December 2019 Meeting Minutes
Southwest Olympia Neighborhood Association
Quarterly Membership Meeting
Thursday, December 12th, 2019
7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Gloria Dei Church, 1515 Harrison St.
WELCOME & INTRODUCTIONS
Everyone in the room introduced themselves and noted where they live in the Southwest Olympia neighborhood. Roughly 25 people were in attendance.
PREVIOUS MEETING MINUTES
Minutes for the September 2019 meeting were available to all present. Approval passed unopposed.
MASTER RECYCLERS
Lee Ann Perry & Aimee Weber, master recyclers and composters, came in to present on upcoming changes to the city’s recycling and composting standards. Master recyclers and composters attend an 8-week training session, volunteer 20 hours a year, plus five additional hours for continuing training. As of January 1st, 2020 there are some substantial changes. The City will no longer be able to accept the following items:
1. Glass bottles and jars
2. Poly-coated materials (milk/juice cartons, frozen food boxes, etc…)
3. Aseptic containers (soy milk cartons, etc…)
There will now be drop-off sites in town for glass recycling. You can find more details about these changes on the City’s website at
www.olympiawa.gov/city-utilities/garbage-and-recycling/recycling-changes.aspx
Lee Ann and Aimee provided very detailed information about what is be recyclable these days in general, which would make for very long notes! However, they did provide the easy 8:
· Bottles,
· jugs,
· dairy tubs,
· aluminum bottles,
· aluminum cans,
· cardboard boxes,
· paper, and
· glass (except not in your curbside recycling bin!)
Also, in general try to avoid ‘wishcycling’ - optimistically putting things into the recycling that seem like the should be recyclable but might not be.
(Notes continued on next page)
NEIGHBORHOOD MATCHING GRANT/BUDGET UPDATE
Mark Toy provided an update on the neighborhood matching grant and changes to SWONA’s budget needs. As of the meeting there were 15 days left to spend the funds (December 31st). February 1st, 2020 is the reporting date for 2019. April is the application deadline for 2020.
As of January 1st, Gloria Dei will begin charging SWONA $45 per meeting. Also, as reminder, 2019 SWONA memberships are ending. 2020 memberships are now $10 per person as voted on in previous meetings. This will help pay for the new meeting space and other costs.
COUNCIL OF NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATIONS
Mark Toy provided an update on the most recent meeting of the Council of Neighborhood Associations. A staff member from the city of Olympia gave a presentation on the current transportation master plan effort. Their focus is on safety particularly intersections with high rates of accidents like Black Lake and Cooper Point. Also, they have a limited budget every year to address additional needs beyond maintenance. For example, they have $200,000 each year for building new sidewalks. For reference, a new single-lane roundabout costs $4-5 million.
There was also discussion of a new downtown business district assessment as well as the possibility of new regulations on short-term rentals (Places that rent out for less than 30 days. AirBnB, VRBO, etc…). Short-term rentals make up .006% of housing stock in Olympia (170-300 units).
UPDATE ON WELLINGTON HEIGHTS
Mark Toy gave an update on the Wellington Heights development. The fence on 16th near the construction site had been left open. Representatives from the neighborhood contacted Lennar but have not received a response.
2020 MEETING TOPICS
The group brainstormed ideas for potential meeting topics next year. Topics proposed included:
· Project to fund through the neighborhood matching grant for 2020
· Regular updates from community policing officers
· Olympia homelessness strategy
· State of repair for sidewalks
· Local business presenters
· Pest experts
If you have more ideas, please send them our way!
NEXT MEETING
No date was set for the next SWONA meeting. Date and time for the next meeting will be forthcoming. See you all soon!
Submitted by Bradley Bobbitt, SWONA Secretary