Minutes October 12th 2017
Irvington Community Association Meeting Minutes
October 12, 2017
Prepared by: Joseph Albert
Board Members Present: Steve Cole, Christine Coers-Mitchell, Joseph Albert, Peter O'Neil, Jim Barta, Huck Bales, Michela McMahon, Tiffanie Shakespeare, Bob Dobrich, Nathan Corser, Sean Green, Pam Lindholm-Levy, Barb Christopher, Josh Plager, Alex Michel Guests: Dante Haruna
President Steve Cole calls meeting to order at 7:07pm Introductions Minutes Approval Motion to approve June 2017 and September 2017 minutes was seconded and passed unanimously.
Tree Committee Report Tree committee members visited 14 neighborhood households with stumps or dead trees. List used was from the 2015 tree inventory. All were interested in removal of existing stumps or dead trees, and re-planting with Friends of Trees. Two of the households said they would need financial assistance with removal. The tree committee is requesting budget to offer such assistance. There was significant discomfort expressed by some board members around the process being used to provide assistance.
The tree committee would like to participate in a letter with other tree teams asking the city to address the tree code violations in a recent audit. There is an upcoming “What to Plant” event.
Irvington surveyed 189 trees. 42% are Norway Maples, which are considered a nuisance species.
There will be a city-wide tree summit November 4 with other neighborhood tree teams. There are 1400 empty spaces in which trees would be permitted to be planted by the city.
Multnomah County Soda Tax Initiative Dante Haruna, representing The Coalition for Healthy Kids and Education, presented information about a proposed 2018 ballot initiative for a Multnomah County soda tax, similar to policies enacted by several Bay Area municipalities (Albany, Berkeley, Oakland, San Francisco), Boulder, CO, Cook County, IL (Chicago area), Philadelphia, PA, and the Navajo nation. (Cook County rescinded their soda tax the day of the ICA meeting).
If enacted, a tax of 15 cents per oz. would apply to drinks with 6gm or more of any kind of sugar per 8 oz, and an estimated $28 million per year would be raised to fund grant programs concerned with health of children. Overall goal is for a country-wide soda tax. Beverages designed for medical use would be exempt from the tax.
Dante indicated that the primary argument in favor of the initiative is the health benefits that would be achieved from reduced sugar consumption, while the primary argument against the tax (being used by lobbying arms of Coca-cola and Pepsico) is that it is a regressive tax.
A motion for ICA to endorse the soda tax initiative was seconded and passed with 4 abstentions.
Land-Use Committee Report Neighbors have expressed concerns about a project slated for the stone house at NE 22nd and Thompson. The property is owned by the Suh's. The permit application meets code and requirements however.
There was no notice to demolish a garage at 25xx NE Tillamook. An ADU is to be built where the garage was located, and no notice was required.
There was a complaint against a property on NE 9th doing short-term rentals with AirBnB. Complainant paid the fine and now is advertising on other web sites.
The city is working on the residential infill project (RIP) policy. It is likely to allow duplexes and triplexes on corner lots in R5 zones, and duplexes and ADUs on non-corner lots in R5 zones. This would primarily affect non-contributing property. Solar Panels in Historic District There was a lively discussion around the use of solar panels and shingles in historic districts.
President Steve Cole put forth a proposal for a resolution to write a letter asking the city to exempt solar panels from historic design review. There was not sufficient support to put forth a motion on such an action.
Budget Committee Report $26,000 budget with $10,000 proposed for capital improvements targeting phase 2 of the Klickitat Mall project. The Klickitat Mall budget was reduced to $7500.
The to-be-formed public safety committee may want some budget.
There was dissent around a request of $1100 by the tree committee for financial assistance with tree removal for neighbors on account of a lack of process around distributing such assistance, and the tree committee working on offering such assistance without authority to do so.
There was a motion to amend the budget to include $250 for the public safety committee, and approve the budget contingent on the tree committee developing a financial assistance process that is approved by the board before an allocation to the tree committee is made available.
The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.
Holiday Party Committee has been renamed “Community Connections”. Had a table at the Irvington Farmer's Market with a focus on disaster preparedness. The holiday party is scheduled for December 14 at the Irvington Tennis Club. As this is the 2nd Thursday of the month, there will be no ICA meeting in December. Board members will not be cooking for the party. Food, beer, and wine will be procured from local providers using a combination of budget and donations. Charitable Giving Looked at possible changes in the process, including making it easier to apply and use of technology to facilitate collaboration.
A family in Irvington would like to donate to inner NE area schools using ICA as a conduit for the flow of funds. There was substantial discussion on whether to have a separate set of charitable giving eligibility and award requirements at the direction of a specific donor. There was a proposal to suspend charitable giving rules while a revision could be done. There was no motion put forth to approve such a course of action.
Disaster Preparedness Committee Report Community gathering for preparedness scheduled for Nov. 5.
Need help with sign-making.
New Business or Other News:
There is a new principal at Irvington School.
A draft of proposed ICA by-laws changes is available.
Please respond if you would like to be on the ICA Public Safety Committee.
Community Warehouse asked for help promoting their pillow drive.
Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 8:47pm.