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HomeMy WebLinkAboutApproved Minutes - 2007-03-05 SpecialCO.)TY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES March 5, 2007 Council President Ellie McPeak called the special City Council meeting to order at 4:05 p.m. on March 5, 2007, at the Main Fire Station, 300 B Avenue. Present: Council President McPeak, Councilors Turchi, Groznik, Jordan, and Johnson. Mayor Hammerstad and Councilor Hennagin arrived later. Staff Present: Doug Schmitz, City Manager; David Powell, City Attorney; Robyn Christie, City Recorder; Stephan Lashbrook, Community Development Director; Denny Egner, Community Planning Director; Deb Wechselblatt, Americorps Community Forestry Coordinator; David Odom, Associate Planner; Jonna Papaefthimiou, Natural Resources Planner; Gary Evans, Recreation Director; Sidaro Sin, Senior Planner 3. REVIEW EVENING AGENDA Mr. Schmitz indicated to Council President McPeak that staff would send to the Council the applications of all board and commission applicants who were selected as standard procedure from now on. Mayor Hammerstad arrived. She agreed to do the Council Goal Update. Mr. Powell indicated to Councilor McPeak that the Council did not deliberate at the February 20 hearing but only moved to continue it. He explained that those Council members who wished to participate in the deliberations tomorrow but missed the hearing could review the tapes. Councilor Jordan indicated that she would review the tapes. Mayor Hammerstad was not certain that she would have time to do so before the hearing. Mr. Powell confirmed that if the Mayor did not participate, then Councilor McPeak, as Council President, would preside over the deliberations. Mr. Sin indicated to Mayor Hammerstad that the annexations on Bell Court were for development purposes but the annexation on Bell Road was for a failed septic system. Councilor Groznik commented that the contract for the Tryon Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant Enhancement Plan was for the plans for landscape and odor control, and not for doing the actual work. Councilor Turchi stated that he intended to discuss the case studies provided for the Natural Resources Inventory Update, as he had found them very helpful. Councilor Jordan indicated that she had some items for Information from the Council. She asked staff to provide colored maps that clearly indicated which parts of the area north of Country Club Road were in the city and which were not. 4. REVIEW FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS Ms. Christie noted that the Foothills Boat Dock and the Urban Forestry Update have moved to this meeting, and should come off the Future Agenda Items list. She noted that the Citizens' Budget Committee would not meet on Monday, April 2. Mr. Schmitz indicated to Mayor Hammerstad that they did not need to select a new chair. Councilor Hennagin arrived. City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page 1 of 8 March 5, 2007 5. STUDY SESSION 5.1 Metropolitan Area Communications Commission Report on Verizon Cable Television Franchise Councilor McPeak passed around a handout comparing the contract provisions on the major items between the current Comcast franchise and the proposed Verizon franchise. She advised the Council that Bruce Crest and Fred Christ from MACC would attend the Council's March 20 meeting in order to answer questions prior to the Council's vote on the franchise contract at that meeting. The Verizon franchise only covered those parts of Lake Oswego already receiving phone service from Verizon. Verizon would use its fiber optic lines to bring fiber to the premises (FTTP) that it currently served. She commented that the major Lake Oswego phone provider, Qwest, has not mentioned this sort of upgrade. The telecommunication industry was changing rapidly, and providers were expanding their services offered in order to stay competitive. She commented that, while she saw no negatives to the Verizon franchise, Comcast, of course, did. She referenced Comcast's letter and MACC's response to it, in advising the Council that any sort of meeting with Comcast would be an ex parte contact, and should be avoided. Verizon would be the third competitor in the current telecommunications market in Lake Oswego; Comcast Cable and satellite were the other two. She emphasized that competition was always better for the customer, usually resulting in better customer service, more choice of services, and stable pricing. She observed that the competition would be in non -price areas. Comcast's description of Verizon as illegally 'cherry -picking' customers based on income level was inaccurate. The gaps in Verizon's service would result from Verizon only extending FTTP to those areas to which it already provided phone service. She noted that any franchise providing telecommunication service required a certain density level before installing its infrastructure in an area. She saw no downside to granting this franchise, which MACC negotiated over 12 months through Bruce Crest of MACC and attorney Pam Beery, both of whom are highly respected in their professions. She reviewed the four factors in the negotiations that made this negotiation different from the Comcast negotiations: Verizon has a national franchise agreement template that it moved off of with great reluctance, the differences between FTTP technology and cable technology, the rapid morphing of the industry, and the threat of FCC de -regulation. She noted that the FCC wanted very much to take franchise granting authority away from the local governments. She commented that this contract gave the City legal authority over Verizon for 15 years but who knew what would happen when it expired. A good portion of Verizon's fiber optics upgrade in