Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutApproved Minutes - 2010-01-09 SpecialCITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES January 9, 2010 Mayor Jack Hoffman called the special City Council meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. on January 9, 2010, in the City Council Chambers, 380 A Avenue. Present: Mayor Hoffman, Councilors Olson, Moncrieff, and Tierney Staff Present: Christine Kirk, Public Affairs Manager COMMUNITY ROUND TABLE Mayor Hoffman explained that this was an opportunity to share constructive thoughts about the direction that the City should take in the next year or over a longer term. He reviewed the opportunities for public input through the Peak Democracy online forum, the Lake Oswego Review, and Citizen Comment. • Marianne Conroy She encouraged the Council to proceed with the new indoor tennis center in 2010, as the existing center was at 97% capacity and a proven moneymaker. She commented that the tennis community could pay for the new center through usage fees. In addition, it has proven its commitment by staying after 10 p.m. at the December Council meeting. • Janine Dunphy She mentioned that, while she sat on the 50+ Advisory Board, she was speaking on behalf of herself today. She asked the Council to re-evaluate the purpose of the Boards and Commissions. She commented that she has noticed three things about boards, based on her experience on the 50+ Advisory Board over the past five years. The first was that Boards were occasionally asked for a rubber stamp approval of something that the staff or the Council wanted to push through. The second was that the recommendations coming out of a Board's hard work and investment of time and energy were often tabled, dismissed, or ignored. She indicated that her third observation was her main concern, a Board not being asked for input on issues on which it might have some input. She cited two examples with respect to her Board: sensitive lands and the life long learning center. She argued that the majority of people impacted by sensitive lands were over the age of 50. It was a senior issue regardless of which side one was on. She commented that she would have thought that the ACC's Lifelong Learning Center fell within the purview of the 50+ Advisory Board, yet the first she heard of it was while watching the Council study session on TV. She asked the Council either to utilize the Boards or to re-evaluate and disband them. Councilor Moncrieff asked what would be the most effective method of communication to Board members. Ms. Dunphy suggested Councilors attending Board meetings and more staff communication. She mentioned that, over the past 12 months, one Councilor attended one 50 plus Advisory Board meeting, and the regularly attending staff person never mentioned the life-long learning center, which supposedly has been going on for three years. Councilor Moncrieff mentioned the difficulty of scheduling conflicts. She asked if communicating with Board and Commission members via e-mail was a viable method. Ms. Dunphy commented that the Board chair could serve as the point person for input. She indicated that she did not have City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page 1 of 15 January 9, 2010 the unrealistic expectation of a Councilor attending every meeting but she did not think that once a year was adequate. She wondered whether someone could fill in for a Councilor liaison unable to attend the meetings. • John Surrett, 2010 LONAC Chair He explained that LONAC divided its comments up among five individuals. He read the purpose of LONAC as stated in its bylaws. He spoke of a productive working relationship built on four guiding principles. He addressed the first principle, priorities. He spoke of the need for all to tighten their financial belts during this economic recession, including the City. He argued that the City had to lead the way by limiting public expenditures to the basic public services and the non -discretionary programs required by law, by holding any tax increases to a minimum, and by deferring moving forward with new discretionary initiatives until existing program and project commitments were completed. He held that the developers should bear the cost of serving new development by paying SDCs reflective of the real costs of required system improvements. He presented LONAC's adopted recommendations, which were in no particular order and which represented the highest priorities for advancing the livability and quality of life of Lake Oswego neighborhoods. He asked the Council to conduct an inclusive and transparent review of City facilities and future facility needs, guided by a committee comprised of citizens and representatives from City advisory boards and commissions. Councilor Tierney commented that some Councilors were not certain that all the planning work going on was accomplishing much. He asked how the subsets of LONAC's goals weighed against getting the Comprehensive Plan done. Mr. Surrett noted that LONAC gave all its goals equal weight and saw them as warranting equal attention by the City. He mentioned that LONAC constantly and vigilantly explored these issues through research in order to arrive at a consensus as an organization. He commented that they had some input that they would like incorporated into the Comprehensive Plan during that revision process. • Bob Thompson, Lake Oswego Stewards Vice President He mentioned that he was a 26 year resident. He read the Lake Oswego Stewards' recommendations for the Council's 2010 goals. He asked that, in 2010, the Council remove the sensitive lands land use restrictions program from private property. He read the petition signed by more than 1200 property owners, detailing why they wanted the program removed. He mentioned their expectation that they could obtain even more signatures, given the ease in obtaining these 1200 plus signatures. He spoke of their hope that the Council would realize that this petition and the 400 attendees at the September 21 meeting indicated that there was a grave amount of opposition and concern in the community regarding the sensitive lands issue. He argued that the sensitive lands program was not a science -based environmental program but rather a damaging and unnecessary land use restriction program masquerading as environmentalism. He contended that it was unnecessary in light of the