November 13, 2023 CNA Minutes
Location: City Hall and Hybrid
Attending:
Dave Marty, Indian Creek NA; Judy Bardin, NWONA; Larry Dzieza, Nottingham NA; Clark Gilman, Olympia City Council; Bob Jacobs, Gov. Stevens NA; Tim Smith, Olympia; Melissa Allen (Bigelow Highlands), Dana McAvoy (East Bay Drive NA), Jeffery Showman (Wildwood), John Saunders and Gerald Apple, South Capitol NA, Karen Sweeney (Eastside NA), Rebekah Ziesemer (Olympia Community Programs Officer), John Newman (Burbank/Elliott), Justin Belk (South Westside NA)
Quick recap
The meeting covered neighborhood reports, updates on projects and policies, public safety-related fund allocation, and technical difficulties. The team discussed the multifamily tax exemption, affordable housing requirements, and the absence of a promised document. They also discussed the citywide problem of speeding and the effectiveness of speed advisory signs, outreach efforts, and funding opportunities. The need for improved outreach methods to involve a wider and more diverse range of community members was also highlighted.
6:30 – 6:50 Neighborhood Reports
The meeting discussed neighborhood reports, reports from various CNA members and updates on different neighborhood projects.
Melissa Allen wrestling with the problem of managing their Google Drive in terms of access and turnover of Board members and asked the group to help on the issue. Jeffrey Showman volunteered to provide Melissa with assistance.
Bob Jacobs thanked the city for their successful hybrid meeting setup.
Gerald Apple of South Capitol Neighborhood shared that their association is looking for more board members and expressed support for the Lincoln Options program. He also thanked the Police department for helping out on Halloween when over 1,000 people come into the neighborhood.
Judy from NWONA announced a large neighborhood meeting upcoming Thursday. Judy described the outreach efforts. David Ginther from the city will talk about the Capital Mall Triangle.
Jeffrey from Wildwood reported the election of a new board member but still are short one.
Martha from Redwood Estates shared concerns about leaf cleanup methods and remarked how neighbors came around to help.
Dana from East Bay Drive neighborhood association announced an upcoming work party furthering the revitalization of the old gas station site near the San Francisco Bakery.
John Newman from Burbank/Elliott NA spoke about how easily leaves block the drains on streets. He spoke about a development being worked on with neighbors on 24th and Milroy, a rectangle of county property that is surrounded by the city. Neighborhood residents are concerned that the development meets good transportation and street/sidewalk standards. Neighborhood residents are also concerned about the multi-family tax exemption expansion in relation to their nearby neighborhood center.
Larry of Nottingham Community Association discussed recent actions on policies and increased homeowner association dues for the Nottingham Association.
Justin Belk of (South Westside NA) talked about their quarterly meeting which conducted a brainstorming session about how to make best use of the neighborhood grants opportunities.
Karen Sweeney (Eastside NA) reported on their upcoming annual meeting. They will also be having a city representative talk about the homeless response and a proposal to take management of the Plum Street Village site from LIHI to another agency. She also discussed the intent to engage more non-Board members in activities and projects.
6:50 – 7:10 Councilmember Update
Councilmember Clark Gilman shared information on the community garden pilot and partnership with the Thurston Conservation District to foster more community gardens. One action was to allow an agricultural rate for water for a community garden. Olympia Parks department is also engaged in using undeveloped parklands and the potential for orchards or edible landscaping within parks.
Clark discussed several upcoming decisions for the city council, including a hearing on expanding the boundaries of the multifamily tax exemption and a discussion about renter protections and a rental housing inspection program.
Judy expressed concerns about the confusion regarding the boundaries of the proposed MFTE ordinance and requested a clearer map to aid public understanding. Tim agreed to follow up with Darian to include a more comprehensive map in her presentation.
They also discussed the expansion of the MFTE to four neighborhood center areas, but uncertainty persisted about these areas. The team decided to create a separate map to clarify these errors. Bob Jacobs made suggestions on how to clarify the areas being expanded by color coding.
Melissa raised questions about the potential impact of the multifamily tax exemption on property taxes, expressing concern about the lack of available information on this topic. Especially, how much it will cost the typical homeowner.
Larry, the chairperson, said that the tax break given to developers for the exemption is borne by the taxpayers and it’s a direct tax shift. The chairperson also highlighted issues involved with the multifamily tax exemption, including the lack of affordable housing requirements. Judy discussed the absence of a document promised by Aaron BeMiller detailing the impact of a certain matter, which won’t be ready until the night of the meeting when the MFTE vote will happen.
Melissa re-emphasized the need for more detailed information about the neighborhood centers and the cost to homeowners to help citizens understand and for the city to gauge support. John asked for the impact information to be shown before and after the effective dates of the MFTEs.
The Chair asked Tim to update the team about the upcoming annexation vote. Tim explained that the city Council had directed Staff to bring forward a resolution to authorize the city to start negotiating an interlocal agreement with the county, leading to the start of the annexation process.
Bob Jacobs asked for attention to the infrastructure for parking in neighborhood centers as his experience with parking related to the Spuds NC has created street safety issues.
