Minutes for July 11, 2005
Attending: Susan Bennett, John Clark, John Burge, Dermot Noonan, Don Torrie, Pat Wright, Heather Newman, Mark Trumbauer, Jeannie Hale, Bonnie Zinn, Tom Maider, Maggie Weissman, Barbara Ragee, Stan Sorscher
Excused: Dan Becraft, Jennifer Biely, Mark Holden, Joe Herrin
Guests: Peter Eglick, LCC Attorney; Carol Eychaner, LCC Land Use Consultant
The meeting was called to order at 7:10 PM.
Treasurer’s Report: John Clark thanked Jennifer Biely for helping with the smooth transition in Treasurer's responsibilities.
Minutes: Review of the June minutes will be deferred until the August meeting.
CALLS AND CONCERNS
1. New Neighbor: David Watson emailed on 7/10 after reviewing LCC’s website and minutes of meetings. He and his wife are remodeling a house on 43rd Avenue NE and will be moving in in October. He wanted to know how to get involved in LCC and who to contact about joining the Beach Club. Information was provided.
2. Tree Cutting on the Battelle Property: David Johnson and Dianna Lull called on 7/4 about recent tree cutting on the 42nd side of the Battelle property. The trees provided screening of his property, shade and served as a home to woodpeckers. Sorscher arranged a meeting of neighbors on the site on the evening of 7/6. Carol Eychaner surveyed the tree cutting area on 7/5. Her report is included in the correspondence packet. This item will be discussed later in the agenda.
3. Left Turn into and out of QFC at U Village: Nancy Oblanas sent LCC the article in the 7/3 Seattle Times about the transportation department’s (SDOT) plan to eliminate the left turn into and out of QFC at University Village. On June 22, SDOT announced plans for the traffic revision to address ongoing safety and congestion concerns, as there have been numerous accidents at this location. The newspaper article, however, noted that the plan was now on hold, which could be due to the influence of U Village or QFC owners. SDOT may consider a stop light at this location. LCC has long sought elimination of the left turn into and out of QFC for safety reasons. SDOT’s 6/22 press release about the project is included in the agenda packets.
4. Coyotes: LCC has heard from four neighbors about a coyote family in the neighborhood. On 6/28, Ann Rickett who works at Key Bank emailed asking LCC to warn residents of a coyote sighting on the corner of West Laurelhurst Drive and 55th Avenue NE at 5:30 a.m. on 6/22. She contacted the state Fish and Wildlife agency, but doesn’t think they will do anything. She has seen several missing cat signs and wondered if there was a connection. On 7/6, Kathy Lantz reported that there have been several sightings of coyotes in the area between 51st Avenue NE and 55th Avenue NE. She heard from a neighbor that there were two adults and six pups. She wondered if the posting of signs about lost cats and dogs has anything to do with the coyotes. She thought the coyotes should be removed from the neighborhood. On 7/7, Tom Maclean emailed about a coyote family (with three pups) on the Villa property. He lives adjacent to the Villa with a view over the south gate. He has seen the family frolicking in the orchard grass and then retreating into the grove of fir trees. He has been in touch with the Villa who is now keeping dumpster lids tightly closed. He suggested that the coyotes be caught and moved to a more appropriate location. On 7/11, Karl Gaskill called to report a mother coyote and her five or six pups frolicking in his back yard, playing merrily. All appear to be in good health. He lives on West Laurel Drive above the Villa. He asked that neighbors be informed so they can keep their pets indoors.
LCC has been in touch with Fish and Wildlife and Seattle’s Animal Control Department. The state agency no longer handles coyote complaints. State law prohibits the capture and transport of coyotes. The only option is hiring a “nuisance wildlife trapper” to trap and kill the animals. Animal control doesn’t deal with coyotes. David Powell, a licensed animal trapper who works at the zoo said that coyotes have been around for over 20 years. He said they are normally not a problem as long as people keep pet food indoor and don’t let their cats out at night this time of year when mothers are foraging for food for their babies. He suggested LCC educate neighbors about living with coyotes in an urban environment. Informational material about coyotes is included in the packet.
John Burge got a call from a neighbor who will be building an enclosure to protect her cats.
Maggie Weissman said coyotes are not know to threaten people. They normally eat rodents and other pests.
5. Babysitting Network: Lisa White emailed on 6/26 to inquire about LCC’s babysitting network. Zinn responded that the listing on LCC’s website was current as of about two months ago. She will put out new flyers to recruit new sitters. She also recommended the UW Daily and the SPU online job listings.
