– Larry Dzieza
7:05 – 7:20 Neighborhood Grants Update and Discussion
7:20 – 8:00 City of Olympia Rental Issues – Christa Lenssen, Housing Program Specialist
8:00 – 8:15 Council Liaison Report – Dontae Payne
8:15 – 8:25 Report on Committees’ Work (Social and Betterment) – Larry Dzieza
8:25 – 8:30 Minutes Approval and Agenda Ideas
8:30 Adjourn
CNA MEETING DRAFT Minutes
June 13, 2022 6:30pm
6:30 – 7:00 Neighborhood Reports
John Newman: Looking to engage neighborhoods to comment on the Capital Mall Triangle planning. Pushing for lower income housing and pedestrian and bicycle amenities. Also looking for improvements on Elliot and Division.
Charlotte Persons: Bigelow neighborhood association has not met but is supposed to meet next week.
Melissa Allen: Board meeting next week to plan August block party. Still uncertain about in-person meetings. Big meeting in October to elect officers.
Bruce Coulter: Meeting in July and on the verge for two years to become a newly energized board and new technology. But still not fully there yet. Hoping to have an outdoor meeting in July.
Darrah Johnson: Wildwood planning for neighborhood night out, kids parade summer kick-off. The Board meets monthly. Asked for an update on liability insurance research that was done.
Larry Dzieza reported that he contacted last month about his finding from talking with the insurance group that does most of the insuring for neighborhoods.
Bob Jacobs: Governor Stevens, has lots of foot traffic and enjoys seeing all ages on various contraptions and walking through the neighborhood.
Marty Worcester: Redwood Estates, is having a garage sale neighborhood wide. Newsletter going out every couple of months. Got a grant to make improvements on circles in the neighborhood. Huge amount of building on 18th and 14th and lots of traffic. They just been leveling things on 18th and up to 22nd. Not a lot of planning in keeping wooded areas intact. No little places for kids to play. Got new officers and neighborhood doing well.
Jenn Wulf: Downtown. Things are struggling Downtown due to increased rents. The entire Board is composed of renters. Hearing from members that the average rent increase is around $400. Asked if anyone knew about a renters engagement at the Castle regarding T.K. Bentler’s property and would like to learn more about it. Victor Minjares suggested Jenn contact him about it.
Karen Clemens: Eastside several block parties are being planned. Doing a big newsletter and got a matching grant for that. Annual picnic in July at Lions park. She indicated that there is no progress regarding the lack of sidewalk access near the spray park.
Bob Jacobs noted that small stuff like striping for crosswalks should be done and let the council know.
Larry Dzieza: Nottingham is active on the streets and sidewalks. Larry relayed that his Board is reaching out to the renters in the neighborhood, and we are working on that by knocking on their doors and creating a mailing list in addition to the homeowners list.
Victor Minjares: They finished their website (https://southcapitolneighborhood.org/) and it looks fantastic and posted it on the chat. It was a group effort. Thinks its WordPress.
7:00 – 7:05 City MOU Update – Larry Dzieza
Larry reviewed the meeting with the city on the MOU. The main point was the city is hiring a facilitator to work through process with the CNA. Tim added that they authorized money to hire a facilitator and set the scope. At the meeting Larry requested that the CNA be involved in setting the statement of work and work plan.
7:05 – 7:20 Neighborhood Grants Update and Discussion
Lydia sent 3 years of grant awards and Larry merged it together into an Excel spreadsheet. And reviewed the data. He noted that there were less awards than available grants. About $9,000 of the $23,000 is remaining.
Larry was impressed by the variety of things funded by the grants and asked whether neighborhoods are aware of the possibilities for funding.
Stephanie Malham – Northeast neighborhood association. They have a lot of neighborhood work parties on their pathways and increasingly difficult due to the insurance. It’s a barrier to getting work done. Just shoveling chips on pathways for example. Asked to confirm whether a city park or pathway can use the City’s insurance?
Larry said that if its grant funded, the city will cover the insurance cost as part of the grant. Larry talked to Nicholson Insurance. Unlike some cities, Olympia doesn’t have the insurance contact and forms online for ease and speed. Larry was told by Nicholson that overall insurance is by number of units/homes and that one-off events like a block party is based on number of attendees. They have no form, and you need to call them and talk with them. They have a certificate that names the city as a dual insured. Prices range from $500 for club use (monthly meetings). $176 minimum per special event.
