Neighborhood Meeting Minutes – September 2022

ENA Board Meeting
9/15/2022
7:00 PM
Swantown Inn

Attendees: Sherry Chilcutt, Roger Horn, Cheryl Bayle, Nathan Allen, Jim Rioux, Jim Sweeney,

Treasurer Report

Checking $759.55
Savings $963.27
Signs $1306.91
Trees $153.36
Beautification $409.97

There may be an invoice from the mural project that was double paid. We may need to reconcile with the City. At this time the City says we are ok.

Homes First is trying to raise $500 to start work on five houses. Sherry will keep in touch with them and see if they need ENA support.

Taxes have been filed. Sherry will change our tax status to a non-political non-profit. This will make us eligible for significant cost savings that political non-profits are not eligible for.

CNA Report

Sherry had some concern about the fact that we were unable to back up Karen for the last CNA meeting. The consensus was that this will likely be rare and its OK if ENA is not in attendance once in a while.

The board discussed the City’s proposal for a Regional Fire Authority. The significant increase in property tax with no clear benefit to Olympia citizens was frustrating.

Talent Show – Salvation Army

Roger has three acts for sure and one more poet will be asked. He wondered if we should we ask for others from the northeast or any other neighborhoods? Jim Sweeney suggested downtown.

Nathan suggested reaching out to the ODA.

Sherry will check in with Andy a professional trumpeter.

Nathan suggested putting up a flier in capital guitar.

Roger has a few other leads he will contact including reaching out to Avanti high school. The date and time is set for Saturday October 22, 3-5 pm.

Address List

Jim R was successful in splitting the data so that we can sort by street name. He will try to do some further breakdown to group houses into zones.

Member List Status and Levels Discussion

The board decided to form a small group to come up with a proposal. The group will consist of Dan, Jim R, and Nathan.

Nathan reminded the board that the basic reason for the change is to have a database of active people in the neighborhood. Our current system can’t do that for us. The intent is to encourage donations but not require it. The business level will give us a way to promote neighborhood businesses.

November General Meeting

Sherry asked what date worked better for everyone, November 3rd, or 9th. Roger pointed out that we had already set the date for November 3rd. The board decided to stick with November 3rd.

There was some discussion about the location. Newbridge and the Armory were mentioned. The Armory seemed a better choice. Sherry will contact Stephanie about the Armory.

We will plan to start at 5:30 pm with snacks and start the meeting at 6:00 pm.

The board discussed the following topics for an agenda. Nathan pointed out that we should pick something that will bring people out and we need to give people a positive reason to attend.

  • Nathan– Quince St. village
  • Jim Sweeney – Citywide homeless plan.
  • Jim R -Lions Park improvements and other parks issue
  • Jim S – Emergency Management
  • Sherry -City events

Jim reminded the board that we will need to nominate new board members so that we can choose officers in January.

Nathan agreed to contact old officers to see if they have interest.

Jim R will send message to e-mail list from last annual meeting.

Art Crossing Meeting at the Armory

How can we best support attendance?

The meeting is scheduled September 29 at 6:30 am.

Sherry is looking for messaging to get people to attend. Jim will help Sherry write something.

Jim will get pictures of artwork that the chosen artist created to Nathan.

3900 Boulevard Rd Meeting at ORLA

Jim Sweeney shared that people from LiHi spoke well about homeless community in Olympia.

Roger said that he also attended and didn’t hear any opposition. Some important issues were highlighted.

Sherry said the issues raised were traffic and stormwater.

The concerns from people from the Newcastle neighborhood were parking, flooding, transportation, access to LBA, and loss of open space.

Interpretive Sign at Armory – $50,000 Contract

Jim S volunteered to serve on the committee that will give input on the content and design of the sign.

Sherry mentioned that the Armory received $1 million grant for Heritage Capital Project Grant.

