HomeMy WebLinkAboutApproved Minutes - 2011-11-14City of Lake Oswego Planning Commission
Minutes of November 14, 2011 Page 1 of 5
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CITY OF LAKE OSWEGO
Planning Commission Minutes
November 14, 2011
1. CALL TO ORDER
Chair Jon Gustafson called the Planning Commission meeting of November 14, 2011, to
order at 6:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers of City Hall at 380 “A” Avenue, Lake
Oswego, Oregon.
2. ROLL CALL
Members present were Chair Jon Gustafson, Vice Chair Puja Bhutani, Julia Glisson,
Russell Jones and Todd Prager. Commissioners Bill Gaar and Jim Johnson were
excused.
Staff present were Debra Andreades, Senior Planner; Hamid Pishvaie, Assistant
Planning Director; Leslie Hamilton, Senior Planner; Jessica Numanoglu, Senior Planner;
Evan Boone, Deputy City Attorney; and Iris McCaleb, Administrative Support.
3. CITIZEN COMMENT
Ryan O’Brien, Planning Consultant, NE Estate Dr., Hillsboro, Oregon 97124,
represented the Homebuilders Association and John Tercek. He asked for comments
regarding a potential zone change for two residentially-zoned lots on Bangy Road, to
Mixed Commerce (MC). He read aloud his November 14, 2011 letter to the Planning
Commission. Chair Gustafson recalled the Comprehensive Plan update process was
looking at that area as a key neighborhood center. The two lots could serve as mixed
use transitions from commercial to residential. The other Commissioners did not feel
that there was sufficient understanding of that area to comment at this time and
suggested that he speak with the neighborhood association.
4. COUNCIL UPDATE
Ms. Andreades reported the Council had met with the Planning Commission to discuss
the code reorganization and then been briefed on Foothills. The Council was scheduled
to consider exempting invasive tree species from the Tree Code. She introduced
Andrea Christenson, the new Natural Resources planner.
5. MINUTES
5.1 August 8, 2011
Commissioner Jones moved to adopt the Minutes of August 8, 2011. Commissioner
Prager seconded the motion and it passed 3:0:1. Commissioners Glisson and Bhutani
abstained.
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5.2 August 22, 2011
The vote was postponed until the November 28, 2011 meeting.
5.3 September 12, 2011
Commissioner Prager moved to approve the Minutes of September 12, 2011 as
amended by Vice Chair Bhutani. Vice Chair Bhutani seconded the motion and it
passed 3:0:2. Commissioners Glisson and Jones abstained.
6. WORK SESSION
6.1 PP 11-0019 – Community Development Code Reorganization. Follow-up discussion of
joint study session with City Council held on November 8.
Staff Report
Jessica Numanoglu and Leslie Hamilton, Senior Planners presented the staff report.
This work session was a follow-up to the November 8 study session with City Council to
consider three remaining items:
1. Purpose statements for low density residential districts.
The purpose statements staff had drafted were attached to the staff report. The
Commissioners generally agreed to leave them in the document as placeholders
because they were factually correct. They planned to replace them with more
substantive statements during Phase 2 discussions.
2. Deletion of the term “resource buffer.”
Ms. Numanoglu explained that in 2010 the City Council had replaced the word “buffer”
with “protected riparian area” in the Sensitive Lands code. It had been an oversight not
to search the rest of the code to find and replace other references to “buffer.” The
Resource Protection (RP) District used to be just the resource, but now it included both
the resource and the old buffer. Mr. Pishvaie clarified that the combined area was no
larger than the old resource plus buffer area. He explained that uses that had been
allowed in the old RP District had also been allowed in the old buffer. Ms. Numanoglu
clarified that the terms, “RP District” and “RP Resource Area” both meant, “Resource
Protection District.” She had flagged the 50.16 definition, “protected riparian area” for
discussion in Phase 2. Chair Gustafson observed a consensus to replace those terms
as proposed by staff.
3. Change the term “Dwelling, Multiple” to “Dwelling, Multi-family.”
There was consensus to accept this change.
The staff report listed the other items the work group had considered. The
Commissioners came across duplicate page numbering to be corrected. Ms.
Numanoglu explained the consultant had followed the work group recommendation to
standardize the text for “street front setback plane” and its definition as there had
previously been two slightly different definitions. Chair Gustafson observed the
consensus was to agree to that.
Mr. Boone recommended authorizing the City Recorder to generate the tables of
contents and revise them as necessary from time to time. Staff had found things in
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Minutes of November 14, 2011 Page 3 of 5
appendixes that were not specifically referenced in the code that should be dealt with
during Phase 2. Staff indicated that they had put as much as they could in tables so the
information would be in one place. They added that during the next phase, they planned
to audit the tables. They explained that the code user would look at the Use Table first
to find out if a use was allowed and then go to a specific section to read the use-specific
standards. Staff had come up with code filters to guide future code amendments. They
anticipated the filters would continue to evolve over time. Mr. Boone explained the sign
and tree codes had not been incorporated into the reorganized code, but the online code
could link to them and to information about how staff had informally interpreted the code.
The Planning Commission then took a break and reconvened at 8:00 p.m.
7. PUBLIC HEARING
7.1 Ordinance 2526, LU 08-0054 – Community Development Code – Policy Related
Housekeeping Amendments. Amendments (Chapter 50) for the purpose of clarifying
and updating various code provisions which had been identified as having policy
implications. At this session the Commissioners started on page 77 beginning with the
following articles:
Article 50.15 Greenway Management Overlay District
Article 50.17 Planned Development Overlay
Article 50.30 Special Requirements for Type of Facility
Chair Gustafson reconvened the meeting and opened the public hearing at 8:00 p.m.
