Current and former commissioners from both the Planning and Community Activities commissions will go head-to-head in this fall’s Newcastle City Council election.

Community Activities Commissioners Linda Newing and Victoria Sandoval both filed to run for council Position No. 1, currently held by Councilwoman Lisa Jensen who announced she would not file for re-election.

Current Planning Commissioner Allen Dauterman and Rob Lemmon, a former commissioner who resigned in December, both filed for Position No. 3. Mayor Steve Buri announced earlier that he would not file to retain his seat.

The terms of Positions No. 2 and 4 are also set to expire at the end of the year. Incumbents Gordon Bisset and Carol Simpson announced they will both run to keep their seats. Neither council member drew a challenger.

The Newcastle News will have more about the candidates as the election draws closer.

View the full list of candidate filings here.

The Newcastle City Council will hold its second meeting of the month Feb. 17.

There are only two items listed under the evening’s general business, but both are vital components to the city’s future.

First, the council will consider a development agreement with the Renton School District pertaining to construction of the new middle school.

The agreement proposes relief to the 30-feet height restriction in that particular zoning area. It would allow the district to construct the school building to a maximum of 45-feet, if approved.

The second item is a review of Newcastle 2035, the city’s Comprehensive Plan — a document that outlines the city’s vision and goals for the future.

The council will specifically look over the land use element and review methodology used by the Planning Commission to develop their recommended update.

Prior to the meeting, the council will hold a study session about the Open Public Meetings Act, Public Records Act and records retention training. That begins at 6 p.m.

Mayor Steve Buri is also expected to appoint Charlie Gadzik to a spot on the Planning Commission, and the council will hear a report from Waste Management.

All regular Newcastle City Council meetings begin at 7 p.m. and are held at City Hall, 12835 Newcastle Way, Suite 200.

View the agenda here, and the full agenda packet here.

McDonald is a senior product manager at Microsoft, and has background in acquiring and managing rental properties, as well as land development.

Orville McDonald

“Having lived in a variety of places, what drew my young family and I to Newcastle is the sense of community and how well it has been laid out,” he wrote in his application.

The Planning Commission meets the third Wednesday of every month starting at 7 p.m., and is made up of seven citizen representatives.

One important task the commissioners take on is review of the Comprehensive Plan, a document guiding city policy and planning.

The commission also is charged with reviewing the zoning map, zoning code and other development codes, and completing a work plan provided by the council.

The city of Newcastle is looking to fill a vacancy on the city’s planning commission. Interested persons have only until Aug. 12 to apply.

The new member’s term begins Sept. 1 and runs through Sept. 1, 2015.

Applicants must be Newcastle residents and be at least 18 years of age. Planning commission members are appointed by the mayor with confirmation from city council.

The planning commission is a volunteer, policy advisory group that works in support of Newcastle City Council, primarily in the areas of the city’s comprehensive plan and zoning and development codes.

Comprised of seven members, the commission meets the third Wednesday of each month.

Those interested should pick up an application at Newcastle City Hall or visit the city website at www. ci.newcastle.wa.us. Completed applications must be returned to the city by 5 p.m.

Submit applications to City of Newcastle, Bob Baker, City Clerk, 13020 Newcastle Way, Newcastle, WA, 98059.

Direct questions to Baker at 649-4444.

None of the candidates who are slated to be on the ballot have yet picked up opponents, although candidates have until June 10 to file for election.

Carol Simpson

Members serve at large and represent the entire city, rather than specific neighborhoods or defined geographic areas.

Simpson has lived in Newcastle since 1998. She is a retired architect — although still a licensed one — and she began her work on the council in 2008. Prior to being elected as a councilwoman, she spent eight years as a member of the planning commission.

“I liked doing the job,” Simpson said about serving on the commission, adding that she is honored to serve the residents of the city. “I saw running for council as the next logical step.”

She said the biggest issues facing the city are the future of the city’s downtown area and the city’s finances. Specifically, she said city leaders must face the question of whether the city is sustainable. Simpson said the city needs to take a hard look at its financial forecast, and also determine whether the cost of providing fire and police protection will level out or continue to rise.

With respect to the city’s downtown plan, she said the city needs to change it to reflect what is on the ground in the city. Also, she said the plan needs to reflect residents’ needs and be consistent with the citywide comprehensive plan.

“We’re focusing too much on being pedestrian-oriented, when the people who live here also want to be able to drive downtown and be able to do their shopping,” she said, adding that the comprehensive plan calls for balance between walking and driving.

Simpson has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington in environmental design. She also took a course in arctic engineering at the University of Alaska in Juneau, spending six months there before returning to the area.

As a councilwoman, she serves as a member of the Metropolitan Solid Waste Management Advisory Committee. She also serves as a member of the Renton Technical College Foundation Board, and is a member of the Newcastle Chamber of Commerce, Newcastle Trails and the YWCA Benefit Luncheon Committee.

