This should be interesting. Dennis Saxman, the man who almost brought you this — Another parking lot coming to Pine? — has been chosen by the East Precinct Neighborhood Planning Advisory Committee to represent Capitol Hill and the rest of the East Precinct in the city’s neighborhood plan update process. Got the news in a mail from Andrew “The mayor of Miller Park” Taylor announcing the selection. Don’t know what the city was expecting from a seemingly rushed process and not really clear what the new planning effort will result in, but, if nothing else, we know Saxman won’t be a pro-development push-over. You can read more about the city’s new neighborhood plan effort in this coverage from Crosscut.
CHS Capitol Hill Seattle News
Community News For All of Seattle's Capitol Hill
The City set us a very difficult task: they required our nominations by October 9th, and they let Jose Cervantes [our Dept. of Neighborhoods representative] go on vacation! I did what I could, as an East District Council member: I used the names in Jose’s most recent District Council mailing to contact people.
A couple of people were concerned about Dennis. One had no alternate suggestion, the other suggested Phil Mocek, who was the chair of the Cap Hill neighborhood plan committee. I tried to contact Phil but only heard back from him today (he’s probably too busy to serve).
Rather more people contacted me in favor of Dennis. I took all the messages to a meeting on Saturday with the Chair and Secretary of the East District Council (Paul Stoms and Janis Maloney), and they elected to offer the position to Dennis Saxman, who accepted.
Note that the Committee includes ” 4 Community members appointed by the Executive”. Not clear how to apply for these “at large” positions.
See http://seattle.gov/neighborhoods/pubs/NPACRECRUITMENT.pdf
Note also: “For the first committee selection, the City Council and the Executive will select half of NPAC members to serve one-year terms, and the other half of NPAC members will be selected to serve two year terms to stagger timing of new membership. After year one, all terms will be two-years. “
We’ll see if the City elects to give Dennis a one year or a two year term.
To the District Councils:
On Sept. 22, the City Council passed Res. 31085, creating a Neighborhood Planning Advisory Committee. Thanks to strong advocacy from neighborhoods throughout the City, the resolution empowers each of the 13 district councils to appoint one member of NPAC–a majority of its 24 members. Res. 31085 states that the district councils “will be responsible for selecting their own representatives to the NPAC.” It also gives each district council the power to remove and replace their representative at any time.
Resolution 31085 can be found at http://clerk.ci.seattle.wa.us/~scripts/nph-brs.exe?s1=&s2=&s or by going to http://clerk.ci.seattle.wa.us and clicking on “resolutions” and then typing 31085.
Last week, the Department of Neighborhoods sent out a message incorrectly stating that district councils must make their appointments by Oct. 7. This is not the case. Res. 31085 only states that NPAC members “should be identified no later than Nov. 15.” We urge district councils to take their time with NPAC appointments, which should be made by vote of the district council, and not beforehand. Also, we urge that each district council vote to appoint one or more alternates, in order to ensure that your district is represented at NPAC when your primary representative is unable to attend. We also suggest that you obtain a commitment from your appointees to report back regularly to your district council, and to consider your district council’s views.
Res. 31085 also states that NPAC members “will serve 2-year staggered terms unless removed by the appointing authority. To implement the 2-year staggered terms, a number of NPAC members will need to serve one-year terms. The Executive, in consultation with the Chair of the Council’s Planning, Land Use, and Neighborhoods Committee, will determine how best to implement this requirement.”
Although the district councils and the City Neighborhood Council have not been asked for input about how to allocate the initial one- and two-year initial terms, the Department of Neighborhoods announced last week that the district council appointments will be for initial two-year terms. If your district feels that a one-year initial term will ensure more accountability, please make your wishes clear to Department of Neighborhoods director Stella Chao and City Councilmember Sally Clark (e-mail addresses above).
Chris Leman, Chair
City Neighborhood Council
[email protected] (206) 322-5363
Irene Wall, Chair
CNC Committee on Neighborhood Planning
[email protected] (206) 784-8731
http://www4.seattle.gov/council/clark/neigh_plan_adv_com.htm