already existing extensive and comprehensive citywide regulations in the Community Development Code addressing sensitive land -related issues. He held that this program did not benefit the community's natural resources because it excluded sensitive lands properties, including Oswego Lake, the canals, the Willamette River, Foothills, First Addition and other selected neighborhoods. He contended that the City's program was not in keeping with Metro, the State, or the 1984 Comprehensive Plan. He cited the opinions of realtors and builders that unnecessary land use restrictions devalued property and served as a red flag to buyers. He argued that these divisive and discriminatory restrictions created two tiers of property owners in the community with some having more property rights than others. He asked the Council to insure equal rights and treatment to all property owners. City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page 2 of 15 January 9, 2010 He stated that they supported protection of Lake Oswego's natural resources and wildlife habitat through voluntary educational incentive -based programs and removal of the RC and RP overlays from all private properties. He pointed out that over 600 acres of publicly owned land could stay under this land use restriction program. He argued that the community was beautiful because property owners were excellent stewards of their property, and not because of a 10 year old land use restriction program. He asked the Council to repeal this program in 2010. • Skip Ormsby, LONAC representative He presented the LONAC guiding principle of open, honest, and respectful communication as critical to building trust and reaching consensus on controversial issues facing the community. He mentioned the goal of making substantial progress to adopt and implement neighborhood plans, to develop neighborhood design overlays, and to finance critical improvement projects in adopted neighborhood plans. • Susanna Kuo She encouraged the Council to adopt the Oswego Iron Heritage Trail that linked together the various artifacts and sites related to Lake Oswego's iron industry. She referenced the Historic Resources Advisory Board's October presentation to the Council. She noted that this did not involve any trail building but rather identifying a route on existing pathways and streets and adding interpretative signage to interweave the features into a cohesive story that was meaningful to people. She mentioned that other communities in the country have created Iron Heritage Trails to link their iron industry history. She mentioned the bill introduced by Rep. Kurt Schrader to fund a feasibility study for creating a Willamette Falls National Heritage area that would focus on the Native American trading center, the end of the north Oregon Trail, the associated industries, and the locks (currently undergoing restoration). She mentioned a meeting in Oregon City that she attended yesterday of the stakeholders, at which she learned that this proposal had a good chance of going through, provided that all the stakeholders wanted it to happen. She explained that the federal government only provided advice and left it to the local area to manage a national heritage site in the way most suited to the area. She pointed out that Lake Oswego could fall within the boundaries of the heritage site because it had features remaining from the early iron and paper industries in the area, all of which tied to the Falls. She encouraged the Council to become involved in this process. • Diana Boom, LONAC representative She presented the LONAC guiding principle of performance and the goal of conducting an efficient and focused community process to address the most critical policy issues regarding land use development and growth management. She spoke of prioritizing the land use and growth issues. She mentioned the problem of Council priorities changing every two years when their membership changed. She encouraged the Council to get a plan and stick with it by constantly monitoring itself. She spoke on behalf of herself. She commended the Council and previous Councils for making good headway on neighborhood planning by hiring an additional planner. She referenced some comments she read on Peak Democracy about the Council backing off of neighborhood planning to move on to visioning. She urged the Council to continue on its course with neighborhood planning, and to give it time to work. She mentioned her sense that the neighborhoods were starting to trust the Council because of this process. She thanked the Council for its support of the Gallery Without Walls. She served on the Selection Committee this year. She mentioned that one of the things that struck her when she first moved to Lake Oswego was the free outdoor art. City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page 3 of 15 January 9, 2010 • Lee Wicklund, 16860 Lakeridge Drive He indicated that he has lived here since 1992. He commented that he was pleased at the work that the Council has done in the past year, which he knew about because he watched the televised programs. He mentioned his assumption that the three Councilors not present this morning did not see goal setting as a priority. He indicated that he was representing those citizens who typically did not attend Council meetings. He commended Mr. McIntyre for his revamping of the budget to support greater departmental accountability, the Hello LO articles on emergency procedures, the regular street sweeping of leaves in his neighborhood, and the City organizational chart showing FTEs and budget numbers. He asked why they would not see the same level of service next year even if the retired street sweeper stopped working for the City. He commented that, while goal setting was a good thing, the Council did not measure it nor provide feedback on its accomplishments on a quarterly basis, which good organizations did. He stated that streets were a priority for him, and noted their deterioration. He suggested that the Council double the funds available for street maintenance by taking additional money out of the existing budget, rather than doubling the street maintenance fee. He argued that Mr. McIntyre's job was to give the Council direction on what to give up, and that the people elected the Council members to establish priorities. He contended that there was sufficient money in a $150 million budget