Neighborhood Meeting Minutes April 2019

4/17/19 Swantown Inn 7-8:30 pm

Attendees:

Board members – Sheena Pietzold, Brad Archbold, Nathan Allan, Sherry Chilcutt, Brian Brannies, Jim Sweeney, Roger Horn, Jim Rioux.

Others: Amy Hill

  1. Minutes from last month approved
  2. Website updates needed – calendar, board members/officers
  3. CNA update: Jim Sweeney –
    • The Growth Management Hearings Board had a hearing on the merits of the Missing Middle zoning ordinance and found the SEPA process wasn’t done correctly.
    • There was an overview of development projects completed downtown in the last few years due to the downtown building ordinance. 1600 dwelling units have been added downtown. The issue of property tax exemptions for these developments that now have some units being used for Airbnbs is going to the Land Use Hearings Committee.
    • Capital City Marathon is coming up on May 19th. The route goes down Eastside over the freeway, so it may impact the neighborhood.
    • Jim will share the letter the ENA wrote regarding the armory with the CNA now that it’s signed and official. Perhaps the new head/president of the boys and girls club might be interested in reconsidering if they want to use the building.
  4. Treasurer’s report from Sherry:
    • Checking: $300.59
    • Savings: $1059.07
    • Neighborhood Signs: $1301.63
    • Legion Way Trees: $152.32
    • Community Beautification: $407.76
    • The credit/debit card is definitely active now (to pay for survey monkey)
    • It’s hard to tell who is paying dues because of how it’s set up on the website, we only get email addresses.
  5. Mural update – The City’s original plan for the spraygound at Lions Park had the pump house located by the street but neighbors didn’t want to have the possible noise, so it will now be right behind the tennis court wall. The matching grant we applied for was denied because any mural on the back side of the tennis court wall would be blocked by the pump house. Perhaps we could put a mural on the pump house in the future.
  6. Variety Show update: Roger – This year it will be held on June 1st from 3-5pm at the Salvation Army Worship Center (we can use the space from 2-6 for setting up/taking down). We are partnering with the Bigelow Highlands neighborhood. Roger sent an email to those who participated last year to see if they would be interested again this year. 3 responded with yes, and one more for sure from Bigelow Highlands. Roger might put a notice on Nextdoor to see if we can get more performers. We could use 7-8 people to volunteer. It sounds like several folks that helped last year will be willing to help again this year. Roger will see if a sign company can update the vinyl sign that was made last year.
  7. Block Parties and Picnic updates – Brian reached out to the City about reserving the shelter for the picnic date, but hasn’t heard back. All 4 of the block party hosts from last year said they’d host again this year.
  8. Sub-area plan update: We are getting started on the community connections section, and planning to have a town hall meeting on June 8th from 9:30am to 12pm at the First United Methodist Church. We’re asking if Stacey from the City will be the facilitator. We have 1 survey remaining. The 3rd survey is out right now (related to crime and safety) and we may extend the deadline to April 28th.
  9. Other business:
    1. Charlie Stevens from SWONA wants a letter signed that talks about climate change. When Roger gets it from Charlie, he will distribute it to the board to review and consider.
    2. Brad and Nathan will look into possibly applying for a City Pathway Grant for a path from Central onto Madison Elementary School grounds.
    3. Discussed having a candidate forum again this year, perhaps at the Elks again in early October.
    4. Amy Hill was voted on as a new member to the ENA board.

Neighborhood Meeting Minutes March 2019

3/20/2019 Swantown Inn 7-8:30 pm

Attendees:

Board members – Sheena Pietzold, Brian Brannies, Jim Sweeney, Roger Horn, Nathan Allan

Others – Cheryl Bayle

1. Variety show update: Roger hasn’t heard back from Salvation Army about the date availability yet. Bigelow Highlands neighborhood wants to partner. We are looking at May 18th or June 1st but prefer June 1st. Roger will meet with Angie Warner-Rein from Bigelow Highlands to talk about getting performers, logistics, etc. We think partnering will help get more people, more performers, and more volunteers.

2. Sub-area update: Roger provided some background on what has happened so far. On the first survey (of four to get feedback on what’s been done so far), some of the comments were somewhat discouraging. There were 29 responses (the survey was 44 questions). We still think doing this kind of outreach is a good thing and the right thing to do. A tentative schedule for the rest of the planning process was discussed. We’ve gotten 11 responses so far on the second survey (the survey is 27 questions). The Core team is looking at the Vancouver subarea plans for examples and ideas. City staff have not been as helpful as we’d like, but no one person is currently devoted to helping with the subarea planning process right now. The next really big date for the subarea plan process is June 8th when we’ll hold a town hall. We’ll ask Paul Horton if he’ll facilitate and look at the Elks Lodge similar to the first town hall we had.

3. Mural update – Brad submitted the Neighborhood Matching Grant for the mural.

4. CNA report: Jim Sweeney – Dave Marty on the CNA suggested putting in a grant to the RNA (recognized neighborhood association) for facilitated training to make the CNA run more effectively/smoothly. There was an update/debrief on the snow storm from Public works and PSE. From what folks heard, positive take-a-way included people getting to know their neighbors, getting outside and walking around, etc. The more negative take-a-ways were mostly related access (like the kids couldn’t go to school because they couldn’t walk without going in the roads). There was also an update on the Homeless response plan (9-month timeline) that’s just getting started.

5. Picnic and block parties: Discussed dates for these events – picnic will be August 17th, 4-7pm, block parties will be July 12th, 5-7pm. Brian will work on securing the shelter and insurance for the picnic as well as donations from the Co-op and Ralph’s, Nathan will talk to Big Tom’s. Roger will coordinate with past block party hosts.

