“it’s
a great place to live…”
Action Items:
1) John Winslow to prepare a
document for Ron Robinson to submit to the County reinforcing the intent of the
Plan verbiage on two-story mixed use in the commercial zone.
Minutes:
The meeting was called to order by Vice Chair, Ron Rada at 6:33PM in
the Manchester Library. Ron welcomed the
25 people (including 17 current members, a quorum) in attendance and then
introduced our special speaker for the evening, Bill Palmer. Bill is the developer on the Colchester
Commons project and he asked to present his latest changes to the proposed
project.
Guest Speakers comments:
Bill opened his remarks
reinforcing that he is the planner on the project. Several changes have been made to the design,
which are important. These changes
include; the second level deck has been extended 4.5’ for the planting areas on
the west side, and the ground level planters are now 12’ wide and extend across
most of the west side of the project.
Plantings on the west side of the grounds will include a few small trees
planted in the right-of-way along with perennials and annuals on the north
side. Due to concerns about the amount
of retail space originally included, this has been reduced from 7700 ft² to
about 5000 ft² which will allow the addition of an open plaza on the main
floor. Bill did comment that if there is
a great demand for retail space, he may consider working with the County for
approval to convert this back to retail use.
This plaza is planned to be used as a common area; while not officially
a meeting area (due to parking regulations), this might be a use that could
develop. The area will likely be open
during normal business hours. Another
feature included in this development to make the site as desirable as possible
is the “undergrounding” of overhead power lines which currently impact the view
of some adjacent neighbors. The Anchors
at
Bill mentioned that he has another hearing scheduled with the County on Thursday September 28th at 1:30PM which is open to the public.
Palmer then took questions from the attendees.
?: What is the planned use for the open space on the ground floor?
A: This will be a common gathering space which is a “holding space” for possible future use as by retail if there is demand, and if the County would approve such a conditional use permit.
?: Is there another project still under consideration at
the site just north of Spruce on
A: Yes, this is still in the planning stage. It will have a similar look, but slightly different.
?: Is the vegetation intended as a sound barrier?
A: We’re trying to be sensitive to our residential neighbors. We could build a fence if those neighbors would request that.
?: What do you mean by calling the space on the main floor a “holding area”?
A: We may want to convert this space back to retail use if there is demand for that.
?: Could this open center space be used by the condo residents?
A: Yes.
?: Why are you adding this plaza?
A: We’re trying to follow the goals of the Manchester Plan.
?: Are we going to be overwhelmed with commercial space?
A: This is a function of the size of the
?: What is the planned garage size?
A: It will run from the west property line to within 10’ of the east property line, and will be 207’ long from north to south. The building will set-back 5’ from the north and south property lines, but will overhang on the upper floors to just inside of the property lines.
That wrapped-up the questions and Vice Chair Rada thanked Bill Palmer for his remarks.
Community Group announcements:
The next meeting of the MCA will be on 10/4 at 7:00PM in the Library.
Crime Prevention and Public Safety Group: Ron also reported for the Safety Group.
At a recent meeting, the guests were John Brand and Jeff Shea of the
Kitsap Co. Traffic Department. They
reported the outcome of the survey of traffic action recently conducted at the
request of the Safety Group. The results included
The County staff did indicate an eagerness to work with the Safety
Group and the MCC on traffic issues related to the planned review of the
Manchester Plan.
Business meeting:
Vice Chair Rada then opened the business meeting with a review of the MCC mission statement.
Review and approval of past meeting’s minutes:
The minutes of the 8/22 meeting were approved as written.
Correspondence:
There was no significant mail received this past month.
Reports:
Treasurer:
Debby Trudeau reported that the treasury balance is now $717.05. Monthly activity included payment of $31.71 to Arlene Rebelowski for copying costs associated with MCC brochures for the Kitsap Greeters distribution and $28 for the annual PO Box fee. Member Joe McGuire recently completed an audit of the MCC books and found the books to be in order, but made several suggestions for improvement in our approach, which the Executive Board is implementing. Debby has a copy of the audit and it is available for inspection. Special thanks to Joe McGuire (he has an accounting business in town!) for conducting the audit at no cost to the MCC!!!!
Sewers Sub-Committee:
Ron Rada
gave an update on sewer activity. The
LID#8 has a requirement for project completion within 120 days, so
MCC Action Groups:
-Downtown Design:
C. Thompson and C. Leininger said that they have collected 46 survey
inputs from
-Historic Village Character: Mike Valentino said he had
discussed the proposed revisions to the Lot Aggregation language that was
approved by the MCC recently. Eric had
reviewed the proposal and suggested a few wording changes that would eliminate
loopholes. The proposed language is as
follows: “Nonconforming Lots in Common Ownership Contiguous lots of record held in common ownership, each lot legally
created before adoption of the Manchester Community Plan, must be combined to
meet the minimum lot requirements of its zone if one or more of the lots is
less than 8,712 square feet in size or does not meet the dimensional requirement
of its zone and at the time of adoption of the Manchester Community Plan (March
18, 2002), either 1) a residential structure encumbered more than one of the
contiguous lots or 2) two or more of the contiguous lots were vacant. If one or more of the Lots is sold or
otherwise removed from common ownership after the adoption of the
This led
to an extended discussion on lot aggregation.
Member Stritzel suggested that the
Finally, a vote by hand was taken and there were 8 yes, 2 no, and Mike Valentino submitted eight additional “yes” absentee votes from members.
-Partnerships with other Agencies: No report.
-Village Commons: John Winslow reported that Bill Shaw was on the Friends of the Library meeting agenda (for 9/28) to discuss the possibility of a joint meeting between the Friends and the Village Commons group to discuss the planning effort. (Note that Bill Shaw did not attend the subsequent FOML meeting).
Old Business:
Ron Rada reminded all members that if they are corresponding on public matters, members may not speak on behalf of the MCC, but only as public citizens. Official correspondence on behalf of the MCC is handled by the Chairman and Secretary with the concurrence of the Executive Board.
New Business:
Volunteers were solicited for a nominating committee to recommend MCC officers to be elected at the November meeting. It is hoped that Chairman Ron Robinson will coordinate this effort, and Arlene Rebelowski also volunteered to help. At least one other member volunteer is required.
Ron Rada suggested that the County is missing the intent of the verbiage in the Manchester Plan which states: “To encourage two-story mixed use development, the height restriction on commercial or mixed use properties within this zone will be set at 35 feet, measured from the average grade at the foundation to the structures highest point.” It was agreed that John Winslow would prepare a letter to the County to reinforce the intent of the Plan.
There being no other discussion from the floor, Vice Chairman Rada adjourned the meeting at 8:05 PM.
Our next meeting will be Tuesday October 24th
6:30-8:30PM in the Manchester Library.
Ron Robinson
and John Winslow will jointly develop an agenda for our next meeting for distribution with the reminder,
several days before the meeting. At this
point the tentative agenda includes…….
If you have any additional items for the agenda, contact John Winslow
prior to October 13th.
Respectfully
submitted,
John
Winslow, Secretary-Manchester Community Council