Council of Neighborhood Associations

December 2024

December 9, 2024 CNA Meeting Minutes

Attending:  

Tim Smith, (City Staff), Karen Sweeney (Eastside NA), Robert Vanderpool (City Council), Gerald Apple (South Capitol), Larry Dzieza (Chair and Nottingham), Judy Bardin (NWONA), Lisa Riener (Burbank/Elliot), Keegan Wulf (Downtown), Jeff Kean (Wildwood), John Saunders (South Capitol), Peter Gutchen (Northeast), Jim Rioux (Eastside), Stu Olshevski (SWONA), Jaron Burke, Brittany Gillia and Natalie Weiss (City of Olympia)

Overview

Neighborhood representatives discussed various neighborhood initiatives, including Christmas lights displays, community art projects, and efforts to address housing issues and traffic safety. They also reviewed the city’s Grant program, with Brittany Gillia taking over from Lydia, and discussed the city’s commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and the importance of neighborhood planning and community involvement. Lastly, they discussed the city’s upcoming priority-based budgeting, the appointment process for City Council position number 5, and changes in the city’s department structure.

New Matching Grant Staff Introduced

The CNA was introduced to Brittany Gillia, the city’s historic preservation officer and also the new neighborhood liaison.  She introduced herself and outlined her role in managing the Grant program for the 2025 cycle of neighborhood matching grants. She mentioned that the program would start earlier than previous years, with an info meeting on January 7th and the grant opening on January 20th, closing at the end of February.

Brittany also expressed her willingness to interact with the neighborhoods and to reach out to them for meetings. The team discussed the possibility of other funding sources, with Peter mentioning the Inspire Olympia funding. Brittany took note of these suggestions and promised to send out updated resources and handouts. The team also discussed the timeline for signing contracts and the end of Lydia’s tenure at the city, which was expected to be at the end of February.

Neighborhood Reports

Gerald Apple of South Capitol says he plans to meet with Greg Wright on Thursday to discuss Greg’s Christmas lights display and take photos for an article about neighborhood activities. He also attended a singing group event the previous night and enjoyed it. 

Peter Guttchen discussed the progress on the Joy Food Forest along the Joy Avenue Pathway and the collaboration with Roosevelt School on a community art project.

Lisa Riener shared updates about the Burbank Elliott Neighborhood Association, including discussions about sidewalk improvements and the potential use of asphalt instead of concrete. 

Stu from southwest Olympia mentioned plans for a neighborhood-wide yard sale and the development of a gleaning map to reduce food waste.

Jeff Kean, representing the Wildwood Neighborhood Association shared updates about their annual holiday sing-along and the upcoming Wildwood board meeting.

Gerald discussed the South Capitol neighborhood’s efforts to address housing issues and the city’s response to speeding and reckless driving on Capitol Way.

John Saunders provided updates on the South Capitol neighborhood’s meeting with the city and the upcoming annual meeting.

Karen from the East Side neighborhood shared plans for their annual meeting, focusing on food insecurity and potential donations.

Larry ended the conversation by promoting the Nottingham neighborhood lighting spectacular and encouraging others to share information about their own displays.

Councilmember Update – Robert Vanderpool

Robert discussed an upcoming emergency ordinance on affordable housing, aiming to speed up the permit process and lower development costs. Larry expressed interest in seeing a fiscal impact note on the ordinance. Robert also mentioned the city’s upcoming priority-based budgeting and the appointment process for City Council position number 5. Tim elaborated on the ordinance, explaining its provisions for prioritizing affordable housing projects, creating a specialized staff for addressing project issues, waiving certain requirements, and establishing a program to backfill permit fees. Larry and Peter expressed support for the direction of the ordinance.  The attendees also discussed the economics of building an ADU on existing properties, focusing on the 30% of AMI for housing cost rule with Peter providing a link to an Area Median Income (AMI) table for reference.

