Sunnyland Neighborhood Association Meeting
Tuesday, February 28, 2006 6:30 p.m.
Members Present: Theresa Tripp, Patrick McKee, Hugh Conroy, Kristin Denham, James Hillegas, Susan Adams, Mary Anne Stuckart, David Donohue,
Agenda:

1. Called to order by Theresa Tripp-Co-Chair.

T. Tripp reminded every in attendance that formal elections have not been held by the SNA. T. Tripp then had everyone at the meeting introduce themselves and circulated a sign in sheet.

2. Treasurer’s Report-Hugh Conroy-$87.75
Minutes were read by Mary Anne Stuckart. Approved.

3. Patrick McKee reported on the Mayor’s Advisory Board.
The focus of the meeting was rewriting the bylaws for the board. P. McKee thought it is very important for Sunnyland to have a representative on the Mayor’s Advisory Board. The Neighborhood Rep. receives formal notification of any activity by developers or city planners regarding zoning variances, permits, etc. P. McKee said you could have a representative and an alternate. A neighborhood association representative on the Mayor’s Advisory Board has the responsibility to attend one meeting a month-2nd Tuesday at 7:00 pm. Applications for the position are at the mayor’s office and they want 3 nominations from each neighborhood association. P. McKee asked people attending the meeting to consider applying for the position. Tom McNutt,said that he was an area representative on the former Sunnyland Neighborhood Association and will check schedule to see if he was available on 2nd Tuesdays to attend the meetings. P. McKee emphasized again how important it was for the SNA to have representation as a representative of the mayor attends the meeting and the neighborhood representative takes concerns directly to him.

2. Patrick McKee-Bham Comprehensive Plan-P. McKee reported that a provision in the comprehensive plan to have James Street 4 lanes was removed from the plan. Gene Knutson, one of Sunnyland Neighborhood’s representatives on Bham’s City Council, had the provision removed. P. McKee read the sections of the plan that pertained to Sunnyland Neighborhood: Improve pedestrian safety on James Street, improve bike safety on Ohio and Sunset, maintain and improve WTA transit routes,

Brian Schend suggested necessary safety improvements on James Street. P. McKee pointed out that
SNA was not part of the process so their voices were not heard while the plan was being written.

3. Traffic and Pedestrian Issues-Theresa Tripp
T. Tripp suggested that traffic and pedestrian issues should be a focal point of the SNA, especially Illinois, James, Cornwall, Virginia, and King Streets. Tom McNutt agreed and said that traffic has always been a neighborhood issue. The group was in agreement that traffic and pedestrian issues would be a focal point for SNA.

St. Joseph Hospital-Theresa Tripp said that traffic to the hospital is increasing. Hugh Conroy and Patrick McKee, SNA members, are on the Hospital’s Community Advisory Committee for their current Institutional Master Plan (IMP) process. H. Conroy reported that recently listed hospital-access improvement alternatives included a concept to extend Cornwall along the east side of Cornwall Park. After a public meeting, that plan is no longer being considered. H. Conroy explained that the traffic analyses had been using incorrect traffic-light signal timing for the intersection of Illinois and Squalicum. This issue has been corrected. As a result, this intersection, which was previously predicted to “fail” in coming years as the primary access point for the hospital, is now deemed capable of handling predicted traffic increases there. [The hospital is still in their IMP process and plans have not been finalized] Thus, more car trips resulting from anticipated hospital-growth are not estimated to overload area-systems. But, while the hospital will not likely be seeking road improvements outside the institutional zone (as they were prior to correcting the intersection calculation), City-wide population growth and development is promising to require new solutions to meeting travel needs.

Alley Ways-Hugh Conroy brought information about alleyways sent to him by the Bham Street Supervisor. The supervisor listed for the Sunnyland Neighborhood how many different types of each alley and their maintance schedules. T. Tripp said a man who lives at 2619 Iron could not stay for the meeting but reported that he had graffiti on his cars. T. Tripp said they had caught a 14 year old who was spraying cars. Theresa suggested checking your alley and have a neighborhood alley clean up. Tom McNutt suggested getting a light in alleys. David Donohue suggested asking for the city to have an alley clean up day. Bonita suggested calling the city and getting a dumpster in the neighborhoods. Julie Mowerman suggested motion detectors instead of bright lights.

Air Quality-David Donohue said to call NW Air Pollution Authority. The smell comes from Brooks Lumber that is near Gold’s Gym.

Street Trees-David Donohue and Theresa Tripp said that for $5 or $10 you can get a tree for planting in the parking strip.

Website-Sunnyland Neighborhood Association has a website. It needs to be re registered.

James Hillegas asked about planning a new downtown core to increase downtown density. No one knew anything about the plan.Barbara Fuller-The Illinois and King entrance to freeway crossing are all muddy and cars driving on entrance. Barbara had called the city and the city had put gravel down to fill in the holes.Hugh Conroy suggested inviting city traffic officials to the meeting to discuss traffic issues.
David Donohue said that if residents are having traffic problems they can call the city and they will have you count the cars, they will give you a radar gun, so that you can collect data for your traffic concerns.
Carol LaVoie-Moved to Bham in 2003 and a city truck came by and sprayed street weeds. The next time they sprayed it was a rainy day which was wasted spray. She called and said she didn’t want her street sprayed and they sprayed again the next year. She was concerned about the poison going into the ground and creeks. She asked if anyone else was concerned. Several neighbors suggested putting up a “No Spray” sign on the lawn.
Next Meeting Plans
James Hillegas suggested having sandwich boards for announcing the meeting. Hugh said passing out the flyers was an intensive effort. Hugh suggested having 4 or 5 members with signs who would put them out on arterials when we have a meeting. Hugh and James will look into the cost of plastic signs with wire frames that would be small to store and easy to put up. The sign would have a place to write in the day and time of the meeting.
Carol Lavoie will post a message on Yahoo group to join the Sunnyland Association Neighborhood Google site so we can contact each other.
Tom McNutt suggested that we use the Internet to contact people and send information but we still needed to meet and work together so we know each other.
Susan Adams suggested that we plan a BBQ with sign up sheets for committees. Susan said that everyone needs an access point to the Sunnyland Neighborhood Association. At the next meeting she will bring suggestions for an BBQ event with dates.
Mary Strickland-said it was very important to have representatives on Mayor’s Advisory Board so we know in advance any zoning changes.
Tom McNutt-Said that 12 neighbors created a park on Carolina and Humboldt Streets. With this many people attending this meeting, we have potential to form smaller groups about things they care about.
Hugh Conroy-March Meeting-suggested a work meeting for forming the organization, signs made, etc.
and at the April Meeting have a City traffic person attend.
James Hillegas-Wanted Patrick McKee to attend Mayor’s Advisory Board and report on the group email. David Donohue agreed that we needed an organizational meeting but wanted it be an open meeting. SNA needs to hold elections soon as current officers are an interim board.
Patrick McKee-Asked if everyone is comfortable with the agenda for the next meeting. He wanted everyone to feel welcome to attend.
The meeting adjourned at 8:00 p.m.