MEETING AGENDA
- 6:30 – 6:50 Agenda presentation and Member Reports on Neighborhood Happenings
- 6:50 – 7:00 Olympia Harbor Days Lite – Carol Riley
- 7:00 – 7:10 Prior meeting minutes approval (July)
- 7:10 – 7:30 Update from Council member Gilman
- Update on COVID Changes on eviction moratorium extension, rental assistance, business impacts, etc).
- Other City Topics of Concern to Neighborhoods
- 7:30 – 8:00 Discussion on Neighborhood Priorities:
- Brainstorm Ideas on identifying priority issues for neighborhoods
- Survey Monkey Potential Use
- 8:00 – 8:15 Update on Permanent Physical Address for CNA
- Thriftway, $140 a year
- The Mailbox of Olympia, 120 State St. $132 a year
- UPS $180
- 8:15 – 8:20 Approval Consideration of Letter supporting grant funding for Art Crossing Project – Stephanie Johnson
- 8:20 –8:25 Call for Agenda Topics
- 8:25 –8:30 Adjourn
Meeting Handouts:
Letter Supporting Grant Application
Judy Bardin’s Comments on Short Term Rentals
Council of Neighborhood Associations (CNA) Minutes
Date: Monday, August 10th 2020 Time: 6:30 – 8:30 PM
Location: Zoom virtual meeting
Present: Council of Neighborhood Associations Officers: Larry Dzieza (Nottingham) – Chair, Melissa Allen (BHNA)– Vice Chair, Mark Toy (SWONA) and Jim Rioux (ENA) – Co-Secretaries
Members: Bruce Coulter (NWONA), Bob Jacobs (GSNA), Darrah Johnson (Wildwood NA), Jenn Wulf (DNA), Dana McAvoy (Eastbay Drive), Peggy Clifford (SCNA), Kelly Green (Bethel Park), Helen Wheatley (SCNA) , Rachel Newman (SCNA), Judy Bardin (NWONA)
City & State Representatives & Presenters: Lydia Moorehead (Community Planning). Clark Gilman (City Council), Carol Riley (Olympia Harbor Days), Stephanie Johnson (Olympia Parks, Arts and Recreation)
6:30 – 6:58 Agenda Presentation and Neighborhood Happenings
Larry reviewed the proposed Agenda.
Larry (Nottingham)– Same as last month. Still trying to decide whether we will hold the summer picnic. Looking at other fun activities that we can do under these conditions.
Mark (SWONA) – I was awoken at 3:00 am by the smell of smoke. In the morning I learned that an arsonist had torched three buildings in our neighborhood. Two apartment buildings and a church. It all happened between midnight and 3:00 am. Someone was apprehended but not yet charged because they did not see him set the fires. He was caught on video by the church’s camera.
SWONA is holding a “Front Yard Singout” instead of holding a picnic. People will do performances on their front porch and people will walk by to see the performance. That is scheduled for August 26.
We will also hold an “Art in the Alley” event on August 15th. We are also organizing virtual concerts.
Mark mentioned that a SWAT drill had been planned but was cancelled. Other members commented on the situation generally expressing criticism about the very idea of staging such an event at this time. Clark explained that SWAT is made up of a coalition of local law enforcement agencies. They had planned a rescue drill at an abandoned house. They were persuaded to cancel because that type of event would not be well received by the public at this time.
Bruce (NWONA)– Not anything going on. NWONA held a board meeting a week ago and only one person showed up.
There is some undesirable activity in the neighborhood. A house across the street had a car theft. The car was unlocked. A fence was tagged and there have been several reports of theft and people prowling the neighborhood. A lot more nocturnal activity by “non-neighborhood denizens”.
Bob (GSNA) – A lot of people still walking and biking. Seeing a lot of new people in the neighborhood and that is good. The Wildwood Association had an event on Saturday the 8th. They held a street art event where they handed chalk to kids and kids drew on the pavement.
Ward Lake is great for swimming. Take the road to the boat ramp. That is also the public access to the lake.
I want to suggest our own event. We should all have our favorite drink at a meeting to make things a bit livelier.
I hope Lydia will discuss a possible change to the requirement to hold annual meetings. Maybe change the policy due to COVID.
Lydia – The reason for the requirement is to elect officers and update bylaws. Today, in person meetings will not happen and that requirement can be flexible. CNA zoom account may be an option.
Melissa – Will you send anything out in writing?
Lydia – I can send out something out to all of you via e-mail.
Dan (Eastbay Drive)– We held a board meeting two weeks ago. We cancelled our annual picnic and decided to hold a Zoom annual meeting in October or November.
Kelly – (Bethel Park) – Not doing much. All three board members are new. We are just trying to learn our roles and get some small things done like landscaping.
Helen (CRANA) – I’m substituting for Denise for CRANA. I’m the VP. The main thing going on is a whole lot of development. As far as the neighborhood association is concerned, there is not a lot going on.