He invited the Commissioners to highlight the items they wanted to talk about.
Article 50.15 Greenway Management Overlay District
Section 50.15.010 Development Review
Mr. Boone asked the Commissioners to postpone discussion of (1) regarding
whether tree removal should be exempt from review in the Willamette Greenway until
staff had completed an analysis of Goal 15 requirements. Chair Gustafson observed
a consensus to agree to replace “Development Review Commission” with “reviewing
authority.” Mr. Boone had explained it was not necessary to specify the reviewing
authority here because Article 50.79 established that. Commissioner Prager
observed the word, “enhanced” was proposed to be removed; he asked if that was
required now. Mr. Boone explained it was, but “enhanced” was so vague it was
almost unenforceable and the most the City could require was to mitigate (do no
harm). Ms. Andreades could not recall a case where an area had been required to
be enhanced under this section of code.
Section 50.15.015 Permitted Uses
Commissioner Prager was concerned the proposed change in (3) would mean that a
park or recreational facility would no longer have to undergo review by DRC. Mr.
Boone advised that it provided that parks and other recreational facilities designated
in the Comprehensive Plan were permitted uses in the Willamette Greenway. He
explained that other parts of the code controlled how they were reviewed and if they
were not authorized under a master plan they would need to be reviewed by the
DRC. He said if they were authorized under a master plan, staff could review them,
and the commentary in the proposed code would be modified to clarify the process.
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Article 50.20 Flag Lots
Section 50.20.025 Lot Configuration Requirements
Section 50.20.035 Screening, Buffering and Landscape Installation
Vice Chair Bhutani commented that if there was no standard for Lot Depth the
criteria for screening/landscaping would become really important for maintaining
privacy and separation. She and Commissioner Glisson took issue with leaving it up
to the neighbor to give written permission to waive the fence requirement for flag lots.
They believed it lead to uneven application of the code. Chair Gustafson agreed and
asked staff to put the issue on the future work plan.
Staff offered three options under (4) Tree removal mitigation. Chair Gustafson
preferred Option 2. Vice Chair Bhutani agreed it was the most reasonable option.
Staff advised Option 2 was most consistent with current code application. Chair
Gustafson observed a consensus to recommend Option 2.
Article 50.30 Special Requirements for Type of Facility
Section 50.30.005 Home Occupation
Chair Gustafson observed a consensus to address the topic of home occupation at a
future time. The Commissioners had concerns that the standards looked too vague
and discretionary; the square footage might be wrong; use of outdoor space should
be examined; and the parameters were hard to measure. They wanted to arrange to
have time for a larger discussion and public input. They also wanted to be sure the
public knew about it. They asked staff to highlight this discussion on a future
agenda.
Section 50.30.010 Specific Standards for Secondary Dwelling Unit
Chair Gustafson observed a consensus to accept the proposed changes and wait to
have a larger discussion of secondary dwelling units in the future. Staff had
explained that the amendment provided where the unit could be located in the
nonconforming portion of a nonconforming structure (currently it must be located in
the conforming portion of a nonconforming structure). They clarified that it did not
change the current 800 sq. ft. limit and Floor Area Ratio (FAR). They confirmed that
the Commissioners could consider whether those limits should be changed later
during a separate session on secondary dwelling units.
Section 50.30.015 Specific Standards for Telecommunication Facilities
The Commissioners indicated they wanted more background information and more
time to discuss this topic. Commissioner Glisson asked why so many poles with
mini-cells on them had popped up in the right-of-way in residential zones in the past
two or three years. Staff offered to arrange for Mr. Pishvaie to explain code
provisions related to cell towers. Chair Gustafson asked them to make this a stand-
alone agenda item.
Article 50.40 - Drainage Standard for Ministerial and Minor Development other
than Partitions, Subdivisions and Certain Structures.
Section 50.40.010 Standards for Approval
Mr. Boone explained why the provisions called out Resource Conservation (RC) and
RP districts. He indicated that typically the problem was that drainage from one
property caused erosion problems on an adjacent property, but the natural flow of
storm water was necessary for adjacent resource districts not to be “adversely
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affected” by loss of water flow. Staff would get additional information from the
Engineering staff as to what a 10 Year Storm Design was and report back.
Commissioner Prager recalled hearing concern that Sensitive Lands regulations
made a property owner who did not have Sensitive Lands on his property
responsible for protecting them on adjacent properties. Ms. Andreades clarified that
staff had to look at off-site effects in order to administer the standards. There was a
consensus to accept the proposed changes.
Commissioner Glisson moved to continue LU 08-0054 to November 28, 2011.
Commissioner Jones seconded the motion and it passed 5:0.
8. OTHER BUSINESS – PLANNING COMMISSION
Chair Gustafson and Vice Chair Bhutani asked for time on the November 28 agenda to
talk about the last summit. They were concerned about whether the current format was
really capturing public input.
9. OTHER BUSINESS – COMMISSION FOR CITIZEN INVOLVEMENT
None.
10. SCHEDULE REVIEW
The next Planning Commission meeting was to be on November 28, 2011. The
Commissioners would continue reviewing Ordinance 2526, LU 08-0054, starting with
page 120. They would also discuss the Comprehensive Plan Update - Community
Culture Summit held on November 3, 2011. They planned to hold stand-alone
discussions on cell towers and the home occupation code in January or as soon as the
schedule would allow.
11. ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business Chair Gustafson adjourned the meeting at 10:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Iris McCaleb /s/
Iris McCaleb
Administrative Support