PO
Box 173
Manchester,
WA 98353-0173
“it’s
a great place to live…”
Action
Items:
1)
Audit committee to review the Council’s books prior to the January
meeting.
2)
Arlene Rebelowski will add a copy of the simplified Robert’s Rules of
Order, accepted by the Executive Board, to our MCC website.
3)
Paul Gilligan to provide a map outlining the parcels affected by the
LID#9 sewer project to Arlene Rebelowski for publication on the website.
4)
John Winslow to send a reminder of the 11/29 LID#9 meeting to all MCC
email dist. List.
5)
John Winslow and Steve Pederson to form a committee to further explore
planning of a multi-purpose Community Center/Library.
6)
MCC Ex. Bd. To work with MCA and Bob Edwards to formulate a merger
proposal.
7)
John Winslow to send list of original action group goals to each group
chair.
Minutes:
The meeting was called to order by Chair, Bob Ballard at 6:31PM in the
Manchester Library. Bob welcomed
the 35 people in attendance, and wished us all a Happy Thanksgiving.
Bob read the mission statement from the Bylaws as a reminder to all.
We had previously intended for Eric Baker of the Department of Community
Development to be our speaker, but he was unavailable.
Due to the Holidays, we will not hold a regular meeting in December.
Bob then introduced our guest speaker for the evening, Bill Palmer.
Guest speaker:
Bill Palmer introduced himself as the developer working on the Colchester Commons project on the south east side of the Colchester/Main intersection. The basic plan still includes 12 condo units on two floors above retail spaces on the main floor. Bill said that the project was currently nearing the stage of review of the site plan application with the County. Both this project and the Manchester Commons project will likely be submitted to the County during the first week of December. The traffic study has been completed. There have been several minor changes to the approach on the project; the retail parking will no longer be forced to back up onto Colchester and the building will be inset 10’ from the east property line. Balconies on the building will however extend to the property line. Each unit will have a water view from the living/dinning space. Some planting areas will be included on the property and the access to the underground parking will be on the northeast portion of the property. An audience member suggested that adding a berm along the west side of the parking area for the retail businesses would help to help conceal the parked cars; Bill said he would consider that idea. Bill went on to say that the size of the 12 condo units would range from 1710ft2 to 1968ft2. The end units on each floor will be the largest.
Tenant parking under the building will include 44 spaces, which exceeds the County requirement of 1.5 spaces per unit. There will also be some space allocated for storage lockers. Parking space under the building will also be allocated for employees and guests, leaving the surface parking primarily for the retail business customers. The ceiling height in the underground parking area will be approximately 8’.
The project timetable has slipped slightly and construction is now tentatively planned to begin mid-year and likely to extend over 6-9 months.
Signage on the businesses was of interest to the gathering and Bill reported that the businesses will be restricted to signage on the face of the storefronts, with none on the balconies above. There has been some discussion with potential retail tenants, but no agreements have been closed. The total retail space will be 9128 Ft2. Bill commented that the space would likely be divided into 3-5 retail spaces, as needed by the businesses. There was another question on outside lighting for the businesses; Bill said that lighting would consist of under soffet lights and several small enclosed lights on the front of the businesses.
There was a question from the floor whether there had been any consideration of adding a wireless network to the building. Bill responded that he was open to the idea, but currently didn’t have plans to do that, he did intend to relocate the overhead electrical wires underground for aesthetic reasons. The Manchester Commons project will be doing the same. Also, the Colchester Commons project will have two restrooms located on the east side of the building to accommodate the retail businesses’ needs. Bill was asked what the price range would be for the units, and he responded that they were not set and will be dependent on the market when the project is complete, but would likely be in the $500,000 range. Another question from the floor inquired whether the builder might consider using “green materials”; Bill responded that he wasn’t familiar with the materials and hadn’t explored using them.
David Hopkins, the developer on the Manchester Commons was also prepared to speak on his project. David mentioned that the name of his project will likely change. For clarity in these minutes, that name will be used for the project, which encompasses the existing building complex including Manchester Foods. With the addition of the property abutting E. Daniels Loop, this project will now include 11 condos plus retail/office space on the ground floor. The main building will have three condos on the top floor. Two separate units to the north will be unattached living units with office space on the main floor. David is considering having a café with outdoor seating on the northeast end of the retail space, and including an approximate 2200ft2 space for a small grocery/convenience store.
The top floor condo units will be 2200ft2 with 800ft2 decks. Prices will range from about $375,000 to “pretty expensive”! Parking will include 14 spaces facing Main for the retail businesses and there will be 29 spaces for the condos.
An audience member asked if David would comment on his Puget Highlands project. David was happy to report that he has preliminary plat approval and is submitting his engineering drawings for review in the very near future; he hopes to “move dirt” in about 60 days. An audience member asked about the sewers situation on the property. David reported that he has met with the Sewer utility, but the solution is up in the air. David is committed to using the sewer system on this project. The unresolved issue is whether he will have to build a pump station to deliver the waste to Alaska Ave. or gravity feed. The preferred gravity feed necessitates obtaining an easement (he’s close to achieving this) down to Pritchard St., and then hooking to the proposed LID#9 (which is still likely several years out). David also commented that he has several retention ponds planned on the site for storm-water retention. John Winslow offered his admiration for David’s determined intention to hook-up to the sewer system, avoiding the potential negative impact on Duncan Creek that multiple septic systems would likely have.
Business meeting:
Review/approval of past meeting’s minutes: Minutes of the October 25th meeting were approved as written.
Correspondence: There was no significant new mail this past month.
Reports:
Treasurer: Carol reported that our current treasury balance is $852.51. Carol also offered that the books are ready for auditing by the volunteer audit committee (Bob Lamb and Carole Leininger).
