April 10, 2023
6:30 p.m. By Zoom
Attending: Larry Dzieza (Nottingham), Tim Smith (Deputy Director, City of Olympia Community Planning and Development Department), Bob Jacobs (Gov. Stephens), Bob Jones (Goldcrest), Jeffrey Showman (Wildwood), Karen (Clemens) Sweeney (Eastside), Clark Gilman (Council Member, City of Olympia), Judy Bardin (Northwest), Melissa Allen (Bigelow Highlands), Dana McAvoy (East Bay Drive), Justin Belk (Southwest), Dave Marty (Indian Creek), Leslie Wolff (Bigelow Highlands), Charlotte Persons (Bigelow), Jenn Wulf (Downtown Neighbors), Michael Abide (Southwest)
Neighborhood Reports:
Bob Jacobs, Governor Stephens: They held a successful Egg Hunt on April 1.
Bob Jones, Gold Crest: They have a new president and a new treasurer. They are revising bylaws and covenants of the HOA and working to get recognized again as a RNA.
Jeffrey Showman, Wildwood: They completed a survey of members in January. Their quarterly membership meeting included a speaker on policing. Their April 20 meeting will have a speaker from Olympia Community Solar to also discuss community solar projects and heat pumps. The newsletter will be published this week.
Karen Clemens, Eastside: An emergency preparedness meeting with 20 attendees on March 27 with a presentation by Thurston County staff included the new emphasis on being 2-weeks ready. They will have an April 19 meet-up for fun and food at Beerwerks.
Melissa Allen, Northeast: Their quarterly meeting included as a speaker Stephanie Johnson from Olympia Parks, Arts, and Recreation to talk about the Gateway to Olympia project at Martin Way/State and 4th Ave. They are working to revive the community orchard at Capital Vision Christian Church.
Dana McAvoy, East Bay Drive: In March they had their first face-to-face meeting since Covid restrictions. This included a discussion of climate change activities in Olympia. Their members are particularly interested in the impacts of sea level rise on Budd Inlet. Their 18th Annual Oyster Seed Planting activity, using local oysters, will be in May.
Charlotte Persons, Bigelow: They have been working on the Neighborhood Matching Grant application to revive the community orchard behind Bigelow House Museum.
Judy Bardin and Leslie Wolff, Northwest Olympia: They are involved in the city’s parking regulation updates. Next meeting is May 15. They are trying an in-person meeting in a cafe. They published and distributed their monthly print newsletter. Their NA, especially Scott Bishop, have been involved in the Oly CNA technology grant application for this year’s Neighborhood Matching Grants.
Justin Belk, Southwest Olympia: They also had an in-person meeting in March. They have new co-presidents, Jill Ivey and Michael Mayo. Meetings included speakers from Olympia Police Department and Community Solar.
Dave Marty, Indian Creek: They have new board members and will have an early May membership meeting. They are working to include people from the encampment on 18th and Wheeler.
Lisa Burbank, Elliott: They will have a meeting within the next month. They are planning the annual meeting in June. Through work with the city drug-selling activity has lessened. They were also involved in the Oly CNA technology grant application.
Michael Abide, Co-president of SWONA, stated that he was attending to just listen to the CNA meeting.
Council Member Update:
Council member Clark Gilman stated that he was pleased with community journalism efforts. The Olympian, Works in Progress, The Jolt, and Chaos Radio present many sides of our community.
He announced the following upcoming city planning events:
1. Land Use and Environment Committee will hear discussion of new parking regulations on April 27
Their recommendation will help the Planning Commission decide on the PC’s recommendations to City Council.
2. Downtown Improvement District will have a finance meeting on May 17.
3. The Comprehensive Plan Update process has been bumped forward. The public will be invited for input on the “Values and Vision” chapter next month. Then other chapter drafts will be presented for public comment.
4. Wheeler and Nickerson Encampment – State grants for homeless living near I-5 will help. Lacey and Tumwater are utilizing this grant to remodel motels to be low-income housing. Also possible is creating tiny house communities. When housing is available, the encampments are cleaned up.
5. Thurston Climate Action Plan – Lacey and Tumwater have added climate action staff. Olympia already hired Pam Braff. TCAT is working closely with Olympia.
6. Neighborhood Matching Grants – There is a good diversity of proposals this year.
Questions from attendees to Clark Gilman:
Bob Jacobs – Clark County is revisiting policy for homelessness this spring. Will Olympia be following suit?
Larry Dzieza – Please let Oly CNA know when the opportunity opens for “Values and Vision” chapter input. Especially important is the definition of “neighborhood character” and the role of “neighborhood” in our city’s future.
Judy Bardin – What will be the role of Oly CNA in the discussion of the Comp Plan chapters?
Larry Dzieza – What is the role of a city? What does a city do? This is a broad topic that should be considered. The Diversity Grant recommendations were that the city look at itself from global to local perspectives. This should be a quarterly forum topic.
Bob Jones – The Oly CNA used to meet in joint work sessions with the City Council. Is this possible now?
Clark Gilman – I may take that idea to the City Council. Clark asked what topics should be discussed?
Melissa Allen – Right now we are updating the MOU with the City. This would be a suitable first topic.
Tim Smith’s Report on Development:
Tim stated that many projects are moving forward, but here are five of potential CNA interest:
1. Martin Way/Pattison –
LEHI is creating low-income housing and a shelter, called Martin Way Phase II Housing, next to the first phase (Unity Commons).
2. Downtown –
–At Union and Jefferson 70 units of market rate housing will be built. Walker John is the developer.
–Revival Motors and Coffee will relocate to a new site on Union Ave
3. Sawyer & Pacific, near Ralph’s –
Vic’s Pizza will open a 3rd shop by retrofitting the building.
