Edgemoor Neighborhood Association
Monthly Board Meeting
December 6, 2012
ENA
President, Lylene Johnson called the meeting to order at 7:02pm on December 6th.
The meeting was held in the Library at Fairhaven Middle School. Lauri Grove
recorded the minutes. There was a quorum of the board.
Motion: The minutes for the October and
November Meeting were approved as submitted.
The agenda was approved with no additional items
Treasurers Report: (Diane MacLean)
Diane reported
there was no change to the account balance - $2872.61
Introductions: There was a round of introductions
eleven attendees at the meeting.
Guest Speaker: (Steve Wilson)
Steve Wilson
representing the Center for Self Reliance brought us up-to-date on the progress
and future plans for the Caretaker House
and Old Rose Garden property. Essentially he has been acting as the project
contractor coordinating construction and repairs. Money comes in bits and spurts
so work gets done accordingly. At the moment they are waiting for the stone to
complete the concrete columns and open the front gates. In the past year the
fence was constructed with money specifically donated for that purpose, a
mowing area was established outside the fenced area for the city to maintain, independent
gardens were planted and Bakerview Lawn Care volunteered to mow the property
for 6 weeks free of charge. The Center would like to see the grounds developed with
the house used to support the grounds. However the group focus really needed to
be on the house repairs to fulfill the agreement with the city. Steve passed
around a draft plan for the house that opened the kitchen and common rooms for
small group meetings or classes for the community. There were several
structures mentioned on the property also in need of repair. The house
centennial would be in 2014 and it would be nice to set that as a goal for
completion of the house renovation. The work depended on donations and Steve
thought that at least another $15000.00-20000.00 would be need to finish the
project.
There was a nice
discussion about the plans for both the house and grounds. Some concerns were
voiced about the look of the chain-link fence and general maintenance of the
gardens. Also it was pointed out that it
needed to be clearer that the property was open to the public perhaps through
signage. A suggestion was made to consider a donation from ENA to the Center.
MNAC: (John
Erickson)
The role of MNAC in
fact did change. They would no longer actively review site-specific plans or be
as involved in evaluating neighborhood plans. John showed a diagram of the circular
path of MNAC responsibility. Since neighborhood plans and recommended changes
often affect connecting neighborhoods a circular conversation would be an
effective means to get that information around the community. MNAC would be meeting in the Fairhaven
Library next month to test the site for future meetings.
Business and issues:
Speed
Bumps Unfortunately Fieldston is classified as an arterial road so
speed bumps are not allowed. Contact
Chris Como with question. So how do we get Fieldston reclassified?
Chuckanut
Community Forest Park District the Coalition of South Side Neighborhoods (CSSN) major
focus was to get all the south side neighborhoods to endorse a letter in
support of the park district on the February ballot. Lylene circulated the letter for review asking for direction.
·
A motion was made for approval for Lylene to sign
the letter with CSSN in support of putting the park district on the ballot in
February.
Motion passed
Upcoming Speakers The speaker at the January meeting
would be Shannon Wright with Communitywise Bellingham Outreach. This is a non-partisan group that is gathering
information for the community regarding the proposed Gateway Pacific Terminal. Lauri agreed to arrange the projector/equipment.
Trains
A proclamation was made by the South Hill Neighborhood in support of
establishing train horn quiet zones within the city. They asked for our support
requesting the city to fund a complete diagnostic analysis of the Bellingham
rail corridor. After careful consideration it was decided
that Shannon submit a letter from ENA requesting this study to be done by SSA
as part of the EIS process for the proposed Gateway Pacific Terminal.
·
A motion was made to support
the proposed request for a study to evaluate rail corridors to ultimately establish
quiet zones - with the tweak to submit
a request to those drafting it that SSA be required to do such a study as part
of the scoping process.
Motion passed
Airport
Noise
Theres concern in the community about the increased noise and traffic
accompanying commercial airline expansion at the Bellingham Airport with what
seemed to be little consideration for the impact on the surrounding
neighborhoods. Those impacts will be studied as part of the planning
process. Although many of us favor
additional flights the jet noise is a drawback.
Sewage
Treatment Plant
Sandie Star has been attending meetings and lives near the site so she
offered some information. The process has been handled with as much
consideration as possible for the nearby community. The construction company
has kept neighbors informed of their agenda and any upcoming disturbance. The
public is invited on Friday mornings to review project updates and enjoy coffee
and donuts.
Neighborhood
Cleanup Sandie was contacted by a neighbor suggesting the
neighborhood get involved with cleanup of abandoned homeless camps along the
railroad tracks. That cleaning up would best
to be done before spring to hopefully discourage camps from returning to the
area. Since John had some experience with such work parties, he was asked to
gather some information or help from the Conservation Corps who orchestrated the
cleanup of the Chuckanut Woods.
Closing:
The meeting was adjourned at 9:00pm
The next monthly
meeting will be held on January 3rd in the Library at Fairhaven Middle
School.
Respectfully
Submitted,
Lauri Grove
Minutes
are subject to approval