Events In The Bigelow Neighborhood

3/28/21 Yesterday (Saturday) was our BNA neighborhood clean-up day. The BNA, Seth Hutt, and Rich Christian donated the use of power-washers free of charge for the day to get moss off of sidewalks. Power-washer volunteers were Seth Hutt, Steve Mazepa, Jay Elder, Michael Patrick, Rich Christian, and Eddy Cates. Rob Beckwell and Ken cleaned up the gutters and mowed lawns. Linda Schneider, Laurie Dils and Laurie Hughes worked all day. Many other homeowners came out to weed, edge sidewalks, or power-wash their own sidewalks. Now, most of the slippery spots are gone and the neighborhood is ready for walkers this Spring and Summer. Thanks to all who volunteered and participated. It's great to live in a neighborhood where residents care for their environment and work together to create a happy place to live.

2/4/21 Neighborhood Cleanup planned Saturday, March 27starting at 10 AM

During the winter, sidewalks grow slippery moss, grass grows where the curb meets the street pavement, and branches, grass and other vegetation obstruct the sidewalk. To make the neighborhood safer and more-attractive to walkers, BNA will hold a neighborhood cleanup.

• The BNA will rent one or 2 power-washers, and you can reserve time slots on Saturday to get the moss off of the sidewalk in front of your house (no charge to you).

• You can grub the curbs with a spade, (see directions at the bottom of the page here), and trim back grass or branches to the edges of your sidewalk. Some loppers and spades will be available, if you don't have them.

• All the biomass has to go somewhere, so put your compost cart on the sidewalk that day. Then anyone can put the grass and moss in it, and it will be picked up the following Monday morning.

8/1/20 COVID-19 has changed everything about everything. Each year, the BNA schedules events in the Spring and Summer, like neighborhood cleanups, Bigelow Springs Park maintenance, the Annual Meeting/Block Party. This year, we had planned to have a movie night at BSP Park. Maybe next year.

Anyway, BNA is still here and wants to make plans for the future and help solve any problems that BNA residents are experiencing.

We need to elect new officers this Summer. Since we can't have an annual meeting in person to do this, we'll be sending Emails to residents to nominate or volunteer. Then we'll have a BNA Annual Zoom Meeting where, along with other business, members can discuss choices and vote. More on this later.

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8/27/19 Missing Middle Update: Olympians for Smart Development & Livable Neighborhoods (OSD&LN) won their appeal of Missing Middle to the Washington Growth Management Hearings Board. The GMHB invalidated the MM ordinance until the City fills out a proper State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) checklist to identify MM impacts, redoes some of the plan to prevent degrading neighborhood character by exceeding parking and density requirements, and to study and predict impacts on parking, natural environment, the City budget, and sewer, storm water and water. To find out more, go here.

6/3/19 Missing Middle: Following approval by the City Council last summerof Missing Middle changes to housing regulations , the decision was challenged by a group of citizens, including the group Olympians for Smart Development & Livable Neighborhoods. On May 23, 2019, the Growth Management Hearing Board heard arguments by both sides on two parts of that challenge, that the City violated SEPA (State Environmental Policy Act) requirements and its own comprehensive plan; the decision will be issued on July 10. For more information on how the Missing Middle changes are already affecting neighborhoods, see the following article in The Olympian: https://www.theolympian.com/news/local/article230429694.html

6/1/18 Missing Middle : The Planning Commission is close to finalizing a decision about the 43 provisions of MM. After that, it will go to City Council for a final decision. In the meantime,

• The MM SEPA (State Environmentral Policy Act) was designated as DNS (determination of non-significance). This means the City claims that MM will have no significant impacts in Olympia. The DNS has been appealed by a group of Olympia citizens. The appeal has been denied by the City Hearings examiner, but it looks like it may go to superior court.

• Some of the 43 provisions have been approved by the Planning Commission and others haven't.

• If you want more info, go to the ONNA News site http://www.olynna.com/News.php

2/11/18 How would Missing Middle affect the Bigelow Neighborhood? Right now (map below left), much of our neighborhood is R-4-8 (magenta enclosure), which includes an Historic District (yellow enclosure). This means single-family houses only, at a density of 4 to 8 living units per acre.

Each single-family house can have an Accessory Dwelling Unit (remodeled garage or new cottage) as long as the owner lives on the property and an off-street parking place is provided. No duplexes, triplexes or fourplexes are allowed.

The gray areas on the map are empty lots. The 1.35 acre lot on East Bay Drive could have a 24-unit apartment or condo. The other empty lots could only have single-family houses: 12 of them. Total unit increase: 36 units.

In Missing Middle (map below right), the orange enclosure shows the area that would change. The East Bay property would still have 24 units. However, now 2 fourplexes, a triplex, and 5 single-family houses could be built. Total unit increase: 40 units.