Bob said that trying to work with the city for them to provide the bark for a path and the neighbors spread it. He was told that can’t be done without getting insurance. Bob asked why the Parks department can have volunteer help on their projects with no insurance required. The answer was that Parks provides supervision over the event, but Public Works does not. Bob suggested “just do it” without permission and the city won’t get in trouble.
Larry expressed that he was hoping there would be some kind of city sponsored or provided umbrella policy for neighborhoods.
Bruce Coulter related that they use the Olympia school for meetings and pays $250 a year for it. He says that he has had work parties at a nearby park and never asked or got about insurance. Says that an umbrella policy would cost a lot of money.
Larry talked about the work of the CNA Committees on Betterment and Social activities in the context of grants. Two topics that came up repeatedly were technology and having multiple neighborhoods benefit and the second was sidewalks. The question was asked if there a cross-neighborhood grant for the remaining $9k to address these two items?
Larry contacted a sidewalk repair company who said it would be cheaper to fix a bunch than one at a time. Maybe neighborhoods could do a survey of what is their highest priorities in terms of specific sidewalks to be repaired and fund some. Also discussed was how to use technology to reach out to more renters. Things like postage and developing great mailers was an idea. Block party supplies. Larry related his conversation with the city parks regarding creating a “lending library” in which to check out block party supplies. Perhaps in Rubbermaid tubs that RNAs can pick-up. Larry pointed out that less wealthier neighborhoods have more need not only because of cost but also because storage space for renters is often scarce. Finally, using an item once a year that could be shared city wide is more cost-effective and less wasteful.
Larry reported that Dave Marty had ideas on how to conduct a technology retreat and will report on that later.
Larry asked for the CNA reaction about group-grants. Bruce said he was in favor. Others raised hands.
John raised the issue that the Voted Utility Tax was supposed to provide 1% or a million dollars a year for sidewalks and pathways. Larry said that the city has dedicated the money for new sidewalks, not maintenance. Larry related learning from a person on a wheelchair who left the sidewalk to continue down a street that he does so because of the terrible condition of the sidewalks makes it less safe than the streets.
Jenn shared that she uses a walker, and the downtown sidewalks require her to replace and upgrade her mobility devices to be able to go over “rough terrain” and that is what our sidewalk condition is. Larry related solutions that other cities have used. Such as matching property owner contributions or the city putting a condition at time of sale for the repair. Larry also noted that after the city passed the VUT, they removed the maintenance of effort ($150,000) in the budget they had before.
Karen said it seems like that public works position is to do really large projects and not small or maintenance because its easier.
Judy raised the sidewalk issue as an equity issue for those who don’t have cars.
Bob suggested a periodic replacement of street trees to keep the roots from damaging the sidewalk. He called the $11,000 budgeted for maintenance ridiculous.
Victor raised the idea that more sidewalks doesn’t make political sense. He also said that concrete has a huge carbon footprint.
Melissa said sidewalks are always on the top of neighborhoods list. Let’s use other terms than sidewalks, like pathways.
Marty said that the politics of sidewalks are positive and, in some cases, it’s just a little investment in leveling them. Thinks politicians would get a lot of bang for their buck.
Councilperson Payne – Says he received a presentation on sidewalks by staff and Sophie Simpson. He asked the City Manager to get things really moving on this and make it part of the city’s workplan. Agrees that $11,000 is a very low number. Agrees that Judy’s equity point is excellent. He added that sidewalks carbon footprint could be offset by higher use of transit and non-car travel that sidewalks encourage.
Tim Smith – Hasn’t had a public works staff to talk about sidewalks in a while. Grants for sidewalks may be too complex for this year. Said the city follows the Transportation Master Plan for priorities.
7:20 – 8:00 City of Olympia Rental Issues – Christa Lenssen, Housing Program Specialist
Not allowed by state law to do rent control.
Committee agreed to move forward to place increase percentage based notices. Less than 5% increased from 60 to 90 days, 5% increase or more would require 120 day notice and 10% will require 180 day notice.
Jenn asked for a copy of the slide show and whether this applies to tenants who are on a month-to-month lease. The increased notice period would apply for each increase.
