March 2006

President's Update   Walkability   Intersection Repair   Mission Creek Reserve   

Meetings

Wednesday, March 15 – NENA board meeting, 7:00-9:00 P.M. at Melinda's house. Please e-mail Melinda for directions. We hope you'll join us. There are lots opportunities to get involved.

Thursday, March 16 – Street Standard Review Workshop, 6:30-8:30 P.M.

Revisions to the City's street standards could affect the character of neighborhoods and pedestrian and bike safety in a significant way. They address issues like street width, speed limits, bulb outs, curb cuts, tree planting, driveway width, etc.  If you have questions, the primary staff contact is Kathy McCormick with TRPC (956-7577) or mccormk@trpc.org. 

Submit written comments to Kathy by March 24. 

Thursday, March 23: two more opportunities to bloom where you're planted:

	Woodland Trail Greenway Association Annual Meeting, 7 P.M. Tumwater City Council Chambers Visit www.wtga.org for more details
	Off-Leash Dog Park Planning Meeting, 6:30-8:00 P.M. The Olympia Center, Room A, 222 Columbia NW Questions? Call 753-8068

President's Update

March update on our five top priority projects for 2006

1. Sidewalk from Fir St. to Friendly Grove on Miller Avenue - our top priority project:  Steve Hall has recommended to the Council that this project move forward this year.  Although there are right-of-way and other challenges, we are hopeful and optimistic the sidewalk will be built before school begins in Sept. 2006, and Reeves students start attending John Rodgers while Reeves are remodeled.

2. Mission Creek Reserve (MCR) Interim Use Planning - The MCR is one of three parcels recently selected by the City Council for development of an initial use and management plan in 2006. The MCR was chosen due in large part to the neighborhood's advocacy, and our expressed readiness to help the City in their efforts. We've formed a core planning group - coordinated by Tom Badger and Wendy Gerstel - that will be meeting soon to begin work on gathering the data the City needs to complete the plan.  Once a plan is developed, we'll begin working to secure the resources to get it implemented.

3. Quince Street sidewalk - The City is still gathering data on the costs of this project, and we should know in the next few weeks on it's status. Our request was to have the sidewalk installed before Reeves reopens in Sept. 2007.

 

4. Intersection Repair - NENA received a City Neighborhood Matching Grant to hold a series of community design workshops to develop a plan for transforming the intersection of San Francisco and Bethel Streets into a safe and beautiful public space.  This promises to be an exciting way to get to know your neighborhoods and shape the future of your neighborhood. We'll be sending out more details in the next week. Workshops will be begin in May.

 

5. Reeves Middle School Connector to East Bay - NENA in partnership with the East Bay Drive Neighborhood Association  and the Woodland Trail Greenway Association applied for a grant from the Thurston County Healthy STEPS Program to design and improve the connector that links East Bay Drive to Reeves Middle School. We should know in the next week if we've been awarded the grant. 

Walkability Issues

San Francisco Street sidewalk art

	Carolyn Law, the artist working on this project, has submitted her preliminary proposal – more to come soon.
	One next step is to discuss options for addressing our concerns about where buses pick-up and drop-off students at Roosevelt .

Miller Ave. and Quince St. sidewalks

	The recommendation from the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee to move forward with these projects is on its way to the City Council.
	The Olympia School District , and the Reeves and Roosevelt School site councils will be sending a letter of support for these projects to the City Council.

Parking on the street

The City is moving forward with exploring the idea of creating cards that residents can put on cars that park on the sidewalk. The City’s insurance company has raised some concerns about posting these cards on the web, but there are a variety of other ways to produce and distribute these cards that should be acceptable.

Intersection Repair at San Francisco and Bethel

We've set the dates for our intersection repair workshops. All workshops will be held from 10a.m. to 1p.m. at Roosevelt School .

Join us for any or all of the workshops we've planned with the Village Improvement Project. We'll brainstorm ideas about how we'd like to transform the intersection of San Francisco and Bethel into a public square" that reflects the flavor and diversity of our corner of town.

	Saturday, May 6 ~ Place-Making 101: Getting to Know You
	Saturday, May 13 ~ Site Analysis: San Francisco & Bethel
	Saturday, June 10 ~ Design Charrette: The Intersection Repair
	Saturday, June 24 ~ Place-Making: The Vision

Things to think about: 

	The Kiosk – how do we want to go forward with this?
	What should be our next steps with the bakery, the owners of the garage, and the school district?

Mission Creek Reserve

The 29-acre parcel known as Mission Creek Reserve (MCR) was fortuitously acquired in 2001 by the City with its intended long-term management as open space.  Since its acquisition, MCR has seen considerable use, most of it favorable and intended, and some not. As the City has been actively focused on acquiring new properties in recent years, development of both long-term and initial use management plans for these recently acquired properties have out of necessity become lesser priorities. One important point is that before any significant improvements (i.e., new access points, a bridge over Mission Creek, etc.) can move forward, the City wants to have an interim use plan in place. Of good fortune, MCR was one of three parcels recently identified by the City Olympia Parks, Arts and Recreation department and the Olympia City Council for development of an initial use and management plan in 2006.  MCR was selected, in large part, because of the neighborhood's advocacy and our expressed readiness to help the City in their efforts, which is the reason for contacting neighbors who have indicated an interest in MCR. 

 

Several representatives from the neighborhood recently met with City park staff to discuss what specifically the neighborhood could do to help accelerate the development of an initial use and management plan (IUMP). A number of action items were identified:

1. identify adjacent property owners
2. accurately locate existing trails (air photos, GPS or ???)
3. identify critical habitat areas
4. create a base map showing boundaries, existing trails, vegetation zones, unique features, utilities, critical areas, and sensitive habitat
5. review available documentation in preparing an IUMP
6. investigate best management practices for invasive species, trail construction, improper use, protecting sensitive areas, etc.
   

Web site content and maintenance donated by Melinda T. Spencer