Newcastle 2035

City of Newcastle -- Planning Commission Meeting of March 20, 2013

The on-going conversation about the Comprehensive Plan continued in the first hour of this meeting with all commissioners in attendance.  One of the earliest comments from the Commission was about coming up with a more fascinating name for the Plan, as someone brought up the fact that Deputy Mayor Lisa Jensen had suggested this recently to generate more community interest about what's going on with it and how it should proceed since the drab sounding "Comprehensive Plan" didn't seem to do the trick.  "Newcastle 2035" was one idea, "20 - 20" or something like that was another.  N.P.R. has no idea what the significance of 2035 is as relating to all of this (a 20 year continuum after the 2015 date of the Plan?) or what "20 - 20" exactly signifys, other than perhaps "being focused."  Speaking of community interest, at one point, the Commission haggled over the wording of how the city should enable volunteerism, and decided on something along the lines of the following, if not exact: "Newcastle recognizes the importance of volunteerism and encourages it among its citizens for the public good."  Regarding other Plan business, the Commission didn't appear too fond of the "contract city" terminology (referring to Newcastle) that they said originated from the Council, which Community Development Director, Tim McHarg,  said is meant to encourage public sector and government cooperation with other cities.  At least one commissioner implied that Newcastle should strive to be as independent as possible, however, the Commission writ large appeared to swallow the "contract city" language in order to appease the Council lords (the italicized is non sequitur joshing by N.P.R.).  McHarg also commented about Newcastle's storm water infrastructure, which he said is in the best shape that it has ever been in thanks to the Public Works Department and its director, Mark Rigos.  The department recently completed a capital facilities management plan (streets, parks, storm water), according to McHarg.  McHarg also talked about Land Use, which he said is the core of everything, but there were a lot of constraints with building land in the city.

Commissioner Jon Simpson spoke about an increasingly aging population, and thus the importance of accessory dwellings which were becoming prevalent (presumably meaning in society, although, maybe he was referring specifically to the city).  N.P.R. isn't exactly schooled on this particular terminology, but its seems to conject some type of sub-housing that is a part of the main housing structure in some way -- a cottage in the backyard or something like that.

Commissioner Rob Lemmon brought up the issue of solar panels on houses -- which have invigorated green energy use and help the environment (N.P.R.'s non sequitur) --  and said that homeowners' associations cannot legally forbid or limit their use in Washington, but they can implement placement guidelines.

Planning official, David Lee, said, in so many words, that "Critical Areas" and Transportation would take up the lion's share of resources in resolving issues related to the Plan.

Planning Commission Chairman, John Drescher, began the proceedings by saying that the Commission should or wants to complete the Comprehensive Plan by the end of 2014.  Incidentally, only two journalists were in the audience for the first hour, but the Commission wants more community participation in the discussion about these matters.  So the clarion call of the Commission for this project may well be "Newcastlers, come now, come all!"

[revised and updated on 3/28/2013]



Planning Commission Report Coming Soon

UPDATE:  meeting report will be published sometime on the weekend of March 23-24, but can't be more specific.

N.P.R. is delaying the report of the March 20th Planning Commission Meeting due to the busier than usual schedule of Editor, Mark Greene, this week.  This report will probably be published late tonight (Friday, March 22nd).  N.P.R. only stayed for the first hour of the meeting like last time (due to the editor's schedule), but a lot of interesting things are said in the first hour (generally speaking).  Incidentally, there were some relatively minor revisions, today, on the previous report, "Big Divide."  Also, a reminder that there is a moderated "comments" section on this blog.

[revised on 3/22/2013; updated on 3/23/13]

Big Divide

City of Newcastle -- Council Meeting of March 19, 2013



A careening tension-filled atmosphere fell over yesterday's meeeting as Councilmembers Carol Simpson and John Dulcich debated over whether there was city favoritism based on wealth and locality regarding parks, trails and recreation on the city's "rich" East Side and "poor" West Side (the two sides are divided by curvy Coal Creek Parkway).  Simpson implied that the city was concentrating services on the East Side, but Dulcich counteracted by saying, in so many words, that any perceived bias in favor of the East was a myth, and then proceeded point-by-point to indicate where city money for improvements and services was spent in the West.  Simpson was not appeased as she was often the lone dissenter on several 5 - 1 votes by the Council (Councilman Steve Buri was absent) on matters involving parks, trails, recreation, and the newly named Community Activities Commission that will continue to oversee parks, etc.  The expressed reasons for Simpson's opposition on these votes were varied and not based on the East - West divide in every case, however.  Simpson also opposed the general Council's appointment of Mayor Rich Crispo as the Council Liaison for the Community Activities Commission, saying that it concentrated too much control of the Commission in the mayor's hands.  Regarding the revision to the Comprehensive Plan's "Parks, etc." element, Councilman Dulcich complimented Planning Commissioner Tom Magers for doing most of the heavy lifting through the Ad-Hoc Committee (Parks and Planning).  Also, it was noted by Parks Commission (now, Community Activities Commission) Chairwoman, Diane Lewis, that Koleen Morris resigned from the Parks Commission.  The major votes of the meeting were as follows:

