Minutes for February 11th - Unofficial
Irvington Community Association Board Meeting
Irvington School- February 11th 2016.
Steve Cole, Chairman, called the meeting to order at 7.02pm
Board members present: Steve Cole, Susan Hathaway-Marxer, Peter O’Neil, Jon Eaton, Dean Gisvold, Tiffanie Shakespeare, Pam Lindholm-Levy, Sally Mcpherson, Jeff Jones. Ryan Carson Barb Christopher, Aaron Stuckey, Nathan Corser, Meryl Logue
Board members absent: Colin Burn William Archer, Jim Barta, Christine Coers-Mitchell, Michela McMahon & Jason Messer.
Visitors: Jane Braunger, Jon Guillory, Jackie Farlinger-King, Jean Green, Gabe Adoff, Joseph Albert, Cynthia Chase, Josh Plager, Steven Cornils, Joyce Larson & Margeret Lovejoy-Baldwin 9NE Villages PDX).
Minutes: The Board requested a number of corrections to the January minutes and Bev offered to make the alterations.
Report from the Police:
The community officer did not attend the meeting.
Land Use: Dean gave a report of the Land Use Committees activities.
Demolition of houses in Irvington.
Dean sent documentation to the Board members regarding the demolition of properties without notice to neighbors with special reference to asbestos.
Land Use Committee agreed that the recommendation that an asbestos report/survey should be undertaken on properties prior to any demolition activities. It was motioned by Dean that the recommendation that an asbestos survey be undertaken prior to demolition be sent to the DEQ, was seconded by Sally and approved by the Board. Meryl abstained.
Deconstruction.
There was a discussion of the demolition of properties in Portland and the requirement for deconstructing houses constructed in 1916 or earlier. The 1916 date only covered about 1/3rd of demolitions in in Portland last year, the Board discussed the qualifying date and it was felt that the a later date of either 1930 or 1948 would cover more properties and would be preferred (it was noted that it would be unlikely that a contributing property in an Historic District would be demolished).
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Dean motioned that the ICA send a letter recommending a revised qualifying date of 1930 to United Neighborhoods for Reform, it was seconded by Barb and approved by the Board.
Church lights.
Pacific power has moved the offending lights, and it was confirmed that they are sized correctly for the space. The Board is still not sure who is paying for the lights.
Comprehensive Plan update.
The Board had a discussion regarding the Comprehensive Plan and its residential zoning and density recommendations. It was noted that Irvington’s has a high density level, currently at 11,000, and the city average is 4,500.
Dean urged the Board members to write to the City so they hear from all at the ICA members and not just the Land Use Committee, in regards to zoning and density levels in the neighborhood (it was noted that both East Moreland and Laurelhurst are currently pursuing the Historic District categorization).
The City is having a working session on 1st March. They are working on a separate set of amendments for Historic Districts.
The City will report on the working session on 9th March.
The City will hold a Public Hearing on 14th April.
Vote is likely to take place May/ early June.
The following meetings were also noted.
7th Avenue Greenway meeting with City is on March 14th at St Philips church.
ICA Land use meetings.
The 25th February meeting was moved to 3rd March in the Chapel at Westminster Church. The March Land Use meeting date was also moved.
7th Avenue Greenway.
A number of neighbors from 8th Avenue attended the meeting and raised their concerns over traffic spilling over to 8th as a result of the proposed 7th Avenue Greenway.
There was a good discussion on the Greenway proposal and that it should be a neighborhood solution not just a single street solution (i.e. just 7th Avenue). It was also noted that the ICA is supporting the Greenway on 7th Avenue.
Recently vehicles were directed from 7th Avenue to 8th Avenue due to a construction project, the increase in traffic created a huge problem for the residents on 8th. The traffic diversion gave the neighbors an idea of what the traffic levels will be like if the Greenway is implemented, and they are concerned.
The 8th Avenue residents are frustrated by the planning process and will be attending the City’s Greenway meeting on 14th March. They want to make other neighbors aware of their concerns, and ensure that the local Neighborhood Associations hear the residents.