Peggy (SCNA) – I’m standing for Rachel Newman. Houses are being bought by lobbyists to be used for business reasons. Four lobbyists recently bought a home for four times the asking price. When prices go up like that our taxes go up. That makes it hard for families to stay n the neighborhood. The neighborhood is dark at night because houses aren’t occupied. We don’t know our neighbors, they are changing historic structures, landscaping is being removed, parking is impacted, home occupation ordinance does not help. We’ve got a big problem. We don’t know what the solution is and we are disturbed. Once a home is sold to a lobbyist it does not turn back to a residential property.
Darrah (Wildwood) – We held a chalk art day. We also sent out a request for art which we displayed at our quarterly meeting. Thinking forward to a new event for the fall.
Jenn (DNA)– Month started with two riots. Not many events. Downtown is kind of crickets except for regular protests. We are adjusted except for larger events that cause quite a bit of conflict.
Helen (CRANA) – Forgot to mention food pick up we held this last Saturday.
Jim (ENA)– Big event was meeting with ONNA to discuss mutual, concerns. ENA in re-group status.
Judy (NWONA) – Not much to report. Thank you for sending my comments on Short Term Housing. There was a good article by Bethany Weidener in Works in Progress on the subject.
Melissa (BHNA)– The ONAA receive a matching grant to print and distribute walking maps. Plans for creatively distributing maps are slowed down by COVID-19.
6:58 – 7:07 Olympia Harbor Days Lite
Carol Riley gave a short presentation on what the Olympia Harbor days board is thinking about to replace the annual event. She explained that the idea is to hold an event where residents will be invited to decorate their porches in a tugboat, maritime or marine theme. Olympia Harbor Days would create an online map and invite citizens and would be encouraged to tour the homes and enjoy the decorations.
This is modeled off an event in Portland that was held instead of the traditional Rose Parade
She asked if this is something, we think our neighborhoods could engage in. They are also thinking about having kids build boats or other art and try to get downtown businesses to display them. If not, they can post the photos on-line.
Any questions, concerns or feedback.
None were voiced comments were positive supporting the event.
Mark- May tap frustrated procession creativity. I would put something up.
Jenn- Sounds “super cute”. Think about how it could be adapted for downtown. Not so many porches but lots of windows.
Larry – Why not send me an e-mail and we will hold a brainstorming session and get our feed back to you?
Carol- Any downside anyone can see?
None were mentioned.
7:07 – 7:10 Prior meeting minutes approval (July)
Minutes were approved with minor edits.
7:10 – 7:30 Update from Councilmember Gilman
COVID and Black Lives Matter are dominating our time. We had three race [related] townhalls. Hope you will join us for the fourth on Thursday at 4:00 pm. Links are available on the City’s web page to watch others. This has been important to me because it is Council and the Executive Team talking with black leaders in our community about impacts of race and white supremacy.
Evictions and COVID Impact – Governor announced the extension of the eviction moratorium through October 15. DOC released $100 million for rental and housing assistance. Thurston County got $3.1 million. It will be administered through Community Action Council.
Car camping continues to be housing of last resort and an area on contention for some. Deschutes Parkway will be cleared this week, and Henderson Rd. is getting public pressures. Charles Chelan proposed in an op ed that Thurston County Fairground be used for RV and car-camping. He asked for support any neighborhood leaders to let the County Commissioner’s know that we expect their cooperation.
Mark – Where are they sending people on Deschutes Parkway?
Clark – They are not being offered an alternative. This the State. They have been in a long process about what to do. They found a capital project to fix joints in the road and they are using that to do something they could not do with policy.
Melissa -What are issues on Henderson?
Clark – Small things but not many calls or complaints. People are not comfortable with having poverty in their faces.
Larry – I recommended the Fairground be used for homeless last meeting.
Jenn asked what was being done to make this happen?
Clark – I remain cautiously optimistic that the Commissioners will support homeless assistance?
Larry – Would pressure on County Commission be a good approach?
Clark – I don’t know, but the County also distributes the money coming from Commerce.
Rachel – Has City Council formally asked the County to use the Fairgrounds?
Clark – We have not made a formal request about the Fairgrounds, but we have formally asked for use of the funds for homeless assistance.
Larry – The State has created this mini-crisis on Deschutes Parkway. The State is sitting on some money. Why not have them fund a Fairground solution?
Clark – I’m not directly involved with conversation with Commerce. The $3 million sounds like a lot of money, but it won’t go far.
Clark – A couple of things we are doing downtown are small grants to help businesses deal with COVID restrictions and some assistance for childcare. We received 200 small business and 47 childcare applications right away. Also opened bulk purchasing of PPE for retail and restaurants.
Olympia is earmarking, $450,00 for small business reopening, $125,000 small business assistance with restrictions and $50,00 for the childcare initiative. We are urging the County to make similar allocations.
Council will be considering three actions tomorrow; reinstating the Police Auditor position, creating a Race and Equity Commission, and recruiting civilian member to the use of deadly force commission.
We will also kick of this year’s budget process.
Helen – Anything to watch on the CFP?
Clark- Not proposing dramatic cuts, but with high level of uncertainty we are really guessing and assuming similar federal assistance.
