Mayor’s Neighborhood Advisory Commission

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.

Mayor schedules June 1 meeting to collect shipping terminal comments

6 pm

June 1^st

Bellingham Municipal Court

Bellingham Mayor Dan Pike invites members of the Bellingham community to help local officials identify the scope of environmental review for SSA Marine’s proposed Gateway Pacific Terminal at Cherry Point.  Pike said his aim is to continue community dialogue and prepare for formal environmental review, which will be conducted by Whatcom County officials once SSA applies for permits.

A meeting hosted by Pike is planned to provide area residents a preliminary chance to identify impacts that should be studied during future review of the proposed project. He said comments collected will be provided to the appropriate regulatory agencies to support a triple-bottom-line approach to reviewing the proposal, considering its environmental, social and economic impacts.

“This is an important decision facing our community, as we try to balance the potential for new jobs and investment in our community with the neighborhood, environmental and other impacts this facility would bring,” Pike said. “I want an accurate assessment of both the positive and negative effects on our community.  We deserve clear answers about the impacts, how negative impacts might be mitigated, and who would pay for that mitigation,” he said.

For More Information, go to the City’s website:

http://www.cob.org/features/2011-03-15-gateway-pacific-terminal.aspx