Minutes of the Hillsdale Neighborhood Association Meeting
June 1, 2005
1. Convened at 7:00 pm by President, Don Baack.
Agenda approved.
Approval of Minutes of May meeting deferred.
2. Committee reports.
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Parks. A grant request has been submitted to BES for
$5,000 for plantings in Stephens Park. No response yet.
3. Monthly feature: The Future of Fred Meyer.
Bob Curry-Wilson appeared for the company. The store
opened in 1950. Time for remodeling. Most customer requests are for a garden
store. Some ideas have been: expand towards Barbur. eliminate confusion
at Custer and Barbur. The total store is 72,000 sq ft. Burger King, 7200
sq ft, is on a long term lease, but it is terminable. Could go vertical
with the new store. 2 stories where the parking lot is today. New entry
from Bertha for the upper level. Housing being looked at by Opus Development.
Current height restriction is 55 feet. Store will have to close for a year
for the makeover. The inside layout will take the Burnside store as inspiration.
"This store (Burlingame) is a great piece of real estate in a great neighborhood;
it may not be cost efficient to fix it up." Don’t know yet. No corporate
decision.
Audience gave pleas for mixed use, beauty of design,
plaza ambience, public meeting rooms, 3-4 stories to hide mechanicals and
roofs, underground utilities, daylighting of Stephens Creek, protection
of Mt Hood view, green roofs, LEED certification. Curry-Wilson responded,
"We are driven to create a flagship store for our chain."
4. Action items.
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HNA outreach. Meaghan MacKenzie.
The first focus group was on parks. 4 participants,
out of 10 sought. In answer to what HNA could do, the responses were (1)
explore funding, (2) Improve community communication. E.g., establish a
community bulletin board. (Recruitment for the focus groups is the hardest
thing about the project.)
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Sanitary sewer fix. Joe Arnet, BES.
Starts mid-June at two sites: On Capitol Hwy, between
Baskins-Robbins and Sunset, and on Dosch, near St. Martins Lane. Call Bob
Synkar, at 823-1700, to report defects.
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Hillsdale Plaza.. Don Baack.
A $2000 grant request has been made to the Alliance
of Portland Business Associations for a planning charette, including skateboard
use.
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SWHRL update. Aloha Wyse.
Press coverage has been fair and objective. Reps
of SWHRL and HNA met in early May. HNA advised SWHRL of the planned survey
to gauge overlap sentiment; SWHRL demanded the whole overlap. At the May
18 SWHRL annual meeting a new board was elected, resulting in the ouster
of the old president and new officers. This is now being contested by a
suit in Mult Co. Circuit Court. The League of Women Voters attended the
election and submitted a written report finding that it was fairly conducted.
The matter is pending. At the time of this report, service had not yet
be made of the complaint. There is an overlap between the old and new boards.
An audience member urged the HNA board to continue with the planned survey.
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Hillsdale Park. The Master Plan charette is planned
for July 9, details to follow.
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Wilson Pool opens in June.
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Walking around Hillsdale. Don made a pitch to walk.
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New business.
Ken Steward, a member on Nevada Court, made a plea
for a Good Neighbor Agreement between HNA and the Portland Bible Church,
which abuts his land. The church’s Frisbee golf course is loud and unsupervised.
Other actions by the church have been in contravention of city ordinances.
Don Baack offered to join with Ken in discussing the matter with Church
leaders. This was backed by a motion for approval by acclamation, which
was adopted.
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Open door.
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Community Partners has purchased the Bertha Triangle
land and would like to be on the July agenda. This was subsequently approved
by the board.
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A meeting of the Park Stewards for Off-Leash sites is
scheduled for June 2 at the Eastside Community Center on Halsey.
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Tracey Stepp announced that she will be leaving the
Connection to go to the West Linn Tidings. She was given a big applause.
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The Raz family is raising funding for a footbridge over
Stephens Creek. They welcome support.
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"We love Hillsdale signs" are on sale for $1.
Adjourned: 9:04
Submitted by John Gould, Secretary.
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