Sifton Neighborhood Association

Minutes of April, 2005, Minutes

Development

Pres. Lamont Shaindlin brought information from Clark County regarding construction and development permits. He requested that more people provide him an e-mail address in order to receive meeting minutes.

A bond measure for parks passed this winter. Sifton Park will be developed at 131st Avenue and 71st Street.

A website available through the county can be used to find information on any street address in the county, including physical mapping of the location, property value, assessed value, history of sales, ownership
history, etc. The address is http://gis.clark.wa.gov/applications/gishome/property/index.cfm; look for the line “Property Information Center.”

Lamont has information about a group promoting a chemical-free lawn care program that’s good for the lawn and the environment. Also, he discussed an idea to raise money for SNA: business cards from local businesses are attached to decorative plywood or posterboard, and SNA charges a small fee, so the businesses are advertising to us at each meeting.


Fourth Plain Road is a state highway, designed to take people from SR 503 to Camas, but it has become a road where people want to turn often, into driveways of businesses. Padden Parkway was designed to be a state highway.

Roads that may continued include 56th Street, which may be extended east from the area of Taco Bell and the Post Office to 137th Avenue. When Wal-Mart is built, 59th Street, on the south side of that property, will be extended east to 162nd Avenue and west to 121st Avenue. When developers have been given permits to develop a parcel, they must build a three-lane street (including a turn lane) to accommodate traffic as part of the development.

Development of the Kaiser site would have begun were it not for the recent rains. On the north side of the site and south of Sifton Elementary, is a footpath running east and west. The developer for Kaiser will add a brick wall just south of that path and put in new fences for the property owners on the east side of the property. The developer will remove the old fences for the homeowners.

Two Guest Speakers

Mr. Mike Mabry from the county’s long-range planning department brought a circulation plan, which is a large map of current and proposed roads. For more information from Mr. Mabry, you may write MICHAEL.MABRY@CLARK.WA.GOV.

Deputy Sheriff Bill Sofianos brought information about crimes committed in our neighborhood in the last year. He explained that sex offenders registered with the state are noted in the statistics as Level II or Level III, the latter being the most likely to re-offend. At www.clark.wa.gov/sheriff/community/offenders.html, folks can get more information about sex offenders and where they live.

Crime

Crime goes up when kids are out of school for vacations or holidays. We are part of the central precinct, which is huge, and deputies are spread thin.

The vast majority of property crime is fueled by the epidemic of addictions to methamphetamine, a drug more addictive than cocaine. Deputy Sofianos brought information about meth production and urges people to call the police if we suspect production or distribution of meth is taking place in a particular location.

Ingredients and tools used that should arouse suspicion include coffee filters stained orange, containers of iodine crystals, lye, lighter fluid, anti-freeze, pseudoephedrine hydrochloride (Sudafed), and paint thinner. Iodine when cooked has a very strong smell similar to cat’s urine.

The tickets for “split the pot” brought in $14, and the winner generously declined to accept his $7.

We’ll use the Washington Grange Hall for our next meeting, when we expect State Representative Deb Wallace to speak about transportation and roads. The meeting will be at 7 P.M. Tuesday, May 10, at the hall located on 76th Street at Ward Road.

The SNA website is www.neighborhoodlink.com/clarkco/Sifton.