Climate Chapter of Comp Plan – Jaron Burke and Natalie Weiss

Jaron and Natalie from the climate action and resilience team presented the new climate chapter of the Comp plan, which includes two sub-elements: resilience and mitigation. They explained that resilience refers to adapting to climate change, while mitigation involves reducing greenhouse gas emissions. They also highlighted the potential impacts of climate change on Olympia, including extreme heat, drought, wildfires, and sea level rise. The team emphasized the importance of community resilience, including emergency preparedness, social infrastructure, stormwater, landscape and urban design.

Jaron discussed the city’s commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 59% below 2015 levels by 2030 and achieving net-zero emissions by 2040. He highlighted that the largest sources of emissions are in the transportation and building sectors, which together account for nearly 90% of local greenhouse gas emissions. Jaron also mentioned that the city is planning to conduct another greenhouse gas inventory, which will include a consumption-based approach to better capture the impact of residents’ choices on emissions.

In the meeting, Jaron clarified that the 59% target for greenhouse gas emissions reductions is community-wide and relative to 2015 levels, not per capita. He also mentioned that the city is leaning towards a model that captures goods and services, which is not included in the current analysis. Larry questioned the feasibility of the target, considering the expected population growth and the need for significant amounts of clean energy.  John expressed concerns about the wildfire risk in his neighborhood, despite the city’s assessment of a 3% increase in risk. He also mentioned the restrictive regulations around installing solar panels on historic properties. Brittany assured John that they are open to flexibility in reviewing permits for historic homes.

Jim expressed concerns about the city’s infrastructure and support for neighborhood-level assessments and emergency planning. He noted that the current approach is cumbersome and may not be sustainable. Natalie responded by mentioning the city’s upcoming urban forest management plan and the ongoing climate risk and vulnerability assessment. Karen and Peter also shared their experiences with neighborhood associations and the challenges they face in sustaining preparedness initiatives without adequate city support.

Gerald suggested addressing traffic safety and enforcement issues during emergencies, while Jaron asked about the city’s process for engaging neighborhoods in planning for population growth and housing needs. Peter emphasized the need for a more collaborative approach and creative solutions to support neighborhoods in addressing these issues. Larry suggested that emergency plans should be required for large apartment complexes to address potential challenges of larger housing structures during emergencies.

Larry expressed his appreciation for the Climate Chapter’s new website feature that allows for neighborhood comments and suggestions, which he believes could be beneficial for all of the city’s Comp Plan chapters. He also discussed the need for better understanding and investment in neighborhood associations, as they are crucial for building resilience. Peter and Natalie agreed to further discuss the effectiveness of sub-area plans and the need for more control over small block decision-making.

John highlighted the need for education about neighborhood associations among city staff.

Chair Reports

In the meeting, Peter, Larry, and others discussed the importance of neighborhood planning and community involvement in shaping the city’s future. They emphasized the need for more collaboration and partnership between neighborhoods and the city to ensure resilience and emphasize the concept of social capital. They also discussed the ongoing sidewalk mapping project, which is still open for public input.

Larry also mentioned the need for integrating data from the sidewalk survey with the city’s work for better analysis and investment prioritization.

Larry said that the city has a website that can receive data about broken sidewalks and other infrastructure issues, but the CNA project is aimed at collecting data from a neighborhood’s perspective. The team also discussed the potential for neighborhood value-added initiatives, such as tree trimming and vegetation encroachment of sidewalks.

The attendees agreed to continue their work on the land use chapter through the Sounding Board.

Karen suggested a future agenda item on emergency preparedness, and Tim announced changes in the city’s department structure, including a new name change to Community Planning and Economic Development.

The conversation ended with the approval of the meeting minutes and wishes for the holiday season.

Next steps

  • Tim to follow up with Jay about including budget discussion in upcoming neighborhood forum.
  • City staff to work on planning housing forum for first quarter of next year.
  • Larry to work with city staff to integrate neighborhood sidewalk survey data with city’s sidewalk assessment.
  • Tim to keep neighborhood representatives updated on Community Planning and Economic Development department changes.
  • City staff to consider including consumption-based emissions data in next greenhouse gas inventory.
  • Natalie to connect Jim with staff leading urban forest management plan for potential involvement.