South Capitol Neighborhood Association Board Meeting Minutes
Weds, Sept 10, 2025 6:30 – 8 pm
Lincoln Elementary School library
Note: On September 15, 2025, Eric Seder made a motion to approve the Sept 10, 2025 board minutes via email vote. Gerry Apple seconded. Nine board members voted in favor, and the motion passed.
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
Eric Seder, Kelley Dolan, Nora Hawkins, Lorie Hewitt, Tyler Graber, Blake Melancon, Valerie Hammett, At Large members
John called the meeting to order.
Approval of Today’s Draft Agenda
Eric moved to approve the agenda as amended, Lorie seconded, and the motion was approved unanimously.
Treasurer’s Report – Morgan Montes
Morgan went over the written report she previously sent to the board members, which is under Written Reports at the end of the minutes. Morgan also noted we received a PayPal donation of $96.92 from Lauren O’Malley, a neighbor and association member, which was used to purchase the Vic’s Pizzeria gift card for the neighborhood picnic drawing.
Extra yard waste bins for residents on Capitol Way during October – Morgan Montes
Morgan noted that around this time every year, the leaves on the big trees lining Capitol Way fall to the ground, blocking storm drains and raising the potential of flooding. Morgan suggested the board ask the city for an extra yard waste bin during the month of October for residents along Capitol Way to put the street tree leaves in.
Morgan went on to say this might be a pilot for Olympia to adopt citywide. She will reach out to city staff to discuss the idea with them.
Lessons learned from the Fall BBQ/Social – Gerry Apple
Gerry asked meeting attendees to share what they thought went well and what might be improved for next year.
What went well
The potluck side table was loaded with yummy offerings brought by neighbors to share. Signs for food waste/recycle bins made sorting waste much easier. Everyone loved the band and the music was great! Our janitor, Corey, was wonderful and so helpful – really made the event much easier with his help.
John mentioned that other neighborhood associations held summer events, but did not appear to have exhibitors at them. Everyone agreed they were a plus. We had seven exhibitors this year from the Thurston County Environmental Health and Public Health & Social Services departments, City of Olympia Stormwater Management program, the Northwest Justice Project, Olympia Fire Department, Deschutes Estuary Restoration Project, and several electric cars on display, organized by our neighbor Thad Curtz.
Suggestions for improvements
Have a separate mic and speakers to be able to better communicate announcements such as the gift card drawing.
Blake suggested having one volunteer in charge of set-up and John suggested having someone in charge of the grilling and serving of food.
Lorie suggested asking non-board members to help organize the kids’ activities. Others felt that just putting out toys and activities and letting kids invent their own fun seemed to work.
It was agreed that we should reduce the amount of food purchased so there would be less waste, and there was no need for board members to purchase fruit and veggie trays – we had plenty of salads and other side dishes for everyone.
Eric mentioned that Olympia’s Harbor Days has entertainers such as dancing pirates perform for the crowd and wondered how much they would cost to hire.
Re candidates for public office, a suggestion was made that, if they want to discuss their campaigns and share campaign material, they should make a request to set up a booth. This way, attendees can approach them if interested in learning more. Candidates are welcome to come and meet folks and chat generally about other things.
Gerry passed around thank-you cards for board members to sign that he will send to exhibitors, non-board member volunteers, and contributors. He thanked the board members many times for their hard work.
Update on meetings with City Council Members – John Saunders
John said that Olympia City Councilmembers Clark Gilman and Robert Vanderpool met with some residents of the South Capitol and walked around the neighborhood to see and hear concerns about vacant lobbyist residences. Dani Madrone has agreed to do a walking tour on Sept 12th.
John said that Robert wants to see this issue added to the city council’s work plan. Also, on Tues, Sept 16th, the city council will hold a study session, and one of the items expected to be discussed is a memo written by Susan McLaughlin, Community Planning and Economic Development director, about home occupations and the use of residential homes by legislative lobbyists. Several board members and neighborhood residents plan to attend the Sept 16th meeting.
Update on Middle Housing Code Amendments – Lorie Hewitt
Lorie said she called and chatted with Joyce Phillips, principal planner with the City of Olympia working on the Middle Housing code amendments. After Joyce’s presentation to the recent Planning Commission meeting, Lorie had several questions for Joyce about a few complicated parts of the amendments.