• Amendments to Parks Commission Name and Role [essentially, renaming the commission and adding additional responsibilities] (passed 5 - 1; Carol Simpson dissenting).
• Resolution authorizing a Council Liaison for the Community Activities Commission (passed 5 - 1; John Dulcich dissenting).
• Resolution appointing Mayor Rich Crispo as Liaison (passed 5 - 1; Carol Simpson dissenting).
• Revision to Comprehensive Plan's Parks, Trails and Recreation Element (passed 5 -1; Carol Simpson dissenting).
• Revision to Comprehensive Plan's Capital Facilities Plan (passed 5 - 1; Carol Simpson dissenting).

This was one of the most heavily attended regular Council Meetings in the last year, if not the most, and a number of audience members spoke from the public podium.

Update:  the economic characterizations of the  East and West sides noted in the essay are not N.P.R.'s, but were heard at the Council meeting from one or more councilmembers.

[revised on 3/23/2013; updated 4/15/2013]

Earthly Times

City of Newcastle, WA -- Parks Commission Meeting of March 13, 2013

The Parks Commission continued their review of the proposed Trail Guidelines, yesterday, regarding the routing, design, construction and maintenance of city trails.  Parks Manager Michael Holly said that he and former commissioner, Peggy Price, came together -- apparently, before she recently resigned -- and went over details of the guidelines, thus reaching a concensus according to Holly, which was approved at yesterday's meeting through a somewhat complicated parliamentary procedure guided by City Clerk, Sara McMillon.   The latter was necessary, because the motion regarding approval of the sub-meeting proposals or revisions involved amending. 

One of the most important decisions regarding the review was leaving the classification of trails in Newcastle at either Class 4 or Class 5 among five total classes.  The higher the number, the higher the grade of the trail.   Former Commissioner Price had wanted some or all of the unclassified trails to be classified in the lower ranks (below Class 4), thus making them official, but this was rejected by the wider Commission at the contentious February meeting by a vote of 5 - 1.  At that meeting, Price explained that these lesser trails should at least get a minimum amount of maintenance, but the pushback to her general proposal was largely based on city liability issues.

Mayor Rich Crispo took the stage for a few minutes to explain the restructuring changes for the Commission as he mentioned, among other things, the newly added Council Liaison position that will soon be a part of this soon-to-be-officially-named Community Activities Commission.  The mayor wasn't sure who the liaison would be, but seemed to indicate that the position would be filled by either Gordon Bissett or himself.

The Commission discussed other issues during this rather sedate meeting, such as a dog park (they seem to want to put one in), and Newcastle Days (Vice-Chairman Angela Ursino wants to appoint a point/lead person to run things).  Council Candidate, Mark Greene, spoke and told the Commission, in so many words, that his Democracy In Election Process organization would be helping to beautify Newcastle on Earth Day next month (he needs volunteers).

[revised on 3/16/2013]

Update:  If you would like to volunteer for Mark Greene's Earth Day Project in Newcastle, write to Mark@partyofcommons.com or to the postal box address in one of the column boxes to the right.

Commissioners in Attendance:  Chairman Diane Lewis, Vice-Chairman Angela Ursino, Craig Belcher and Jesse Tam.  Absent: Koleen Morris.



Correction

In the next to previous post, "Not Exactly Mayberry," N.P.R. made a mistake, and thus a revision, about the rate of vehicle thefts, which has actually declined since 2008, not increased.  It is thefts from vehicles that has increased, especially in 2010, but has leveled off somewhat in the last couple of years.

