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HomeMy WebLinkAboutApproved Minutes - 2011-10-03 LAKE OSWEGO Otied Centennial 1910-2010 CITY OF LAKE OSWEGO App. gal Development Review Commission Minutes October 3, 2011 CALL TO ORDER/ ROLL CALL Chair Gregg Creighton called the Development Review Commission (DRC) meeting of October 3, 2011 to order at approximately 6:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers of City Hall at 380 "A" Avenue, Lake Oswego, Oregon. Members present: Chair Gregg Creighton, Vice Chair Don Richards, Brent Ahrend and Frank Rossi Members excused: Bob Needham and Jeff Peck Staff present: Hamid Pishvaie, Assistant Planning Director; Evan Boone, Deputy City Attorney; and Janice Reynolds, Administrative Support MINUTES Mr. Ahrend moved to approve the Minutes of June 20, 2011. Mr. Richards seconded the motion and it passed 3:0:1. Mr. Rossi abstained. Mr. Richards moved approve the Minutes of August 15, 2011 with the signature line corrected. Mr. Ahrend seconded the motion and it passed 4:0. Mr. Ahrend moved to approve the Minutes of September 7, 2011 with the signature line corrected. Mr. Richards seconded the motion and it passed 4:0. ELECTIONS Mr. Ahrend nominated Chair Gregg Creighton and Vice Chair Don Richards for another term as chair and vice chair. Mr. Rossi seconded the nomination and it passed 4:0. GENERAL PLANNING AND OTHER BUSINESS Foothills Framework Plan Presentation Mr. Boone announced that the draft Foothills Framework presentation was being presented to the DRC, other City boards and commissions, the Council and the public as a matter of general public interest. The DRC was not being asked to decide whether anything about the plan or any development within the plan met any criteria. They would not take any action following the presentation. Any future development in the Foothills district would be reviewed based on the application submitted and any applicable criteria. Christie White, Williams Dame &White, reported that the Council had approved the vision statement and guiding principles for the future redevelopment of the Foothills area. The process had produced a working draft plan for the area. The consultants were presenting the draft framework plan to each board and commission and asking for feedback. The process was guided by a Citizens' Advisory Committee (CAC); a project advisory group; and an oversight committee composed of Mayor Hoffman, Councilor Tierney, business representatives and Planning and Economic Development staff. After the framework plan was approved the process would move directly into drafting implementing code amendments. Ms. White focused her presentation to the DRC on the land use chapter, which established concepts for redevelopment and explained how the district would look. Foothills was to be a mixed use community linking Downtown with the river. It was to have critical mass to support public transportation. A base Floor Area Ratio (FAR) between 4:1 and 6:1 would create enough value in the district to pay for infrastructure such as flood plain and transportation improvements. The CAC recommended a FAR of 4:1 and a block size of 240' x 240'. Downtown blocks were bigger and the FAR there was 3:1, but Foothills' smaller blocks and 4:1 FAR had nearly the same amount of potential development area per block. In addition, smaller blocks would make it a very walkable district. Height and shadow studies had been conducted. The studies factored in the grade change and fact that some Building Code requirements were triggered at different heights. The CAC had settled on a 90-foot height limit after it considered allowing 135 feet in certain places. The originally proposed height limit for buildings along State Street was 60 feet. That is the current EC zone height limit as well. But the CAC worried that would create a "canyon effect" along State Street. It asked the consultants to look at a 45- foot height limit there. Owners of the shopping center and apartment buildings who were currently entitled to build to 60 feet had not talked to the CAC about the suggested change from 60' to 45'. Ms. White advised the plan recognized three sub-districts. Each had a different character and would apply different setbacks and other standards that fit its character. The Shelf District and the North Blocks were more urban and would be redeveloped to urban standards. Buildings in the North Blocks would be pushed all the way up to the street lot line. The Garden District, which included the existing Oswego Pointe apartments, would keep its treed, circular drive, residential feel. Front setbacks would be at least 10 to 15 feet. The apartment owner had asked the CAC for an infrastructure plan there that would not realign the streets right away and would allow that property to evolve over time. Ms. White advised that the Framework Plan called for using as many objective standards (standards that were not subject to interpretation) as possible to offer more certainty to developers. Because of that it was likely that a large percentage of proposed projects would meet the standards. But there was an adjustment process that gave developers an opportunity to be more creative than the standards allowed as long as the result met the intent and was equal to or better than what would be allowed under the code. The CAC had been concerned about how expensive that process would be. They proposed setting a fee for the process at a level that would recover the cost. City of Lake Oswego Development Review Commission Page 2 of 4 Minutes of October 3,2011 Ms. White pointed out the land use and transportation