Oregon occurred within the MACC area. She reviewed the areas where Verizon would not offer the service: North Plains, most of Lake Oswego, portions of Beaverton and unincorporated Washington County, Banks and Gaston. Councilor McPeak confirmed to Mayor Hammerstad that 100% of the MACC jurisdictions had to approve the contract or MACC did not enter into it, and everybody lost the potential service. She said that about 20% of Lake Oswego on the west side would get the service. Councilor McPeak indicated to Councilor Jordan that they did not expect to see a growth in franchise revenues as a result of this contract. She explained that most people would be switching from one franchise to another, rather than starting up new service. Councilor McPeak indicated to Mayor Hammerstad that MACC would be delighted if other companies sought franchise agreements with MACC. She said that MACC went after Verizon in an effort to increase competition. She clarified that the Comcast 15 -year franchise contract ran from its starting date forward, and was not affected by Verizon's starting date for its 15 -year contract. City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page 2 of 8 March 5, 2007 Councilor McPeak explained to Councilor Hennagin that the City granted franchises for services using the public right-of-way. She reiterated that the reason why Verizon did not run fiber optic lines to all areas of its phone service (such as Banks and Gaston) was because there had to be a certain density level in an area to make it cost effective to do so. Councilor McPeak indicated to Councilor Hennagin that the difference in the technology between FTTP and coaxial cable did make a difference in the service section of the franchise agreement, although, from her point of view as an end user, she saw little difference in service delivery. She recalled that, when the cable company was first laying its cable lines, MACC had worked to make sure that it covered the entire MACC area. Verizon, however, was an existing phone company simply doing an upgrade. Mr. Powell observed that the combining of telecommunications and cable on the same line, when they used to be on separate lines, was confusing. He mentioned that, while Verizon has allowed its telecommunication franchise agreements with various jurisdictions to expire on paper during the contentious Qwest litigation over franchising authority, it still diligently paid its franchise fees, thus implying a franchise extension. Mr. Powell informed the Council that staff told Verizon that it wanted a final telecommunications franchise document for the City Council at the same time as the FTTP franchise document came forward. Councilor McPeak explained to Councilor Hennagin that the scheduled date of 2008 for upgrade completion was actually a short time frame. She noted the upgrade timeline built into the franchise agreement. She commented that the negotiations have achieved the goal of a reasonably level playing field between the competing franchises, as the comparison chart illustrated. Mr. Powell indicated to Councilor Hennagin that the City received a small amount in franchise fees from Verizon currently, perhaps $50,000 or so. 5.2 Urban Forestry Update Ms. Wechselblatt described the Urban Forestry Plan as outlining strategies and management practices for enhancing and maintaining the urban forest in Lake Oswego. She said that the plan primarily focused on parks and right-of-way trees with a secondary focus on homeowner education about sustainable private tree management practices. The plan was not regulatory nor did it update the tree code. She reviewed her work in developing the plan, mentioning the many local and state contacts she made during her research into the best management practices. The policies and goals supporting the plan included the Comprehensive Plan, City boards, and seven neighborhood plans. She stated that staff wanted to form a working group drawn from Planning, Maintenance, Engineering, Building, Parks & Rec, and the Natural Resources Advisory Board to meet bi-monthly to review plans and to provide her with technical support. The public outreach (open houses) planned to gain input from the community regarding what priorities to include in the plan. She reviewed the timeline for the next steps of meeting with the working group and holding the open houses in the next few months with an anticipated completion date in August. She presented the staff recommendation to move forward with the working group and the public outreach. Ms. Wechselblatt indicated to Councilor Jordan that the plan would include a list of recommended plant species as part of homeowner education in encouraging urban forestry in Lake Oswego. Ms. Papaefthimiou confirmed to Councilor Groznik that this plan would be important in complying with State and Metro natural resource goals. City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page 3 of 8 March 5, 2007 Ms. Wechselblatt confirmed to Councilor Turchi that homeowner education would include materials on how to choose the right tree for a given location, in order to avoid cutting it down in the future when it became inconvenient. Mr. Odom commented that 'the right tree in the right place' was a major concern in urban forestry, given the interference that utilities ran into with trees in the wrong place. He mentioned that they would likely provide general guidelines for particular species, rather than going to people's houses and telling them what not to plant where. Mr. Schmitz commented that sometimes it was not a case of planting'the wrong tree in the wrong place' but rather that development grew up around a tree that was planted in the right place originally. He cited the example of the redwoods on Hotspur that were planted when Wilmont Farm was