Minutes of Board Meeting
October 18, 2006
NSCC President's Board Room

Directors Present:

Directors Present: Liz Kearns, Jerry Owens, Debra Willendorf, Kay Mesirow, and Ellen Beck.

Board Representatives Present:

Ken Thompson (North Precinct Representative).

Visitors: 

Jean Wirch, John Landahl, Robin McCain, Joe Kiegel, Nelson Salisbury, Ella Elman, Katie Moller, and Toby Crittenden.

Minutes: The September 20, 2006 minutes were approved as presented.

Treasurer’s Report: There was no official Treasurer’s Report, but Treasurer Debra Willendorf reported that we had received several donations following our last newsletter.

President Liz Kearns called the meeting to order at 7:10 p.m.

Minutes:

The September 20, 2006 minutes were approved as presented.

OLD BUSINESS :

Future Newsletters
Liz reported that we would be having two additional newsletters. One would give information about the SUNP evaluation grant and one with information about the 100th Street sidewalk grant.

Liz and Robin McCain have been working on a flyer to be distributed to the folks living on 100th and the adjacent streets affected by the alternative sidewalk project.

List Serve
Kathleen Braden, who is new to our community and lives on Densmore, would like to become active in the community. She works for Seattle Pacific University and has volunteered to take over our list serve. Her contact information will be given to Ellen Beck, who forwards new e-mail addresses to be added to the list serve group.

Halloween
Good news for Halloween. Liz reported that Shannon Snider’s father-in-law, who works for Tootsie Roll in Michigan, has sent Licton Springs two boxes of candy. Liz said she had quality tasted the candies and they are excellent. What a wonderful surprise! PCC is donating eight gallons of organic apple cider and the gift cards for Fred Meyer, Costco, and Safeway have been cashed in for Halloween candies.

Halloween at the Park will take place October 31, 2006, from 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at Licton Springs Park.

NEW BUSINESS :

Licton Springs Park Vegetation Plan History/New Grant
Liz gave a brief history of what has transpired at the Park. In 1999 the Seattle Parks Department did a Vegetation Management Plan. This Plan listed plants that could be used in the Park and created zones. Since the Plan was produced, three different UWREN groups have worked in the Park, as well as Zoo Corp., Natural Areas Crews, Earth Crop., and Friends of Licton Springs Park. The bulk of the work of all these groups has been in the north end. The groups have worked on clearing and planting and weeding.

Getting rid of reed canary grass is a real problem in the Park. There are various points of view as to how to control it.

SUNP, which is now named Seattle Urban Nature, is a local nonprofit organization 'dedicated to enriching the quality of life in Puget Sound by engaging communities to improve urban forests." It was founded 1998 to survey and map the vegetation and wildlife habitat on 8,000 acres of public land in Seattle. They are a community resource for urban forest restoration

They are now in the process of making revisions to our Vegetation Management Plan and will produce a Plan that gives the history of work in the Park since 1999 and suggestions for future projects.

Katie Moller, of the Seattle Parks Department, said that she hoped they would honor the general intent of the original Plan. The Parks Department is anxious about the canary grass, encampment problems, and that changes in wood/plants would be done in a way not to allow camping. She said that this is a great opportunity.

Nelson Salisbury and Ella Elman, of Seattle Urban Nature, explained that they are going to look at what is in the Park now and how it is doing. They will be updating proposed plans, clarifying zones, and studying the hydrology of the overflow drain. They said there might be ways to direct the water into channels. The zones would be adjusted to reflect the habitat in the Park.

Nelson and Ella had various plans that they have done previously passed around so that people could look at them. They also passed around overviews of Licton Springs Park.

There was a lot of question and answer among Nelson and Ella and Katie, and the community members present.

Wild flowers were discussed. It was noted that there are funky hydraulic areas in the Park. Nelson and Ella said that they would experiment with seed mixes to see what would work well in the Pond area, wetlands, and uplands.

People for Transit Now! Toby Crittenden of People for Transit Now spoke to us about Proposition 2, which we will be voting on in the General Election next month. Toby answered questions and passed around flyers for everyone to have.

Northwest District Council
Jerry Owens reported that each neighborhood within the Council prioritizes projects each year to be funded from a pot of money, this year $1 Million. Two of the chosen projects are in Licton Springs: (1) $50,000.00 for one block of sidewalks between College Way and Aurora, not yet having a sidewalk; and (2) $18,000.00 for a traffic circle either at North 93rd or North 94th on Stone Way.

Upcoming Events.

Liz announced the following:

1. City of Seattle hearing regarding Zoning Code revisions for commercial land will take place on November 28th at 5:30 p.m.
2. Green Seattle Day will be November 4th. There will be nine work parties in various parks in the City. Check out www.greenseattle.org.
3. GAIN Newsletter is available on their website: News@gainseattle.com.
4. To get more information on the work on Aurora between North 110th and North 145th, go to www.seattle.gov/transporation/aurora.

OPEN FORUM:

Kay Mesirow asked about the crosswalk/light on College Way. What was the result of the study that was done? Is there funding? Liz said she thought that things had reached the community outreach stage. During the summer traffic flow had been studied and safety issues addressed. We should be hearing more about this in the near future.

Discussion followed.

Our next meeting is Wednesday, November 15, 2006.

The meeting adjourned at 8:45 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Ellen M. Beck, Secretary