not to have to double the street maintenance fee. He indicated that he was on a fixed income and that all the utility fees were increasing. He acknowledged the need to increase the fee but contended that the middle of a recession was not the time to do so. He indicated that his passion for pathways stood second to his passion for fixing deteriorating streets. He spoke of his suspicion that the City could find money in the consultants' budget, given the large amounts of money spent on consultants, such as $500,000 for the Clean Streams Plan. He encouraged the Council to reorder its priorities in terms of consultants and the basic needs of the community. He referenced the comments made at a Council meeting by a Budget Committee member regarding the City audit. He acknowledged the turnover in financial directors but contended that Mr. McIntyre and the Council should have an accounting of where the budget stood in each of the departments and make staff accountable for spending money. Mayor Hoffman mentioned that many of Mr. Gudman's comments were not accurate. He suggested that Mr. Wicklund talk with the members of the Council Audit Committee who would share a different perspective. • Jim Bolland, LONAC representative He explained that LONAC based its presentation strategy this year on a suggestion by Dan Vizzini, last year's Chair, to synthesize their goals down into something more manageable and less confusing, and to identify some of the critical elements in City/citizen interactions. He indicated that the four critical areas relating to interaction were communications, decision-making, performance, and priorities. He discussed the principle of decision-making. He commented that the Council decisions must be evidence -based and faithful to broadly held community values. He spoke of the Council relying on the hard work of its advisory bodies, community partners, and ever-growing inventory of reports, studies, and plans to support its decisions. He listed the numerous reports in which the community vision existed. He addressed Councilor Tierney's question about whether all the planning was actually accomplishing much. He referenced the Infill Task Forces as good example of a planning effort taking a very long time (begun in 2000 and not finished yet). He commented that, with someone City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page 4 of 15 January 9, 2010 wanting to do visioning every few years and these ongoing projects and implementation efforts, they would never get around the tension and the frustration. He recalled that neighborhood planning stopped for a few years after Judie Hammerstad became Mayor in 2000, and then began again due to community pressure. He noted that, while some excellent plans have been implemented, he did not know why the City has not yet implemented the legacy plans. He commented that he did not think that they could stop all their planning work every time it was time to do visioning. He held thatithey already had a problem with continuity, which he thought stopping for visioning would only exacerbate. He argued that they could do a better job of being more focused and directed when working on the bigger issues. He observed that the Planning Commission was already overwhelmed with everything it had to work on between its scheduled tasks and things that came up in the community. He cited the Our Lady of the Lake request as an example of bumping aside all priorities to focus an intense effort on one very minor Code change. Councilor Tierney commented that, at its goal setting retreat, the Council would discuss how to resolve opportunities and problems in terms of how to prioritize issues. He asked how the Council was doing with respect to LONAC's four principles. Mr. Bolland pointed out that planners planned; they did not implement those plans. He noted that Lake Oswego did a good job of initiating planning efforts with its large planning staff but not so good a job on implementing the outcomes of those efforts. Mr. Bolland cited the Quality of Life Task Force from over 10 years ago as a good example of not implementing a great planning effort. He described the Task Force as the one of the best task forces he has sat on in the community because it was a stakeholder group that represented all corners of Lake Oswego, and it developed the outstanding product of the Quality of Life Indicators. He commented that the City has never effectively implemented the Indicators, which the Task Force intended as a tool to provide information to the Council when making policy and decisions. Mayor Hoffman commented that the City did not implement the Indicators because doing so would be very expensive, requiring consultants to measure some of the statistics. Mr. Bolland mentioned that the Task Force obtained statistics early on using the Task Force members and an interim planner talented in digging out information. He recalled that they tried to steer away from the statistics that required a lot of data gathering and focus on the ones that were accessible. Mr. Boland mentioned a LONAC goal to adopt a charter amendment that required voter approval of proposals to form and/or expand urban renewal districts. • Sherry Finnigan, LONAC representative She seconded everything Mr. Bolland said. She commented, given that she also sat on the Quality of Life Indicators Task Force, that if the City took all of the money it intended to spend on visioning and put it into the Qualify of Life Indicators, it would have a vision and the Indicators working for it. She mentioned that LONAC has felt for the past five years that the Indicators were an important document languishing on some department shelf. She presented the LONAC goal regarding the adoption of infill standards to regulate new development consistent with the character of residential neighborhoods and the establishment of a Residential Development Design Review Commission to insure compliance with the standards. She presented another LONAC goal regarding the provision of adequate funding for library operations and services, and the acquisition of a site(s) for library facilities to meet the needs of the entire community. She mentioned that it was important to LONAC that a certain site stay on the Council's radar screen as a possible location. Councilor Tierney asked LONAC to communicate to the Council why it proposed its Goal 