6. Treasurer report: Sherry unable to attend. Brian needs to get login info and can then fill in for Sherry.

7. Other business

– Any place we can archive past ENA-related docs? Example, past newsletters, etc. particularly hard copies. Perhaps a volunteer would be interested in helping scan and catalog these. Maybe we can check with city to see if we can use their facilities for scanning.

– Letter about armory – Jim S. will move on finalizing the letter, Brian as new president will sign.

– Plum Street village – we do have a seat on the advisory board, but things are moving a little slower than expected. The village is only about half-full right now and is taking a little longer than expected to fill the spots.

– Need to update the website with new board members and send the city the updated info, Sheena will be Secretary (voted in tonight). If we don’t get 2 more board members by next month, then we may need to update bylaws. Discussed doing a post on Nextdoor, website post, and email to the mail chimp account list to recruit more board members. It’s also a possibility to update the neighborhood boundaries to include the area from Eastside to Plum as well.

– County Courthouse Location special election is supposed to be in August, so if we wanted to host a forum, we would need to do it in July. City Council Candidate forum would need to be in late September or early October to be ready for the for the vote in November.

November 2016 Board Meeting Minutes

747 Boulevard Rd SE  7pm – 8:30pm
Monthly Board Meeting of the Eastside Neighborhood Association

Board members attending: Brian Brannies, Jim Sweeney, Nathan Allan, Sherry Cillicut, Rita Sammons, Sheena Pietzold, Sam Green, Charlotte Claybrook
Others: Roger Horn


Traffic calming device improvements/community beautification from Brian Brannies

Brian has been totally swamped and could use some help organizing this effort. It’s getting a little bit too late to plant, but we could probably still do the cleanup work this year. Brian will inquire with the City to see if the grant money will still be available next calendar year so we can plant in the spring. We may want to wait until the general meeting (usually February) to ask for volunteers there. If the deadline for spending the grant money can’t be extended, we could buy the plants and mulch and store them over the winter. Another thing to ask the city about would be how to deal with graffiti. There is some on the sign in one round-about and on the curb of another.


Neighborhood Bike Corridor completion celebration from Brian Brannies

Brian asked if anyone was interested in trying to organize a neighborhood bike ride or something to celebrate the completion of the bike corridor that goes from Lions Park to Sylvester Park downtown. It is expected to be complete in December. Several people had ideas to involve Intercity Transit, Capital Bicycle Club, the City’s bike and pedestrian committee, and perhaps even the police (sometimes they give out free children sized helmets).Sam volunteered to look into how we could get an event like this organized and report back at the next board meeting.


Treasurer’s Report from Sherry Cillicut

  • Checking $411.29
  • Savings $1061.68
  • Neighborhood Signs $1298.82
  • Legion Way Trees $151.71
  • Community Beautification $506.26

Brian Brannies noted the need to get new bases to hold the notification signs as several have broken. We could also use more signs too. The board voted and approved spending up to $120 for new signs and bases.


Sub area planning info from Jim Sweeney

Jim talked with Linda Bentley at the City about what a sub-area planning process would involve and how the ENA could let the City know we are interested in being the next area to create a sub-area plan. Jim drafted a letter to send to the City and Sam floated the idea at the CNA meeting. The CNA member from the City’s planning commission was supportive. Brian Brannies will sign the letter from the ENA and it will be delivered to the City. In summary, the letter is to let the City know that the ENA is interested in being the next area to work on a sub-area plan. We are hoping the City will respond to the letter with support, both in writing and in making resources available.


CNA Updates from Sam Green

Crime – There was supposed to be a presentation on crime statistics, but it didn’t happen.

Downtown Strategy – more than 100 people attended the open house and more than 4,000 people completed the online survey. A draft report will be available in mid-January, and will go to the planning commission at the end of January. Then a public hearing will be scheduled.

Sub-area planning – ONNA (the 5 neighborhood-group on the NE side of Oly) is now working on implementing their sub-area plan. They are working on the “neighborhood center” aspect of the plan, and have made progress on the walking path on 26th.

Code enforcement – There was a lot of talking about specific problem points/houses and about how ineffective current nuisance ordinances are. The code enforcement sub-committee has room for more members and would like to look into code effectiveness. The ENA board discussed a few ideas including the CNA sub-committee should talk with neighbors around where the drug house on center street was. It would be kind of like a follow-up, but also could help the committee gain some insight about how they were eventually effective. The CNA discussed the part time, grant-funded code enforcement position not being funded again this year and whether it should recommend the city keep funding that position. A lot of people were in favor, but Sam suggested we fix the codes and ordinances before we spend money implementing ineffective ones.

Signage – the City will need to update its signage ordinances to reflect a recent Supreme Court ruling (most cities will need to do the same)

Other – Olympia Police Department will be hosting a block watch captain training (we think) this Saturday (November 19th from 9-noon. We couldn’t verify this online, so if anyone is interested, they should try to verify with the City of OPD.


Crime and Safety update from Roger Horn

Roger was looking for ideas for a community-building holiday walk (the board discussed this idea at its last meeting). We discussed a few ideas for breaking the up the hill/down the hill barrier. Perhaps there could be two walks that meet up in one location. We discussed ideas like having several designated houses paint their front windows with a winter or holiday scene. People could walk the neighborhood to see each house and then attend a potluck-style gathering. Maybe some caroling could be incorporated. The board discussed dates in mid-December. The idea would be to organize these similarly to the neighborhood block parties – ENA encouraged/sponsored, but organized by the Eastside Crime and Safety Committee (ECSC).