NORTH CAPITOL HILL NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION
Board Meeting Minutes - December 9, 2003
The regular meeting of the NCHNA Board was called to order at 7:10pm by Allan Jones, co president. Members present were Barbara Robinson, Allan Jones, Scott Jennings, Colby Chester, Alex Baehr. Also in attendance were neighborhood residents Michelle LeCompte and Jack Jolley.
The board welcomed Alex Baehr as its newest member-at-large, following procedures detailed at the last meeting and in accordance with our bi-laws.
The minutes of the previous meeting having been approved by email process, there was no need for further confirmation.
Treasurer's Report
Howie Choder reported the balance of NCHNA's account at Bank of America. There was one withdrawal for $208.70 for 1000 postcards announcing the new website, nchna.com.
He has consolidated the accounts into interest bearing checking account.
The post cards announcing the web site are being distributed. We have covered about 70% of the houses in the neighborhood. We should be very thankful for our volunteers: Jerry Howe, Ginny Aleman, Tom McElroy, David Docter, Barbara Robinson and Jack Jolley who have distributed the cards around the neighborhood.
SR 520
Alex Baehr reported that he attended the recent meeting of the Montlake, Roanoke, and NCH committees which are dealing with this issue. The minutes of that meeting are posted on the NCHNA Website under "SR 520." Briefly, the State legislature and the City of Seattle have each committed $250,000 toward neighborhood input on this project, which has a current cost-projection of $2 billion. These three neighborhood groups will each carry two votes and the state one in determining how the money will be spent. As a first step, the joint committee interviewed several candidates for the role of "Technical Advisor," and chose James Owen. Further information can be obtained by referring to the above mentioned link on our website.
I-5 Noise Abatement Project
Old business was tabled temporarily at 7:20 in order to hear a special presentation by Kinyan Lui, Project Engineer for the proposed WSDOT noise wall project, which has been in the works for several months and will be holding a final public open house in this neighborhood on Thursday, 12/11, at 5pm, at St. Patrick's Church adjacent to Roanoke Park. This project was generated by the state legislature and funded by the "nickel tax" on gasoline. The sum of $3.5 million has been designated to retrofit sections of I-5 between E. Boston and E. Shelby on the east side, and E. Newton and E. Allison on the west side. The specifics of the WSDOT noise abatement process are such that the decision whether or not to construct a noise wall (between 12 and 16 feet in height) rests primarily with the residents on the "front line," in this case, those homeowners who reside on the block between E. Boston and E. Miller along Harvard E. Presented with the option of a wall, those residents unanimously voted, "No," and so the project will not go forward in our neighborhood. Exactly where said wall will be constructed has not yet been finalized, but Ms. Lui suggested that it would very likely be constructed on the western rim of I-5 along Boylston, since those "front liners" were very much in favor of a wall.
Following this presentation the meeting resumed its agenda.
Strategic Planning Committee
Scott reported that he has been meeting with Jack Jolley in a preliminary effort to draft a long-range plan for the neighborhood association. A handout with the initial proposal was circulated and will be posted on the website once it has been vetted by the board.
Bertschi School
As with other such committees, minutes from the recent meeting with Bertschi have been posted on our website. Scott reported that he attended the meeting with Bertschi on December 2, and was pleased that the school has agreed to meet with NCHNA reps regularly and keep us informed of their construction/land use activities on a regular basis. He expects to use the Seattle Prep/NCHNA agreement as a template for our future interaction with Bertschi.
Seattle Prep
Allan informed the board that he has been monitoring the neighborhood and was pleased that Prep's efforts at reducing pick-up/drop-off traffic on E. Miller have been successful. Prep has launched fund raising efforts for its new theatre complex, and we will be monitoring that project as it unfolds.
Scott explained that he has been working with Prep and the City on the installation of a much-needed, long-awaited cross-walk on DelMar below the Prep campus. With any luck, the project will be approved this coming spring.
Crime & Safety
Barbara Robinson will be working with Scott and Jack Jolley in designing the strategic plan for the neighborhood as regards the issues of crime and safety. She will also look into the SPD crime statistics resource to see if NCHNA can benefit from an up-to-date posting of incidents on the website.
Public School Access
Howie Choder reported that the committee will be contacting Brita Butler Wall from the Seattle School Board to discuss the neighborhoods issue re: lack of a neighborhood school. Details to follow.
Traffic
Colby reported that there were no issues up for discussion at this time. Incidents of people ignoring the DO NOT ENTER signs on E. 11th adjacent to Prep have not subsided.
The next meeting is scheduled for April 13, 2004 at 7pm, venue to be decided.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 10:05pm.
Respectfully Submitted,
Colby Chester
Recording Secretary