Minutes for March 14, 2005
The meeting was called to order at 7:06 PM
Attending: Joe Herrin, Dermot Noonan, John Clark, Maggie Weissman, Dan Becraft, Don Torrie, John Burge, Jennifer Biely, Jeannie Hale, Pat Wright, Heather Newman, Mark Holden, Mark Trumbauer, Kate Lloyd, Stan Sorscher
Absent: Barb Ragee and Joyce Hinkley could not attend tonightís meeting due to conflicts.
Guests: Alan Hovland, Alex Kratz, and Carol Eychaner
ADMINISTRATION:
Treasurerís Report: Jennifer reported the cash flow position is going well. Dues statements go out soon - the mail-out brochures are at the printers. We should have a good sense of the next year's resources in a few weeks. Jennifer filed the club's tax return. The liability insurance premium for directors and officers was paid this month. Alan Hovland suggested we set up a table at the Salmon bake, this year, and we could make brochures available at Miller-Pollard.
Minutes: Review of the February minutes will be postponed until the next meeting. Stan apologized for missing the handoff, this month.
CALLS AND CONCERNS
1. Change in Recycling: Fritz Hansen emailed on 3/11 to express concern
about the new 96 gallon recycle bins that will be delivered to yard waste
subscribers. He thinks the new larger containers will be too hard to manipulate
and too heavy to take up slopes. Heís worried about the wheels as he would have
to take his bin down a hill and it might get out of his control. He has a worm
bin and doesnít need the extra space for vegetable recycling. Hale responded
telling Hansen about LCCís work on the 1998 draft solid waste plan. LCC was
successful in getting garbage and recycle/yard waste pickups on the same day.
LCC opposed the reduction in yard waste, and now the city is finally responding
and will provide year round yard waste pickups every other week. Hale forwarded
LCCís response to Hansen to Chuck Clark, the director of Seattle Public
Utilities for further response.
Mark Trumbauer asked about mixing food in yard waste, which could attract rats and create odor problems. After the new rule goes into effect, a high level of complaints might cause a policy change.
2. Community Center Expansion: Liz Ogden contacted LCC over the weekend to urge that all of the required parking spots for the community center expansion be regular size, rather than compact or mid-size spots. She said that most center users drive SUVs or ìmommie vansî and that the smaller parking spots will not work. Children often swing the car doors open wide and smaller spots would mean more banged doors. The smaller spots are also more difficult for older neighbors in parking and exiting their vehicles. Ogden also supports a multi-purpose room that meets park standards. The revised proposal calls for a 2,000 square foot multi-purpose room. The current multi-purpose room is 1900 square feet. The park standard for multi-purpose rooms is 2700 square feet. The modest multi-purpose room expansion will not meet the needs of our community.
3. Car Prowl: On 3/05, someone broke into a black Yukon XL and stole the items in the center console and glove box. The car was accidentally left unlocked. The neighbor lives on the 3100 block of East Laurelhurst.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Thank you! Thanks to Dermot Noonan, Kate Lloyd john Clark and Tom Maider for
delivering this monthís trustee agenda packets and for Don Torrie for
coordinating packet distribution.
1. Resignation: Mimi Carsley has resigned from the LCC board due to competing demands with her new baby and full time job. She hopes to return in the future.
2. Membership Brochure: LCCís new membership brochure is included in the agenda packets.
3. Little League: LCC has once again been asked to sponsor a Little League team. Costs range from $250 for Farm and T-Ball, to $400 for American Minors, National Minors and Softball, to $500 for Majors, Juniors and Seniors. By general agreement, the Board decided to sponsor a T-Ball team this year.
4. Community Town Meeting: Councilmembers Peter Steinbrueck and Bob Ferguson invite neighbors to a town meeting on Tuesday, March 15 from 7 ñ 8:30 p.m. at Olympic View Elementary School, 504 NE 95th Street.
5. Third BioLab Public Meeting: April 11 from 4-6 p.m. in a location to be announced in the HUB on campus.
6. Fire Station 38: The Landmarks Board has designated Fire Station 38 as a landmark. Work continues on the site selection process. When a site is selected, an additional community meeting will be held.
7. Childrenís Helipad Committee: Trumbauer attended the quarterly
helipad committee meeting on 2/23 and reported the following:
ï There were some comments by David Dunning regarding sunseting the committee.
He believes that there was an expiration date on the committee existence when it
was initially proposed. Jeannie noted that the Hearing Examiner's decision did
not have sunset language. There was a question as to how the neighbors used the
information in the printed flyers that are mailed to the households in the
community. If they are no longer being read and just recycled then they may have
become just some more junk mail. It was suggested that LCC pose a question on
their relevance on our web site and see what the community response was.
ï Trumbauer was invited to attend the bi monthly-meetings to experience the more through review of the landings that they do. This would require signing of a confidentiality agreement as there is much more information on each patient.
ï Airlift northwest will be changing to a newer aircraft(helicopter) type in the July-August time frame and these new machines may sound different from the current landings. They requested that LCC notify the community before that time. Trumbauer suggested an article in the newsletter.
ï The final expansion phase of the hospital will begin in 2006 and they are contemplating moving the helipad to the roof of the new addition. It will be 125 feet from the existing pad and 47 feet higher. This issue raises the obvious noise problems. Mitigation will be discussed. Copies of the design and location will be included in next monthís trustee agenda packets. Childrenís will be invited to that meeting.
Stan Sorscher and Mark Holden both described recent low approaches to Children's meaning that flight path altitude is also a factor in operating the flights.
