Minutes of Board Meeting
May 21, 2008
NSCC Northstar Dining Room

Directors Present: Jerry Owens, Debra Willendorf, Tom Meyer, and Ellen Beck.

Board Representatives Present: Ken Thompson (North Precinct Representative) and Kathleen Braden (List Serve).

Visitors: Bruce Kieser (Facilities and Plant Operations Director for North Seattle Community College), Jean Wirch, Ron Hornung, Jennifer Reichert (Manager, Northgate Branch, Seattle Public Library), Paul Fischburg (Senior Policy Analyst, Seattle Office of Policy and Management), Chuck Sloane (Voter-Owned Election Campaigns), and Kristian Kofoed (Senior Land Use Planner, Seattle Department of Planning and Development).

Board member Debra Willendorf called the meeting to order at 7:03 p.m.

Introductions were made around the tables.

Minutes: The April 16, 2008 minutes were approved as presented.

NEW BUSINESS:

Northgate Pedestrian/Transit Oriented Development
Paul Fischburg, Senior Policy Analyst with the City of Seattle Office of Policy and Management, talked to us about the revitalization of the Northgate urban center. Some things have already happened – the expansion of the Northgate Mall, the development of the south parking lot including the daylighting of Thornton Creek, the improvements to Fifth Avenue to make it more pedestrian friendly, and the Northgate Library and Community Center.

A rezone is now being studied in order to achieve the Comprehensive Plan’s goals for jobs and housing in the Northgate urban center. The goal is to make it a "walkable" neighborhood with housing and jobs to support transit. The City wants to focus on and accelerate growth around the new park (that will take the space that was formerly the Northgate Park and Ride Lot) and along Northeast Northgate Way. The rezone would up-zone properties to allow for more height, and some multifamily residences would be up-zoned to neighborhood commercial around the core area.

The plan is to bargain with developers to devote units for affordable housing for the additional height they would be allowed. The units with rent and income restrictions would have to remain such for a period of 50 years.

Discussion followed regarding affordable housing and what can be required of developers, flooding issues, storm water pipes, and sanitation pipes.

Mr. Fischburg stated that he did not feel the Aurora site for the proposed jail was feasible.

Mr. Fischburg announced a public meeting about the rezone that will take place Wednesday, May 28, 2008, at the Northgate Community Center beginning at 6:30 p.m.

Northgate Branch, Seattle Public Library
Jennifer Reichert, the Branch Manager of the Northgate Branch of the Seattle Public Library, said she had come to our meeting to find out more about what was going on in the community. She said they were very pleased with how many people used the Northgate Branch. It was always a busy place. She said they were having a summer reading program at the library.

Also, new this year, the Northgate Festival is going to be held September 6, 2008, using the combined space of the Library and the Community Center. She told us the Festival is hoping to get more publicity and visibility by holding this year’s event at the Fifth Avenue location.

She told us that the Library’s meeting room is available to community groups at no charge. The room can accommodate 60 people, but they have chairs for 40. At present, the room is open until 8:00 p.m., but the Library is exploring how they could extend those hours.

Densmore Drainage Plan
Tom Meyer told the group that where the sanitary sewer goes is the responsibility of King County, and where storm water goes is the responsibility of the City. In some areas storm water gets combined into the sanitary sewer system and at times large storms cause a combined sewer overflow (“CSO”) into Puget Sound because the sanitary treatment facility can’t handle all the combined flow. These can be serious events and will likely continue to happen for years to come because it will take years for the City/County to take all the required steps to separate all the storm water and sanitary systems.

Voter-Owned Election Campaigns
Chuck Sloane, who lives in Victory Heights, came to make a presentation to us, in place of Craig Salins, about voter-owned elections. He said 17 states and 14 cities/counties have some form of voter-owned elections.

Portland, Oregon established their voter-owned elections three or four years ago. For city council races, a candidate has to obtain the signatures of 1000 registered voters and obtain a donation of $5.00 from each; for the mayoral race, signatures of 1500 registered voters are required and a donation of $5.00 from each. Candidates are then eligible for a set amount of public funding. If they are running against a candidate using private funding, they are eligible to get “fair fight” monies to a certain amount, to allow them to be competitive.

In 1978, Seattle was the first city in the country to have a system of matching funds with candidates. In 1992 the State Legislature banned Seattle’s system. Now, in 2008, the State Legislature has allowed voter-owned elections again, when it has been approved by the voters.

Seattle and King County are looking at possible systems of voter-owned elections. Because of the current financial climate, it is more likely that Seattle will put a plan in front of the voters this year, and King County next year.

There was discussion about the effect of voter-owned elections. In Maine and Arizona, the number of women and minorities running for office and winning has increased greatly. Also, people who previously could not raise the necessary funds to run for office, now have a way to do so. Running for office on public funding, means that office holders are not beholden to the influence of big money contributors, and they do not have to devote any time after election for raising money. This allows them to be much more effective in their offices. They will not be beholden or influenced by lobbyists and will not have to spend time once elected to raise monies to pay off campaign debt or to raise money for their next election.

The cost and paying for voter-owned elections was discussed. Mr. Sloane estimated that the City office fund would have to be $2.0 – 3.0 Million for each election. This could be funded by anything from a tax on lattes or a surcharge that contractors would pay. Mr. Sloane reminded us that the budget for the City was in the billions.

Mr. Sloane also told us that Craig Salins was Executive Director of Washington Public Campaigns and was interested in State and judicial elections as well as local elections.

Discussion followed and Mr. Sloane gave us handouts from Washington Public Campaigns.

Proposed City Jail Location
Ken Thompson talked about the proposed sites for the new City Jail, one of which is at 11762 Aurora Avenue North. The Puetz Golf Driving Range is currently located there. Discussion followed, including the cost of transporting inmates from the downtown Courthouse to a jail in the north end.

Ken noted that the North Precinct is also looking for a new home, but would not want to be located at the same site as a new jail, if it was at the Aurora North site. The North Precinct would like to be in its new home by 2012. They need four acres of land.

OLD BUSINESS:

Comprehensive Plan Amendment Application – Licton Springs Neighborhood. Tom gave us information about a Notice of Application involving the property at 9210 Stone Avenue North. The application is to subdivide one parcel into eight unit lots. Discussion followed.

Aurora Avenue Action Task Force
Debra announced that the Aurora Task Force had presented their report to the Mayor. The Task force made a recommendation in their report to site the North Precinct along Aurora.

Our next meeting is Wednesday, June 18, 2008.

The meeting adjourned at 8:55 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Ellen M. Beck, Secretary