Bruce asked if the city has an ombudsman for rental issues. The answer was no. Bruce asked what recommendation she has if there is a renter/tenant conflict. The answer was to refer them to the Thurston County Volunteer Legal Services or the Northwest Justice Project. Also there are statewide tenant advocacy such as Solid Ground and the Tenants Union of WA.
Christa Lenssen’s email is: clenssen@ci.olympia.wa.us and website is: https://www.olympiawa.gov/community/housing___homelessness/tenant_protections.php
Phone #: 360-280-0843
Bob Jacobs is that the council’s desire to help renters will drive up the cost to renters. It feels like there has not been a wholistic analysis. Bothered by the inspection program idea. It would require dozens of employees, legal cost and penalty collections. If its paid for by fees it will increase rents. A small percentage of rental units need to be fixed but an across-the-board inspection program will be expensive.
Christa did hear similar responses from some of the landlords.
Bob also disagreed with the advisability of spreading the security deposit over three months. That will cause landlords to jack the deposit sky high.
John asked if the 51% of households are renters is correct? Christa confirmed that. John asked if the 200 renters responding to the survey was sufficient. Christa raised the issue that although 4,000 visitors went to the page only 450 people responded overall. A problem is that not everyone wants to be identified in order to take the survey. She acknowledged they would like to do better.
Judy asked about the definition of small landlord being 5 or more units. Is there any data stratified by number of units? Are the problems happening with small landlords as well as larger ones? Christa confirmed that the small landlord and tenant relations are better than others.
Victor cautioned that small landlords can be bad too. Also cautioned that programs cost money and may be offering false hope.
Bob asked a clarifying question whether five or more properties means units or properties? Christa said that there is no clear definition. Jenn added that a definition is needed.
8:00 – 8:15 Council Liaison Report – Dontae Payne
The Council’s state legislative agenda includes rent stabilization looked at the state level. There is a difference between rent control and rent stabilization. He is personally a proponent of rent stabilization. Recognizes the problem with the website requiring identification.
Getting lots of feedback about the reimagining public safety.
He has received calls about speeding on Division Street. Increased presence of law enforcement and speed checking signs placed there on trailers.
A concern at council about BLS, Basic Life Support, around response times. EMS Council is meeting this Wednesday to deal with concerns.
Permitting process concerns have generated a lot of emails. Particularly the Capitol Mall SW intersection at Cooper Point. Said Council cannot legally stop a development based on values, it must be about codes.
Had a meeting earlier that day about the move of the Mitigation Site. Hope the move to be finalized by end of September.
June 18th Council retreat is open to public.
The 2021 Annual Report is available: City Annual Report to the Community https://www.olympiawa.gov/government/annual_report.php
8:15 – 8:25 Report on Committees’ Work (Social and Betterment) – Larry Dzieza
Larry reported on the May 19th and May 20th Committee meetings. Larry said he has minutes from the meetings. Technology and Sidewalks are the biggest issues. Larry believes the meetings are worthwhile.
The Internal Operations interest area committee has yet to meet. Record keeping, technology, Board relations, fees and dues, and membership issues are examples of topics.
8:25 – 8:30 Minutes Approval and Agenda Ideas
Minutes were approved including corrections by Bob Jacobs.
Ideas. Jen suggested Disaster Preparedness. Karen seconded that and suggested a person from the Fire Department and Mapping your neighborhood resource would be good. Charlotte shared that the Good Government group is sponsoring training on getting ready for the Comprehensive Plan update. Martha suggested more information on getting developments to leave more green spaces.
Judy suggested watching the City’s eight videos on sea level rise.
8:30 Adjourn
Urban Forestry, Kym Foley, Olympia Habitat Planner
She provided an overview of the program and the upcoming tree assessment study that they have received funding for.
Kym asked periodically for questions. Mr. Newman asked about whether the city is working with developers to save the 100-year-old trees. Kym deferred the answer to Tim Smith. Kym reiterated the purpose of the study is to see where we are now before making decisions going forward. To create a baseline.
Larry asked that policy questions be directed towards Tim and study questions to Kym.
Melissa asked if the assessment is based on a grant? Kym said they did. She said there is a lot of power in having an assessment to help set policies on preservation and other funding.
Larry shared the Tumwater assessment and focused on the “to what end” and showed the recommendations for policy and action efforts. It also has a GIS component.
Judy applauded the effort. She related that there was a 2014 advisory group composed of 3 existing committee members and DNR and they came up with recommendations for urban forestry and she has a copy of the report she would like to send Kym.
