Heritage Neighborhood Association

2004-February Meeting Minutes

February 5th Meeting Minutes

This was a combined meeting of the Sifton and Heritage Neighborhood Associations.

In attendance were:

Sifton Neighborhood Association
Steve Hamilton, President
Lamont Shandlin, Vice President
Alan Hoff, Treasurer

Heritage Neighborhood Association
Kathy Murphy, President
Joe Pedron, Vice President
Robin Pedron, Secretary
Richard Wilhelm, Treasurer

While attendance at this meeting was low from ongoing members, there were new members who attended and their attendance and input was welcomed and thanked.

Sifton reported:

The position of President is up for election. Steve Hamilton has been President for the past 2 years. His wife has been the Secretary/Web Master, however, due to health reasons can no longer continue in that role. Both positions are up for election, which have been postponed until either the next meeting when attendance can be increased to allow for more participation from neighborhood members or mailer sent out to every tax lot soliciting input and/or vote. A new President can be elected or Steve can be elected to serve another 2 year term.

Two speakers were scheduled to present at this meeting, however, both were unable to make it at the last minute.
1) Parks District Proposal. Speaker was to present the proposal to institute a new tax for development of parks. Reasons for the tax; we have few parks with playground equipment, no money for grounds maintenance, only have funds to purchase land for parks and to mow twice a year, but not to develop or maintain them beyond that, can’t take $ from general fund for this expense. Not permitted for private citizens to do the work because of liability issues and playground equipment needs to be approved.
2) Long Term Transportation. Speaker was to present dilemma facing the future of transportation in Clark County and solicit our input. For more information, go to www.tppii.com.

Jenice Prutz with the Education, Travel and Culture, Inc. (ETC), which is a non-profit corporation for foreign student exchange based in Portland, presented information on becoming a Foreign Exchange Student Host Family. For more information contact her at 360-608-9520 or visit website www.edutrav.org. She needs a commitment by April for placement in June.

Steve reported on new development updates:
- Winco, because of the economy, is not in a hurry to build, there is no time frame set.
- Kaiser, probably next December will start on the building plans. Site plan is near completion which is different than building plans.
- Widening of NE 137th Avenue from 76th St. to 4th Plain will likely start this spring (04).
- Widening of NE 76th St. with one lane in each direction, center turn lane, bike lanes on each side.
- Birtcher Business Center – roads need to be built to provide the infrastructure to support the construction. The sound wall can’t move forward until the ground construction work starts. Alexandria has put in an application for Site Plan Review for the retail center. The annexation into the City of Vancouver is complete. In discussions with Pete Cappell, having a light at NE 143rd is still being worked on by the county.
- Widening of NE 162nd Ave. from NE 39th St. to Ward Road is scheduled to be completed over 7 years.
- Carl Jr’s has broken ground at Lowe’s
- Boston Pizza has broken ground at Lowe’s

Future topics of interest at meetings to include Drug Task Force (John Hess) which is scheduled for the meeting on Thursday, March 4th 7:00 pm at Fire Station 88. Sex Offenders is a popular topic and you can find out more about this as well as who lives in your neighborhood by accessing the website
http://www.co.clark.wa.us/sheriff/community/offenders.html

Go to levels II and III for the more serious offenders.

Steve was asked to be a member of the Sheriff’s Advisory Board and he accepted as a member of the Sifton Neighborhood Association.

Heritage reported:

The last meeting was held January 22, 2004 and officers were elected. Stated goals and ambitions at this time are to promote and increase membership through handing out flyers, contacting and posting at businesses, placing signs for meeting notification and neighborhood welcome signs.

Kathy Murphy, President, distributed information on filing Nuisance and other complaints. You can get this and other pertinent information off the following Clark County Websites:
www.co.clark.wa.us/commdev/code-enforcement/complaints/nuisance.html.
www.co.clark.wa.us/animal/programs/complaints.html
www.co.clark.wa.us/sheriff/index.html

For reference, to file a complaint contact:
Debris or people living in trailers – contact Code Enforcement
Garbage – Health Department
High grass (only in dry season) – Fire Marshall
Animals – Animal Control
More than one signature is needed to generate action to correct a violation and a photograph of the violation is very helpful. Code Enforcement is required by law to not release the names of those who’ve filed a complaint and they strictly adhere to this. A suggestion, before filing a complaint, is to send an anonymous letter to the violator citing the violations that exist to give them a chance to correct the situation. If they don’t do anything, contact the appropriate agency.

Joe Pedron, Vice President reported on ordering 4 “Welcome to the Heritage Neighborhood” signs, timeframe for delivery is 8 weeks. We need input as to where to place the signs. We are not able to use the marquee at the Fire Station to post meeting notices, however, we can place a sandwich board sign out front on the day of the meeting to be taken down after the meeting. Joe and Robin distributed 51 flyers in their immediate neighborhood that day announcing the meeting.

Richard Wilhelm, Treasurer, reported that he had contacted the area schools and we can’t advertise our association on their marquees or in their newsletters. Richard will pursue setting up a “Meet the Community” table at the schools on their ‘open house’ nights. All plans that include the local schools must go through the principal of that school.

Robin Pedron, Secretary, reported that she had personally visited 35 businesses within the HNA from NE 131st Avenue to NE 162nd Avenue (Heritage Market Center). Many were optimistic about becoming a member of the HNA and open to providing sponsorships and support for events and association needs. With the boundary of the HNA extending west to NE 121st Avenue, more businesses need to be contacted. The Eastgate Shopping Center as well as the entire Birtcher Business Center are located within the HNA boundaries.

Action items suggested were:

To pursue the viability of a coordinated NA Fair to be sponsored at/by Westfield Shopping Center. There are @31 neighborhood associations in Clark County who could set up tables to talk about what they’re about. Kathy said she would to take this to the monthly NAC meetings.

Include in the newsletters and on the website information about the neighborhood association (e.g., no fees to belong, what they do, what the potential is – reference Hazel Dell’s success, etc.). Some questions came in suggesting that people may have wrong information about what it takes to belong to the neighborhood association and that it is NOT the same thing as a Homeowners Association. Those two should be spelled out as to what they mean.

Research business cards and cost for the HNA Officers to hand out. A website was suggested www.vistaprint.com for inexpensive cards. Also, Visions In Print offered to print 250 cards for $25.

The HNA has no funds yet.

Next meeting – joint with the Sifton Neighborhood Association on Thursday, March 4th at 7:00 p.m. Fire Station 88. Kathy Murphy will not be able to attend, representing the HNA will be the Vice President, Joe Pedron. Please plan to attend and meet your neighbors.