Meeting Notes
February 15, 2012
Greetings, fellow Puget Neighborhood residents! We are going to start reporting information about the Mayor’s Neighborhood Advisory Commission (MNAC) meetings in our newsletters. The commission is made up of 25 representatives from the Bellingham neighborhoods. We meet monthly to share information about what’s going on in our neighborhoods and to receive information from the city.
Mayor Kelli is planning to chair the meetings herself. She is working hard to get up to speed on everything and stated that she is committed to MNAC and appreciates the efforts we put in to provide a conduit of information between the City and its neighborhoods. We spent some time discussing what we feel our roles and responsibilities are, and that will continue to be a primary topic as Mayor Kelli gets settled in.
Most of the meeting was taken up by a presentation by Bill Geyer and Ralph Black from Alliance Properties about the King Mountain Urban Village proposal. The plan will probably go to the City Council in late April or May.
Plans for the urban village are at a very high level right now. Development will occur over a 20-year period. The developers expect several phases of residential development (up to 3,200 units, although they expect much less than that), followed by commercial development not to exceed 20,000 sq. ft. (These businesses will be convenience destinations for the local community – they’re not intended to be major shopping providers like large grocery stores and department stores.) James Street will be extended to Van Wyck Road. They expect that the residential development will occur before the commercial development, primarily because there must be enough demand to provide the businesses with sufficient customers.
The City has recently acquired a park site just north of the King Mountain Urban Village site. Improvements are already under way there, and the developers envision the core of the urban village (the commercial area) to be adjacent to the park.
One of the things they’re hoping to be able to do is implement local water retention to build a 4 acre lake for the area. Timber has been cleared over the years on the areas where residential development is feasible, and other than some small amount of additional harvesting of desirable trees to provide salmon recovery habitat for rivers, no more clearing is planned.
MNAC representatives had a lot of questions about the extension of James Street, primarily because of the impact it will have on traffic flow and the “less-than-ideal” configuration of James Street through the Sunset Square shopping area. The City and the developers agree that once James Street is extended to Van Wyck, many people will want to use it to avoid travel on Meridian.
My personal observation is that this development is being handled in a very professional and conscientious way, with full support and consideration of local residents and incorporation of the planning into Bellingham’s Master Plan. The flavor of it is much different than some of the other developments that have been brought before us.
NEIGHBORHOOD UPDATES
After the King Mountain Urban Village presentation, neighborhoods shared information about what’s going on that might be of interest to others.
York Neighborhood is having a public meeting on March 14 (6:30pm social, 7:00pm meeting) at the Garden Street United Methodist Church. The topic of the meeting is “Preserving Neighborhood Character Through Historic Preservation.” The neighborhood has significant numbers of historic homes, and they are working towards nomination of two new historic districts in the Franklin Park and Magnolia Street areas. All are welcome to hear Michael Houser, Washington State Architectural historian and staff member on the Washington State Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, and Katie Franks, Development Specialist for the City of Bellingham Planning and Community Development Department and member of the Washington State Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.
Happy Valley Neighborhood regularly has community meals which are open to the public free of charge. This well-attended event started to help provide a good meal for lower-income families. The next community meal will be Sunday, February 19 at Our Saviors Lutheran Church. All are welcome.
Whatcom Falls Neighborhood wanted to talk about a traffic problem. People are speeding on the two major arterials in their neighborhood (Yew and Lakeway), and there have been several “near-misses.” They’ve gotten the City involved, and as there is time, additional police presence is provided. They are also planning to place a speed sign on Yew – people coming down the hill towards Lakeway are traveling as fast as 50 mph in this residential area. So, folks – watch your speed!
That’s about it for the February meeting. We meet next on March 21.
Diana McKinney
Puget Neighborhood Association MNAC Representative
