York Neighborhood Association Board Meeting Minutes

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

7:05 – 9:05 pm

Nelson’s Market

Present: Tom Scott, Helen Jackson, Anne Mackie, Jessica Bandstra, Barbara Davenport, Amelia Lunde, Carolyn Mulder and Libby Stark. George Liepart and David Wainright indicated they would not be present.

John Wiley, Lisa and Dan McShane and Jerry and Vivian Hruska attended as guests.

Announcements: No announcements were made.

• Garden Club Chair: There was no meeting in July. Amelia has spent a lot of time weeding at Rock Hill Park.

• Rock Hill Park Steward: On Friday, July 21 at noon Anne and Amelia will be meeting with Marvin Harris of the Parks Department to discuss the butterfly arbor. The Parks Department wants the arbor removed for safety reasons and that their riding lawnmower can’t get through. Anne and Amelia will also talk to them about the use of Round-Up. Barbara has also called Parks questioning the use of Round-Up. Anne is going to follow up with Parks on trash cans and lighting.

• Proposed 5-plex at 506 Potter: Anne, Tom and Libby have received no notice from the city regarding the proposed tear-down at 506 Potter. A meeting will be held on Wednesday, July 27 at WECU at 6 pm regarding the proposed tear-down. Anne drafted a letter to be mailed to city officials disputing Hal Arnason’s claims and requesting the meeting be postponed. The letter objects to granting Anason a non-conforming use permit for the lot.

• Historical Preservation Committee Chair: Toni Nagel of the Whatcom Museum and Lettered Streets neighborhood and Barbara worked with other neighborhoods (South Hill, Broadway) on sharing information regarding local historic designation. Other neighborhoods had received different information from the Planning Department as well. The next meeting will be a Q & A with Marilyn Vogel and Tim Stewart, both of the Planning Department, on August 9 at 7 pm.

• Franklin Park Renovation Chairs: The dog station is in and is very popular. Katie Franks of the city Planning Department is working on the bureaucracy of putting in a sidewalk across Lakeway. She says it will take about three years.

• Franklin Street Island: No report given.

• Treasurer: Helen provided a handout indicating we have $27.66 in our checking account and $1091.61 in our savings account. See attached.

• Fundraising Committee Chair: All “renewal” letters have been mailed out for 2003, 2004 and 2005. Donation forms will be set out at the next rezone meeting in August.

• General Membership Picnic: Jessica volunteered to be a co-chair. The picnic will be advertised in the fall newsletter. Saturday, September 23 is the date of the picnic. YNA will pay for hot dogs and buns and even numbered houses will bring a main dish and odd numbered houses will be a dessert or salad. Activities for children will need to be organized. At the fall meeting in October YNA will hope to have People for a Healthy Bay and NSEA come as guests. By-laws will also have to be approved.

• Childcare at general meetings: Childcare will be provided at the next rezone meeting in August. YNA will investigate childcare for future meetings. Having meetings at GSUMC is a good option as there are multiple rooms.

• Door knockers, landlord letters, fall newsletter: Door knockers will be handed out one week before the picnic in September along with the fall newsletter. The newsletter will include a column requesting donations from “expired” businesses, a summary of the 506 Potter tear-down, rezone update and the picnic. The landlord letter will be mailed to all landlords and paid for by WWU Campus Community Coalition.

• Planning Committee Chair: The rezone meeting went well and there was consensus for single family. Some developers wanted south of Lakeway designated differently than the north side. Next steps include writing a narrative section with YNA’s hopes and ideas (i.e. traffic calming, pedestrian safety) and where higher density could be absorbed (ADUs, not in Area 5 but still in the York Neighborhood like at Wilson Motors). Using the school bus barn as green space was a popular suggestion at the rezone meeting. The Planning Committee will be meeting before August 8 to organize for that meeting.

Topics for next board meeting: General membership picnic, rezone meeting recap, newsletter.

The meeting adjourned at 9:05.

Submitted by Libby Stark