8. Annual Neighbors Meeting: The community center is available on the second Thursday of May for the annual neighbors meeting.
9. New Zealand Organist to Perform at St. Stephens: April 8, 7:30 p.m., St. Stephenís Episcopal Church in Laurelhurst. This concert will feature Martin Setchell, Town Hall Organist of Christchurch, New Zealand. Setchellís appearance, titled ìIn the Spirit of Celebration,î will mark the tenth anniversary of the Bond Organ at St. Stephenís. The program will feature a Three Piece Suite composed by Mr. Setchell. Tickets ($20 general, $10 seniors and students, $3 children 12 and under) are available from Ticket Window by calling 206-325-6500 or at ticketwindowonline.com. A limited number of tickets may be available at the door. Mr. Setchell will autograph copies of his recordings, which will be sold at the concert. A reception will follow.
10. Laurelhurst School Auction: ìEvery Child A Starî at the Laurelhurst Elementary Auction, Friday, April 1st. The Seattle School district faces immense budget challenges, which will result in decreased funding for our school. The proceeds from the auction support vital programs that the Seattle Public School District no longer can provide. Your support allows our students to receive a better education by allowing our school to offer a well-rounded and well-supported curriculum. Come join the fun at this annual community event, and make ìEvery Child A Starî! Tickets are $30 each ($50 to help underwrite the costs of the event). For tickets or more information call 206-252-5400.
11. School Closure Draft Criteria: Draft criteria for school closures are included in the agenda packets. By general agreement the Board decided to write a letter asking to keep Laurelhurst Elementary open.
12. Sand Point: Kate Lloyd explained that she will have a schedule conflict with future Sand Point-Magnuson Park liaison meetings at 7:30-9:30 so we need a volunteer to attend those meetings.
REPORTS/ACTION
Crime Prevention Report: Pat Wright reported that the playfield has had
no major incidents. The bathroom was re-opened, but was vandalized immediately
with graffiti. Since then, no other problems have occurred. A 15-year old
suspect was arrested but not charged, after a bottle-throwing incident. Pat
discussed house break-ins and burglaries. Car thefts are up 50%. Statistics show
car thieves prefer mid-80 and -90 vintage cars. About 125 car crashes were
investigated last year. A bank robber and house invader were apprehended.
SR 520 Update: Herrin briefed the board about the March 1st community meeting at the Museum of History and Industry to address plans to expand SR 520. A standing-room-only crowd of about 250 attended the meeting including 7 of 9 city councilmembers and other public officials. Herrin was quoted in the article that appeared in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Copies of the PowerPoint presentation were distributed.
Joe's feeling is that the project is not meeting neighbors' expectations. Public comments at the meeting were consistent, but not repetitive. City Council members admitted adverse effects on the Seattle side of the bridge. We might be able to increase representation by Seattle on the project board.
Community Center Expansion: Joe Herrin reported on the community center project advisory team meeting on March 10. The architects revised plans took into account many community comments, and Joe thinks the project is looking better. Joe would prefer a smaller building so they could shift budget to better quality finishings. The new layout pivots the new building away from the old one. The downstairs bathroom may be associated with security or vandalism problems.
Issues remain regarding the size of parking spaces. The Code allows a mixture of compact, mid-size and full size parking spaces. The sense of the Board was not to trade green space for more parking. Regarding the mix of parking types, the Board split 6 to 6 on whether to have all full-sized spots or a mix of full and medium sized. Sorscher abstained in that vote.
There are also questions regarding the size of the multi-purpose room. The design was revised to change the size of this room to 2000 square feet even though the park standard is 2700 square feet. There are also issues with the materials that will be used. The Landmarks Board and the Design Review Board have recommended something other than brick.
CUCAC Report: handouts have been prepared promoting "good Neighbor" behavior for students living near campus.
Biolab Update: A Bio-lab package was included in the packets this month. We expect CUCAC to entertain a motion to oppose siting the bio-terror lab on campus. Motion by Holden, seconded by Torrie: to oppose siting a Bio-terror lab on campus. Motion passed unanimously.
Cambridge Model of Public Oversight: The Cambridge model of public oversight of biolab facilities provides broad policies and protocols to address the risks and uncertainties posed by this kind of work. One of the issues has always been whether it is appropriate for guidelines to be developed by the research agency that will be undertaking the work. In Cambridge, the city council created a Cambridge Experimentation Review Board (CERB) that included lay residents, a social scientist and a medical doctor and residents to come up with an biosafety oversight plan. This group recommended the creation of a Cambridge Biohazards Committee, later called the Cambridge Biosafety Committee. The Committee was charged with reviewing research proposals and developing oversight procedures consistent with federal standards.
The Biosafety Committee recommended safeguards to protect the public from releases of organisms that could escape the laboratory, measures to assure worker safety and mechanisms for the establishment of a permit-granting process to be administered by the local public health department. The recommendations were adopted by city ordinance. The Cambridge approach has created a greater understanding and acceptance of biotech research and development.
Motion by Newman, seconded by Clark: to support a community oversight and accountability committee modeled on the Cambridge community committee. Motion passed 10-3. Mark Holden expressed doubts that such a committee would have much public benefit. Newman thought the improved communication through the committee was worthwhile.
Talaris: The Board entered Executive Session at 8:20 PM. Stan Sorscher covered major developments to date, and introduced carol Eychaner who provided more details on the proposed design, our objectives and options. Motion by Mark Trumbauer, seconded by Dan Becraft: to approve negotiating amendments to the Settlement Agreement, consistent with the discussion in Executive Session. Motion passed 10-1.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:35 PM
Minutes by Stan Sorscher