Tim brought the group up to speed on the annexation process. There will be a resolution that authorizes the city to start negotiating an inter-local agreement with the county. He said it will be a multi-step, multi-year process and that there will be opportunities for public engagement but no public votes.
There was a discussion of how the city will utilize the $2+ million coming from the recent countywide sales tax increase vote for public safety. It was highlighted that the Olympia Police Department has a broader portfolio than the county Sheriff and intends to use the money for better practices or innovations in policing and the court system.
7:10 – 8:00 Rebekah Ziesemer, Olympia Community Programs Officer
Rebekah discussed the citywide problem of speeding and the strategies used to address it, including collaboration with the public works transportation team and the use of data to prioritize areas with excessive speeding. She described past staffing issues that have made progress more difficult are being addressed now with about 15 officers in training whether that’s in the academy or out on the road as a trainee.
Rebekah also mentioned a new map created to track the officers’ presence in different neighborhoods and the acquisition of three more speed watch signs. The meeting also discussed the need for new design concepts for a program and the effectiveness of speed advisory signs which seems marginal on average and may not be long lasting. Finally, the possibility of implementing speed cameras was brought up.
The Speed Watch program uses volunteers, and they can document using a radar gun information of speeders who receive warning letters, not tickets.
Karen raised concerns about the small souped-up cars speeding in Olympia and the lack of response from law enforcement, which was also a common complaint seen on Nextdoor. Rebekah acknowledged these issues and explained the complexities behind the police’s response to calls which is prioritized by the 911 system.
She still encouraged that people continue to report crimes or suspicious activities, even if they seem minor, to help prevent more serious crimes. Rebekah also addressed the fear of neighbors in calling the police due to the perceived bother and reassured them that officers will respond appropriately. She further discussed the effectiveness of the block watch system, the importance of neighborhood associations, and the potential for multiple officers to be involved in a response. The discussion also touched on crime prevention tools, package theft prevention, and the challenges faced during the transition of homeless individuals from living on the street to housing.
Melissa also shared her experience as part of a team that interviewed officers for neighborhood positions.
8:00 – 8:10 Tim Reports on Developments
Tim discussed ongoing projects in the city:
- including the adaptive reuse of the old Greyhound station to include food trucks and then also have a tap room inside.
- Low-income housing project called Lansdale Point, 162 residents, on Pacific and Devoe is going through land review.
- Habitat for Humanity project on Boulevard Road is moving forward with 112 residential units with ownership equity provisions.
- An application for a drive through for a restaurant along Plum Street in combination with a multi-family building.
- There was also discussion about the potential return of School Resource Officers and the city’s comprehensive plan update for 2045. The chair and Judy had questions about the timing and location of some of these projects.
- During the meeting, there was some question about the rental registry being on the Council agenda for December as a member of the CNA did not see that on the specific list for comments.
8:10 – 8:25 Chair Reports
Rental Registry, MOU, and Sidewalk App Updates
MOU – Tim met with Leonard Bauer and Jay Burney to discuss the next steps regarding the MOU a couple of weeks ago. Next steps will be reaching out to the 2 council members, Clark and Dantae that were taking part in that process. Then they will reach out to the CNA leadership hopefully in the early part of the year to get the MOU finalized.
Alpha Testing of Sidewalk App – The Chair, Larry, provided an update on the alpha testing of the sidewalk app and discussed its potential to provide useful data about neighborhoods. Larry showed how the app layers work together. The next step is to go from alpha to beta. An idea being kicked around at a sidewalk subcommittee meeting was who are the natural affinity groups that share a similar interest the sidewalk concerns and it was decided that neighborhood schools are the logical choice. Additional ideas for potential partnerships were requested.
Larry talked about how we might ask for increased grant funding to fix some of the problems identified by the app. He also talked about the value we could add if some of the problems, such as overgrowth of vegetation and tree limbs were addressed by the RNA – both by making the property owner aware of the issue or volunteering to correct the problem.
Outreach Efforts – The meeting also touched on the need for improved outreach efforts to involve a wider and more diverse range of community members.
The chairperson discussed the outreach efforts made by Stephanie Johnson and Marygrace Goddu, explored funding opportunities, and shared insights on improving outreach effectiveness. The chair also spoke with David Ginther about the challenges of measuring the impact of outreach efforts. The importance of direct engagement with participants was emphasized, along with the need for alternative outreach methods.
Budget Request – The chair also touched on the city’s budget request and the need to increase recognition and outreach to neighborhood associations. He reminded the group that the grant amount hasn’t increased for a long time and that we have written to the City about raising it to a standard of $1 per capita.
Larry also recognized Jeffrey Showman and Karen Sweeney’s work on a draft of talking points about neighborhood matching grants and the value of RNAs that could be used for articles to increase public awareness of the neighborhood associations.
Web Building – Dana updated the grant funded team on the efforts to build a new website template for RNAs using WordPress. The next meeting was set for December 11th to discuss progress and outcomes.
There were no minutes to approve.
Council of Neighborhood Associations 