peter agreed to have his name submitted.

 

MNAC Report (John Erickson):

               John was out of town for the last MNAC meeting, so Linda Stewart reported.

               Ted Carlson did a presentation on the Post Point sewer project.

               Whatcom Asset Builder coalition offered to talk to the neighborhoods regarding financial issues.

               Incoming neighborhood plan amendment proposals were reviewed.

               Sandie asked to have MNAC meeting minutes posted earlier to the COB website so that they could be posted on the ENA website prior to our meeting.  Typically the draft minutes are sent to John and he forwards them to all of us.  The final minutes are not posted to the COB website until after they have been approved at the next MNAC meeting, which occurs after our monthly meeting.  Sandie pointed out that the MNAC minutes are not up to date on the COB website – Linda will check on that issue. 

 

Treasurer’s Report (Diane MacLean)

               A check in the amount of $100 was sent to the American Heart Association in memory of Don Miles

               The 990N has been filed.

               Account balance is $3962.96 as of 4/30.

 

 

Committees

Communications (Sandie Koplowitz):

               There are issues with sending bulk e-mail to a list of more than 400, which limits our ability to use e-mail to everyone in the Neighborhood.  Sandie has been investigating alternatives to our current system.

                              Google Groups – requires a Google account & possible privacy issues.

                              DadaMail:  $100 to set up & $50 per year for the “Pro” Version.  It is used by some of the other neighborhoods.  It requires some website expertise, so is not universally usable.

                              Constant Contact (ConstantContact.com) – Not associated with a website, so a newsletter can be done even without a website.  Intuitive to use – does not require website expertise.  Cost is approximately $130 per year.  There is a 60 day free trial, which Sandie suggested we might want to try.

               John Erickson moved to allow Sandie to make a decision on which e-mail service we should use.  Bob Gibb seconded the motion, which passed.

 

Representatives Reports

ABN  -  No report.  Martin was out of town.  Participation by the neighborhoods has dropped off substantially.  The organization provides no policy development or coordinated approach toward solving problems of individual neighborhoods.  Richard Maneval has become very involved with crime/police/sheriff issues, so that tends to be the focus now.

               There was discussion regarding a means of keeping the neighborhoods informed about activities & concerns of each other.  Linda Stewart noted that her job in the city is to get information to the neighborhoods and facilitate communication to them.  The MNAC roster on the COB website has links to the neighborhood websites.  The city cannot host newsletters unless they have control over the content.  If every neighborhood website had links to other neighborhoods’ sites, that would make it easy to see what everyone is doing.  MNAC meetings are open to the public & there is usually about a 30 minute roundtable of general discussion.

               The Mt Baker neighborhood is being split into 2 separate neighborhoods.

 

CSN – No report

 

RD Now

               Greenbriar has an extension to July 30 to pay the additional fees required by the city for a new EIS.  The Citizen EIS was sent to Washington Federal and all developers in the area.              

 

Speakers

1st Speaker:  Linda Stewart – works in the Mayor’s office and is co-manager for the city of the Waterfront Redevelopment Project (the old GP site).  She works with specialists to keep the project moving along.  She spoke of the progress to date and the timetable for the future. 

1.      Framework assumptions were established in April of 2009.  There is a draft on the COB website. 

2.      The EIS is now being completed.

3.      Work is being done on the chapters of the draft master plan, which should be presented to the city by July.  There will be opportunities for public input before the Planning Commission and the City Council.  The final version is 2 to 3 years out.

4.      The overall plan would retain the marine trades area at the north end of the site, provide for commercial mixed zoning in the center section (the section closest to downtown would be an early action site) and have industrial use and WWU at the south end, which may be 20 years in development.

 

Development will begin with basic infrastructure and depend on funding.  Extension of Central St would be first – within 2 years.  Then Commercial would be extended – 5 to 6 years out.  The railroad tracks will be moved – sidings rather than double tracks.  Various funding sources are being considered.  The Port is the property owner and will be doing the application for the rezone.

 

2nd Speaker:  Rebecca Rayner & Lisa Hust of House to Home, which works through the Whatcom Volunteer Center.  Their focus is to acquire and deliver furniture & household items in good condition to people who have recently acquired a place to live after being homeless.  The goal is to provide people trying to make a new beginning with a place to live that feels like a home.

 

3rd Speaker:  Ted Carlson, city engineer working on the expansion of the sewer treatment plant.  Bob Bandarra, Supt of Operations for water & wastewater plants and utilities and Larry Batman, sewer plant manager, also participated.

               Expansion is required by the DOE.  The plant has a rated capacity load.  A sewer comp plan was adopted in 2009 which should take the city through 2031.  It is based on the COB comp plan, which estimates a population of 131,000 by 2031.  Plant is now at capacity for treatment of BOD – the strength of the liquid stream coming into the plant.  He explained the process of treatment.

               The plant was upgraded in 1993 to provide secondary treatment, which is now at capacity.

               The city hired an engineering firm as consultants to evaluate the treatment options now available.  Objectives were established and all options were measured against those objectives.  They held meetings, decided on the best plan and took it to city council, where they received permission to proceed to the 30% design level.  He explained how the plant works and reviewed the changes that will be made.  In the design, they tried to maintain the current open space and a trail all the way around the facility.  They also designed vegetation and heron buffers.

               On June 1 there will be a meeting at Fairhaven Middle School to take input.  Designs will be presented in September.  An odor specialist has been added to the team.  Height and noise issues were raised and addressed.

               The city hopes to start construction in 2012 and have the addition ready to use in 2014.  Cost will be $44 - $45 million.  Rates were adopted in 2007 to increase by 7% per year through 2012 to fund the construction with revenues from the rates.  Collections have been negatively impacted by the slowdown in growth, so nominal increases in rates may be required.

               Tertiary treatment (for nitrogen & phosphorus) may be required in the future.  DOE said to plan for the addition of nutrient removal, but don’t do it now.

               It was asked whether water reclamation would be possible at this point.  It is not feasible if net environmental costs are considered.

               DOE approved the sewer comp plan based on building a giant vault (1.7 million gallons) to deal with spikes in waste water volume due to I & I (infiltration and inflow) and the storm water currently put into the treatment system from downtown and some older neighborhoods.  The vault must be built by 2016 – to get an extension, the city would need to prove that I & I control projects are working.  The city has 300 miles of sewer main and replaces or reworks 1% per year.

               Water meters are coming and mandated by the state by December of 2016.  There is currently a voluntary program in which the city will provide the meter and do the installation free of charge.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 9:10 pm.

 

The next Edgemoor Neighborhood Meeting will be held at the Fairhaven Park Pavilion at 7:00 pm, June 3. 2010.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Lylene Johnson

 

 

Minutes are subject to approval