One change involves setbacks for structures that, under our current zoning, are now 20 feet in the front of a lot, 20 feet in the rear and five feet at the sides. Setbacks for new structures on existing lots are different for different types of structures (ADUs, new small buildings, garages, etc) but seem to be reduced under these amendments, especially at the rear of the lots (to five feet).
Another was infill design and review districts. Since the South Capitol is in one of these districts, any new structures built in the neighborhood must go through design review. This means we have specific standards to help preserve the historic character of the neighborhood. We also have historic protections that allow the Olympia Heritage Commission to impose conditions on new structures in the neighborhood.
Allowances for impervious surfaces (those covered by structures, driveways, patios, etc) also seem to change under these amendments – in some cases, for increases. However, impervious surface requirements in the South Capitol neighborhood will stay as is at 55 percent.
Lastly, when asked why city staff is recommending adopting middle housing code amendments as a Tier 1 city (projected population of more than 75,000) rather than the city’s current Tier 2 population of about 57,000, Joyce said this direction came from the members of the Land Use & Environment Committee – Councilmembers Dani Madrone, Robert Vanderpool and Jim Cooper.
Joyce shared three handouts with Lorie – one for residential setbacks and one for infill design review standards – and a design review map showing where the infill design review district is within the city.
Next steps for the code amendments are the Olympia Planning Commission meeting on Mon, Sept 15th and the Land Use & Environment Committee meeting on October 23rd. After that, the code amendments will go to the Olympia City Council for review and approval, tentatively set for a meeting in November. The state-mandated deadline for adopting these amendments is December 2025.
Update on Capitol Way improvements – Gerry Apple
Gerry said he and former board member Treacy Duerfeldt discussed the traffic situation on Capitol Way and believe that only a few of the short-term solutions have been implemented. They would like more data on whether these fixes have made much of a difference to this problem. Gerry noted that a police car was ticketing speeders recently.
Sue said she noticed that the side-arrow signs by the curve now have flashing lights. Tom Devine said he heard cars racing down Capitol Way the other night. He suggested that permanent speed signs like the one near Pioneer Elementary School on Henderson Boulevard be added, and thought a petition drive might help get the city moving faster on solutions to this problem.
Lorie suggested inviting Sophie Stimson, City of Olympia transportation director, to a future board meeting to provide an update. John agreed with Lorie’s suggestion. Gerry will contact Sophie and invite her to a board meeting.
One additional item
Meeting attendees discussed how the board might reach out to neighborhood residents proactively to find out what they are interested in or concerned about. One idea was a survey. Tyler suggested doing a blog post on the website, asking residents what things they would like the board to focus on.
Nora, Kelley, Morgan and Tyler volunteered to work on this and bring it back to the board for further discussion.
Motion to adjourn
Nora moved to adjourn the meeting, John seconded, and the motion was approved unanimously. The meeting ended at 8:02 pm.
Next SCNA board meeting – Weds, Oct 8, 2025 6:30 pm, Lincoln Elementary School library
Written Reports
August 2025 Treasurer’s Report
Period: 08/01/25 – 08/31/25
Business Priming Savings $25.00
Innovator Checking Ending Balance $2,214.19
Innovator Checking Beginning Balance $1,330.32
Difference $883.87
Recent Income:
- Grant Reimbursement $796.13
- Paypal Transfer $96.62
Total $892.75
Recent Expenses:
- Google Suite $8.88
Total $8.88
Difference $883.87
Transactions in Progress for September and Notes:
We had membership dues of $191.07. Last year we received membership dues of $384.87 at the fall picnic. That’s a 50.3% reduction from last year.
September BBQ Expense Budget:
Band $ 500.00
Food, beverage, ice $1,195.16
Gift card to Vic’s $ 100.00
Janitor (estimate) $ 175.00
Propane (estimate) $ 100.00
Mileage to Scott Lake (estimate) $ 50.00
Total $2,120.16
We paid and have submitted $1,795.16 for reimbursement through the grant so far in September. That represents the expenses for band, food, beverage, ice, and gift card to Vic. I estimate this will be deposited by 9/15.
We submitted 198 of the 138 hours required by the grant.
Our available grant balance is $1,349.34 of the original $5,000.
South Capitol Neighborhood Association 