President Bryan has been there, done that, got the T-shirt. And Chambers Bay has a Master Plan, which does not involve building a Death Star.
December 6, 2017
Clover Park Rotary Meeting Notes
Recorded by Joy Taylor, (who pinch-hit on zero notice for the absent Dave Hall and did really well)
Edited by Tom McClellan
Invocation: Alice Peeples. And Karl Roth led us in the salute to the flag.
Visiting Rotarians: George Lin is visiting from Taiwan
Visitors: George Lin introduced his cousin Mae. Becky Newton introduced Maggie who is a new employee with the City of Lakewood. Doug Richardson, our guest speaker from Pierce County Council President on Chambers Creek Master Site Plan, introduced himself. David Cotant introduced Edward Winter and Rob Adams who were interested in today’s guest speaker.
Sunshine report: Bonnie Boyle’s partner Paulina Adams is home from the hospital and resting. No report on General Bill’s hip surgery recovery status but Marie Barth assured the club she’d provide a report next meeting.
Club Announcements:
Future Programs
December 13th John Caulfield, State of the City Update.
December 20th You are the program on December 20th. Members who wish to participate will be given 2 minutes (strictly enforced) to share a favorite Christmas story. What a great way to get to know each other a little better.
December 27th No Meeting
January 3rd Riley Wyatt, Classification Talk: Boy Scouts of America
Sheri Hodson – Thanked the club members for their generous support of $2,784 for this year’s Christmas Shopping for children of Tyee Park Elementary. We meet up with West Pierce firefighters and their families on Sunday, December 2 at Target. Our shopping elves Karl Roth, Judi Maier, Sheri Hodson, Bryan Christensen, Joyce Oubre and Joy Taylor helped purchase clothing, socks, underwear and toys for 21 kids. Target helped stretch of dollars by discounting items by 20%.
Our annual Christmas wrapping party was the evening of Tuesday, December 5th at Carrs. Ellie provided an amazing spread of appetizers. Club members and their families wrapped, ate, and were merry. One item of note for next year, we had low attendance at the party so we need to see what adjustment to make next year. Much thanks and appreciation to Joyce Oubre and Ellie Carr for all their hard work.
West Pierce Fire invited us to join them at 5:00 pm on December 6 at Union Hall to finish wrapping presents that will be delivered next week.
Presidents’ Minute
Bryan mentioned that we have $4,500 in the Charity account. He encouraged the Club to reach out to past presenters and organizations. The process to request a donation include:
- A letter from the organization indicating what the funds are needed for (Required)
- Fill out a fund request form
The club’s first priority are organization and projects that benefit children in the Lakewood Community.
Fun and Fines:
General Ed was assisted by Riley Wyatt and Becky Newton.
Bryan Christensen went on a 7-day cruise (and took his shirt off!) $50
Karl Roth traveled to Italy to celebrate his 19th wedding anniversary. They spent 8 nights. $100
Dave Cotant celebrated his 75th birthday with a trip to Palm Dessert. $100 Watcher
Bob Lawrence returned from 20 day trip which included a 14 day cruise. He and wife Judy started in Argentina, went around the Cape Horn and ended in Buenos Aires. He took Tango lessons. $125
Dee Ebsen caught up with her fellow Rotarians on her belated Birthday and Anniversary (we’ve missed you). $100
Fred Willis announced his grandson Timothy is now engaged to Natalie. After six years of courting, he finally is tying the knot and shared their news by revealing the ring on her finger. $50 to Paul Harris
George Lin has traveled the farthest to attend our rotary meeting (Taiwan).
He and General Ed shared a story of him winning $1500 at a fund-raising event raffle years ago. George was not present when he won, and so he got the check the next time he came to visit a club meeting, which just happened to be when George had brought his wife. The check was quickly secured by George’s wife. George wished everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and invited everyone to visit him in Taiwan. $100.
Joy Taylor provided a status on her Robotics teams’ competition on December 2nd (seeded 6 & 7 out of 10 teams). They are getting ready for another competition on December 16th in Seattle. She also announce a gift card fundraiser that the kids are running with Honeybaked Ham Company (20% of purchase go to the team) through Easter. Anyone interested in supporting the team can buy gift card online at https://goo.gl/PYLT43. $20
Today’s speaker:
Doug Richardson is Pierce County Council Chairman, and spoke about Chambers Bay Master Site Plan, which includes resort villas, hotel, and restaurant.
Of the two received proposals, Pierce County chose a team of local developers (Chambers Bay Development) to build a resort-style hotel around the Chambers Bay golf course in University Place.
- Absher Construction
- Columbia Hospitality (Tom Douglas) for Food Service
Chambers Bay Master Plan
- September of 2017:The council approved the Master Plan
- October of 2017: Approval was repealed
The council learned that after they took public comment and testimony, several individuals were unable to access the building (doors were locked). The council decided to table the vote to allow the public to provide public testimony. They made sure the security guard has the meeting location accessible for round two. On December 5, the council approved the Master Plan after receiving those additional comments:
Additional components of the project include:
- 5,000 square-foot event space
- 200-seat Tom Douglas restaurant
- Spa
- Improvements to the existing trail near the main entrance
- Improvements at the southern end of the park near the wastewater treatment plant
Since the property is public land, a long term lease is required to allow private developers to utilize and improve the land. They are still negotiating the ground lease and hope to have it ready for review in January 2018. They will take 60 days to perform due diligence.
The developer proposed building villas first for extended stays, then the hotel. Villas were approved for extended stay but no rules were set on limiting the length of stay in these units. It’s in the resort’s best interest to turn units over every 3 days.
You can see the entire Master Site Plan Update presentation (100 pages, 50 MB file size) with pictures, diagrams, maps, and other details at http://www.co.pierce.wa.us/DocumentCenter/View/62166.
Fred Willis asked how often the Master Plan will be updated. Councilman Richardson replied with “Maybe in 10 years”.
George Lin asked about the current course not having senior options (i.e. golf carts) available. Will there be plans for carts in the future? Councilman Richardson said that carts are not in the plan.
They do have plans to replace all the greens with grass from Vancouver and will address the green flow.
An interesting fact: Pierce County is the fastest growing county in the USA.
Raffle Drawing – Georgene Mellom had the lucky ticket. She pulled the four of clubs.
And Finally…
Did you make it to the Lakewood City Hall tree lighting ceremony? If not, have you had a chance to go see the beautiful decorations?
We are lucky to live and work in a city where people have a clue about how to put up tasteful Christmas lighting displays. I’m sure that the decorators in this European city meant well; it probably just escaped their notice that their light display looks like a long string of underwear.