April 2015 Board Meeting Minutes

Swantown Inn Bed & Breakfast, 1431 11th Ave SE (corner of Central)
Wednesday, March 18th, 2014, 6:30PM 
Monthly Board meeting of the Eastside Neighborhood Association.
Board Members In Attendance: Nathan Allan, Susan Herring,  Melissa Bluestein, Rita Sammons, Ira Silberlicht, Brian Brannies, , Sherry Cillicut
Board Members Absent:  Sheena Pietzold (sick sitter), Ted Braid (had volunteered at Annual meeting but did not show up), Mitch Dennis (we are confirming if he is continuing on as a board member)
Neighbors in Attendance: Sophie – City of Olympia (Bike Boulevard), Teresa Goen-Burgman – Concerned Eastside Neighbors (Medela Rezone), Pat Rasmussen – Olympia village convergence building, Julie Rodwell – Highway Noise Abatement, plus a few more supporters of these speakers

Minutes

  • Approval of March Minutes
    • Motion Approved
  • Decision on who is going to be Secretary, or if it will be handled jointly.
    • Jointly handled, by Melissa and Sheena.  If backup needed Brian will fill in.
  • ENA Generic Business Cards
    • Distribute to Board Members (10 to 20 each)
  • Dog waste stations update
    • Call for volunteers to help on last installation.
    • Ira waiting for Nathan to get back to him.
  • Neighborhood Match Grant Update
    • RNA (Recogonized Neighborhood Association) updated with City of Olympia by Sherry.
    • Decisions made in May. Volunteer hours can be billed starting in May.
    • Take out bounce house as it increases insurance from $101 to $400+?
    • Annual picnic. Need to have lower insurance. Bouncy house not approved by city.
    • Ideas instead: sack races. Face painting. Children’s museum booth.
    • Band: Oly Mountain Boys: bluegrass band. $750 for two hours.
  • ENA Sign Cleaning
    • Nathan has personally purchased an extension pole for his own use and offers this for cleaning our signs.  Hence we just need cleaning product. “Simple Green” is Nathan’s suggestion. Any better ideas? Simple green at Home Depot $20 on sale. We’re saving $100!
  • Annual Garage Sale
    • More signage? Serve dual purpose with Annual Picnic promotion and general meetings.
    • 10 more signs and 15 more stands (as they break) = $182.57
    • Waiting to vote until matching grant comes through.
  • CNA – Report from attending CNA meetings.
    • Report from Tim Minarachi, who is representing the ENA until a board member can attend.
    • First of, they’re re-upping the MOU, or Memorandum of Understanding that establishes a bridge between the CNA and the City. – minor changes to section it’s filed under from Land Use to Administration (basic relocation) They are adapting a set of standards to guide public input.
    • They want to “rebuild trust between the city and citizens through involvement” In short, the entire meeting was about continuing to develop the CNA, lots of back-patting.
    • They are going to try to get the city to start an official position in an “office of neighborhoods”, basically take on a staff position to handle the paperwork side of things. Or at least that’s the impression I got. There was also a lot of talk about recruiting more neighborhoods and increasing involvement in the CNA- basically it seems to me they have the same problem as the other neighborhood associations with attendance and involvement. They really had no idea how to involve more people.
  • Federal and State Procedures on Highway Noise Abatement
    • Julie Rodwell would like to discuss if our neighborhood has ever looked at more noise protection from I5.
    • PDF: Federal and State Procedures on Highway Noise Abatement.
    • Highlights:
    • I-5 built in 1969, 1 year before noise mitigation in place.
    • Trying to find out how we qualify for a retrofit.
    • No project, no readings.
    • I-5 isn’t officially a code violation for noise.
    • WSDOT says the canyon falls in the grey zone, but it’s not true.
    • Ivy and wood fences do not keep noise out. Appears to be the city right of way, maps aren’t definitive.
    • Reasonableness criteria:
    • We need official readings.
    • Possibility of homeowners building the wall
    • Local improvement project? Outlay is minimal (with approval) and having it be a living wall or art wall and spread out over 30 years possibly.
    • Formula to have a degradation for funding depending on how close you live.
    • Benefits: health vs. hearing loss
    • Should we write our legislators?
    • Motion made by Brian for Julie, as our ENA representative, to go to the City of Lacey and any government agency, to find out more about the costs. Motion approved by ENA board.
    • Can someone in the area, an acoustic consultant or a decibel reader do preliminary readings?
  • Proposal for another security minded ENA General Meeting brought forward by Anna Schlecht
    • Anna isn’t present.
    • Security was discussed but to have a Neighborhood Watch, we have to have someone spearhead instead of just saying we need to have this group. All of the residents would have to participate.
    • Everyone needs to get to know each other better. Have more lights, motion detectors. Report the crimes.
    • Bring up safety issues at the May General meeting. Could be June.
    • Nathan feels we should have positive upbeat meeting and skip the safety issues update.
  • Bike Boulevard in Eastiside – Sophie Stimson, Senior Planner, Public Works Transportation
    • a. Route: Electronic version will be on site.
    • b. Citizens advisory committee involved in developing the route.
    • c. Council wanted a route through the downtown area.
    • d. Will be in the works around next Spring 2016.
    • e. This is a pilot project to see how the community responds and make the case to fund more of these projects.
    • f. This really is the beginning of the project and much more to work on.
    • g. Information will be given as they spend more time researching.
    • h. Tacoma rail also being contacted as improving the pavement around the tracks is their responsibility.
  • Olympia village convergence building – Pat Russmussen
    • a. See presentation on website.
    • b. Ie.)Portland has a project called City Repair where they paint decorative art on the intersections to slow the traffic.
    • c. People in neighborhoods all doing events at the same time.

