sheena

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).

sheena

October 2016 Board Meeting Minutes

747 Boulevard Rd SE  7pm – 9pm
Monthly Board Meeting of the Eastside Neighborhood Association
Board members in attendance: Brian Brannies, Jim Sweeney, Nathan Allan, Sherry Cillicut, Rita Sammons, Sheena Pietzold
Others:  Roger Horn

Treasurer’s Report from Sherry Cillicut

  • Checking $411.29
  • Savings $1061.60
  • Neighborhood Signs $1298.73
  • Legion Way Trees $151.69
  • Community Beautification $506.26

 

CNA Updates emailed from Sam Green

CNA 9-12-16

Code Enforcement
Mike Dexel spoke about his process of addressing problems in the City’s code, regarding nuisance homes. Several years ago, he brought the issue of a neighboring home that was causing a nuisance to the CNA. This led to him working with representatives from other neighborhood associations and then mayor Doug Mah to create a subcommittee of the CNA. This committee existed from 2009-2012 and focused on 1)identifying concerns from residents 2)making an improvement plan for city code enforcement and 3)proposing a repeat violator ordinance. City attorneys drafted the repeat violator ordinance and the city council passed it. The city also put resources into creating a system where people could track a code violation after they had filed a report. The system did not get off of the ground but the city mentioned being able to use a similar system that is going online soon (early 2017). After discussing this backstory, we discussed the City’s current process and philosophy of code enforcement. They currently send friendly reminders first asking for the nuisance to be abated or the violation remedied, then they move on to punitive fees, and eventually they can pursue some legal action. The city is also now weary of enforcing the repeat violator ordinance (Olympia Municipal Code 8.24, searchable here) because the 9th circuit court says it does not hold up as constitutional. We also discussed problems of graffiti and some neighborhoods have mentioned forming graffiti abatement teams. The CNA then formally voted to create a new subcommittee to 1) look at problems with and ways to improve the repeat violator ordinance 2)improve the feedback loop regarding code violations from the city and 3)possibly revisit the action plan for code enforcement improvement. I spoke with the chair of the subcommittee and we can elect someone to join the committee on behalf of ENA.

Land Use
The city gave a presentation on the several major laws that have come to govern Land Use regulations in the state of Washington. The presentation was actually really fascinating but not something I can do justice with via my scribbled notebook notes. I can track down my handouts if anyone is interested. Then Michael Johnston from the cooper crest neighborhood told about his neighbors process of dealing with land use review. In the fall of 2015, a developer put in an application to rezone a 5 acre parcel next to the cooper crest neighborhood. I believe he said it was to rezone from R-5 to higher density residential. Resident’s chief concern was that there weren’t any roads that would access any new development other than the small roads winding through cooper crest. The application went through the usual process and residents focused on bringing up concerns during the hearing that takes place in the rezone process. I don’t believe the project was entirely halted but I think the hearing wrote in stipulations that addressed the traffic connection (this last sentence is from memory so no quoting me).

 

CNA 10-10-16

Bike Corridor Follow-up
The final segment of the corridor (near three magnets brewing) should be completed in late fall or winter. The city has tried to get feedback from residents and has so far received 190 comments. Of those comments, about 90% are positive. The negative comments were that there was no more need for bicycle infrastructure, that the corridors had too many cars, and that the corridors were not direct enough routes. Based on the positive reviews, the city is considering the corridor test a success and will look at adding more across the city as they function best as part of a larger network.

ONNA
The process began in 2013 with members of 5 neighborhoods on the NE side of Oly forming a group to begin sub-area planning. They based their planning on the models used in Eugene and Vancouver. They spoke with the City and got approval to move forward as a recognized group. The city also put resources into doing a neighborhood profile that included demographic data (available as a pdf here). Using the models mentioned earlier, the group made sure that their subarea plan reflected the values and goals of the greater oly comprehensive plan. They broke their report, and their work, into identifying goals, objectives, and actions. To identify these qualities, they supplemented the neighborhood profile with a direct mailed survey to 3,000 area residents. They received 219 responses and made their plan, accordingly. Like I mentioned above, they are down to help us if we want to put the work in. Mike Dexel thought it made sense for us to go next and the city seems supportive.

Code Enforcement
A brief report back from the subcommittee stated that they had their first meeting on October 4th. They said they are currently working to 1)identify the problems with the current nuisance ordinance, 2) review the work of 2011-2013 to see what has and has not been effective, and 3) look into whether serious drug houses can constitute a criminal rather than ordinance-based issue. They are hoping to only exist as a committee for 2-6 months and we can still send someone if we want.

 

Sub area planning info from Jim Sweeney

Jim looked into what a sub-area planning process would involve. The City would want a designated planning committee to formally communicate with. They also would want the process to involve strong community outreach including area businesses, nearby neighborhoods, regional planning organizations, and other potential stakeholders. The NE Oly group met approximately monthly which is part of why it took as long as it did to get a final product. Future efforts may want to meet twice a month to keep momentum. The board discussed wanting something more specific than what came out of the NE Oly sub-area plan in hoping that the plan will lead to action in the future. Ideally, a sub-area planning committee would be a sub-committee of the ENA board. Board will reach out to neighbors at general meeting for interest in participating.

The board voted in favor of Jim drafting a formal letter to notify the City the ENA is interested in being the next neighborhood to make a sub-area plan.

 

Traffic calming device improvements/community beautification from Brian

Brian will select dates (probably 2 weekends)and  make a post on Nextdoor to ask for volunteers. The group will need to reach out to the neighbors living in front of or near the areas to be improved. Volunteers will need to wear safety vests and we will need to put up safety cones while doing the work (Brian will cover these small costs). The board discussed donating funds to the neighbor that keeps up the traffic circle at 7th and Sawyer.

