City of Bellingham Mayor s Neighborhood Advisory Commission

City of Bellingham Mayor s Neighborhood Advisory Commission January 20, 2010 The Mayor s Neighborhood Advisory Commission meeting was called to order by Linda Stewart at 6:30 p.m. DRAFT MINUTES Attendance: Unless noted below, all were in attendance Absent: Happy Valley, Lettered Streets, Mt. Baker and Sehome Guests: Officer Katrin Dearborn, Kaylee Knowles, President of WWU Student Club, Nicole Oliver, Planning Department Communications Coordinator Introductions and Roll Call December MNAC Minutes approved Agenda Approved Reminder Please send 2010 neighborhood meeting schedules to staff, so this information can be added to the MNAC roster, on the city website. Linda Stewart has relocated from the waterfront office to the Mayor s Office in City Hall. Reminder made for MNAC reps to encourage neighborhood residents to contact David Doll at the Police Department, 778-8604, about attending the community forum to discuss activism and exercise of free speech on Wednesday, February 17, 2010. Distributed: - 2010 Reimbursement Form - 2010 Authorized Signature Form - Board member and general meeting attendance information requested by South Hill o If you did not submit your neighborhood s information to staff over the past two months, please now send it directly to Cathy Cameron cameroncathy@comcast.net Neighborhood Block Watch Program / Officer Katrin Dearborn To be part of the Block Watch Program: o Find one or two people to be captains and take charge of organizing block watch in your neighborhood o Ask your neighbors if they are willing to participate o Decide how often you would like to hold meetings; at least one meeting per year is required. Some neighborhoods use National Night Out as their annual meeting Benefits of being part of Block Watch: o Receive signs to post in your neighborhood o Police officer will attend meetings and talk about neighborhood issues Officer Dearborn sends the BlockWatcher newsletter to the block watch captains and neighborhood services staff forward it to all neighborhood association presidents and MNAC reps. Contact information for Officer Katrin Dearborn: phone 778-8660 / kdearborn@cob.org Page 1

About Graffiti from Officer Dearborn Graffiti is on the rise. Most but not all graffiti could be gang-related. There are several agencies and departments working on addressing graffiti. Private property owners have 24 hours to cover or remove graffiti. The City generates a letter to the owners and they have 24 hours to take action from receipt of the letter. If it is not cleaned up within that timeframe, there could be a citation given. One issue that causes delays is that the police department often does not know where graffiti appears, so it is important to report it to the police department by calling 911. Don t hesitate to call 911, as the operators will screen the call and transfer to the appropriate party. To report graffiti on City-owned property notify the Public Works Department, 778-7700. The City consistently responds to graffiti right away, if they know about it. If you see graffiti on a freeway overpass, please contact the Department of Transportation. When resources are available, a graffiti removal program operates during the summer months. A police officer works with at-risk youth and property owners to clean up graffiti around town. Viking Community Builders, WWU Student Club Viking Community Builders is a student club that was founded last year, for WWU students wanting to get involved in the community. Things that the Viking Community Builders do: Coordinates quarterly trash pickups Cooking class (students and community members) Workshops for people that are moving off campus o How to be a good neighbor Posts a map of neighborhoods on campus Encourages neighborhood associations to invite students living in their neighborhoods to get involved with their association boards. Kaylee will encourage students to apply for board openings but it s important that neighborhoods contact them with information about possible board positions. Neighborhoods expressed interest in knowing how many students live in Bellingham neighborhoods and where. Jane Vroman, MNAC Rep for WWU will try to get this information to city staff for distribution. Contact information for Kaylee Knowles: vikingcommunitybuilders@gmail.com 2010 Planning Update / Nicole Oliver (transcription submitted by Nicole) Northern Neighborhood Boundary Changes: City will jointly host two neighborhood meetings to present the split of the Mt. Baker Neighborhood into two new neighborhoods (Irongate and Barkley) with a small change to King Mountain boundaries. Mt. Baker Neighborhood meeting: Saturday, February 13 th at 10 a.m., BIA Meeting Room, 1650 Baker Creek Place. King Mountain Neighborhood meeting: March 18 th at 6 p.m., 300 E. Kellogg Road. These proposals are scheduled to go to the Planning Commission in April. For more information: http://www.cob.org/services/neighborhoods/communityplanning/neighborhoodplanning/npas/2009/2009-s1-northern-neighborhood-boundaries.aspx Page 2