6. City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page 5 of 15 January 9, 2010 • Isabelle Stearman, 16 year resident She described the excellent job that Lake Oswego has done in integrating her two severely developmentally disabled children into the community. She pointed out that once her children reached 21 years old, that integration into the community would become a different story. She stated that the unemployment rate for adults with developmental disabilities was incredibly high. She mentioned hearing from the School District that Oregon City had more vocational rehabilitation jobs than Lake Oswego. She commented that she wanted to see what the Council could do to bring more vocational rehabilitation jobs to Lake Oswego, as she did not want her children to grow into adults who sat in front of the TV all day. She asked the Council to put her in touch with anyone in the City and at the Chamber who could help her explore employment opportunities for people with disabilities. She indicated that, given the time they needed to devote to their children, she represented at least 12 other parents facing a similar situation. Mayor Hoffman directed Ms. Stearman to speak to Christine Kirk before leaving the meeting. • Cheryl Goeken She thanked Mr. McIntyre for his efforts in developing a wonderful parks and recreation program, and the Mayor for this Round Table. As the mother of a teen with development disabilities, she thanked the Council members, past and present, for their continued efforts to make Lake Oswego accessible to all. She cited the accessibility of the waterfront park and the inclusiveness of the parks and recreation program. She addressed the issue of employment opportunities for people with disabilities, contending that Lake Oswego had an opportunity to become a national leader in creating innovative programs, similar to Berkeley and Chicago. She commented that Lake Oswego had many reliable hardworking individuals with developmental disabilities who wanted to join the work force in the community and who were gaining skills through cutting edge programs offered by the Lake Oswego School District. She mentioned the new research indicating that healthy and vibrant communities needed to offer affordable housing, which she thanked the Council for working on. She spoke of community ties, the relationship piece that parents could make viable when their children were small but often lost as the kids became more independent. She noted that quality education and access to health care existed in Lake Oswego, and that the community was working on the transportation issues. She asked that the community invest time and energy in partnering with policy makers and stakeholders in developing more opportunities for community ties and employment for citizens with development disabilities. She held that investment in this social capital in Lake Oswego would offer an opportunity to develop a richness and diversity of population. Tom Coffee He thanked the City for the 10 years of employment he had as the Lake Oswego Planning Director from 1991 to 2000. He reviewed his subsequent work history with other jurisdictions in the area, including Tigard and West Linn. He indicated that he had an abiding interest in Lake Oswego planning, having been a resident for 19 years. He concurred with Mr. Bolland and Ms. Finnigan that the Quality of Life Indicators had been a ground -breaking project. He disagreed with Mayor Hoffman about the relative cost of implementing it. He commented that, while he did not know if it required a major investment every year, he did know that if the City did not compile the statistics every year, then it would not have the baseline and comparative data to formulate an annual report on how well the City was doing in the important elements of the community. City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page 6 of 15 January 9, 2010 He held that what Lake Oswego had to offer fundamentally was its quality of life, its environment, its talented population, its amenities, and an ongoing vision developed in the 1990s, carried forward from an earlier Comprehensive Plan and carried onward through the 1995 updated Comprehensive Plan, the neighborhood planning effort and the Quality of Life indicators. He commented that the Council was facing these challenges again and trying to figure out how to juggle them. He suggested that the Council not waste its time on a visioning process. He commented that his observations in his 33 years of professional planning work was that a visioning process was more often than not just another contribution to the outside professional consultant. He indicated that a community could do a visioning process itself if it took the time to utilize a citizen task force and its existing staff and advisory bodies to review the 1995 Comprehensive Plan and identify what has changed and what has not changed. He said that he looked at the Plan recently, and thought that the Council would find that not much has changed. He described Lake Oswego as a developed community turning back in on itself to redevelop, as maturing communities did. He argued that it was about making things better, and not about creating new visions. He referenced Gordon Price's answer to Councilor Hennagin's question about what Lake Oswego should do. Given that Mr. Price said that Lake Oswego was doing everything the way it should be done, Mr. Coffee reiterated that he did not think that a visioning effort was worth the time and money it would cost the community to do it. He held that the City could accomplish the same thing by doing the Comprehensive Plan update, continuing the neighborhood planning, and re - energizing the quality of life indicators. He referenced the Code revision audit he saw in the Council goals. He suggested to the Council that it had a staff and advisory committees that knew what was going on with the Code and a City Attorney's Office second to none in terms of land use understanding and knowledge. He encouraged the Council to use its existing resources, as opposed to hiring an outside consultant. He noted that to do all this work required prioritizing. He suggested that this time of an economic downturn with little development occurring was the time for the current planning staff and City Attorney's Office to focus on Code revision. He emphasized that the Council could meet the planning challenges with