      i. The Commons@Fertile Ground

      ii. GRuB Farmhouse

      iii. Edible Forest Gardens

      iv. Love our Local Festival

      v. Joy Avenue Pathway

      vi. Farmer’s Market

    • d. Develop a schedule in our neighborhood and other neighborhoods for placemaking.

      i. Coordinate with week of the picnic

      ii. Possibly paint the bulkhead on 5th at Boundary

    • e. Someone brought up National Night Out.

      i. More info is needed.

  • Treasurers Report
    • a. Renewing Long Term CD

      i. Due in the next week. It’s worth $1031.09.

      1. Keep it in the CD or put in Savings account

      2. Motion brought up to put into savings. Motion

      approved.

    • b. Accounts as of 3/31/15

      i. $698.94 in checking

      ii. $328.93 savings

      iii. $1297.22 in Signs

      iv. $150 in trees

      v. $505.36 for Community Beautification

  • New business.
    • a. Theresa – Forest Cemetery: backside of property being developed.

      i. Proposing a new development. 18-24 new units per acre on 9

      ii. Supposed to be a 1 year moratorium on zoning

      iii. Distance of cemetery to Freeway is 200 yards.

      iv. No city/county ordinances for sound.

      v. Public meeting April 23rd and public hearing coming

      vi. Information posted on website.

      vii. CEPA review was done through Puget Sound Energy acres property and not done on site. The desire is to have the city planner come to the site.

      viii. Brian will try to attend and speak for 3 minutes as a neighborhood property owner and a representative of the ENA and that we are “concerned” about the amount of traffic that will develop in this area.

      ix. Theresa would like the development to be single family instead of rental units.

      x. Where is the new master application?

      xi. co************************@***il.com

  • Meeting adjourned at 8:45pm
  • Minutes submitted by Melissa Bluestein, Joint ENA Secratary

April 2015 Board Meeting Agenda

Swantown Inn Bed & Breakfast, 1431 11th Ave SE (corner of Central)
Wednesday, April 15th, 2014, 6:30PM – 7:30PM (this is a packed agenda and may run over)
Monthly Board meeting of the Eastside Neighborhood Association.

Agenda

  • Approval of March Minutes
  • Decision on who is going to be Secretary, or if it will be handled jointly.
  • ENA Generic Business Cards
    • Distribute to Board Members
  • Dog waste stations update
    • Call for volunteers to help on last installation.
  • Neighborhood Match Grant Update
    • RNA (Recogonized Neighborhood Association) updated with City of Olympia by Sherry.
    • Decisions made in May.
    • Take out bounce house as it increases insurance from $101 to $400+?
  • ENA Sign Cleaning
    • Nathan has personally purchased an extension pole for his own use and offers this for cleaning our signs.  Hence we just need cleaning product. “Simple Green” is Nathan’s suggestion. Any better ideas?
  • Annual Garage Sale
    • More signage? Serve dual purpose with Annual Picnic promotion and general meetings.
    • 10 more signs and 15 more stands (as they break) = $182.57
  • CNA – Report from attending CNA meetings.
  • Federal and State Procedures on Highway Noise Abatement
  • Proposal for another security minded ENA General Meeting brought forward by Anna Schlecht
  • Bike Boulevard in Eastiside – Sophie Stimson, Senior Planner, Public Works Transportation
  • Olympia village convergence building – Pat Russmussen
  • Treasurers Report
    • Renewing Long Term CD
  • New business.

Please note you do not need to be a board member to attend. We start promptly at 6:30pm.