Manchester Community Council www.manchesterwa.org

PO Box 173

Manchester, WA 98353-0173

“it’s a great place to live…”

Draft Minutes for MCC meeting of 8/22/06

Action Items: None

Minutes:

The meeting was called to order by Vice-Chair, Ron Rada at 6:40PM outside the Manchester Library. Ron welcomed the 43 people (including 16 current members) in attendance and then introduced our special speaker for the evening, Bill Palmer.

Guest Speakers comments:

Bill Palmer is a planning and design consultant who has been involved with developments in the Kitsap area for many years. His office is in Port Orchard and he can be reached at 769-2434.

Mr. Palmer opened his remarks by showing the original design for the property at Colchester and Main, which is known as “Colchester Commons”. Palmer said that parking and traffic egress issues had necessitated design changes to that plan. This design change will move the entire building westward on the property so that there will be surface parking on the east side of the building. Also mentioned was an 8’ wide bicycle lane which will be on the Colchester side of the property (as part of the Mosquito Fleet Trail) and sidewalks on the north and west sides of the property. As part of the beautification of the Colchester and Main sides of the building, deciduous trees (Maples and Dogwoods) will be included in the landscape plan. The underground parking access will be on the southwest corner of the property, from Colchester.

Commercial space on the ground floor has been reduced from 9200 ft² to 7700ft². On the west side of the building, planters will be added to improve the appearance. Palmer mentioned however, that the design is still in a state of flux and the plans presented may still change further before construction begins. Another change that is under consideration is the possibility of shifting the second and third floors eastward relative to the main floor to improve open spaces on the residential levels of the building, but this could compromise access for small commercial vehicles to the businesses, so is still under discussion.

Palmer is also involved with another project in Manchester which is located immediately south of the Post Office. This project is currently known as “The Spruce House at Manchester”. Palmer is the design consultant on this property which also has the same ownership as Colchester Commons. This will also be a mixed-use project with retail space on the ground floor, eleven condominium units on the second and third floors, with underground parking. Bill made a point that this parcel is large enough for twelve condos, but he is currently holding it to only eleven. Surface parking will be on the northeast portion of the property. Architectural details have not been fully developed at this point, but his current plan shows design details similar to the Colchester project.

The floor was then opened to questions:

?: What price range will the Spruce project condos be sold at?

A: Prices will range from $550K upward on both of these projects. Incidentally, the County Planner on the Spruce project is different from the other two projects and his name is Dennis Oost.

?: How big will the retail space be on the Spruce project?

A: 6300ft². Parking will include 34 spaces underground, of which 12 will be available during daytime hours for the retail businesses.

?: What will be the mix of the retail businesses?

A: I envision a retail mix similar to Old Town Tacoma. I have also had an expression of interest from a bicycle shop.

?: Who is the owner of the Spruce property?

A: Mr. Park is the applicant.

?: Why have there been the design changes to the Colchester project?

A: The planner was unhappy with the building’s scale and bulk, which he felt didn’t make a good match with the Manchester Rural Village. He didn’t have an objection to the 35’ height however. Frankly, I think Manchester is better described as a small Urban Village.

?: What is the schedule for the Spruce project?

A: That’s a matter of frustration. The Colchester application was submitted in January, the County told us the application was complete in April, in late April we had a technical review and that’s when the bulk and size issues arose. Since then, the Anchors at Manchester project has received a positive staff report. There is a public hearing scheduled for Thursday August 24^th for the Anchors project (10:15AM start) and the Colchester project (11:15AM start) in the Council chambers. The planners have suggested that the Colchester project should strive for an appearance more similar to the Anchors project; however there are many differences between the projects which are driving the different looks; one of which is the different design approaches between the two individual developers (Hopkins and Palmer).

?: What is the difference in rooflines on the Anchors versus Colchester projects?

A: The Anchors project has generally flat roofs, while Colchester is a mix of gable and flat roofs. Also, take a look along Colchester at all the wires hanging there. All of these projects will underground all of those for improved appearance.

?: Your current design for Colchester seems to lack charm or character.

A: Okay.

?: Who is going to fill the retail spaces?

A: We have only had a few conversations, nothing firm. We have people working on that. I have watched businesses in Manchester for many years and even considered moving my offices to this location. I have concluded however that my contacts are too remote from Manchester to make this practical. It will take time for businesses to come here. The cash flow is not dependent on the retail spaces filling in the short term, but it is important for the long-term. The business spaces will be professionally managed also.

?: What if 2-3 years downstream there are no retail tenants?

A: That will require aggressive marketing.