4. Harrison Ave. area –
A 114-unit apartment building will be built by developers Glenn Wells/Kyle Schrader.
5. Former Stohl at Martin Way/Lily Rd. –
A community with 60 tiny homes for homeless will get approval by Dept. of Commerce by June 30. This will be long-term supportive housing.
Melissa Allen asked – Will this include parking areas for RV’s? That is important for many homeless.
Tim Smith answered “no”.
B. Neighborhood Matching Grants:
Tim Smith said that he had briefly reviewed the eight Neighborhood Matching Grants.
Timeline:
On April 11 staff will review them.
In May staff will make recommendations to the City Council.
An unusual problem is that the applications’ requests total more than the $23,000 allocated for the NMG in the city budget.
Report of Neighborhood Matching Grants:
Dana McAvoy – Olympia Northeast Neighborhood Association (ONNA), with Northeast NA as the sponsor, has requested $8,171 for landscaping and picnic seating to improve the former gas station at 1400 Bethel. This is on the same corner as San Francisco Bakery and a convenience store. The property owner, Mike Drexel, plans to bring food trucks to the site. The vision is to the current community center and making it a place where neighbors can meet for food or coffee.
Bob Jones – Oly CNA has requested about $800 to create easy-to-manage websites. The plan is to pilot one for Oly CNA and 1 or 2 RNAs, then make the model available to all RNAs. East Bay Drive NA is the sponsor for the Oly CNA grant.
Charlotte Persons – Bigelow NA has requested about $200 for tree gators to water a community orchard during the summer droughts. The trees have suffered from lack of water and deer browsing. On the advice of Olympia Parks, Arts and Recreation arborists, Bigelow NA is working to revive the seven remaining pear and apple trees planted by a team headed by the late Jay Elder in 2017. Bigelow NA has fertilized the trees and paid for professional trimming. The trees are on land belonging to Bigelow House Museum, and that board approved providing water for one year with the possibility of an extension. The project’s success will be evaluated in three years.
Leslie Wolff – Northwest Olympia NA has applied for funds for a post-pandemic reboot involving many projects including cleaning up and replanting NW Volunteer Park, an annual print newsletter, physical signs to advertise meetings, and a Summer Fun Fest to revitalize energy and participation.
Bob Jacobs asked whether NWONA can use the public school for meetings. Some schools are concerned about liability insurance and others are not. After discussion, Melissa Allen suggested that this be a topic for a future Oly CNA meeting.
Dana McAvoy asked Tim Smith what happens to unused funding for Neighborhood Matching Grants.
Tim Smith says that the money does not carry forward to next year’s NMG program.
Larry Dzieza asked how long the amount has been at $23,000? Tim said it hasn’t been raised in a while.
Report on Meeting on MOU Between Oly CNA and City of Olympia:
This meeting was for discussion of the chart of changes. The City hired a facilitator for this process, so it is being taken seriously.
The meeting included Larry Dzieza, Melissa Allen, Tim Smith and Leonard Bauer (City of Olympia Community Planning and Development), City Manager Jay Burney, and Council Members Clark Gilman and Dontae Payne.
Major changes include the proposal to bring RNA’s in earlier on proposals so that they are not seen as obstructionist.
Larry and Melissa made the point that the CNA’s need to have a voice that is polite and timely.
Another suggestion is for a monthly CNA meeting but also have a quarterly forum on topics that concern more than one neighborhood.
Also, the City wants to evaluate CNA’s in terms of how effective they are in including renters, who are considered to be hard-to-reach people and/or underserved communities. Larry pointed out that the City itself is not effective in reaching these groups to get their input or involvement.
Larry suggested the the CNA’s would be more attractive to all people if they could produce results. For example, in Seattle CNA’s direct some funding for services like sidewalks. These funds produce tangible physical improvements.
Judy Bardin suggested that RNA’s could help in outreach attempts by the City, for example, by distributing flyers or including articles in the CNA’s newsletters.
The final MOU will be brought to the Oly CNA for approval.
CNA Nominations and Elections:
Volunteers are needed for two Oly CNA positions, Social Activities and Communications.
Jeffrey Showman said he was interested in the Communications position. Larry will send him the position description.
Karen (Clemens) Sweeney said she would do Social Activities if other CNA members would help.
We will vote at the May meeting for these positions.
Update on Department of Commerce Grants:
1. Parking Regulations Update –
The grant funding to update these regulations expires in June, spurring the City Council to finish up the process and approve regulations. The City received more than 100 comments on the proposal to do away with any minimum parking requirements for new multi-family housing. After getting CNA approval on-line, Larry submitted the CNA resolution in opposition. The comment period ended on April 7. The proposal will go to Land Use and Environment and then back to the Planning Commission. Tim will check if there will be an opportunity for public comment at Land Use.
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2. Land use permit processing –
This grant appears to be clean-up and clarifying existing requirements. Larry encouraged Leonard Bauer to create a clearer summary of the proposal in tabular format and that happened.
3. Triangle Area Sub-plan and EIS – Time period for development has been extended to the summer.
Minutes Approval and Next Meeting Topics:
a. Minutes were approved with no corrections.
b. Topics for next meeting: election of 2 CNA positions, parking regulation update, school meeting liability for CNAs
Jenn Wulff announced that the Sea Level Rise Response Collaborative Executive Committee meeting will be important because infrastructure funding through the 2023 Inflation Reduction Act could be an enormous opportunity.
Charlotte Persons announced that Oly CNA and the CNA’s missed the opportunity to comment on a 120-foot communications tower that will be built at the top of the hill on near Ralph’s between State Ave. and 4th Ave. The neighboring CNA’s were notified in October, and public information went out in November. The project was approved in February.
Adjourned at 8:43.