Potential ideas for the next round of neighborhood grants:

  • Community reader board
  • Little lending libraries
  • Community pantries

 

Crime and Safety update from Roger

Neighborhood block parties – there was a lot of good turnout for the four block parties held across the neighborhood, and a lot of good feedback from the neighbors. The board discussed support for doing them again, potentially more frequently and in more areas of the neighborhood.

The next Eastside Crime and Safety Committee (ECSC) meeting will be on Nov. 3rd. Brian will attend as an ENA liaison. At the previous ECSC meeting, the group discussed how to expedite changes to the nuisance laws. The committee felt they were able to help keep the City’s attention and focus for code enforcement in the neighborhood to improve conditions for those near Central St. Improvements have been made, but committee still sees the need to keep pushing the City for changes.

Ideas for community engagement discussed:

  • Neighborhood walk in December
  • Neighbors paint windows – holiday theme
  • Garden tours

 

Other Items

Madison Elementary liaison – Mr. DSK (principle) liked the idea, board will discuss further at a future meeting

Emergency Preparedness – with the latest near miss “storm of the century,” ENA might want to organize some neighborhood emergency preparedness events, information, etc. Will discuss further at future meeting.

Nathan Allan

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. [email protected]

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

January 2015 Board Minutes

Attendance

  • Board Members Present:  Nathan Allan,   Brian Brannies,  Sandia Slaby,  , Katy Beattie
  • Board Members Absent: Kara Randall, Whitney Bowerman, Mitch Dennis, Sheena Pietzold, Sherry Cillicut

February Annual Meeting

Time: Wednesday 18th, 6:30pm

Location: New Bridge? Brian will look into location, asking the churches for use of their location

Agenda for Annual Meeting:

  • Food Project will be on the agenda
  • Pest control; guest speaker to educate?
  • Bread and Roses; information on new format?
  • ENA vs. NextDoor
  • Change the Bylaws for the Board
  • Dog Poop Bag Stations
  • City of Olympia Matching Grant Program
  • Elections will take place; Board members, Vice President, Secretary

Become a Board Member!

Your voice is your power to affect change in your community. Please join the board and help us accomplish items that are good for our neighborhood! We accomplish, at least, one big project a year. We appreciate a wide representation of our neighborhood being represented on the board so that the many voices, from many areas of our vast neighborhood are heard. For more info on joining the board check this informational page.

Dog Bag Stations

One more has been installed and there is only one to go. One has been requested up towards Lyons Park, but there is one in the park already.

City of Olympia Matching Grant Program

Brian has located two areas that he will pursue a matching grant for. We will also look into obtaining the matching grant for our Annual Summer Picnic.

CNA Meetings

Nathan can no longer attend on Mondays, so we need another member to attend so that we can maintain a presence. Brian can go. We would like to have another member who is able to back Brian up with this, in case he can’t attend.

Annual Calendar:

  • Nathan to create calendar of meetings and events for the 2015 year
  • Flag football event on Thanksgiving morning – Katy and Andrew will set up the day of @ 6:30-8
Nathan Allan

November 2014 Board Meeting Minutes

Attendance

  • Board Members Present:  Nathan Allan, Whitney Bowerman,  Brian Brannies,  Sandia Slaby, Pat Bayle, Jim Longley, Mitch Dennis, Sheena Pietzold, Katy Beattie
  • Board Members Absent: Kara Randall
  • Other Attendees: Roger Horn, Eddy

Dog waste stations

Church will help with dog waste stations; There are still troubles Getting a hold of people; Locations of sites were discussed;

Purchasing bags….biodegradable bags are they worth it? Cost effective? Sandia would like to look into the cost difference and what that means for ENA. Cost of bags (Nathan added to minutes when he found the details relevant);

$138.18 for 4000 Biodegradable bags (funny thing only considered so in 49 states not CA)
Shipping did cost.
What Aly found on Amazing is basically $31.38 for 1000 bags. So about the same.
Nathan searched around a little and did not find an alternative that works.

Future of the board

Join the ENA board! Four members are not continuing, possibly five. Become an active advocate for your neighborhood. Once a month meetings, and accomplishing tasks like the dog poop bag stations, food bank donations, etc.
February is goal for annual meeting.

Newsletter

  • Some neighbors have said they miss it.
  • Idea to send postcards directing people to read more at the website.
  • Print a few newsletters for those who may request it.
  • Brian is willing to print off postcards; ENA may still have credit at a local printshop.
  • Brian is willing to spearhead getting this accomplished.
  • We hope that mailing list is more accurate than in the past. A lot of effort has been put into verifying addresses.

CNA

It seems the focus of the CNA is less about working together and more about listening to presentations.  ENA has been represented in some capacity at almost every meeting this year. Representatives are wondering about the effectiveness of the CNA and the overall purpose of it as it seems to be very much concerned with big picture issues like city planning. Our presence is valued at the CNA meetings is that our voice is then reported back to City Council. CNA can, and has been in the past, be an effective voice.

Treasurers report

  • Sherry was absent from the meeting but reported $750 in checking.
  • Nathan still needs to get on the account as back-up.

Madison Holiday Store

Madison Elementary PTO Representative, Eddy, says they are looking for donations for kids to purchase for presents for their families.

Report from City Council

  • Providing $250,000 for downtown plan
  • Talk of changing code to work on creating neighborhood centers like Westside coop or San Francisco street bakery
  • Putting money into hazard trees which would affect legion way