?: But if that doesn’t work, could those designated retail spaces be converted into housing?

A: It is a possibility, but would require County approval to the change in the plan. Professional offices are another good possibility.

?: What is the fourth project that I’ve heard talk of?

A: There is a proposal for a building located to the west of the Manchester Inn; but that is not connected with any of the current project (by ownership or developer).

?: How many added people will these condos bring to Manchester?

A: I envision that the likely owners will be those downsizing and looking to travel. Households will likely average 2-2.2 people per household. The three current projects in Manchester will add 11+12+11 new households.

?: And what about additional cars?

A: I’m allowing 2 parking spaces per unit. The County has no plans to make any changes to the roads to accommodate these changes.

With no other questions, Ron Rada thanked Bill for his remarks and temporarily adjourned the meeting to move inside the Library for the business meeting.

Community Group announcements:

Manchester Community Association: Phil Paquette reported that the Manchester Festival will be held on Saturday August 26^th from 10-4PM.

Manchester Historical Society: Ron Rada reported that the group’s next meeting will be Thursday September 28^th (4^th Thursday) at 6:30 PM in the Library. They hope to have the Kitsap Genealogical Society speaker, who is leading the historic cruises along the Mosquito Fleet Trail as their guest speaker.

Manchester Foundation: Ron Rada said that the completed documentation on 501c3 status has now been mailed to the IRS.

Crime Prevention and Public Safety Group: Bud Larsen explained that the group had to change its meeting date to Tuesdays at 6:45AM due to a change in the hours of the Manchester Inn. He noted that the group had worked with the County to modify the plan for the Main Street Stormwater project to no avail, but that the Port of Manchester Commissioners had picked up the lead and have refused right-of-way privileges to encourage a re-thinking of the design. The final decision is due on September 11. One possibility is a formerly rejected plan to discharge the stormwater off the right-of-way on Daniels Loop. Bud mentioned that those residents may need to take action to discourage the County from above ground discharge of the stormwater.

This group has also worked with the County on traffic issues related to the new condos and the County has responded by doing some added detailed analysis of the traffic situation in Manchester (including heavy boat launch parking congestion). The CPPSG is expecting a report from the County traffic staff on their analysis and recommendations in the next month or so. Bud asked whether the tanker truck traffic from the Fuel Depot was an issue, and there was mixed reaction from the crowd with no action taken.

Business meeting:

Ron began the business meeting with a quick review of the MCC Mission from the Bylaws.

Review and approval of past meeting’s minutes: The minutes of the July 25^th meeting were approved as written.

Correspondence: There was one response to the survey.

Reports:

Treasurer: Debby reported the treasury balance was $776.76. Our MCC books are currently being audited by Joe McGuire (local Manchester Accountant). John Winslow suggested we all show our appreciation to Joe for volunteering to perform this service at no cost to the MCC.

Sewers Sub-Committee: Ron Rada said ground breaking for LID#8 was scheduled to begin this week and the project must be completed (per contract) within 120 days. The proposed LID#9 is still in the approval signature-gathering phase with about 2/3 of the required approval gathered so far.

MCC Action Groups:

-Downtown Design: Waiting for the businesses to settle down in Manchester due to the changes resulting from all the new construction proposed.

-Historic Village Character: No report.

-Partnerships with other Agencies: No action currently underway.

-Village Commons: Currently planning an agenda for the next meeting which is unscheduled.

Old Business:

Action items: There were no action items from the last meeting.

Ron Rada commented that since all the negative input on the Main Street stormwater project has apparently resulted in moving the project back to the “drawing board”, we ought to provide some positive input to the County about how the project might best be handled. Suggestions to the County were encouraged.

New Business:

Topics from the floor: All those with input for the County on the Colchester Commons and Anchors at Manchester projects were again encouraged to attend the public hearings on Thursday August 24, beginning at 10:15AM in County Chambers.

Arlene Rebelowski said she had the welcome flyers printed and has provided them to Kitsap Greeters for distribution to new residents.

A question was asked about how well we are prepared to provide input to the County when the review of the Manchester Plan is scheduled in 2007. It was reinforced that we need to be ready when the County comes for input. This will be a key topic of future MCC meetings.

There being no other discussion from the floor, Vice-Chairman Rada adjourned the meeting at 7:59PM.

Our next meeting will be Tuesday September 26th at 6:30-8:30PM in the Manchester Library.

Ron Robinson and John Winslow will jointly develop an agenda for our next meeting. If you have any items for the agenda, contact John Winslow prior to September 14th.

Respectfully submitted,

John Winslow

Secretary-Manchester Community Council