6. Burglary: On 6/22, Nino Yuniardi emailed John Burge to suggest information to neighbors about summer burglaries. She lives on 44th Avenue NE behind Children’s Hospital. Her house was broken into on 6/21 between noon and 5 p.m. The burglar cut the window screen and got in the front window. The culprit(s) took two laptops, two cameras, a watch, two black bags, a laptop bag, xbox games, a cell phone and other items.
7. Net Fishing: Helen and Wieland von Behrens emailed on 6/23 to report seeing commercial-sized fishing vessels casting their nets off Laurelhurst. They weren’t sure if this was legal. They’ve gotten the runaround from the State Fish and Game department. They thought LCC should provide info about this issue to neighbors and contact information for whomever monitors this activity.
John Clark saw an long article about the research project in the Sunday paper, including a photo of the crew working on a ship.
8. Nonemergency Number: Wally Keiser called on 6/23 to ask LCC to change the non-emergency police number we list in the newsletter and instead list the direct number to the North Precinct. He said the number we list gets you a recording and you have to keep pushing various options and the last one tells you the number for the North Precinct. Keiser also had questions about the noise ordinance that were answered.
9. Scam: Newman reported that the toothless black man selling magazines is back and now in the Town of Yesler.
10. Children’s Leasing at the Springbrook Building: LCC continues to hear from professionals whose leases are not being renewed at the Springbrook due to Children’s interest in the space. Children’s will be leasing 5,000 square feet of the formerly vacant space that was leased by Battelle. They will lease an additional 3,000 square feet on the third floor. Under its master plan, Children’s is allowed to lease up to 10,000 square feet within it major institution overlay boundary. As a condition of leasing, Children’s has been given a “right of first refusal” on other leases that come up for renewal. Some of those leases are now coming up and are not being renewed.
The vacant ground floor of the Springbrook has been leased to Children’s University Medical Group (CUMG), also known as Association of Children and University Physicians. This is a private non-profit billing service for a physician group of UW faculty. Some of the physicians are outpatient faculty members and some work at Children’s Hospital. CUMG does payroll, billing, prepares W-2 forms and performs other services for its 200-300 active members.
LCC has had ongoing communications with Children’s about displacement of professionals serving the Laurelhurst community. Children’s is unwilling to consider an alternative location, such as the new building going in across from University Village. But, Children's has agreed to a delayed schedule for occupying the 3,000 square feet space based on the needs of the former tenants to move to a new location.
11. Property Maintenance Issue: On 6/9, LCC wrote to the owner of property located at 4162 42nd Avenue NE in response to concerns from neighbors about vegetation overgrowth and junk storage. On 6/22, the property owner mowed the parking strip and severely pruned the vegetation. Junk storage is still an issue, but neighbors are grateful for the work that has been done.
12. UW Student Housing: On 6/7, Newman contacted the UW about policies regarding rental of the student housing to non-University students. On 6/19, Theresa Doherty of the UW responded. In the family housing units, residents must be enrolled as full-time students of the UW and either be married, domestic partners or single parents. Financial eligibility must be verified and those interested must submit applications to the Housing and Food Services-Student Services Office. Regarding overflow parking in the neighborhood, Doherty suggested getting the license plate numbers so it can be determined if they are students.
13. Absentee Landlords: On 12/9, LCC wrote to the Canadian owner of property located at 4311 36th NE about the condition of the parking strip, vegetation and lawn area. As a result of the letter, the lawn has been mowed, but there is still much overgrown vegetation. Today, LCC again wrote to the property owner thanking them for the mowing and asking that additional maintenance be done consistent with the surrounding properties. Photographs taken by Nan Haigwood were enclosed with the letter. Newman has developed a listing of other absentee landlord properties in need of maintenance. LCC will write to those landlords.
1. Concerts in the Park: A handout listing the free concerts at Laurelhurst Playfield was distributed. The concerts begin Thursday, July 14 and continue through Thursday, August 11 and take place from 6-8 p.m. The annual salmon bake is on July 28th.
2. Thank you! Thanks to Noonan, Maider and Newman for delivering this month’s trustee agenda packets.
3. Children’s Park and Pool at Magnuson Park: The Department of Planning and Development (DPD) has granted Children’s a conditional use permit for a park and pool at Magnuson Park. DPD’s decision is included in the agenda packets. On 2/23, LCC wrote to DPD opposing the permit for many reasons, but principally because a park and pool lot is not an appropriate use of park property. LCC asked that DPD and the Parks Department comply with the mandates of Initiative 42. Initiative 42 provides that all parklands must be preserved for park uses unless a specified process is followed. Because a park and pool is not a park use, the initiative requires a public hearing to address the necessity of the change in usage, enactment of a city ordinance finding that the transaction is necessary because there is no reasonable and practical alternative, and an exchange of land or a facility of equivalent or better size, value, location and usefulness in the vicinity. This process was not followed. It is possible that Windermere North and/or Hawthorne Hills will appeal to the hearing examiner of this issue.