Or, 14 Cottages, Townhouses, or Courtyard Apartments could be built, along with 5 single-family houses. Total unit increase: 43 units.

In addition, every single-family house could have an ADU without the owner on the property and without off-street parking. Although ADU's don't officially count as additional density, they would add units.

8/3/17 The 2017 BNA Block Party was a great success, with about 60 residents attending. In addition, Congressman Denny Heck, Washington Representative Beth Doglio, police Chief Ronnie Roberts, Council candidates Renata Rollins and Lisa Parshley, and many City and Police personnel showed up to socialize. Thanks to Seth Hutt for arranging all the food and barbequeing, Rob Beckwell for BBQing, Barb LaForge for logistics and setup, Laurie Dills for membership drive, and me (Jay Elder) for setup and cleanup. Thanks also to the many members who helped clean up and make everything work. See pictures below.

The picnic table platform and Asahel Curtis Olympia Panorama sign were completed last week, with Seth Hutt, Rich Christian, Britt Nederhood, Stephanie Gilstrom and Jay Elder pouring the concrete. There is still some leveling of dirt to do, and in the Spring, we'll plant rosemary bushes around the table and grass seed in any bare dirt in the meadow. BSP is more beautiful and useable each year!

In January, we'll be planting fruit trees in the lot behind the Bigelow House, and putting up protective fencing to keep the deer from eating them the for first few years. BNA will advertize these work parties so you can help. This will finish the three matching grants we received from the City of Olympia this year. These grants paid for all materials, and BNA residents supplied all the labor.

11/13/16

Hi Everyone,

There have been some burglaries and attempted burglaries in our neighborhood this past few weeks.

Oneburglary was on Olympia, near Tullis. Also, a squatter with an extensive criminal record was

removed from an empty house on Olympia Avenue near Quince by Police a few days ago .

On Glass and Quince, in the middle of the night a few nights ago, people came through a

gate onto a resident's porch, tripped and made noise and then ran. They took the bunge

cord, used as a closer, on the gate. A week ago, someone removed the gate-closing bunge

cord on an Olympia Avenue house during the night. It’s important to report things like this

to the Police or to a Block Watch member (TBA). Otherwise, no one knows there’s a problem

or a possible pattern developing.

What’s being done about these kinds of incidents?

1. Tuesday night at 1018 Olympia Avenue at 7:00, we’ll be having our monthly BNA board meeting. For the first 20 minutes of this meeting, the Olympia Police Department will give a presentation on the Blockwatch program for anyone in our neighborhood, and we will sign up BNA members and get organized. We invite anyone to come. Afterwards, we’ll have our normal BNA board meeting, and you’re welcome to stay for it.

2. ONNA, the Olympia Northeast Neighborhoods Alliance, of which the BNA is part, has begun a program to study crime patterns in our neighborhoods and come up with ways to combat our most common crime - residential burglaries. Contact me if you’re interested in helping. Also, go to the ONNA (http://www.olynna.com) or BNA (http://www.thebigelowneighborhood.com) websites to learn practices that reduce burglaries. One article found there is at http://www.thebigelowneighborhood.com/resources/pdf%20Burglars'%20MO.pdf

3. The Coalition of Neighborhood Associations is working with the City to revise and improve Olympia's Code Enforcement policies. This will help combat drug and nuisance houses.

4. YOU can prevent people from coming on your property by putting a loud noisemaker on your gate at night, and leaving your front porch light on. Dogs are good alert systems as well.You can also make sure your car is locked and valuables are removed from it at night.

Get to know your neighbors, and watch their homes while they are gone.

If you see someone you don’t know on the block, especially sitting in a parked car or wandering without apparent purpose, say "hi". You may make a friend. You may also let someone casing properties know that this neighborhood isn’t an easy mark.

If you see a person acting suspiciously on your neighbor’s property, just call Police Dispatch (704-2740). The Police need to witness someone in the act of a crime to catch them.

Jay

3/9/16Downtown Strategy: For many years, in spite of its attractions, downtown Olympia has had a number of problems, which have discouraged people from enjoying it. For this reason, this year the City Council has made the maintenance and development of downtown Olympia first priority.

For a few months now, interested Olympia residents have taken part in Stakeholders Workshops and an open house, in order to set plans for Olympia's future development. See the Downtown Strategy website so you too can make suggestions, attend meetings or at least monitor the process to create downtown Olympia's future.

In the meantime, to see what's been discussed so far, you can look over the "Preliminary Results from Workshop #2". At first, skip to page 6, where the maps begin. The maps will give you an intuitive grasp of proposals quickly, and you can look back at the text later

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