Samish Neighborhood Association monthly meeting held in the Last Week

The Samish Neighborhood Association’s board meeting was held at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 13 at the Community Baptist Church, 810 Samish Way. Several of the board members gathered and discussed mainly two topics: neighborhood safety and rezoning of the Church of Christ on Samish Way.

The board members firstly discussed that the Samish neighborhood need a strong, good communication with police, taking seriously the neighborhood’s safety problems, related to burglary, drug and homeless camps. As an option to solve the problem, a board member proposed to start a community garden somewhere in the neighborhood. The members agreed that they would talk more in detail about it at the next meeting on January.

The second topic was the rezoning of the Church of Christ (Area 4 rezoning) (See also here). The members consented that they would keep their “integrity” of the original rezoning – they, as the Samish neighborhood, would refuse the rezoning in order to protect the “nonretail definition,” which represents the current character of the area and the neighborhood. Also, the neighborhood should guarantee its original character for those who have and buy houses in and near the area, valuing the neighborhood’s environment, said the board members.

The next meeting is held on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2015. The time and the place will be the same as the previous meetings, according to the Samish Neighborhood Association’s website.

Ongoing Plans and Upcoming Meetings about Rezoning in Samish Neighborhood

Now, the Samish neighborhood has three rezoning plans ongoing.  They might interest many of you, the Samish residents because they would change the characters of the areas and might also affect the environments of the areas where you live. How much do you know about these rezoning? Here is brief introduction about these rezoning plans:

1. Area 1 (the west of South Ashley St., the north of Byron Ave.)
   The area is located in the northern end of the neighborhood. Rezoning the area from Commercial Auto—for “auto-related uses”—to Commercial Planned, which allows more variety of use, including “mixed residential and commercial uses.”
2. Area 4 (the Church of Christ):
   Rezoning from Residential to Commercial. This plan is along with remodeling of the Church of Christ, to allow the Pacific Harbor Psychology to put its new medical clinic in the area. A public hearing was held in the City Council Regular Meeting on Oct.13.
3. Area 9 (the opposite side of the Church of Christ, between the Elks Lodge and the Community Baptist Church)
   The area is planned to be rezoned to Planned Commercial for broader range of use.
   Public hearing is held at 7:00 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 20, at the City Council Chamber, 210 Lottie St., Bellingham. Materials will be available on the COB website (about a week prior to the meeting).

*Zoning table of the Samish neighborhood

*Other relevant sources are provided by the Samish Neighborhood Association website.

How Can We Get Connected to Police for Our Safety?

On Oct. 12, The Bellingham Herald reported that a total of 17 rooms at two motels on North Samish Way had tested positive for methamphetamine in recent months, which means that the rooms were found contaminated with drugs.  Several people living in Bellingham commented on the article on Facebook, this would suggest that many Samish residents got worried and terrified by the fact that crimes had occurred just around the corner, on the street that links directly to the Samish neighborhood. Samish Way has been known as a drug-use area (Drug abuse cases on Samish Way has often reported on the Bellingham city's website.  The city is currently processing a condemnation of a motel for itsdrug contamination.)

So, how can we get connected to the police in the neighborhood if we encounter any crimes?  One of the most reliable ways is a phone call.  The Bellingham Police Department has four numbers for us to call depending on what kind of matter we have:

1.       Emergency: If you need immediate help, are drawn into a crime or find a crime in progress, call 9-1-1 immediately. 

2.       Non-emergencies: If you report a crime with no suspects, call 360-778-8804.

3.       For general questions and information: 360-778-8800. 

4.       Tip line: you may also report a non-emergency crime at 360-778-8611 or from the mail form accessible here. 

We can access these and more contact information from Police Department Contacts. 

What other things can we do for our neighborhood’s safety? The Police Department introduces many other projects that enhance our safety and education online.  I put the link to the list of the projects and programs, so you could check them and get information if you are interested in some of them: Police Services. 

Introduction

I am an exchange student from Japan studying journalism at Western Washington University.
As a part of my reporting class, I am covering the Samish neighborhood, Bellingham and will be blogging about my findings for two months.  I hope my stories will be useful, intriguing for you.