South Capitol Neighborhood Association Board Meeting Minutes
Weds, June 12, 2024 6:30 – 8 pm
Lincoln Elementary School library
Introductions and Call Meeting to Order
Members of the South Capitol Neighborhood Association (SCNA) Board in attendance:
John Saunders, President
Gerry Apple, Vice President
Sue Hedrick, Secretary
Morgan Montes, Treasurer
Gordon White, Valerie Hammett, Nora Hawkins, Treacy Duerfeldt, Emily Tilger, Lorie Hewitt, At Large members
John called the meeting to order.
Approval of May Meeting Minutes and Today’s Agenda
Gordon made a motion to approve the May 2024 meeting minutes. Lorie seconded and the motion was approved.
Treacy made a motion to approve today’s draft agenda, Gerry seconded, and the motion was approved.
Treasurer’s Report
Morgan provided a verbal report on the board’s finances. Her updated written report is at the end of the minutes. Morgan said she will request an electronic copy of the liability insurance policy to put in the board’s Google Drive storage.
Treacy made a motion to approve the Treasurer’s report, Gordon seconded and the motion was approved.
Holiday Tour of Historic Homes Presentation – Greg Griffith
Greg Griffith, president of the board of the Olympia Historical Society, said the society plans to host a Historic Holiday Home Tour this year. No tours have been scheduled since 2019 due to the pandemic.
This year’s home tour will be held on Sun, Dec 8th from 12 – 4 pm. Tickets will go on sale starting in late November.
Greg said they are focusing on homes in the South Capitol Neighborhood this year. The Olympia Historical Society is an all-volunteer non-profit organization and this is their primary fundraiser each year. Their goal is to have six homes, including the Bigelow House, on the tour. Right now, they have commitments from the owners of four of the five homes they are most interested in. They also hope to reserve the Lord Mansion Coach House for attendees to stop at for a break in between homes.
Greg said they will put together a press release about the tour and there will most likely be an article in The Olympian the Friday before. John asked Greg to send him the press release so we can share it with the residents in our neighborhood once it’s ready. Information will be posted on the society’s website – olympiahistory.org
Committee Reports
Traffic – Treacy Duerfeldt
Treacy said that those who went to the June 11th City Council meeting to provide public comment did not do so, since the council was holding a study session – no public comment was allowed during it.
So, we will provide public comments at next Tuesday’s council meeting on June 18th. Treacy asked board members and neighborhood residents to volunteer to speak. He needs more people to sign up to comment since each person is allowed only two minutes, and the Traffic Committee now has 17 suggestions for improving Capitol Way – it was previously 15, but two more ideas were added at an impromptu meeting at his house Tuesday night.
Nora raised a concern that if drivers are blocked on Capitol Way, will they go down Washington Street instead? Treacy said they might, but they wouldn’t go as fast as they do now on Capitol Way. It was mentioned, too, that cars are prohibited from turning onto Washington Street from Capitol Way at the I-5 overpass. Only bicyclists are allowed to enter there.
Treacy said that the city council is obligated to act now that we have raised concerns and presented data about the problem, and will be offering possible solutions.
Gerry said that one of the proposals is to create a school zone, which has the support of Marcela Abadi, principal of Lincoln School. Gerry will ask Marcela to write a letter of support that he can share with the city council.
Valerie asked about the 2006 Capitol Way Corridor Study. John sent an email to the board members earlier this month, with the final report attached, which included recommendations by the City of Olympia and Thurston County Regional Planning Council (TRPC).
He said that, at the time, the City and TRPC conducted a very extensive study of Capitol Way and published a long list of possible remedies to this problem. While the study is now 18 years old, the issue and the conditions really haven’t changed much. The final report listed 21 formal recommendations for improving Capitol Way. Some, but not all were implemented.
The study looked at reducing the vehicle lanes on Capitol Way to two travel and one turning lane and adding bike lanes and bus turnouts, concluding this would be the most effective way of reducing excessive speed and improving the corridor for all users.
But the study also rejected this option as impractical because traffic models at the time predicted that, by 2025, there would be many more vehicles on Capitol Way – between 25,000 and 30,000 vehicles each day.
John said reality has in fact turned out very different: in 2024, the actual number of vehicles per day is now fewer than what it was in 2006 – about 10,000 vehicles per day – based on counts recently provided to us by the City.
Treacy said he will draft a communication for the neighborhood listserv about commenting at the next city council meeting on June 18th, and Sue agreed to send it out.
Neighborhood Barbeque/Potluck Picnic
Gerry reported that Michael Dempster, a South Capitol resident, and his band will play at the Fall picnic. Gerry estimated we will need three barbeque grills for the event. Emily’s dad and Treacy volunteered theirs, so we need just one more.
Gerry spoke to Skye, a face painter at a recent Dogs Days event in Tumwater, who agreed to paint faces at our picnic. City of Olympia staff will talk with folks about the city’s recycling program and Energize Olympia, a program to help Olympia residents switch to heat pumps by offering educational workshops and program-exclusive incentives. There will also be a booth for the Deschutes Estuary Restoration Project.
The BBQ Picnic Committee will meet again on Thurs, June 27th at 6:30 pm at Gerry’s house.
Sue will send out the draft mailer for the Fall picnic to the board members for review and approval. It will be mailed out to all 609 residences – houses and apartments in the neighborhood – about two weeks before the event.
Parking – Valerie Hammett
Valerie said she needs additional help to work on parking issues, which are more difficult than traffic since they vary block by block in the neighborhood. She will put out a call asking for more volunteers for this committee. The next meeting of representatives of the South Capitol Neighborhood Association, City of Olympia and the State on parking issues will be on September 20th.
Treacy made a suggestion on behalf of Tim Davis, a board member who wasn’t able to attend tonight’s meeting, to turn 17th and 19th Avenues on the state capitol side into one-way streets to allow for more parking on both sides since no parking is allowed on Capitol Way.
Communications – Emily Tilger
Emily said there has been a slight uptick in Facebook members. She added that, if board members have any ideas or things to share, to please let her know. Gerry said he will write up something about the Fall picnic and send it to Emily and Sue for the Facebook page and the SCNA website.
Motion to adjourn
Treacy moved to adjourn the meeting, Gerry seconded, and the motion was approved. The meeting ended at 7:51 pm.
Next SCNA board meeting – Weds, July 10, 2024 6:30 pm, Lincoln Elementary School library
Written Reports
6/4/2024 Treasurer Report – Morgan Montes
Business Prime Savings $20
Innovator Checking $1,883.96
Recent Income
Dues $45
Recent Expenses:
Google Suite $7.91
Paypal Fee $2.28
Total $10.19
We have anticipated expenses coming up for our Fall picnic social on Sept 8. The mailer and postage will be approximately $756 based on February’s annual meeting mailer. The band will be $500. We are budgeting 220 beef patties for $100 from Western Meats. These expenses alone total $1,356.
It’s important that we log our hours for the picnic so we can be reimbursed through the City grant we obtained. This will help supplement the cost of our picnic. The grant will reimburse us for hours worked for approximately $1,800. Gerry brought copies of the volunteer form for people to track their hours.
The Friends of SCNA spreadsheet has been updated with online donors.
We received our insurance policy via our PO box. I will contact our insurer to obtain a digital copy and place it in our Google Docs.
South Capitol Neighborhood Association 