2008-02-19

HIDDEN SPRINGS NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION APPROVED MINUTES MEETING OF FEBRUARY 19, 2008 CALL TO ORDER. The meeting was called to order at 7:05 PM at the West Linn Adult Community Center by President, Lynn C. Fox. Other officers in attendance: Harvey Schultz, Vice President; Charles Lytle, Secretary; Donna Baker, Treasurer. QUORUM DATA. There were 23 members at the January 15th meeting, therefore the quorum was 3. At the beginning of the meeting, nineteen eligible members were in attendance, with two more arriving after the meeting had commenced. MINUTES OF THE JANUARY 19, 2008 MEETING. There being no additions or corrections, President Fox declared the minutes approved as submitted. TREASURER’S REPORT. Treasurer Donna Baker reported a balance of $1,249.32. POLICE REPORT. Officer Bunch reported that since the last meeting, there had been 9 animal complaints, 2 automobile accidents, 5 calls to assist motorists, and 6 complaints about traffic or improper parking. In response to a question, Officer Bunch stated that a noisy dog must be barking in the presence of an officer for a complaint to be taken. OLD BUSINESS. There was no old business to come before the Association. NEW BUSINESS 1) Biennial election of officers. President Fox asked for nominations for the offices of President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Secretary. She stated that all nominees would be allowed a few minutes to tell the membership why they think they would be a good NA officer. For each category of office, only one nomination was offered from the membership. The vote tally follows in the order of Yea-Nay- Abstain. President: Lynn C. Fox. Elected 18-0-0 Vice President: Harvey Schultz. Elected 20-0-0 Treasurer: Donna Baker. Elected 20-0-0 Secretary: Charles Lytle. Elected 20-0-0 2) President Fox reported that METRO has told the city that they want Pimlico Drive to be changed into a “bicycle boulevard.” The city has been unable to provide her with a definition of what a “bicycle boulevard” is. METRO has not be responsive to her telephone queries. One member noted that Pimlico is not a good way to get from the river elevation to the ridge and stated that many bicyclist use Grapevine off Blankenship to emerge on top at the intersection of Rosemont and Hidden Springs. Another member noted that Pimlico has a very heavy traffic load and is classified as a collector street by the city. It is thus an inappropriate street to narrow down to provide room for a bicycle lane or worse, two lanes. To be proactive and have a voice in any plans for Pimlico, President Fox asked if the membership would be interested in forming a Pimlico Bicycle Plan Task Force. A motion to form such a task force was made by Eleanor Ross and seconded by Michelle Blankenheim. The motion carried 20-0-0. GUEST SPEAKERS DAN HARTUNG & JENNIFER WELTIN. Jennifer explained that she and her husband had appealed to the city council the planning commission’s approval of the Kantara Way development. The council has continued the hearing to March 10th. They circulated a petition that urged the council to deny the development and explained their reasons why they felt the development should not proceed. HSNA Meeting Minutes February 19, 2008 Page 2 GUEST SPEAKER MARTHA SCHRADER, CLACKAMAS COUNTY COMMISSIONER. Commissioner Schrader first urged the members to support the new “Keep Our Libraries Open” political action committee (PAC). The county is losing over $12M from the federal government due to the loss of timber revenue, and cities throughout the county are having to propose “zero-based” budgets. That is, NO increase in budgets for the coming fiscal years. In a short dialog with Mayor Norm King, who was in the audience, it was explained that city staff will be coming to NA meetings to explain the budget issues facing the West Linn library. Next, Commissioner Schrader said that there is a new web site on the inability of the two area wastewater plants to accommodate current growth in the area. The public outreach effort is called the Wastewater Capacity Management Program, and the web site is www.riverhealth.org Ms. Schrader then discussed the impact of the new, county-wide citizens action group, Clackamas County Urban Green. (See minutes of the January 15th HSNA meeting.) The county is now soliciting citizen input and collecting data in preparation for possibly drafting a county-wide ordinance. Such an undertaking is complicated because it must mesh with state and METRO rules and regulations. The county has decided to create a task force representing all stake holders, including the development community. Commissioner Schrader ended her talk by discussing the concept of urban and rural reserves. Much like the proposed tree ordinance, the establishment of reserves will involve citizens, business, city officials, METRO, and various state agencies. The idea is to come up with a 40-50 year “look” into the future. Concepts being considered include “regional centers” and “connecting corridors.” Ms. Schrader finished by urging everyone to become involved and informed and by stressing that the county is interested in citizen input in all the issues she discussed. GUEST SPEAKER MAYOR NORMAN KING. Mayor King explained that there will be city charter amendments on the May ballot. The first is a text error: the word “two” will be inserted in the text laying out that the four council positions will be elected to four-year terms, with two positions offset or staggered by two years. The second sets dollar limits on the annual stipends for the mayor ($6.5K) and councilors ($4K). The third resets the mayoral term of office from two years to four years. He explained that there will be a special levy for road maintenance. NEXT MEETING DATE IS MARCH 18, 2008. ADJOURNMENT. There being no other business to come before the membership, the meeting was adjourned at 9:00 PM by President Lynn C. Fox. Recorded by HSNA Secretary Charles R. Lytle.