Judy also talked about the hard surfaces issue from more construction and density.
Bob Jacobs said there was a Tree Board in the City. Kym said she will look into it.
Charlotte talked about the East Bay Drive project that will develop the entire property and destroy all the trees including six 100-year-old trees. The city said that the developer is following the current code.
Tim said that this is a starting point and the grant was about $200,000. He said that the proposed project meeting with the neighborhood is not the final word on the plan.
Dave Marty related the discussion about the Cain Road project where the developer was adamant about not leaving any trees. Tim said that they did keep 200 tree units in a 50 foot buffer and that it was not clear cut. He said that the current system incentivizes retaining larger trees as they are worth more points.
Bob spoke about the danger of having very large trees next to houses as one fell down and nearly killed a child in his neighborhood. They will fall down and it gets worse from climate change related disease. He also said that planting trees like red oaks results in sidewalk repairs to be paid by residents. Inappropriate trees should not be planted on sidewalks.
Example of a study from NC
Health implications will be explored.
Helen asked about stream buffers. Kym said that began her look at tree canopy. She is also looking at stream basin project as well. Recently updated stream basin GIS and looking at stormwater relationships. Helen also asked about urban agriculture and open space and Kym said she will add it to the analysis. In terms of canopy diversity, it’s a massive undertaking in terms of data by species. They are starting with deciduous vs evergreen. Knowing where all the elm or ash trees are in terms of their risk.
Bob asked about if there is a cause-and-effect relationship related to childhood asthma that is substantiated. Kym agreed that one indicator is insufficient, and that care needs to be taken in the analysis.
Kym said the study will tie into the comprehensive plan and other activities.
This slide shows the timing of the year-long project…
Helen thanked her for the timeline and then raised the timing of the Comp Plan and the availability of the data. Seems like that getting the data out in time for the public engagement on the Comp Plan and policy.
Larry asked that the data be available in citizen usable data sharing and not just a highly processed story map. Kym said she will see what can be done.
John pointed out a problem of thousands of landowners and the role of trees offsetting stormwater. Some people will pave an RV area and LIDAR can detect that impervious area. Does the city get LIDAR maps for comparisons year to year? Kym said that the City gets LIDAR data every six years in partnership with Thurston Regional Planning.
Larry asked if anyone is thinking about a pause in tree removal while the data is being collected? Is there a sense of urgency?
Charlotte Persons says we need to get new codes to protect trees faster. We don’t even need the study to know that what 85% of impervious space is going to do. She said we need a big change to address it. We need more urgency and need to be serious about it.
Melissa raised the issue of the city reducing required amount of green space and setback which reduces room for trees.
Larry asked if there is any neighborhood involvement before it gets started? Kym said there will be after the results back. Especially when they move into Comp Plan amendments. The study is objective work and policy work will come later.
Council Liaison Report
Clark Gilman reporting. City entered into an exclusive negotiation with Habitat for developing the city’s 10 acre parcel on Boulevard Road that includes owner occupied housing. Habitat is in the weeds right now finding partners. It will also include a neighborhood center.
Capital Mall area project area has been modified to exclude some housing areas. Land Use presentation on rental issues. Proposals will be looked at in the May meeting.
Clark raised how the existing codes created in the 1960’s needs a major reset to be responsible stewards of where we live. Chicago recently came out and said they don’t need the old codes centered around single-family housing. Equity, access to housing, environmental stewardship driving the Comp Plan would look different.
Jenn asked about comment on the rental protections. She has been asked on how to speak out and get involved and show support. Clark said that Engage Olympia has a page on rental regulations and has a contact. Dani Madrone is chairing Land Use and you could check in with her.
Melissa asked about the Police Audit for OPD and an article that stated that there needs to be improvements. Clark says that operations and morale are pretty high right now. They are making the changes in the “reimagining” effort. The Police Auditor was reinstated recently.
Tim Smith Report
Recently filled a position and selected a consultant on the Triangle Project. Hired a one-year employee to look at city wide parking policies under a grant.
Other Business
Larry Dzieza shared a document that the city provides on their agenda page that shows upcoming agenda items far enough in advance to prepare for meaningful input. Clark says its published in every Council packet most of the time.
Minutes Approval
Approved unanimously.
Council of Neighborhood Associations 