its existing resources and prioritization. He addressed the topic of economic development. He mentioned that in his experience, cities were not charged with that responsibility, and only wasted their resources the more they tried to engage in that effort. He observed that the country was in an economic downturn resulting from corporate greed and failure to regulate, a situation that the City of Lake Oswego had nothing to do with. He argued that it was unrealistic for the community to think that setting up an economic development arm could influence businesses in terms of what jobs existed in Lake Oswego. He recalled the economic development efforts in Corvallis during the recession in the 1980s. He indicated that those efforts sent a mixed message to the staff charged with reviewing development and making decisions daily about whether to apply the City standards that have been in place for many years for good reasons. He said that it began to sound like staff could not say `no' because the Code said `no,' but rather staff had to say `yes' because of the emphasis on economic development. He described it as a short-term goal with no long-term benefits. He argued that Lake Oswego was what it was today because it has had standards in place for years, and because it has said no to economic development ideas in the past and was the better for it. He cited three examples of development proposals to which the City said no to the original idea and insisted that the developments reflect the community character or size appropriate to the site (Hwy 43 Shell station, Hilton Garden Inn, and Westlake commercial shopping center). He said that his concern was that if economic development became the short-term goal, then the long-term standards of the community could be sacrificed. City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page 7 of 15 January 9, 2010 Mr. Coffee indicated to Mayor Hoffman that only the Mayor of West Linn was interested in the Borland area for economic development: the other four Councilors did not agree with that position. Mayor Hoffman commented that he saw value in having outsiders look at the CDC in order to identify provisions that did not seem to them to work. Mr. Coffee agreed that that could be helpful, but he did not think that consultants had to do it. He argued that the local staff could list all the provisions that they have heard in the course of their daily work did not work. Mayor Hoffman mentioned the anticipation that the City would engage in a visioning exercise as part of its upcoming Periodic Review. He described the Comprehensive Plan as requiring the City to look at where it was now, where it was going, where it wanted to go, and how to get there. He commented that they could start with the whole Comprehensive Plan and reaching out to 10,000 people or they could start with other efforts. He observed that at some point, they had to convert the vision into a plan. Mr. Coffee agreed, stating that that was why he thought a visioning exercise for a mature community like Lake Oswego, which was essentially built out and had only established areas available for redevelopment, was unnecessary. He spoke of communities without a lot of capacity for future development doing a check on their road map, which was the Comprehensive Plan. He commented that he did not think that the City needed to engage thousands of people in the process, no matter who it hired. He pointed out that the City's community attitude survey found that the average citizen thought that things were working well. He spoke in support of using a focused committee, similar to the Quality of Life Task Force with representation from all segments of the community, to examine the 1995 Comprehensive Plan chapter by chapter in order to determine whether it was still relevant today and whether it would put the City in good stead in the future. He held that the City could obtain community input more efficiently by spending its money on a statistically valid survey that asked the right questions, as it has done in the past. Mayor Hoffman asked how Mr. Coffee would address the issue of Lake Oswego's demographics, with its aging in place and the lack of outmigration. Mr. Coffee suggested doing an exercise in population projection to analyze the age groups and income levels. He commented that it was a cycle that would happen in the future. • Jerry Wheeler, Lake Oswego Chamber of Commerce CEO He mentioned that he was both a Lake Oswego resident and the CEO of the Lake Oswego Chamber of Commerce. He argued that one reason that Lake Oswego had the quality of life that it currently enjoyed was its vibrant business community and the tax base it provided to allow that quality of life. He argued that in order to maintain that quality of life, the business community needed to constantly improve itself and the tax base. He spoke of retaining local businesses while also bringing in new businesses and new ways of doing things as part of economic development. He described economic development in Lake Oswego as a combination of several factors, such as providing a climate where local businesses could thrive and creating the larger tax base and additional businesses needed to improve the quality of life. He argued that the fact of limited land availability was a reason to have a unified and cohesive economic development plan in order to utilize those limited areas as effectively as possible. He applauded the efforts of the Council and staff in seeing a vision and investing in economic development. He urged the Council to continue investing in economic development as it worked on its planning for 2010 and beyond. He observed that economic development did not happen overnight but required a lot of behind the scenes work from staff and investment from both the private and the public sectors. He stated that he did not believe that it was either the City's job or the private sector's job to do economic development in a vacuum. City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page 8 of 15 January 9, 2010 He argued that the economic development only worked on the basis of strong public/private partnerships: the City could make things happen that the private sector could not, and the private sector had expertise and investment funds that the City did not. He commented that the two of them working together could devise a long-lasting economic