a farm. Mr. Odom indicated to Councilor Groznik that the plan would address the issue of preserving tree groves, as tree groves promoted healthy trees and minimization of wind failures. Mayor Hammerstad mentioned the requirement to allow development of up to 50% of a property with trees on it. Mr. Odom concurred that if a resource conservation easement covered an entire property, then development could theoretically eliminate half of the tree grove. Mayor Hammerstad discussed a situation in which a tree grove took up over 50% of a small piece of property that was within 30 feet of a stream corridor. Given that they could not declare it undevelopable, what could the City do in that situation? Mr. Odom indicated that there were things that staff could do, such as reduce property and structural setbacks in order to reduce the impact of development on the property. Mr. Powell confirmed that there was a staff policy (that has not yet gone to the Council) that allowed a homeowner to build the standard size of house allowed in the underlying zone when a resource covered the entire property. Councilor Johnson asked what the relationship was between the plan and the adopted neighborhood plans. Ms. Wechselblatt said that she found seven neighborhood plans that called for an urban and community forestry program. She confirmed that the Urban Forestry Plan would reflect the neighborhood plans in the same way that it would reflect the Comprehensive Plan. Ms. Wechselblatt indicated to Councilor Johnson that the working group would discuss the question of whether the Urban Forestry Plan would have a blanket application for the entire city or be broken down into different geographical areas. She noted the distinction already made between parks and right-of-way trees in terms of management She commented that privately owned trees were a third distinction. Mr. Odom mentioned the possibility of conducting an inventory of the trees and tree groves found in the city, which could help the working group determine how to apply management plans around the city. Mr. Egner indicated that staff made a conscious decision to focus on the educational aspects of the plan, and to set aside the regulatory piece for now. He noted that the regulatory aspect could be controversial, and prevent completion of the other aspects of the plan. He said that they looked at the regulatory piece as a second phase. He confirmed to Mayor Hammerstad that the first phase involved the publicly owned lands and education. Councilor McPeak commented that, given how many people were blissfully unaware of City requirements with regards to trees, this provided a golden opportunity to educate without a club. She suggested that, following completion of the plan, staff contact each of the neighborhood associations to arrange to attend their meetings and talk about the plan in order to generate the necessary community support to make the plan a success. City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page 4 of 8 March 5, 2007 Councilor Johnson commented that, given that many neighborhoods without neighborhood plans, had a clear idea of the role of trees in their neighborhood, she anticipated seeing the neighborhood planning process incorporate much of the Urban Forestry Plan into future neighborhood plans. Councilor Turchi suggested that the City do preliminary naturescaping on the publicly owned lands in the Stafford area in order to illustrate what could be done without precluding other potential uses. Mr. Odom indicated that there were staff members who would love to do a demonstration project using native plants and incorporating walkways, water features, and benches in order to show the citizens how they can use the resource -protected land near them, instead of walling the land off behind a six-foot fence and leaving it to the blackberry bushes. Mr. Odom confirmed to Councilor Jordan that the Urban Forestry Plan could help maintain the connectivity between adjacent resource conservation overlay parcels with guidelines available to homeowners and project managers on how to deal with that situation. Councilor Groznik spoke to making a distinction between native plants and ornamental plants, and between uplands and riparian areas, as part of the educational process. Councilor Jordan observed that the educational process could help people understand the importance of maintaining a tree canopy beyond its aesthetic value. Ms. Wechselblatt mentioned that the plan had a separate section on the importance of trees. She concurred with the importance of talking to the neighborhoods to generate support for the plan. Mayor Hammerstad noted the Council consensus that staff move forward with the working group and the public outreach events. 5.3 Foothills Boat Dock Mr. Evans reviewed a timeline of events starting with the 2002 memo from Bob Kincaid to the Oregon State Marine Board discussing the possibility of funding a marine facility at Foothills Park. He mentioned the Board obtaining a $362,000 federal grant in 2003 to add to the $170,000 they were chipping in to build a boathouse. He mentioned the meetings City staff had with the various regulatory agencies in 2005, following the Board's official approval of the funding. He distributed the designs developed by the Oregon State Marine Board. He noted that the first design had been contentious with neighbors across the river who were concerned that extending the Lake Oswego dock 100 feet into the narrow 400 foot channel, combined with the 200 foot federally required no wake zone, would push all the river traffic over to their side, and impact their ability to use the river. He went on to the next design that pulled the dock in closer to the shore. In April 2006, the City Council accepted the $687,000 boating infrastructure