The residents advised the Board that they have a petition with over 100 neighbor signatures raising their concerns about the proposal. The Board recommended that the neighbors nominated a person to represent them at the meeting on the 14th and moving forward. The neighbors will comment on the Greenway proposal when it is available.
There was a good discussion about safety improvements such as crosswalks at 7th & 8th, 4-way stops, speed bumps etc. Meryl recommended that the group should bring their needs to the City i.e. the ability to slow/to control the amount of two way traffic on 8th as you will likely get a better a result.
The City still needs to make a decision as to whether it is going to be on 7th or 9th.
NE Village PDX.
NE Village PDX is a new membership organization that aims to help seniors to stay in homes as long as possible. http://www.nevillagepdx.org The Irvington neighborhood will be part of their “NE Village” area, which will include a total of 17 neighborhoods.
There will be two levels of membership and the cost for each is yet to be determined. The aim of the organization is “neighbors helping neighbors” and to “help each other stay in their own neighborhood”. Members will be able to call the local office and get help with a number of different activities ranging from attending doctor’s visits, to taking a pet to the vet.
The NE Village will need a critical mass of 10,000 people over 65 to sustain the village. A sign-up sheet was circulated to the room.
NE Broadway/Wielder Alliance.
Steve gave a report on the Alliance. Portland State University Urban Development students, Better Blocks initiative will be temporarily taking out some lanes between 16-13th and will be using barriers to put in bike lanes, angled parking etc. This will likely happen around the Home tour date and is part of the revitalization of Broadway.
The Broadway/ Weider “Charrette” is scheduled for May 21st.
The BWA website is up but continues to be developed.
Capital improvements
Susan summarized the two projects in flight.
Fountain – the group is still working on this.
Bike fix- it station.
Additional capital project are to be considered as other projects have been delayed.
Klickitat Mall restoration to make the pedestrian walkway more user friendly.
An employee at the City suggested that we could do incremental improvements the area. The City also suggested using neighborhood money to offer to trim bushes.
A sub-committee of Barb, Steve and Susan was formed at last meeting to work on the RFP so can be approved at the next ICA meeting.
Proposed trail around Irving Park, but likely to be an expensive project.
Tree inventory
Peter gave a report on the Tree Inventory project.
The next steps in the tree inventory project is to Identify an Irvington tree plan, this will promote the diversity of plants, with the aim to plant more big trees and identify where these could go in the neighborhood.
Peter will be identifying members to help with the development of the tree plan before December 15th. The likely outcome will be a coded neighborhood map.
Historic preservation
A Century house list will be available shortly.
Financial report
Jeff gave a summary of the last fiscal year (Oct - September 15) and a report on the budget was circulated to the meeting.
The summary included a review on income and expenditure. The annual Home Tour revenue was down $4,000 from the previous year, but the cost was down $1000 on the previous year. The ICA Newsletter was on budget for the year. The Land Use Committee spent $3,000 defining the Historic Boundary, and Historic Tours raised $625 from hosting tours and providing Century House signs.
Update for this fiscal year, not many transactions yet and have yet to adopt a budget for this year. Nathan will help Jeff with this. Cap improvements and budget committee will meet and should invite all chairs of committees to hat they can all attend and help with adoption of budget
Capital Improvements
Barb gave a review on Capital Improvements.
Klickitat Mall
Barb volunteered to go the Sabin meeting and give a review of the proposed clean up and improvement projects at Klickitat Mall. They will circulate our proposal and we hope to find a liaison from Sabin community.
Barb mentioned that “Hardy Plant” has a grant program that supports landscape projects the application deadline is 31st March. This may be helpful for the Klickitat Mall Project.
Nathan has an outline of the Klickitat Mall plan and will create a plan to be circulated to the Board for approval..
Newsletter
Please send articles to Steve ASAP for March/Spring newsletter.
Ryan has an article the Gill Carson has written on the re-drawing of school boundaries that could be used.
AOB:
Homeless Camp designated areas. The Board voted to support the letter that Overlook Board was sending to the Mayor on this matter.
Dean informed the meeting that there will be a 3 hour earthquake preparation workshop on 7th May at Westminster church.
Next meeting: Thursday 10th March, 7pm. Irvington School Library.