Thefts from Vehicles in Newcastle (parentheses show attempted thefts):

2008 - 62 (15)

2009 - 84 (14)

2010 - 104 (24)

2011 - 74 (9)

2012 - 89 (8)


Thefts of Actual Vehicles in Newcastle:

2008 - 26

2009 - 25

2010 - 21

2011 - 13

2012 - 21

Source:  City of Newcastle, Annual Police Service Highlights & Data 2012

[revised on 3/16/13]

Chief Irvine: Poise and Steadiness

N.P.R. likes to josh about politicians and city officials every now and then in order to keep this blog from being too dull, but if Newcastle is anything like "Mayberry," then that's a tribute to Newcastle Police Chief, Melinda Irvine, who has done a great job in her years as Police Chief.  For younger readers of N.P.R., who may never have seen "The Andy Griffith Show," the Sheriff of Mayberry, Andy himself, was competent, courageous and kept the order in Mayberry.  It was Andy's inept deputy, Barney Fife (Actor Don Knotts), that provided a lot of the laughs. Nothing in the previous post, "Not Exactly Mayberry," is contrary to what N.P.R. believes is the poise and steadiness of Chief Irvine, who has also been praised by the current City Manager and the Council.

[revised on 3/11/2013]

Not Exactly Mayberry

but close ....

 

City of Newcastle -- Council Meeting of March 5, 2013

Newcastle Police Chief, Melinda Irvine, could easily be cast as the Sheriff of Mayberry and not notice a great difference between Newcastle and that fictional North Carolinian town, but if Deputy Barney Fife could be catapulted from the old "Andy Griffith Show" to this small city, he might want to find an extra excuse or two to stay back in the office and guard the "menacing" town drunk.

Chief Irvine gave a report to the Newcastle Council on crime in Newcastle, and the general essence of her report and statistics were that Newcastle's crime rate is relatively low for a city of this size, around 10,000 population, and has remained more or less steady for the past five years. The most significant increases in crime since 2008 were burglary, larceny, and thefts from vehicles. Burglary, however, especially jumped since '08 to more than double.  Larceny and thefts from vehicles showed increases.  Thefts of actual vehicles, however, declined since '08.  Violent crime in Newcastle is very low.  The number of incidents of violent crime in Newcastle has been in the single digits for every calendar year since '08 with the exception of 2010, but even that year showed only 13 reported incidents of violent crime, with aggravated assault accounting for about 2/3 of those.  There have been no murders in Newcastle during this 5 year period. Chief Irvine said that a burglary ring was recently broken up by police, but that repeat offenders could or have posed a problem after serving their time in jail. Irvine also said that Newcastle needs a full-time detective to work on cases and extra patrol officers (Newcastle currently has a part-time detective).

In other Council business, Washington Dept.of Transportation Toll Division Director, Craig Stone, gave a report to the Council on the I-90 Tolling Project. Stone basically said that Interstate 90, between I-5 and I-405, will be tolled for the dual purpose of managing traffic and providing funding for the construction of State Route 520 from I-5 to Medina Project. He also stressed the environmental review that must take place, which he says will include outreach to affected communities. Councilman Gordon Bissett implied that community equity was being disregarded as far as this project is concerned, questioning why I-5 wasn't being tolled and implying that the political powers in Seattle had significant impact on decision-making in this regard. Stone didn't seem to disagree much, but said that questions of equity were being evaluated. After noting that mostly non-city residents drove on it and the high impact on the city's budget, Councilman Bill Erxleben asked Stone if Coal Creek Parkway could be tolled?  Stone replied, basically, that there was nothing that says that Newcastle can't toll Coal Creek.

City Manager Rob Wyman reported that Parks Commissioner Peggy Price resigned. Price was at the center of controversy during last month's contentious Parks Commission meeting. Wyman received statements of commendation for his work in managing the city from a number of council members, and an almost 4% pay raise. Councilman Bill Erxleben was especially pleased that Wyman's expertise saved the city a bunch of money after a road repair financial crisis, but he also was the only councilmember that directly criticized Wyman at the meeting. Overall, however, Erxleben said that Wyman was a good manager. The Council, generally, praised Wyman's staff hires as excellent and Wyman received a unanimous de facto vote of confidence via the pay raise vote.

This Council's general non-enthusiasm, to put it kindly, for so-called affordable housing was on display, again, as Councilman John Dulcich wanted Community Development Director, Tim McHarg, to review it for the Comprehensive Plan, and it didn't appear as though in the pro-active, pro-affordable housing sense.

Planning official, David Lee, told the Council that only 13 of the 25 legal requirements for the Comprehensive Plan have been met by the city. The Council and Lee seemed to agree that these statutory requirements should be the minimum standards for the Plan.

Council candidate, Mark Greene, requested that the Council, for environmental reasons, ban plastic bags (shopping) and styrofoam (packaging), as he noted similar bans enacted by Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn, regarding the former, and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, regarding the latter.  Greene said that cities and towns, generally, needed to be more aggressive in mandating recycling reforms, reminding the Council of the gigantic waste dump in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

[revised in March of 2013]