chapters described the street system. She pointed out the illustrations of streetscape design showed how mixed use six-story buildings that were 75 to 90 feet high would look. She agreed that the roofs design, as viewed from State Street was important. She clarified the design standards would not mandate flat roofs. Any building higher than 75 feet had to feature "wedding cake" setbacks above 75 feet. Ground floor retail would be neighborhood-serving retail that district residents could walk to and that did not compete with Downtown. Ms. White pointed out the streetcar terminus was now proposed on State Street across from Millennium Plaza. Streetcar riders could park across the street or in a three or four story underground park and ride facility two blocks away in the North Blocks. During the questioning period, Ms. White clarified that every building in the district over 75' was subject to the "wedding cake" setback requirement. When they studied setbacks, 75' seemed most appropriate and started to open up the view. Chair Creighton observed that would mean the developer could have five stories before they had to begin setting stories back. Ms. White clarified that the district was "mixed use" but that did not mean every building had to have mixed uses in it. There could be residential or office use on the ground floor. When asked about fill, Ms. White pointed to the Floodplain chapter, which described the fill area (which included most of the North Blocks). No habitable floor would be lower than one foot above the 1996 inundation level (which was higher than the 100 year flood plain). Most of B Street was above the 500 year flood level. Some amendments to the current flood plain regulations would be proposed to allow a developer to start building and filling after paying a fee in lieu of mitigating cuts. That way the long federal process would not delay the projects so long the City would lose development opportunities. The fees would accumulate in a fund that would eventually pay for mitigation. She confirmed the details would need to be worked out and agreed that inflation might have to be factored into it. She clarified the fill did not go all the way to the river—it ended at Foothills Park, which was in itself a cut project. She confirmed that the site plan correctly showed that Foothills Road would not quite align with the new B Street at the park. Foothills Road would connect with State Street where it did today. The existing Public Storage access would be closed and a new signalized and aligned northern portal intersection would be created. The B Street pedestrian crossing was to be at grade, ADA crossing. Ms. White pointed out how people would walk from there to the elevator to the park and ride. She advised the railroad preferred crossings to be under or over the tracks, not at grade. But the planners hoped to make the case that providing a regulated, well designed, at- grade crossing that allowed people to cross the tracks safely was a better than pedestrians' current practice of walking across the tracks anywhere. The only incident in the last ten years was when a teen listening to music was nicked by a train where there was no crossing. The Commissioners recalled trains moved through town very slowly and they were not very long. Chair Creighton wanted to know how frequently trains came through. Ms. White recalled there were two or three a day. The Commissioners wanted to know what models/areas the CAC had looked at. Ms. White related the Committee had walked the Pearl District and noted things they liked about it. That included use of materials, base and horizontal banding, use of glass, ground floor retail, vertical columns and awnings. When asked, she clarified that South Waterfront had "over the top" density. But it did feature mixed use and parks. Well-designed sustainability features such as City of Lake Oswego Development Review Commission Page 3 of 4 Minutes of October 3,2011 eco-roofs would be important if the roofs were visible from State Street. She had shown the CAC slides of Fair Haven, south of Bellingham, Washington. It had similar topography and waterfront. The CAC favored the urban enclosure look of the Sisters Coffee Company building and its sidewalk, street trees, awnings and tables on the street. The Pearl at 10th/ Hoyt Street created the kind of feeling the CAC wanted in the Garden District. Ms. White recalled demographic studies. People wanted the kind of housing that would let them stay in Lake Oswego and younger population liked to live in walkable urban communities. That suggested the plan would work. Chair Creighton commented that ideal access would have been to extend A Avenue but the condo complex was at the end of it and shading had to be considered. Putting the 75' tall buildings in the north would prevent shading. Development of B Avenue would change its relationship to A Street. Ms. White confirmed the setback between the higher buildings in the north and the existing condos would create little shadow impact on the condos. She observed that Downtown development was moving north as well with the North Anchor Project. That movement and the streetcar terminus would help tie Downtown and Foothills together. She noted people could submit comments about the plan via the website. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, Chair Creighton adjourned the meeting at approximately 7:06 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Janice Reynolds Administrative Support DRC\minutes\October 3, 2011 .doc City of Lake Oswego Development Review Commission Page 4 of 4 Minutes of October 3,2011