The consensus of the Board was that if the Windermere and Hawthorne Hills communities appeal to the hearing examiner, LCC will sign on to the appeal.
4. UW maintenance expense obligation: On 6/07, LCC wrote to UW president Emmert about the UW’s obligations to pay its share of the maintenance expense on the Mary Gates/NE 41st Street Boulevard. On 7/7, the UW responded and its letter is included in the correspondence packet. The UW has agreed to do the weeding of the portion of the median abutting its property starting in the summer or fall. It is unclear whether the UW’s letter commits them to pay any money. The letter does state that the UW refuses to pay for any portion of maintenance and repair of the irrigation system, even the portion located on its own parking strip. We have the option, in that case, of capping the sprinkler head in that area.
The University’s response raises many issues. It is unclear how the UW’s weeding will impact the services provided by Heath Landscaping. Heath prunes the vegetation, fertilizes, mulches and maintains the irrigation system. The UW also sees the services they would provide as amounting to 1/3 of the maintenance, whereas Heath has indicated that 2/3 of the current expense is associated with the median abutting University property. LCC will continue to work on this.
REPORTS/ACTION
Crime Prevention Report: The Advisory Council did not meet in July. Seattle approved 24 new patrol officers. The new officers will go through 10-12 months of training. Diane Horswell reported a relatively low level of activity in our neighborhood, including house burglaries, complaints about a live band at the Community Center after 11 PM, and a fire in the fire pit at the park. "Night Out" events are scheduled for later in the summer. Maggie Weissman described a stolen car with OnStar, which was recovered about 15 minutes after being stolen. The suspect lives in the area. He arrived in a stolen car, and exchanged it for the one with OnStar. A third car was stolen later.
Tree Cutting on the Battelle Property: About 30 neighbors attended the July 7th meeting on the Battelle property. Paul O’Brien, the Talaris Facilities Manager also attended. He had a recent arborist report noting that most trees along that stretch were recommended to be cut down. He said, however, that only one additional large tree would be removed. LCC has made repeated requests for this report, but it has not been provided.
Four trees were cut on the portion of the Battelle property abutting the back of homes located on 42nd Avenue NE. Because some of the trees have a divided trunk, the appearance is that more trees were cut. Three of the trees were listed as in poor condition or dead on the tree inventory included in the environmental impact statement for the proposed development. The fourth tree, a black cottonwood with a 28 inch diameter was listed as being in good condition.
Under the current Settlement Agreement, the trees were located on an “unprotected” strip of land between the existing east access road and the east landscaped buffer. They were identified as “an existing tree to be removed” for a parking configuration envisioned under the current Settlement Agreement. The old Agreement provides that “BMI agrees to provide permanent landscape buffering between any new parking or structures and the boundary lines of the site concurrently with the occupancy and use of any new facilities.”
Under the proposed amendments to the Settlement Agreement, the trees would be in an area generally described as a “non-disturbance” area. LCC has proposed language to govern this area. The language states that existing trees and non-invasive shrubs in this area are to be preserved, protected and maintained so that they continue to provide a visual screen. The proposed language allows removal of dead, diseased and fallen trees and requires replacement.
Carol Eychaner explained that the trees were in an area that would be landscaped when the Talaris project began. However, in the second amendment, LCC has agreed to defer that landscaping and keep that area undisturbed. Neighbors at the meeting on July 7th preferred leaving the "Non-disturbance Area" left as it is, except that the trees recently removed should be replaced. They preferred not to invoke the landscaping plan from the original Settlement Agreement.
Proposed Amendments to the Battelle Settlement Agreement: Executive Session.
In Executive Session, Carol Eychaner, Peter Eglick, Stan Sorscher, and Jeannie Hale reviewed progress to date in negotiating the Second Amendment with Bob Wicklein of the Seneca Group. The negotiations are approaching a conclusion, and the Board discussed a process for formalizing an agreement.
Motion by Heather Newman, seconded by Maggie Weissman: The LCC Board delegates authority to the Battelle Committee to act on behalf of the Board in approving an agreement regarding the Second Amendment to the Settlement Agreement. Motion passed unanimously.
Members of the Battelle Committee are Mark Holden, Bonnie Zinn, Dan Becraft, Stan Sorscher, and Jeannie Hale.
Motion by Heather Newman, seconded by Bonnie Zinn: LCC authorizes payment of $2598.48 to Carol Eychaner in accordance with Carol's memo, dated June 30, 2005, which was included in the packets. Motion passed unanimously.
Meeting was adjourned at about 9 PM.