The Guide Meridian/Cordata boundary change will be coming forward as part of the review of the neighborhood s proposed plan update. 2010 Neighborhood Plan Amendment Docket This is set for City Council on January 25 th. Only six items were proposed for the docket. The intention is to address some of the other docketed items that were pending resources. The Planning Department is recommending all six move forward for initiation, although the Mt. Baker plan amendment proposal may have issues relating to critical areas. 2011 Comprehensive Plan Update The 2011 update will not be as elaborate as the update completed in 2005, and the scope of the project is actually going to the City Council for their review and input on January 25 th. Urban Growth Area City staff will be working with County to update our Interlocal Agreement that guides how development happens and who regulates development within the Urban Growth Area at the edge of the city. Neighborhood Plan Amendments - Guide Meridian/Cordata is going to be processed in 2010 and will incorporate the northern neighborhood boundary adjustment into the larger plan update. Kathy Bell will be working on this project. Silver Beach and York are also assigned to staff, as well as Happy Valley. York is going to Planning Commission in April. Code enforcement project We are consolidating the multiple locations within our development code that reference code enforcement and compliance. The goal is something that will be more uniform and user friendly. Samish Question was raised about how the neighborhood updated their plan in 2007 and are still waiting for the land use section to be updated. Status on that project is that due to the numerous large landowners withdrawing their applications, it is not a top priority at this time. Follow up with Kathy Bell for more information. May want to consider submitting another request in December of 2010. Sunnyland Did Sunset Commons, LLC meet requirements for 2010? Nicole doesn t know for certain and will get back to Patrick. Fairhaven question was raised about the fact this plan is docketed what is the status? Nicole explained that the Planning Department received letters urging not to move forward, there is a fundamental controversy that the staff will need to have the resources to adequately take on, and she is not sure this item will be able to move forward with Marilyn Vogel s retirement. Letter received from an attorney. Nicole doesn t have specifics. Planning needs to identify if they will internalize or externalize the controversy. It will be a lot of work. Hours are spent by neighborhoods to get it docketed and concerned of why it isn t working forward. MNAC Review of Incoming Plan Amendment Proposals (Sub-Committee) Sub-Committee recommends submitting a letter to Planning Commission for all six proposals to be docketed: #10-N1 Puget Neighborhood Plan amendments #10-P1 CBD Neighborhood Area 3 #10-P2 King Mountain Neighborhood Area 13 #10-P3 Mt. Baker Neighborhood, Area 2 #10-P4 Happy Valley Neighborhood, Area 1C #10-P5 - Guide Meridian/Cordata Neighborhood Area #23 Page 3

York is scheduled to present during the February meeting about their neighborhood plan update. Motion to move MNAC support the docketing of the six proposals submitted to the Planning Commission. / Second / Motion Passed. Suggestion to Sub-Committee: Please send an email to the MNAC representatives about any plan amendments that they are reviewing within their neighborhood. Adrienne Lederer volunteered to be added to the Sub-Committee. Discussion about getting clarification on the items that have already been docketed. Commission Members concerned about the items just hanging out there. Would like to have a staff report to find out the status and get clarified rationale on existing docketed items. Staff volunteered to speak to Planning Director, Tim Stewart for information and possibly attending a future MNAC meeting to discuss this issue. Neighborhood Round Table Whatcom Falls Meeting on Friday to talk about organizing a new neighborhood association. Haven t decided how to notify the neighbors. Identifying initial date for the meeting, facility, etc. South Big news is the Mayor made an offer to purchase Chuckanut Ridge. Hoping to have the good news that the deal happens. Fairhaven nothing new to report. South Hill- Busy looking at bylaws and making recommended changes that will be introduced at the February meeting and voted on in March. Continuing to work on view preservation and building heights. Hoping to get regulation passed for the South Hill single family areas. People are excited about a Historic Home Tour in July. Alabama Hill nothing new to report. Puget Board meeting approaching. Desperately looking for board members for next year. Will be attending Planning Commission meeting tomorrow. Guide Meridian/Cordata Had their board and general meetings and voted in board members. Next board meeting going to evaluate responsibilities. Samish- Had board meeting last week. Making plans for General Association meeting in March. Silver Beach Working on neighborhood plan and having board meeting tomorrow. Have a new website still needs a bit of polishing. Columbia Had annual meeting last week and renewed memberships, with more members since businesses started participating. Transition Whatcom came to speak at the meeting and inspired the association. Transition Whatcom is willing to do presentations at your neighborhood meetings. Roosevelt Occurrence of graffiti is increasing in the neighborhood. Starting Community Gardening Program. WWU Dilapidated bus will be replaced with new one. Brick pallets will be moved inside the gate. York General meeting in January and continue to work with Planning Department on their plan amendment process. Edgemoor Excited about 100-acre Wood and hope that the sale goes through. Birchwood Board elections next week. Having refreshments to celebrate Louise Bjornson s service in their neighborhood and Council. Kulshan Land Trust looking at property in the neighborhood. CBD Retreat this Friday and 2 nd half in February; making use of resources for downtown to be beautiful. Cornwall General meeting in February, two spots are open for elections. Looking at doing some different things with neighborhood events - movie in the park, ice cream social, etc. Whatcom Concerned Parents are meeting with neighborhoods about Whatcom Middle School. Asked that staff distribute Roeder Home information in minutes. Page 4

King Mt. Tomorrow annual meeting and election of board and officers. The Mayor is coming to meeting tomorrow. Neighborhood continues to grow north and south. Waterfront News from Staff Waterfront Advisory Group (WAG) meeting February 10 th at 7:00 pm, Bellingham Cruise Terminal. The purpose is to discuss environmental impact statements and introduce the Waterfront Redevelopment Project Addendum to the Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement. This meeting is intended to provide information about the purpose of an environmental impact statement. (Basically, what is an EIS and how can people participate? ) The meeting with be videotaped for later broadcast on BTV10. Meeting adjourned 8:45 pm Page 5