She was a member of the Seattle Chapter of the American Institute of Architects for more than 25 years.

Simpson said the most significant achievements she took part in on the council were purchasing the May Creek entrance parcel and balancing the city’s 2011 budget.

Her husband, John Gordon, will serve as her treasurer during her campaign.

She lives in Olympus with her husband and teenage son. Her hobbies include family activities, traveling, scrapbooking, knitting and volunteering in the community.

“I want to continue working for a better Newcastle,” she said.

Drive-thrus were banned from the downtown area in 2007 after the city conducted a study and found that drive-thrus were contradictory to the city’s vision of having a pedestrian-friendly downtown. Drive-thrus already in use were exempt from the ban.

The council has not yet finalized overturning the ban — which was recommended by the Planning Commission — as it will review several other sections of city code and make its alterations in one motion.

The other sections of code the council will review concern floor-area-ratio requirements, distances between storefronts and right of ways, and maximum building heights. The Planning Commission will review each section of code first and then recommend changes to the council.

If the council approves the draft of the new drive-thru code, a drive-thru can be built if it is not on the side of a building facing the right of way, if it has a landscaping screen to conceal it and if its car queue area is not adjacent to pedestrian walkways.

Also, drive- thrus must meet several criteria regarding safety, traffic impacts, public service impacts and impacts to future development.

Councilwoman Lisa Jensen was among the members of the council who spoke in favor of overturning the drive-thru ban. She said she knows residents who prefer to go to Renton for certain services specifically because there are drive-thrus in the area.

Deputy Mayor Steve Buri said it was telling that the Planning Commission recommended overturning the ban. He cited the commission making a similar recommendation through a unanimous vote in 2007 when drive-thrus were first banned. However, a motion to halt the ban in 2007 failed 2-5.

Councilmen Rich Crispo and Bill Erxleben, Mayor John Dulcich and Councilwoman Carol Simpson also spoke in favor of the overturn.

However, Councilman Sonny Putter said there should be analysis of the fiscal impact of any code changes before adoption. It would be more appropriate to make changes to the city’s comprehensive plan rather than make changes to specific pieces of code, he said.

If it is approved, the revised drive-thru code will be in section 18.15.060 in the city’s municipal code.

Along with a review of the drive-thru ban, the council reviewed remodeling guidelines for buildings in the downtown area. The council’s drafted changes allow for buildings in the area to undergo more extensive remodels without being subject to the city’s latest code requirements.

If the drafted code is adopted as written, buildings can undergo exterior remodels worth as much as half the value of the building itself — given the building does not move nor does its site plan change — without needing to meet new code requirements. Interior remodels are not subject to any cost threshold.

Previously, if a remodeling project included an interior and exterior remodel, the cost of both were subject to a threshold.

Members of the council praised the change, saying it would encourage more incremental remodels in the downtown area. Being subject to new requirements can often make a project more expensive, they said.

A crew of celebrities will take to The Golf Club at Newcastle June 27 for the fifth-annual Jim Mora Celebrity Golf Classic, event organizers announced in March.

The Jim Mora “Count On Me” Family Foundation is organizing the event, which raises money for Special Olympics Washington, the Boys & Girls Club of Bellevue and other local children’s charities.

The 2010 tournament raised more than $211,000, and the money benefited 17 charities.

Celebrities who attended last year’s event included Super Bowl champion football Hall of Fame inductee Marshall Faulk; five-time NBA MVP Bill Russell; NBA Hall of Fame player and coach Lenny Wilkens; former Seattle Mariner Jay Buhner; former NBA players Detlef Schrempf and Slick Watts; and Hall of Fame NFL player, five-time Pro-Bowler and three-time Super Bowl champion Michael Irvin.

The tournament is free and open for the public to attend, although those who wish to participate must pay a fee. Organizers will announce this year’s list of attendees in early May.

Council adds items to commission work plans

The City Council voted to add several items to the Parks Commission and Planning Commission 2011 work plans at its March 1 meeting.

This year, the Planning Commission will also review hearing examiner procedures and duties.

This year, the Parks Commission will also discuss a potential gifting policy, through which residents could fund and dedicate items such as benches. Furthermore, the commission will explore alternatives for funding pocket parks, and it will review recreational activities available at Lake Boren.

Register for Skyhawks summer camps

Registration is open for Skyhawks summer camps for children 5-12 years old.

Camps include golf, basketball, tennis, cheerleading and Mini-Hawk, which includes basketball, baseball and soccer.

Camps are five days each and range in price from $69 to $145. They will be held at Lake Boren Park, Renton Academy or Hazelwood Elementary School.

For the full list of camps, go to https://register.skyhawks.com, and enter your ZIP code. Call Newcastle Parks and Recreation at City Hall at 649-4444 or Skyhawks at 800-804-3509 toll free with questions.