development plan for any community. He contended that such a plan was increasingly important in Lake Oswego with its limited land and its lack of a cohesive economic development plan for the community as whole looking out 25 years. He described the hiring of Ms. Blackstone as a wise investment. He expressed his appreciation of her efforts to move forward with planning and to develop relationships locally, regionally, and at the state level. He encouraged the Council to continue its investment in economic development and to partner with the business community in making it happen. He mentioned that the Chamber was looking forward to working with the City on the business outreach regarding the street maintenance fee. He acknowledged the Council's consideration of doubling the fee, and spoke of finding out exactly why the community needed to do it now. • Kim Kress, 17478 Lake Haven Drive She thanked the Council for this forum, which she described as a great way to increase awareness of areas needing help, such as employment for developmentally disabled adults, without spending a lot of money. She encouraged the Council to live within its budget. She commented that she thought that economic development would come if the community was fiscally responsible. She discussed the street maintenance fee. She pointed out that many in the community from all walks of life, such as herself, faced drastically reduced incomes in the current economic situation. She suggested that it was not fiscally responsible at this time to double the street maintenance fee. She said that she has had to reduce her budget substantially and still live within it. She implored the Council to live within its budget like everyone else. She contended that this was not a time when the people could take tax increases on any front for any reason. She mentioned the road repair needed on her street from the damage caused by the construction trucks used in the three years of building a high-end house across the street from her. She indicated that she herself has spent money on gravel several times over the last three years to fill in a big puddle that was still bad. She asked why part of the fees charged to builders could not go to repair the road/infrastructure damage resulting from construction traffic She asked the City to take care of the nuisance problem of the cormorants that have destroyed Chuck Schaeffer Island near Lake Grove Park. • Nanci Cummings, Holly Orchard Neighborhood resident She expressed her appreciation for this forum and her disappointment that more of the Council was not present at this Round Table to hear what the community was thinking and what they wanted from the Council. Mayor Hoffman explained that the absent Councilors had already made plans for this date before he picked it for the Round Table. He reviewed the variety of methods available to citizens to provide input to the City Council. Ms. Cummings asked the Council to take to heart the citizen concerns, ideas, and suggestions, lest this Round Table be a fruitless effort. She stated her belief that the Council members were elected to serve the people by addressing their needs in a deliberate and impartial manner while thoughtfully considering the outcome of their choices. She said that the citizens wanted the Council to consider what the Lake Oswego citizens wanted for the community. She commented that if what the community wanted was different from what the Council wanted, that did not mean that the Council's idea or decision was better than the people's. She implored the Council members to focus on spending the people's hard-earned money as thoughtfully and carefully as they would their own. She said that they did not want their money spent on consultants, economic developers, lobbyists, additional staff, and programs that they City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page 9 of 15 January 9, 2010 neither wanted nor needed in these rough economic times. She stated that they did not want the Council to condemn their properties, except when necessary for the welfare of all, nor did they want the Council putting dubious restrictions on their properties, which impacted property values and saleability, in order to promote an agenda that the people have not endorsed. She stated that the citizens expected the Council to tighten its belt, just as the citizens have had to do. She said that they did not want the Council increasing budgets during tough times or beginning new expensive projects and programs that the community did not need. She commented that she wanted to continue to be -able to afford to live in Lake Oswego, as she has for 26 years, but the way things were going now,,that would not be possible. • Jeanne Keevil, 1442 Ash Street She indicated that she was a 12 -year resident. She addressed the issue of frugality. She observed that several speakers preceding her indicated that, as more and more Lake Oswego residents started living on fixed incomes, this word was becoming more prevalent in Lake Oswego. She mentioned that, when she saw that the road maintenance fee had doubled on her utility bill, she debated about even taking issue with it, as it was only $4. However, she decided to take issue with it because the cost of daily living was increasing. She stated that she saw no shame in the word frugality. She defined it as careful planning in consideration of the decreasing value of money and the continuing increase in expenses. She mentioned her feeling that, as a single person living in a single-family home, she was possibly paying more than her fair share of sewer costs. She mentioned seeing increased staff and new programs at the City, which she felt were appropriate to an affluent community. She commented that Lake Oswego was less affluent now, as some were growing older and now living on fixed incomes. • John Turchi, 518 Ridgeway Road He indicated that he was a lifelong resident. He complimented the City on its handling of the sewer project, much of which was occurring in his backyard. He mentioned the professionalism of the contractors and how quiet the project has been. He commented that he has been photographing the colony of cormorants on the lake this winter. He mentioned that their waste was having a major impact on the lake ecology, as well as their appetite for fish, apparently decimating the fish population because he has not caught a fish in