York Neighborhood Association Board Meeting Minutes

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

7:05 – 8:55 pm

Nelson’s Market

Present: Helen Jackson, Jessica Bandstra, Barbara Davenport, Carolyn Mulder, George Liepart, Tom Scott, Elliott Smith and Libby Stark.

Anne Mackie indicated she would not be present.

Seth Cool, Sarah Bates, Lisa McShane, Leslie Hill, Tess Williams and Nikki Desgrosellier attended as guests.

Announcements: Area 5 rezone passed by the Planning Commission.

Approval of minutes from September: Elliott Smith made a motion to approve the minutes as written and adjusted by Libby Stark. George Liepart seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

• NIP grant for Lakeway crosswalk and Franklin Park: The proposal was accepted and there will be $150,000 available for improvements. The money will be used for Franklin Park and a trail from Lakeway to Whatcom Street. The first step is working on the master plan with the Parks Department. The crosswalk on Lakeway will not be part of this grant and will have to part of the York Neighborhood Plan. Helen requested volunteers for this committee and thanked Sarah and Jeff Bates for their help with the grantwriting.

• Franklin Street island: The lawn was mowed by the Parks Department and the blackberries will be sprayed. The island revitalization is a 3 year project. The Small and Simple grant was revised to include labor costs.

• Rock Hill Park Steward: See attached notes provided by Anne Mackie.

• Historical Preservation Committee Chair: See attached notes provided by Barbara Davenport.

• Garden Club Chair: No report provided.

• Holiday caroling: Tom is looking into private sponsors for the wagon which will cost ~ $300. Tom will talk to Adich and Northwestern Mortgage regarding a donation. Tom will chair the committee and Carolyn Mulder and Libby Stark will participate in the planning.

• Newsletter: The newsletter will be worked on mid-November and will include articles on the Area 5 rezone, NIP grant, caroling party. Jessica Bandstra set the deadline of 11/17 with a distribution of December 2 and 3.

• Treasurer: Helen provided a handout indicating we have $517.99 in our checking account and $551.82 in our savings account. See attached.

• Small and Simple Grant: The application is due in February. Anne had four suggestions: more money for Franklin Park / Franklin Street Island, traffic calming, tree planting or another “Welcome to the York Neighborhood” sign. There were six votes for traffic calming, four for tree planting and 0 for signage. It was decided not to use Small and Simple money for Franklin Park as there already is a large sum of money designated for the Park ($150,000).

• Planning Academy: The $2500 can be used for the Neighborhood Plan update. Post meeting note: The $2,500 requires acceptance of an application for the money, Tom and Helen are working on the grant request for use in updating the Neighborhood Plan

• Bellingham School District redistricting: Tom and Carolyn both expressed an interest in serving on the School District’s new committee to look at redistricting and boundaries.

• 5-plex apartment at 506 Potter St.: There are still significant litter control problems. Elliott has not received any feedback from the building designer on suggestions made by neighbors at the meeting held over the summer. Some suggestions were to save the tree and parking issues. Barbara volunteered to email neighbors to get pictures of other Arnason houses. It was suggested to remember to think about the larger issues and goals.

• Planning Committee: The Area 5 rezone received recommendation to accept all the proposals excepting “Tandem Parking” which is on the Commission’s agenda for November 7. The latter looks promising, but commissioners requested more information from Planning as the Tandem Parking proposal was not just for Area 5 but a Planning proposal for the entire city. We are waiting to know the date of the City Council meeting. The Planning Subcommittee will be meeting at some point.

• The president of Sehome Neighborhood Association wants to continue to talk to Tom about joint efforts between the two neighborhoods regarding planning in general and a proposal in the works for an urban village on Samish between our two neighborhoods.

• New board members: Leslie and Nick Hill, Sarah and Jeff Bates and Lisa McShane would like to join the board. These members have met the requirements. Barbara made a motion to accept the above as board members. It was seconded by Carolyn and passed unanimously.

Topics for next board meeting: Area 5 rezone, newsletter.

The meeting adjourned at 8:55.

Submitted by Libby Stark