Hazelwood PTSA to hold auction

The Hazelwood Elementary School PTSA will hold its spring auction at 7 p.m. April 9 at The Westin Bellevue, 601 Bellevue Way N.E. in Bellevue.

The event will feature a silent auction and a 50/50 raffle. Attendees will be treated to a champagne reception, hors d’oeuvres and a three-course meal.

Raffle tickets are $5 each, and the PTSA is accepting donations to be auctioned.

Tickets are $75, and proceeds will provide Hazelwood with science enrichment, field trips, art resources and classes, school plays, athletic equipment, library books, an IXL.com math practice subscription for the entire school, classroom teacher supply grants, school assemblies and more.

Go to www.hazelwoodptsa.org for more information about the auction or to purchase tickets.

City to start enforcing dog leash laws

If you let your dog off its leash in city parks, it’s time to pay attention to the city’s regulations.

Newcastle Police have started patrolling city parks to enforce the leash laws. Dogs are required to be on leashes shorter than eight feet at all times in city parks. Dog owners must also pick up their dogs’ feces, as stated in city code.

Officers will first give warnings to violators, Police Chief Melinda Irvine said. However, officers will ticket repeating violators. The first ticket will cost $25, and any subsequent tickets will be $50 each.

“We really want to work now with education and notifying people that this is a law,” Irvine said.

Newcastle Trails releases new map

Newcastle Trails released its latest map of the city’s trails on its website, www.newcastletrails.org, in late February.

Volunteer Harry Morgan created the map by walking city trails with a GPS unit in fall 2009 and mapping his data using computer software.

Newcastle Trails released Morgan’s first map on its website in June 2010, and the new map corrects the Clubhouse Trail route, removes a nonexistent road along May Creek and clarified the Coal Creek Trail by showing secondary trails as thinner lines.

Drafts of the work plans were first presented at the Feb. 15 joint City Council, Parks Commission and Planning Commission meeting.

This year, the Parks Commission will review the city’s comprehensive plan — which details the city’s vision — updating the parks, recreation and open space portions. The city needs to update its comprehensive plan every six years to be eligible for state grants. The plan has not been updated in eight years.

The Parks Commission will also discuss ways to increase recreational opportunities, possibly through collaboration with the Coal Creek YMCA and Regency Newcastle.

The commission will take an active role in community events once again this year, as well as in Newcastle Days. In the third and fourth quarters of the year, the Parks Commission will create a draft of trail construction standards and a public art policy.

The Planning Commission will review the city’s community business center for the first and second quarter of the year.

It will discuss issues such as the city’s restriction on drive-thrus, the city’s 75-foot building-height limit and floor-area-ratio density requirements.

The Planning Commission will work on the review through the second quarter of the year. In the second and third quarter, the Planning Commission will discuss possibly allowing greater used of impervious surfaces in the city’s mixed-use development zones north of Lake Boren and northeast of the Newcastle Golf Club Road and Newcastle Way intersection.

It will also discuss allowing more impervious surfaces in open spaces, such as in the site of the future sports park north of Southeast 95th Way. City code states that only 2 percent of open space may contain impervious surfaces, such as asphalt pathways and parking lots.

In the third quarter, the commission will also propose amendments to the city’s comprehensive plan and discuss extending the city’s developer stimulus program, which delays development fee collection.

In the fourth quarter, the commission will perform its annual code cleanup and update its code regarding communication infrastructure.

The Parks Commission is a nine-person advisory body to the City Council that works on issues regarding city-owned parks. It works on park planning, park design, park construction, park and facility development, renovation, trails and paths, recreation programs and special community events, according to the city’s website.

The Parks Commission meets at 6 p.m. the second Wednesday of each month in Council Chambers, 13020 Newcastle Way.

The Planning Commission provides advice and makes recommendations to the City Council regarding the city’s comprehensive plan and development codes. It meets at 6 p.m. the third Wednesday of each month in Council Chambers.

Parks and Planning Commission meetings are open to the public and have opportunities for public comment.

Officials want to fill three vacancies each on the Newcastle Planning Commission and Parks Commission.

Newcastle residents 18 years or older can apply for the open positions. The application deadline for both commissions is Aug. 21.

The original deadline was Aug. 4, but city officials moved the deadline due to a shortage of applicants.

The Planning Commission consists of seven members; they work with the City Council on land-use issues. The Parks Commission consists of nine members; they works with the council on issues related to parks and recreation.

The mayor will appoint members to both commissions, and the City Council will confirm the mayor’s appointees.

For the Parks Commission, terms for Andrew Shelton, Mark Garvin and Christopher Hills will expire Aug. 31.

Shelton is seeking reappointment; Garvin is not. Hills has not said whether he will seek reappointment.

For the Planning Commission, terms for Rob Lemmon, Beth Glynn and Kandy Schendel terms expired July 31. All three are seeking reappointment.

To avoid vacancies, members of both commissions are allowed to continue their work until they are replaced.