Southeast Uplift Board Meeting, 7-9pm

 
Members present:
Marianne Colgrove, Ardenwald-Johnson Creek, Chair
Pete Jacobsen, At-Large, Treasurer
Jeff West, Buckman, Secretary
Kevin Moore, Kerns
Roy Hartley, Richmond
Aubrie Abbott, Reed
Bryan Agee, Mt. Scott-Arleta, Vice-Chair
April Burris, North Tabor
MJ Coe, Laurelhurst
Moshe Lenske, Woodstock
Paul Leistner, Mt. Tabor, Past Chair
Dan Weiland, Sellwood-Moreland
Shirley Nacoste, IRCO
Lisa  Laurenceau, Montavilla
Leah Hyman, Neighborhood Land Use and Livability Program Manager

Outside:
Don MacGillivray, Buckman
David Brant, St. John’s
Lee Perlman
Katie Lynd (Portland State MURP student)
 
Quorum established at 7:04 pm and meeting called to order by Marianne.

Seating new directors: None

Minutes from last month: No corrections to minutes suggested.  Motion to approve (Pete), seconded (April), two abstentions (Kevin, Shirley).

Portland Plan (30 yr comprehensive plan) discussion:

Leah notes SEUL will have a half-day retreat on Saturday October 17th from 9am to 1pm focusing around the ramp-up of the Portland Plan.

Leah and David Brant note:

* One of the key objectives of the retreat is to organize and collect the thoughts and details of neighborhood concerns and help focus how these particular issues connect at the policy level.  
 
* Vision PDX has been starting point for establishing values of Portland Plan – now the focus will be the next step of detail, i.e., policy priorities that will be used to implement changes in the comprehensive plan.  

* Questions will focus on: what to change, what not to change, and how these things will happen – the eventual details will decide the levels of investment of money & resources by the city.

* SEUL wants to provide guidance to help advocacy for issues that are important to Southeast neighborhoods and how those concerns can be taken to other groups w/in Southeast that neighborhoods are associated with (building capacity from other groups)

* City originally planned to have nine workshops (six are geographically-based workshops – with one scheduled in Southeast – and three will be interest-based).  The meetings are currently slated to start late November/early December, with the first public involvement stage to be completed within 1 year.

* The process will encompass three rounds:  Round 1: workshops = gathering of information; workbook; web-based survey, etc; Round 2:  Possibly in February if first meetings are held as scheduled; will take information and starting putting it on maps and present options; Round 3: narrow down options and come up w/”preferred plan”

* SEUL may host additional retreats based on how first one goes – i.e., follow-up retreats prior to every round of the process

Each neighborhood representative is then asked to briefly highlight several planning issues/concerns that their neighborhood has regarding Portland Plan.   Highlights include:

* Bryan: walk-ability, policing/safety, employment

* MJ:  typically a “NIMBY” neighborhood (change is difficult), safety is big issue; personal issue:  neighborhood is 98% residential, but has no town center, would love to see Burnside @ 39th earmarked for such a development

* Moshe:  participation/community engagement; organizing positively & not on fear,  support for schools & libraries

* Kevin:  policing/safety; bike-ability in north/south corridors – 12th & 39th are dangerous bike transfers

* Paul:  longstanding issue re: the design of in-fill development; land disposition (broader issue: who owns public lands and who decides what happens to it), environmental (Mt. Tabor park, etc), neighborhood school planning should be community engaged

* Dan:  new Sellwood Bridge (traffic issues), light rail implications (how to develop transit corridor?)

* Shirley:   issues w/safety, traffic from 60th/Max, both in crime prevention  & pedestrian safety sense

* Don:  growth figure for the city of PDX (will grow by 300,000 people, a 50% increase) has been emphasized at several city meetings recent, but there is huge disconnect in assumptions between what Planning Bureau is saying & what their studies show on potential impact

* Pete:  speaking as former resident/representative of Brentwood/Darlington, during the last planning process talk focused on infill/multi-family/higher density housing, which resulted in a plethora of “skinny” houses which do not fit

* Aubrie:  Priorities include transportation and land use (including both historic designation and the existing neighborhood plans)

* Roy:  in favor of taking position on Columbia River Crossing; also concerned with green space and density

* April:  traffic safety; pedestrian safety, i.e. crosswalks, master bike plan, etc.; also addressing emerging division between new residents who would like to see re-branding of neighborhood versus those more interested in livability issues

* Jeff:   character/design of in-fill esp. as it relates to zoning, cost of living, transportation (connecting to streetcar/light rail), town center for Buckman at 20th & Morrison

* Marianne: East-West transportation thoroughfare (bike/pedestrian/car access/ park n ride); also, as an edge neighborhood, process issues because issues in the neighborhood are inter-jurisdictional (Trimet, Clackamas county, city of Milwaukie) – would like to see addressed.  

Following a discussion of concerns regarding the speed of the process, lack of lead-time in announcing public meetings, etc., Bryan makes a motion that SEUL draft a letter to mayor and/or city council expressing the coalition’s frustration with the proposed timeline for the pending Portland Plan public process.  Given the enthusiasm for public involvement and the fact that the meetings are a) not scheduled yet and b) tentatively planned to be held during the upcoming holiday season, the board recommends the public meetings be delayed into 2010 and a policy be established that sets a defined and reasonable public notice period (possibly 3 months?) for public workshops in order to facilitate a fair and open public involvement process.  Motion (Bryan), Seconded (Pete), motion passes with one abstention (Aubrie)

Facilities update:
Bryan notes that the furnace is working smoothly.  The process re: the oil tank in back parking lot is currently in a holding pattern.   SEUL has received an estimate for $4400 (and the number could fluctuate) - the contract has not been signed yet, but the intention is to sign it shortly.   Regarding the Lighting project – a) SEUL needs partner organization to purchase the tax credit from SEUL, b) will be looking to set up some volunteer days in the coming months – approximately 60 hours of volunteer hours will be needed (w/some additional training time as well)

Land use committee:
Marianne notes Dan Weiland (SMILE) has agreed to represent board on Land Use committee (along with April).  Given that two board members are serving on the committee, it will now have executive powers to act on behalf of the board (send letters, respond to issues).  Land use reps will also have more responsibilities to report back to the board and brief the board on larger/relevant issues.

Moshe makes motion to approve Marianne’s appointment of Dan to Land Use Committee (Bryan seconds) – Dan abstains

Director’s Report:   
Filling in for Anne, Marianne notes:
.      Holli is leaving SEUL.  Her last day is Friday, but she will continue to come back on Fridays to help with book-keeping.  The open position has been posted and ads have been placed for full-time position with benefits as office coordinator

·      There was a good group of volunteers worked in the yard during last work day; Anne has been taking steps to work on a grounds plan that has a more sustainable/functional landscape design (including storm water treatment) and has received a small grant from BES to buy native plants which will be the introduction to a community watershed grant proposal which will help with downspout disconnect (proposals due in April)

Paul notes city budget meetings start next week, the first being at City Hall on October 12th 5:30pm

Announcements:
Moshe: SEUL parking lot is closed because Mennonite church next door is building a house between October 1st & 10th.  They are looking for volunteers to help construct, and the house will be disassembled & moved to the SW United States (possibly Phoenix?)

Bryan: Analytics software has been placed on the SEUL website so we can tell where people coming to site, how they are using it, etc.

Don:  the final Washington HS community center open house will be held at Central Catholic HS on Thursday October 15th at 7pm

Roy:  Richmond sustainability committee is hosting film on October 20th (Flying Cat Coffee house, 7pm) about how people responded to their cut-off of petroleum supplies.