the lake for a couple of years. He said that he agreed with most of Mr. Coffee's statements. He recalled that one of his greatest frustrations as a Councilor had been seeing the neighborhood plans go into a `black hole' and not receive codification needed to give the many good aspects of those plans the force of law, and not just sit as neighborhood aspirations. He indicated that he thought that the additional resources the Council put into the neighborhood planning program were well spent. He encouraged the Council to look at the issue of invasive species taking over the public open spaces. He referenced invasive species removal projects on Cook's Butte, along Iron Mountain Blvd, and elsewhere. He pointed out that the City property on Iron Mountain Blvd, from which it recently removed three houses, has become an eyesore because nothing has been done with the property. He suggested that the City could do something inexpensive to improve the look of the property and to make it more accessible to the public. He spoke of the Council, in its concern about infrastructure, also understanding the people's comments about the impact of raising utility fees. He observed that the Council had a real problem here. He encouraged the Council to continue working on Stafford. He commented that, after eight years of studying the impact of development in Stafford, the impact on Stafford Road, Hwy 43, and City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page 10 of 15 January 9, 2010 McVey has never been addressed. He stated that he disagreed with Mr. Jordan at Metro on this issue. He indicated that he did not oppose Stafford landowners using their property in a reasonable way, but, at the same time, the traffic coming out of a developed Stafford area would exacerbate the already untenable situation on Hwy 43. He stated that the City needed to be active and proactive on this issue. He advocated for continuing to work on downtown redevelopment. He mentioned looking at the library and City Hall staying within the redevelopment district and using tax increment financing, rather than property taxes, to work on them. He commented that he thought having an outsider evaluate the Code was a good idea. He recalled that he tried unsuccessfully for eight years -to have someone look at the Code and streamline it. He mentioned that it has been 10 years since the last 360 evaluation, which was a complete evaluation of City Hall, its operations, and how the City was running. He suggested that doing this again would be a worthwhile function that could help enhance the City operations. He referenced the upcoming election that would significantly impact the School District. He commented that he thought that a reasonably healthy city and a drowning school district were untenable. He spoke of the necessity of equilibrium between the two agencies. He acknowledged that Measure 49 and Measure 50 effectively eliminated the City's ability to help the School District as it has in the past. He advocated for the City finding some way to help the District, which might mean tightening budgets within the City. Councilor Olson apologized to those in the audience who had not yet spoken, but stated that she had a prior family commitment today and had to leave. Mayor Hoffman recessed the meeting for a break. He reconvened the meeting. • Carolyn Krebs, Lake Forest Neighborhood Association Vice Chair She presented the three goals that the City asked the Association to articulate for the neighborhood for 2010. She said that the first priority was implementing their neighborhood plan, which was one of the legacy plans. She mentioned their special concern about two issues in the plan: the dramatic impact that infill would have on the density and character of the neighborhood and managing the impacts of the Lake Grove Village Center Plan implementation on the neighborhood. She said that the neighborhood was concerned about some issues that came out of the first phase of the Boones Ferry Road concept study, and wanted to continue to have a voice and an understanding of what could be changed as a result of the redevelopment of Boones Ferry Road. She referenced LONAC's Goal 6, regarding a possible urban renewal district in Lake Grove as a funding mechanism to implement the plan. She indicated that her following comments were personal. She spoke to including in the discussion what the impact of tax increment financing on the citizens was, as there was the perception that it shifted taxes from businesses to residents. She argued that the City needed to address that concern before creating a new urban renewal district in the city, and to make sure that there was a clear understanding of the impact of tax increment financing on all citizens. She indicated to Mayor Hoffman that their percentage of inside/outside the city boundaries was about 60/40, although it changed constantly. She mentioned the second issue of safe pathways in the neighborhood, and their desire to work in whatever way possible to move their concerns into the policy making process. She stated that the third issue was having an effective and productive dialog with the City regarding policy matters, changes to the Community Development Code, development projects, and the budget. She indicated that they felt that part of their role in local government was to represent the interests of the Neighborhood Association. She mentioned that they worked hard to City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page 11 of 15 January 9, 2010 include neighbors with different viewpoints in the process, as the Association meetings were the first level of involvement of the citizenry. She recalled that, when she was LONAC Chair, she wrote a multi -part series on the Quality of Life Indicators as part of her process for understanding why these were a priority to LONAC. She said that she compared the work that the Task Force did in identifying quantifiable goals that were relatively easy to collect and process with the staff reports generated after the Task Force's final report. She indicated that she found a huge difference between the Task Force's final report and what the City was working on in the Quality of Life project. She questioned why new indicators were introduced and why those indicators recommended by the Task Force were not measured and recorded. She wondered why the City did not have a continuing effort