grant but not unanimously. He clarified to Councilor Hennagin that the budget included additional funds from the federal government ($38,000), the State ($170,000), in-kind contributions ($152,000) and City ($129,000). The City hired NorWest Engineers in May 2006, which developed a design creatively incorporating the existing pilings left over from the chip plant for a cost of $602,000. He indicated that staff decided to send out an RFP for designs at that point, but all four of the proposals that came in were unacceptable for various reasons, including not fitting the budget. He said that, upon returning to the Marine Board with this problem in February 2007, the Board decided to do the design and construction documents itself, as well as help with the state and federal permit applications process, in order to avoid losing the grant money. This agreement with the Marine Board made the project financially feasible within the funds available. He stated that the Council would still make the decision on construction contracts and moving forward with the process. Mr. Evans indicated to Councilor Hennagin that a project engineer at the Marine Board would provide the City with design assistance and oversight of the construction documents. He confirmed City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page 5 of 8 March 5, 2007 that this agreement eliminated the $100,000 contract to do the design work. He commented that, while the Board would help in order to assure that its investment was appropriately installed, it would not take full responsibility for construction oversight. He indicated that he doubted that the City would have to hire a construction manager itself because the project was not that technical, and the Board's help would probably be sufficient to make it come out right. Mayor Hammerstad expressed her delight that staff succeeded in getting the Board's commitment to do the engineering, thus eliminating the costs that were blocking going forward with the project. Councilor McPeak asked for confirmation that the $129,000 approved by the Council on April 20 was a guaranteed firm figure. Mr. Evans said that he was comfortable that that was sufficient money to pay for the two possible expenses of removing a portion of the dock and the four piling structures. He pointed out that if a construction contract went over budget, the Council could say no. Mr. Evans confirmed to Councilor McPeak that the Council could say no to an over -budget construction contract, that the City, State, and Federal funds together (plus the in-kind contributions) were sufficient to build the City a completed boat dock, and that the only thing that could go wrong was the contractors submitting bids way beyond the Council's expectations, to which the Council could say no and halt the project. Mayor Hammerstad commented that that did not remove any options for the Council reconsidering the project. Mr. Evans explained that the funds were tied to a date; the Marine Board has to commit resources now in order to get through the permitting process in time to spend the money. He said that 2009 was the final year; after that, they lost the money. He commented that if the project experienced more delays, then the City lost the Marine Board's help. Mr. Evans confirmed to Councilor Groznik that this deal with the Marine Board allowed the City to get the design and construction documents paid for by the Marine Board. He concurred that it did not add anything to the contract that the Council had not agreed to in June 2006, except some additional staff time. Mayor Hammerstad indicated that the Council was re -affirming its earlier motion to proceed. Councilor Jordan asked if there was a law prohibiting boats from anchoring in that section of the river, as opposed to mooring boats at the dock. She referenced as an example, boats anchoring off River Place to listen to the concerts. Mr. Evans said that, as long as the boats stayed on either side of the navigation channel, that it was probably all right, but he was not positive about it. 5.4 Council Blog Councilor Johnson presented her proposal to set up a Council web log to increase its communication with the public -at -large by using another online method besides the City's website. She said that she would monitor it and do the postings. She indicated that she would post as herself, and not as a representative of the Council -at -large; there was also opportunity for other Council members to have their own pages. She asked for Council direction. Councilor Johnson explained to Mayor Hammerstad that the nature of monitoring a blog made it infeasible for the City's Public Information Officer to monitor the blog content; that was done by the writer. Mr. Schmitz agreed that elected officials, rather than City staff, should respond to writers on the blog. Councilor McPeak questioned monitoring the blog, given that this was a free speech situation. City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page 6 of 8 March 5, 2007 Councilor Johnson clarified that they could set the blog up as a written conversation, with people responding to a posting, or as an article allowing no response to the posting. She emphasized that the intent of the blog was to provide information from the Council, and not necessarily seek opinions. Councilor Groznik observed that the difference between information and opinion was a fine line. He said that he did not know enough about blogs to be comfortable with the idea, given the unencumbered nature of the Internet. He recalled being reprimanded in the past by other Council members for statements he made, which were clearly personal, yet perceived as having the authority of the Council behind them. Councilor Johnson concurred that there was an issue with public relations, but