Hillsdale 
Neighborhood 
Association

1. Convened at 7:05 pm by President, Don Baack. 
Attendance :  approximately 14
Approval of previous Meeting Minutes pending.

2. Bertha Triangle Project Naming Effort Results:  The Hillsdale Senior Housing project has been named “The Watershed”, which was released to the public in a 2/6/06 news release from Robin Scholetzky, the Housing and Resource Development Manager for the Community Partners for affordable Housing, Inc. (CPAH). Craig Kelley briefly discussed the Brown Field clean-up requirements. There are some contaminates at the site, and DEQ has issued a letter indicating “no further action” if the contaminated materials are not disturbed. The alternatives for clean-up include excavation and proper disposal of the contaminated materials under the DEQ voluntary program with consultant overview. This work should start in July or August of 2006. The project consists of 51 units of affordable housing in two buildings. Because CPAH is a non-profit organization the project budget is important, but they want to incorporate as many sustainable practices as possible into the final project. The project is transit oriented by nature of the intended residents and the adjacency to available public transit in Hillsdale. CPAH is asking for a letter of support from HNA as the community has been very supportive of this gateway project from the start. Walsh Construction is the General Contractor for the project and they will have a job trailer and staging area north of Capitol Hwy. An overall schedule for the project will be posted in the near future.

3. The Watershed Design Discussion:  The group continued the review and discussion of The Watershed project indicating a desire to reflect the Swiss historical background of the Hillsdale area while also reflecting the NW Architectural influence. Many comments about the design, size, shape, and top of the “tower” were mentioned. A Tower review Committee of John Gould, Wes Risher, and Duane Hunting were selected to work with the architects for a presentation at the April HNA meeting. The budget for the tower component is around $40-55 thousand dollars.

4. SWHRL – Hillsdale Boundary Results:  Aloha provided a brief update on the SWHRL – Hillsdale boundary survey results, indicating that one of the more exciting outcomes will be going over all the ideas that people suggested for activities for the community to focus on.

5. Consideration of Hillsdale Neighborhood Association Bylaw Changes:  Bill Joseph briefly reviewed some of the items in the HNA Bylaws that have been updated to better match the ONI Guidelines. Things such as the grievance procedures, voting, quorum, purposes section, membership section, age, and open meeting law items were addressed. A vote provided a unanimous passage of approval of these updates. The HNA Board will continue to review the 70 pages of small print in the ONI Guidelines to back check for any additional updates required.

6. Stephens Creek Walkway Engineering drawings:  Don Baack brought some engineering drawings of the Stephens Creek Walkway for the group to review and discuss. Because of lack of time, a more detail review/discussion was held off until next month on this subject. Don indicated that there will be a May 2006 ground breaking for this project.

7. Reports:
 a. Robert Hamilton provided a brief background on the recent approved Grant going from SWNI to the City Council for Hillsdale’s part in the Portland Visioning Project. This will be a public discussion on Portland’s future over the next 10 years. HNA will start with a tent at the Hillsdale Farmer’s Market on every other Sunday for walk-in traffic to collect ideas from the public on subjects large and small. There will also be a total of 100 people (groups of 10 people each) to host a coffee at their homes to gather visioning ideas “From the Street”.
 b. Duane Hunting and John Gould provided some more background on the Hillsdale Renaissance concept explaining the developmental change in zoning from R10 (4 housing units per acre) to R2.5 (16 housing units per acre) and the overall decision of what type of housing to be developed in the Hillsdale Triangle area. The “master plan concept” for changes in Hillsdale should include businesses and residential properties from the top of the Hillsdale triangle south to include the Fred Meyer property on Barbur Blvd.
 c. Outreach Committee’s discussion on the Hillsdale Plaza was attended by 20 people, and the outcome was for support of the “PLAZA” concept in the heart of Hillsdale, but not any one specific location was defined. Meghan MacKenzie explained that the next task was to develop a “wish list” of the important attributes that need to be incorporated into the Hillsdale Plaza. One possibility is to look into a “system of plazas” within Hillsdale. The next meeting will be on 3/21/06 at the Turning point from 6:00 – 8:00 pm. There will also be three (3) charrettees during April and May (one about every two weeks) to continue to collect ideas and build the “wish list”.

8. Robert Hamilton explained his research into the gift from HNA to St. Barnabus of a flip chart stand at a cost of about $110.00. A vote from the floor approved this idea and authorized him to purchase this gift.

9. Hillsdale Community Activities:  Aloha reminded the group to pick up a survey and continue to identify areas of concerns and things to work on in the future.

Adjourned: 8:55 pm
Duane hunting, Vice President