Newport Hills Community Club

The Car Show is coming BACK to Newport Hills! There is an open to community meeting on the show being held tonight – Tuesday July 6th at 7pm at the Newport Hills Community Church. If you would like to hear more, or provide input, you are welcome to attend!

Saturday, July 3, 2010

****Please note the date for our annual NHCC 4^th July Picnic & Children’s Parade is celebrated on July 3^rd this year****

Schedule of Events:

10:00 – Local Merchants, BQs, COB, Newport Hills Community Church and membership tables set up in Park

11:30 – Children’s Parade begins at the Bellevue Middle School track (formerly Eastside Catholic)

 11:30 – Inflatable bouncy house & toys set up for kids in Park

11:30 – Patriotic songs by the Newport Hills Church Choir in Park

12:00 – 2:30 Annual Community Barbeque in Bellevue Newport Hills Park (donations & membership accepted)

12:00 – 2:00 Dizzy Tumblebus for Kids (time frame may change!)

12:00 – 3:00 various games and fun for kids, tug of war, face painting, drop in soccer games…

12:00 – 3:00 Famous thumb prints w/ our local Newport Hills Dentist & visit w/ other local merchants

12:45 – Cornerstone Dance Theater performance

1:15 – Performance and audience participation

2:00 – Our local Cub Scouts introduce our neighbor and Attorney General Rob McKenna (if available)

2:05 – 2:30 Newport Hills Taekwondo Demonstration (sponsored by Dan Piatt & Wendy Schaffer)

3:00 – End of Picnic in Park

3:00 – 7:00 Free swimming and more fun at the Newport Swim and Tennis Club ~ Just Celebrated 50 years!

In joint effort with the City of Bellevue and the Newport Hills Swim & Tennis Club, the NHCC will be collecting canned food at the picnic event to go to Hopelink and help curb hunger in our neighborhoods!  Please support this food drive by bringing a canned or non-perishable food item to the picnic or swim & tennis club.  Thank you!

Join us on Saturday, July 3^rd @ this fun Newport Hills neighborhood event!

Want to volunteer…. have Ideas… or need more information? Please call or email:

Your Newport Hills 4^th of July Event Chair,

Lisa Viereck

lisav@windermere.com

206-852-2289

A HUGE thank you to our Newport Hills Mustard Seed Grill and Sports Pub,

Corky’s Newport Hills Chevron and the City of Bellevue for their generous donations to our

Annual 4^th of July Community Picnic in Newport Hill’s Bellevue Park!

Join us for our monthly June NHCC Board meeting at 7pm tonight at the Newport Hills Community Church. Updates on the marketing survery for the shopping center and updates for our upcoming 4th of July picnic. Join us!

During the May NHCC board meeting, two staffers from the City of Bellevue (COB) addressed the attendees on the status of the Newport Hills Shopping Center (NHSC): Tom Boydell, Manager, Office of Economic Development and Dan Stroh, Planning Director.

The City is very concerned about the demise of several small neighborhood shopping centers as owners feel pressured out by larger stores. The only way to save the NHSC is by engaging the owners of the various properties. As of this date, Tom and Dan have the support of the majority of the owners and are confident that the others will be on board very soon.

The plan moving forward is to create a budget, funded by the owners, to hire a consultant tasked with developing a market feasibility study. This study will determine what type of businesses are appropriate for the neighborhood and what type of businesses the community desires.

There are three approaches to reinvigorate the property:

1. Re-Tenant. Research new uses for the existing space. Are there local artists who need studio space? Are there neighbors who have a home-based business who want to expand? Is there a business that would be an appropriate anchor for others?
2. Redevelopment. Remodel the space so that it’s similar to what is currently there, perhaps adding more rentable space.
3. Redevelopment and Mixed Use. Create retail space on the bottom floor, then adding a floor or two of housing.

As the City sees it, there are three phases to this development project:

1. Property Owner Support. Enlist the support of all property owners and begin the market feasibility study.
2. Design and Development Study. This will depend on the approach taken for the property. From an owner standpoint, the cost of the design and development must be covered by the rent from the various businesses. Since owners manage property, they rarely have experience in development. It is the City’s responsibility to match the owners with the proper developer.
3. Neighborhood Vision. Once the owners and the City are in agreement on what approach to take, community input is required.

After Tom and Dan’s presentation, attendees offered the following ideas:

• Install a “suggestion box” at the upcoming 4^th of July picnic to gather ideas about the NHSC. These suggestions will be gathered before any study has taken place so neighbors can enter any ideas that they want.
• After the market feasibility study has been published, use the NHCC web site to gather ideas from the community that directly address the results of the study.
• Conduct community forums on a regular basis.
• Invite Tom, Dan, or one of their colleagues to the monthly board meetings to provide updates.

Neighbors – we need help setting out signs on every 3rd Monday prior to our monthly board meeting to give a visual reminder of our upcoming meetings. If you can help set out a sign or two and pick them up once a month, please send and email to president@newporthillscommunityclub.org. Thank you!

Optimist Club’s 5th Annual Bike Safety Fair for grades K-5 will take place on two days:

Saturday June 12, noon-3pm at Issaquah Valley Elementary School and
Sunday June 13, noon-3pm at Newport Heights Elementary School.

This event is free, with prizes, goodie bags, face painting, and balloons.  There will also be an on-site food bank to collect non-perishable food donations.

Hello Neighbors,
Please join us for our monthly board meeting at 7pm Tuesday May 18th at the Newport Hills Community Church. Not only will we have lots of great updates to provide to you, but we will have members from the City of Bellevue’s economic development department come and speak. They will discuss where we are and next steps towards revitalization of the Newport Hills retail center.

Please join us for this exciting meeting!
Sincerely,
Michelle Hilhorst
President

Come meet the artist Bruce Myers and have an opportunity to view his concepts for the Newport Hills community art that will be going in along the 119th corridor. This is a great opportunity to review and provide feedback on art that will beautify and help define Newport Hills. Please join us!

Thursday, May 6th, 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Newport Heights Elementary School Library
5225 – 119th Ave. SE

Hello Neighbors,
The Neighborhood Enhancement Program ballots and voter’s pamphlets have arrived in a mailbox near you! This is the exciting the program offered by the City of Bellevue that allots $280,000 to Newport Hills residents to vote on projects that they would like done in the neighborhood – projects submitted by residents of Newport Hills. The voter’s pamphlet provides the eligible projects, a short description and estimated costs. Enclosed is your ballot where you can list up to 3 projects, in priority ranking.

There are some great projects eligible under this program, so please go through each one and review what is your priority for being done here in Newport Hills.

The most important piece: Ballots MUST be mailed & postmarked by Friday May 14th.  Ballots mailed after the deadline will not be accepted.

Please make sure to locate your ballot, review the projects and VOTE for Newport Hills improvements!

Thank you,
Michelle Hilhorst
NHCC President

Tickets for Jungle Book are on sale now!

The show is NEXT WEEK!!! The Friday night show is almost sold out but there are still some tickets left for all shows. All friends and neighbors of Newport Heights are welcome to attend.

Show times: 7 pm Thursday, April 29 and 30 or matinee at 9:30 am on Friday, April 30th. You may pick up a ticket order form in the office today or you can go to the website, www.nhe-pta.org  and download one from the school play link. Invite some friends and enjoy some great theater while supporting the actors from Newport Heights!