reiterated that she would be responsible for the monitoring. She argued that this venue would put the Council in a better position to deal with situations and issues as they came up. She acknowledged that the Council did not have to commit to this channel for a long time but reiterated that it was something that it should pursue as another channel of communication. She said that if they had problems with the public comments section, then they could remove that and turn it into a web journal for the different Council members to write in. Councilor McPeak commented that it now sounded more formal than she had originally understood. Councilor Johnson encouraged discussing the blog structure and who wrote on it. She reiterated that whatever blog they ended up with had to have information coming directly from the Council, and not through staff. Councilor Hennagin said that he would need more specifics on how it worked before he could be comfortable with it. He commented that he was not comfortable with putting a 'daily diay out there for everyone to read. He asked how this would add to the Council's existing public communication channels of the City website and newsletter. Councilor Johnson reiterated that this blog would come from the Council and not from the staff. She held that information from the Council directly was something that the population -at -large was looking for from the Council. Mayor Hammerstad suggested allowing Councilor Johnson to develop the format in conjunction with other Councilors. She said that she had no problem doing it, as they could always shut it down if all they got were complaints and negativity. She described it as an opportunity to explain things that the Council was doing. Councilor Johnson mentioned explaining the Council's financial commitments in layman's terms. Councilor Johnson concurred with Councilor Jordan that a different group of people would read the blog than read the City newsletter or visited the website. She commented that people in her generation working, or with small children, were more likely to use a blog than to attend meetings or write the Review. She hoped that the blog would generate enthusiasm for City projects. Councilor McPeak asked if there was a sample blog that they could look at. Mr. Schmitz mentioned that Portland Commissioner Sam Adams had a blog, as well as a City Council member in the Bay area. Councilor Johnson said that she had a friend who could help her set up a prototype blog online, which the Council could look at its next special meeting. Councilor Turchi spoke in support of trying it, as blogging was not a new activity. He said that he was wary of it, but he thought that, after an initial spate of negativity, it would settle down into a good way to communicate with people. He observed that it might generate a great deal of work for Councilor Johnson. Councilor Groznik concurred with Councilor Jordan that public disclosure issues were a concern. He said that he did not think that, once started, it would be easy to take down because of the City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page 7 of 8 March 5, 2007 negative perception by the public that the Council cut off communication because it did not like what it was hearing. He held that it would generate many questions, which if answered, could generate rumors of what the City's position was. He mentioned his concern that it could create a lot of problems Councilor Groznik spoke to thinking through the potential repercussions of doing a Council blog, including Councilor Hennagin's speculation that people might ask questions on the blog that were better answered by staff. Councilor McPeak spoke in support of giving this a try in order to reach more than the usual six suspects who wrote to the Review, even though it was risky. She commented that they also needed to pursue the other channels of citizen conversations identified at the goal setting meeting, such as attending neighborhood association meetings and holding citizen coffees. Councilor Johnson commented that too often the Council ended up in discussions defined for it by the Review or other parties. She held that this was an opportunity for the Council to define the discussion on issues that came up. She said that she was not afraid of a blog, and she thought that good things could come from it. She stated that she would not answer questions that staff should answer but there were more philosophic questions and questions about Council intentions that she could answer. Mr. Schmitz noted that the majority of the Council seemed interested in pursuing the possibility. He said that staff would bring back examples for Council review. He mentioned hearing from other cities that have put up blogs that, while it worked well when the Council was united on a project, it could cause consternation in a split vote situation. He said that should not prohibit creating a blog, but they did need to develop protocols on how to handle various situations that might arise. Councilor Johnson indicated to Mayor Hammerstad that the Youth Council needed to have another meeting on the curfew issue before it could bring forward a formal recommendation to the City Council. Mr. Schmitz mentioned that, over the past two years, the City has budgeted revenue from Verizon at $39,000 a year. Comcast revenue was $565,000 for the two years with $282,000 coming from MACC. 6. EXECUTIVE SESSION None. 7. RETURN TO OPEN SESSION 8. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Hammerstad adjourned the meeting at 5:55 p.m. Respectfully submitted, RobA Christie City Recorder APPROVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL: ON Mav 15.2007 Judie Hammerstad, Mayor City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page 8 of 8 March 5, 2007