Phil Paquette completed a one-page version of abbreviated Robert’s Rules of Order for conducting our MCC business. Chairman Ballard commented that this proposal was accepted by the Executive Board and will be used at all future meetings. A copy will be added to our website.
Sewers Sub-Committee: Ron Rada reported that the LID#8 project remains on schedule. The plan shows the construction contract being let on 1/1/06. This impacts 33 land parcels.
LID#9 will affect approximately 348 lots. Paul Gilligan offered to provide a map defining the affected area for publication on our website. A public meeting is planned for Tuesday 11/29 at the Givens Community Center to discuss the LID#9 with the County. If 51% of the property owners agree to proceed, this project will move forward. Ron mentioned that since this project is comparatively large, it would likely take 2-3 years to bring to fruition. John Winslow offered to send a reminder to the MCC email list as a reminder of the 11/29 meeting.
Crime Prevention Sub-Committee: Bud Larsen was unavailable for a report.
Old Business:
Action items: Bob Ballard contacted Bill Zupanich to determine if re-paving in support of LID#9 might be favorably impacted by the planned Mosquito Fleet Trail. Bill had been unaware of the effort and will attend the 11/29 meeting to learn more of the plans. He is working on getting grants to support the Trail project and felt that there was some possibility for synergies between the two projects.
John Winslow reported that he sent a letter to the Port Commissioners alerting them to the growing interest in building a multi-purpose facility which could house an expanded Library, office space for the Water District, a large Community Center/meeting room, Sheriff’s way-station, and space for a Historical Society museum. The Commissioners were generally favorable to the idea and offered a number of suggestions. They did however express an unwillingness to get involved with a condemnation process to acquire any additional land. John and Steve Pederson will be forming a committee to further explore the steps required to move this proposal forward.
New Business:
Carol Kowalski and Bob Ballard reported on discussions to explore 501c3 tax exempt status for the MCC. At the 11/3 meeting of the Executive Board and at a special meeting on Bylaw review held on 11/12, the idea of joining together with the MCA to take advantage of their existing 501c3 status was considered. Since the “backbone” of the MCC revolves around land use issues, we have concerns whether we could pass “the test” to qualify, however, the MCA has focused on community/recreation issues and has the existing tax-exempt status which could allow this group to become the recipient of charitable grants. Recent efforts of the MCC have expanded to become rather broad-based in nature and fit within the charter of the MCA. The proposed idea would be to have the MCA become a parent organization which managed the treasuries of the individual sub-groups, possibly including the MCC, Crime Prevention committee, Historical society, Recreational Activities group (former role of MCA), and any other groups as appropriate. Regular dues collections would support administrative needs (room rent, office supplies, etc) of each group, and special events would need to be funded by the individual groups. The parent MCA organization would be composed of representatives of each sub-group and the would carefully administer the allocation of monies using separate budgeting/accounting for each group, with funds held in one overall account and one treasurer. A showing of hands in consideration of the general concept proposed resulted in the majority being in favor, with one no vote expressing concern over the ability of the groups to individually raise and control funds for special projects. It was noted that the MCA has now eliminated their long-standing debt and has a positive net worth. It was agreed that there are a lot of unanswered questions and the MCC Executive Board will work with the MCA on formulating a proposal for a merger which could then be voted on by all affected organizations’ members. Bob Edwards was “railroaded” into participating on the proposal review!
Next on the agenda was election of officers for next year. The nominating committee, composed of Paul Gilligan, Joe Guariz, and Bob Ballard offered a ballot with the following officer nominations: Ronald Robinson-Chair, Ronald Rada-Vice Chair, Debby Trudeau-Treasurer, John Winslow-Secretary, and Bob Ballard-Past Chair. No other nominations were made from the floor. Nominations for the four Member-At-Large positions were: Chip Augello, Mary Cathern Edwards, Carole Leininger, Bill Shaw, Bud Larsen, Arlene Rebelowski, Phil Paquette, and Carrilu Thompson. The candidates were so highly regarded that it took four votes to narrow the list down to four. Final selections were: Mary Cathern, Carole, Arlene, and Carrilu. We all look forward to great ideas and leadership from the new Board members!
Mike Valentino was introduced as the new leader of the “Historic Village Character” action group. Mike gave a brief summary of their last meeting where they decided to focus on lot aggregation, lot size, building height, etc type of issues. Their next meeting will be Saturday December 3 in the Library. It was mentioned that there still seems to be a lot of overlap between the objectives of each action group. John Winslow was tasked with sending a copy of the original objectives for each group to the current group chair. Bill Shaw asked whether the “Historic Village Character” group intended to review applications for building permits, zoning changes, etc.; Mike said that had not yet been discussed.
Chair Ballard next mentioned that the Ex. Bd. had considered renting the Library meeting room once each month for meetings of Action Groups. It was concluded that we need a consensus on which day of the month would best suit the needs of the groups. In the meantime, action group leaders can contact the secretary and treasurer for approval and funds disbursement to cover room rentals.
There being no other discussion from the floor, Chairman Ballard adjourned the meeting at 8:30 PM.
Our next regular meeting will be Tuesday January 24th
at 6:30-8:30PM at a larger location to be announced (due to expected high
interest). The Executive Board will
meet on 12/1 at 7PM in the Library.
Ron Robinson and John Winslow will jointly develop an
agenda for our next meeting. At
this point the tentative agenda includes guest speaker County Commissioner Jan
Angel. If you have any additional
items for the agenda, contact John Winslow prior to January 17th.
Respectfully
submitted,
John
Winslow, Secretary-Manchester Community Council