HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda Item - 2009-06-15 Report to the SAB
by Jean Baumann
June 15, 2009
The City of Lake Oswego is embarking on a three-year Periodic Review of the city's
Comprehensive Plan that will include a "Community Visioning" process in 2010. The
SAB 2009 work plan includes developing a Community Sustainability Plan and a
Community Climate Change Action Plan. All of these efforts would benefit from having
a common understanding of what a sustainable community could look like.
At the May 19th City Council meeting, I delivered the SAB memo that suggested we
could provide assistance in developing a method and a document that would describe
the guiding principles and attributes of a sustainable community. I strongly suggested
that prior to the city and the board undertaking those efforts mentioned above. The
Mayor and City Council indicated their support of such an endeavor.
In separate, subsequent meetings that I had with city staff, the Mayor, and the SAB's
Community Sustainability Plan planning group, several ideas surfaced. Below is a
summary of key suggestions:
From the City Staff:
1. Prepare a "guiding principles/attributes/framework" document prior to the City
Council's 2010 goal setting that will start in November.
2. Include representatives from the Planning Commission and city planning staff in
the effort.
3. Avoid using the term "community visioning" to describe this work so as to not
confuse this SAB work product with the City's future community visioning effort.
4. If extensive staff time or external expertise is needed to support this effort, then
the SAB should draft a scope of work for staff to consider.
From the Mayor:
1. Prepare the "guiding principles/attributes/framework" in time to present it to the
City Council on October 20th
2. Use this opportunity (or in November) to also talk about budget items for 2010+.
From the SAB Community Sustainability Plan planning group:
1. Regarding the Period Review of the Comprehensive Plan, pursue the following
course of action:
a. SAB would recommend to the City Council that all city staff and Planning
Commission members take "INS Sustainability Training" to ensure familiarity
with foundational principles and decision-making tools.
b. SAB would develop a 2 to 4-page "guiding principles & attributes" document
to help guide the Periodic Review process. [The sooner this is done the
better— I believe that staff work on phase I of the Period Review work plan
has begun.]
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c. SAB would create that document by:
a. benchmarking other communities' sustainability plans and visions to
identify the common descriptions of the "sustainable end points" as
well as the underlying principles guiding those communities.
b. reviewing Lake Oswego documents for other ideas, e.g., the City's
"aspirations" list submitted to Metro, the City's Sustainability Plan, the
Comprehensive Plan sections, and input collected from attendees at
the SAM events.
2. Regarding the Community Sustainability Plan, pursue the following course of
action:
a. Determine a different name for the "Community Sustainability Plan."
b. Incorporate the "guiding principles & attributes" [from #1 b] into this effort.
c. Create a 2-page executive summary that can be used to educate and engage
key stakeholders. (Complete this by December 31, 2009)
d. Potential areas to cover (and questions to answer) in the plan and/or the
executive summary:
a. A compelling case for sustainability.
b. Guiding principles/attributes/framework/vision.
c. Do we conduct a "backcasting" process with anyone?
d. Goals, measures of success, and a system to track & report
progress.
e. Inventory of"what is," e.g., ICLEI
f. Mechanisms for action and community involvement (residents,
businesses, schools, the city, and other stakeholders), for example:
1. List of key action areas that stakeholders/action teams can
pursue, e.g., climate change action areas, code changes
2. Training and awareness building events [including a direct link
to the annual SAM].
g. Timeframes/calendar.
h. Financials, e.g., how is this effort financed, is city funding needed, is
outside funding available?
i. Who "owns" this, e.g., the SAB, the City, a non-profit?
e. Utilize the community survey initiative that the city has already started; take at
least one of those monthly surveys and focus it on sustainability.
f. Use this process to help formulate a budget request for 2010-2011.
JeanBaumann@PresentDynamics.com • 503.598.2262
• Consulting • Coaching • Facilitating • Training