Salmon Creek Neighborhood Association May 2008 Minutes.

As part of our ongoing coverage of the activities that shape your Salmon Creek neighborhood, the following are the formal minutes from the North Salmon Creek Neighborhood Association General Meeting, held on May 27, 2008.

The May ’08 General Meeting, held at the Three Creeks Library, began at 7pm with cookies and donated Starbucks’ coffee.

After the Pledge of Allegiance, President Barbara Anderson welcomed all and made a few announcements (see the NSCNA May Newsletter posted on NSCNA website: www.inthecouve.com/nscna/ ):

• Previous Meeting Minutes.     Reading of the March 25 2008 General Meeting minutes was waived since the minutes have been posted on the NSCNA website and distributed by e-mail.

• Financial Report. The treasurer, Darin Kaysner reported that $281.83 is now in the coffers and available for planned 2008 expenditures such as incorporation as a 501 c(3).

• Election of Directors. New directors were nominated and elected to fill NSCNA Director vacancies.  The Board of Directors will meet with and provide support to the NSCNA Executive Board in areas of planning, contacting residents in their assigned sub-areas (see map below for sub-areas within the NSCNA boundary) and to help in distribution of Newsletters as required. The Board of Directors for NSCNA is now complete as follows:

Position 1: Jennifer Konopasek
Position 2: Pat Hughes
Position 3: Marle Kullberg
Position 4: Dan Bodell
Position 5: Pat Blunk
Position 6: Ron Wilson

Felida Neighborhood Association Challenge. Jamie Allen, President of the Felida NA and Dr. Milada Allen visited our meeting to present a gift to NSCNA. The gift is to help toward funding for our application to incorporate as a 501 c(3) organization.  Felida NA is offering to match donations to NSCNA up to $100. So if you are willing to pledge to NSCNA please notify president, Barbara Anderson by phone (360) 573-2240 or e-mail NSCNA@inthecouve.com

Our evening topics and speakers were as follows:

1. Neighborhood Emergency Response Preparedness. Leah Edwards, Public Information Officer for Clark County Fire District 6, described the programs available to prepare residents of Clark County for emergency events (such as the recent Tornado in Hazel Dell).  She presented the two following opportunities for training and preparation.

A). Citizen Emergency Response Team (CERT).  CERT training has been available in CC since 1996 and consists of 20 hours of training over 4 consecutive Saturdays or 6 week nights. Training is offered 2 times each year in January and October. Special classes may also be offered if requested by enough participants. This training prepares CC residents to contend with local disasters including personal safety, fire suppression and to assist in medical operations.  For more information contact Leah Edwards at 360.576.1195 or leahe@ccfd6.org. Testimonials from those who have attended were highly favorable and it was stressed that age and physical limitations do not preclude participation.  Graduates have included those from age 14 to 82.

B). Map Your Neighborhood (MYN).  This is another program, described by Leah Edwards, that is available to aide in disaster preparedness. This program is for small neighborhood groups of about 15 to 20 residents and provides 9 concrete steps that can be taken to organize and prepare the neighborhood group to respond to emergencies. For more information, contact the EMD Public Education Department at 800.562.6108 or by e-mail at PublicEducation @emd.wa.gov.

2. Zone Change Along NE 10th Avenue. The planned 139th Street overpass across I-5 will impact business owners between NE 10th Ave and I-5.  Changes in access to these businesses plus modified Land use and traffic patterns for the overpass and the proposed new Park and Ride lot at the SE corner of 139th and 10th Avenue, will require adaptation by the affected businesses. Three business owners in that area have applied for rezoning of about 20 acres from a mixture of existing zones (UM/R-18 and ML/ML) to Highway Commercial (CH).  This will allow more flexibility in land use as the area around the 139th St overpass is developed. The main concerns for residents in North Salmon Creek are:

• increased traffic along 10th Avenue and at the 134th St intersection with I-5 and I-205;
• the possibility of a “Big Box” store being built on the properties being rezoned.

The issue of increased traffic will have to be addressed by Clark County Planning Commission as part of the overall development in the area.  Present plans to widen 10th Avenue are marginal to accommodate anticipated increase in traffic. In consideration of concerns about “Big Box” development on the properties in question, the three owners are planning to keep their businesses in their present locations for now and have entered into an agreement with the County to not develop a “Big Box” in this area. The Clark County Planning Commission will be conducting work sessions in early June leading to a final hearing on June 19th.  In about November the CC Board of Commissioners will meet to make a final decision on the rezoning request.  If any residents desire to follow this process the June 19th Final Hearing would be a good place to start. The three businesses requesting the rezoning are being “good neighbors” and are taking steps like the agreement to avoid “Big Box” development.

3. Crime Tip.     Deputy Jeremy Brown of the Clark County Sheriff’s office (newly assigned to our area) spoke to us about crime in the North Salmon Creek area.  He asked if there were any issues that have been noticed and was informed that car break-ins have been experienced.  He said that both car theft and break-ins have been reported. Please lock vehicles that are left at the curb or in the driveway.  Also,
do not leave items in cars that will invite theft as thieves will break windows if they see anything inside that seems worth the effort.  He also reminded us that since Clark County does not have a crime hotline we are encouraged to use 911 to report crime in progress.

The meeting was brought to a close with drawing for door prizes and adjourned at 8:30pm. One-on-one discussions with the speakers continued after the formal meeting for those inclined to stay. Quite a few did so and the discussions resulted in additional details on each topic.

Our next General Meeting will be July 22th 2008 at Three Creeks Library.

Many thanks to our local merchant supporters for refreshments at our meetings and door prizes for attendees.

Coffee Provided by Starbucks
Door prizes of two $25 gift cards and two jars of burger sauce provided by Salmon Creek Burgerville

Submitted by;

Larry Gentry, Secretary, NSCNA

Please feel free to join your Salmon Creek neighbors at an upcoming meeting.