Birchwood Elementary School March 23, 2010 6:30-8:30 pm

Board Members in attendance:

John Coleman, V P., Barb Campbell, Sec., Linda Long, Treas., Sue DenAdel, Stephanie Twiford, Cari Duffy, Becky Schlotterback, Andrew Davis                                   

Welcome: John Coleman, BNA Vice President, welcomed neighbors to the meeting.  Recognition was given to Albertson’s for donated cookies and Little Caesar’s for donated pizzas.

Announcements: John Coleman announced the 3^rd Annual Birchwood Community Party to be held on March 30^th at Shuksan Middle School from 6-8 pm.  Proceeds from the event will be used for a college scholarship fund for local students.

Fireworks Regulation: Barb Campbell introduced Clay Butler, a Fairhaven neighbor who would like to see the city of Bellingham ban fireworks.  Clay has presented to all of the neighborhood associations in Bellingham.  He handed out information about current State, County, and City fireworks regulations.  Included was a spreadsheet listing cities that ban or regulate fireworks for all of the counties in Washington State.  Clay plans to ask the City Council to consider a ban on fireworks sometime in the future.  If neighbors have questions or wish to be involved in his campaign to change Bellingham’s fireworks regulations, they can contact Clay Butler via e-mail at butlers@Juno.com 

Bellingham Airport Plans: Stephanie Twiford introduced Art Choat, Aviation Director for Port of Bellingham. Art gave a presentation covering the history of development at Bellingham Airport from 1941 to the present.  Currently the airport handles over 300,000 passengers a year.  Allegiant Air has 44 flights per week.  Horizon, Alaska and Allegiant Air provide the commercial flights from Bellingham airport.  Allegiant Air offers the most flights per week (44).  Canadians make up 50-55% of the passengers using Bellingham Airport.

Art’s presentation also gave details on a large project to rehab the runway.  The project will cost 27 million dollars.  Work will start in April, with the majority of the work happening September 1^st  – 21^st when the Airport will be closed.

Art answered questions about the type of airplanes that use the Airport, the differences in noise levels of those planes, the type of planes that will be able to use the Airport after the runway rehab, the hours of flights, the flight paths of planes, and the limits to airport growth. 

Art also showed plans for a second project, the improvement and enlargement of the terminal, which will be done over the next 7 years.  The current terminal is operating at 300% of capacity.  The terminal project will cost 25 million dollars.

If neighbors have complaints about the Airport or specific aircraft, they should call 425-227-1999.  In order to follow up on airplane complaints, the tail number of the offending airplane is usually necessary. 

Bellingham Technical College Project: Debra Jones updated the Neighborhood on plans for construction of the Campus Center project.  Construction should start in April or May and continue into the fall.  Excel Pacific, a local contractor, will do the construction.  Some current parking lots around BTC may be disrupted by the project.  Additional parking will be built during the construction.  More information on the Campus Center is available in the following article: http://www.btc.ctc.edu/welcome/News/BBJ-StudentCenter.pdf

Linda Long noted that there is already a large amount of truck traffic through the Neighborhood, especially on Cedarwood Ave.  She asked that BTC have the contractor route the construction traffic down Bennett and Marine Drive to enter BTC in order to lessen the impact on the Neighborhood. 

The issue of speeding cars leaving and going to BTC was discussed.  It was suggested that signs be placed around the Neighborhood to remind drivers about the speed limits.   If BTC is able to make the signs, the neighbors will put them in their yards.

Problems with the intersection at Nome, Lindbergh, and Nequalicum were noted.  BTC cannot make any modifications to the intersection.  It is a Bellingham Public Works responsibility. 

Any questions about the BTC project can be forwarded to:

Debra Jones djones@btc.ctc.edu or Eve Magyar@btc.ctc.edu

Approximate attendance at the meeting:  35