Melissa asked about use of a full body restraint on someone while they were eating lunch. It was not clear why. Could police put out message to explain why those tactics are used?
Clark – It’s called a wrap. Its consider a better way to deal with some situations. Not familiar with this specific incident.
Melissa – Seems like police should be more transparent about use of those tactics.
Mark – what happened about the investigation of the photo of a patrol person with 3%ers?
Clark – I have not heard anything.
7:25 – 7:50 Discussion on Neighborhood Priorities
Larry explained that CNA has, in the past, looked at how the City is doing. Larry reviewed a 2016 survey of performance of City Departments, and a 2017 citizen survey.
The CNA has considered how to evaluate the “state of the neighborhoods”. We could use survey monkey to develop a community feedback survey. I’m interested in gauging the interest in conducting a survey to identify topics of interest to the community.
Members generally expressed interest and discussed how to connect with previous surveys as well as how to identify new areas to explore.
Melissa expressed concern about how to get a good survey set in larger neighborhoods. Members offered various ideas about how to use the survey and other events to add people to neighborhood association list serves.
Larry suggested setting up a small group to meet outside of the monthly meetings to get a survey put together and make the raw results available to neighborhood associations.
Mellissa asked about availability of previous survey results. Larry indicated that he had them and offered to send them out.
Judy mentioned that the survey results showed that the planning department got a low rating. We heard a lot of concerns about the missing middle processes. I like the idea of opening to additional questions?
Larry indicated that it was his intention to add questions related to his neighborhoods concerns.
Bruce mentioned that in 2017 the bad parking meters that have been replaced downtown may have caused the low ratings for parking.
7:50 – 7:55 Update on Physical Address for CNA
Larry shared results of research into the cost of a physical address.
Thriftway -$140/yr.
The Mailbox Olympia – $132/yr.
UPS – $180/yr.
Helen – What about USPS? There is a post office on Westside that has mailbox.
Rachel – We use mailbox in Tumwater Safeway. Seems it’s a lot less.
Larry – I will look at USPS. Not part of our budget to we need to figure out how to pay.
7:55 – 8:08 Approval Consideration of Letter supporting funding for Art Crossing Project
Stephanie Johnson reviewed the letter that was submitted last month supporting the fourth art project in the Art Crossing Project.
Stephanie described the process used for community engagement on artist selection and art project approval.
The Council voted their support for the letter.
8:08 – 8:29 Call for Agenda Topics
Melissa – ENA meeting with ONNA is upcoming. Debrief might be interesting.
Helen – Denise wanted to raise the issue of cumulative impacts from the amount of subdivisions going in.
She also wanted to mention that the new roundabout at Henderson seems more dangerous than before. It is already damaged and traffic swerves toward pedestrians, cars are driving straight through. Traffic planning and parking may be something we need to discuss
Larry – I’m hearing several issues related to development is it traffic impacts?
Helen – Traffic and parking
Larry asked Lydia who at the City should address.
Lydia suggested inviting Andrew Beagle with Transportation.
Judy – There is a new development proposal for the Westside. Already hearing concerns about traffic and backups on West Bay Drive at 5:00 pm.
Bruce – Daniel Einstein is distributing a petition to call on the City does their due diligence during construction of this development. Concerned they may want to get around some requirements. I was going to recommend an agenda item for next meeting.
Bob – Another item to add for cumulative impacts is stormwater.
Melissa – Seems like we never hear about how the City plans to address impacts of growth. We only get involved after impacts have occurred. I’m sure someone is looking at it, but we never hear about it.
Judy – I know there is a new stormwater plan. Eric Christensen has presented on impacts of climate change. He stated that the City’s systems are not sized for the precipitation changes. We then see new development that will increase the stormwater problems. All these things decrease greenspace and cut down trees and increase impervious surface. Rate payers end up paying for these impacts. Property owners and renters.
Helen – Discussed lack of certainty in models. Lack of water is another impact from increased density. Need to maintain streamflow during times of drought.
New 2020 standards are putting a stronger emphasis on canopy. We are cutting down trees when we should be saving them. This is a large concern in my neighborhood.
Larry- Is the “invasion of the lobbyist” something we want to add?
Jenn and Helen- Yes. It is linked to short term housing.
Judy – Any interest in urban agriculture?
Helen and Clark mentioned previous presentations from TJ Johnson.
Clark also mentioned that Dani Madrone met with the Conservation District and the Farmland Trust and that Council has added an item to the LUEC’s workplan to look at urban agriculture. Regional Climate Plan states that we can’t reach climate goas with current land use patterns. Recommendation is 30,000 acres of regenerative forest.
Rachel – I appreciate CNA taking up the lobbyist issue. Looking at tree impacts, it might be good for us to discuss that there are standards for canopy cover/ We should review how the City is doing regarding meeting those standards.
Melissa – Need to stay clear that one purpose of CNA is educating ourselves and another is how we convey our concerns to the City. That second piece seems not to be working. We need to keep in mind how we communicate with the City.
8:29 – 8:30 Adjourn
Council of Neighborhood Associations 