to look at the particular indicators identified by the Task Force. She said that she would like the City to revisit the recommendations of the community Quality of Life Task Force, and not what has been done so far by staff. Mayor Hoffman asked Ms. Krebs to e-mail him her analysis of the Quality of Life Indicators, which he recalled had been a good summary and accurate summary. • Bill Abadie He spoke to the Council placing high priority on dealing with public facilities and land use issues. He encouraged the Council to keep up the discussion and studies in seeking resolution on what to do with the West End Building, the library, City Hall, and the 9-1-1 center. He mentioned the land use issues of sensitive lands and the Stafford Hamlet area. He thanked the Council for this forum and for keeping the public involvement process going. He mentioned his perception that the City could move quite far on certain issues, and then it took a huge public outcry to slow the City down and restart the public involvement process. He encouraged the Council to do a better public involvement process on controversial issues, such as the West End Building and sensitive lands, so that they did not become quite so controversial. He acknowledged that they could not please everybody. He spoke of having meetings like this and community dialog so that the Council could make informed decisions. He mentioned that he was willing to pay an extra $4 a month for street maintenance. • Tegan Horan, 4735 Hastings Place She said that she represented 10 people. She encouraged the Council to move forward on Ms. Gilmer's proposal for an off leash dog area on the Westside of Lake Oswego. She explained that it was not easy for those with limited time to access Luscher Farm, not to mention the cost involved in driving to the other side of the city. She argued that a location on this side of town would also cut down on the misuse of other parks, as well as promote a sense of community on the Westside. She mentioned her surprise at how quickly she was welcomed in her neighborhood (after moving here a year ago) through her interaction with her neighbors walking their dogs in the Westlake Park area. She stated that the 50 plus dog owners on their e-mail list wanted to continue to work with the City on finding another solution, if an actual park location was not going to happen in the near future. She commented that she thought there were many others in the community who would step forward to take ownership of an off leash dog park and volunteer to help to maintain it. Tia Ross, 1851 SW Childs Road She spoke in support of the Oswego Iron Heritage Trail, which would add value to the community and educational opportunities for the children. She mentioned the fundraising they were doing to City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page 12 of 15 January 9, 2010 move the Balusky house to the Marylhurst campus. She indicated that this was a Lake Oswego community effort and not funded by the University. She asked that the Council schedule a work session with the Historic Resources Advisory Board regarding sustainability and historic preservation. She commented that there was much misinformation and misunderstanding about what an historic property was. She advocated for using deconstruction when taking down a structure, as opposed to recycling. She mentioned Deconstruction Services, which would evaluate a project to see if it was reasonable to deconstruct the structure. If it was reasonable, then they provided time frames and other information on using this techre�que. She described this as -an opportunity for Lake Oswego to be the fiat community to be knowledgeable and to embrace this concept. She held that people did not understand that historic preservation was the ultimate sustainability, in that one kept his/her existing house and added on to it. • Jeannie McGuire, HRAB Chair She thanked Ms. Kuo for her eloquent plea earlier that the Council include the Oswego Iron Heritage Trail Project in its goal setting. She mentioned the positive impact it would have on tourism, the business community, and education in the community. She asked for top priority for the Trail. She concurred with Ms. Dunphy's comments regarding the Council liaisons to the Boards and Commissions. She said that they had a similar difficulty with their Council liaison not attending meetings. She commented that she would like their Council liaison to be their champion who listened to their discussions and promoted their plans to the Council. She commented that historic preservation was difficult and not understood by many people. She concurred with Ms. Ross' statements. She suggested that the Board give a half hour presentation to the Council to educate the members on historic preservation and why it was important. She described the dangerous intersection at Foothills and Hwy 43, where she has had to put her hand on the hood of a car to get the driver to stop while she used the crosswalk legitimately. She mentioned that she never heard back from the Transportation Advisory Board after sending it an e- mail detailing the situation at the intersection. She emphasized the importance of talking with ODOT to find a solution, such as a `yield to pedestrians' sign located at the intersection. She confirmed to Mayor Hoffman that she would like to have part of a study session on sustainability and historic preservation. Councilor Moncrieff suggested adding the Planning Commission to the study session. Ms. Ross suggested bringing in FAN resident and volunteer Mark Ritter who worked in deconstruction and could clarify misinformation regarding this option. She indicated to Mayor Hoffman that the Board had the house on Sixth and C in First Addition on its radar screen but she did not know its current status. • Skip Ormsby, Birdshill Neighborhood He addressed the issue of communication. He mentioned his request for the past five years that the City create a visual dictionary for lay people that used pictures to illustrate what City terminology meant, so that people could understand what things like a culvert or a slush box actually were. He discussed his extreme concern regarding the capacities of the Tryon Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant. He asked what the theoretical, design, legal, and practical daily limits were for the plant. He referenced the Metro Environmental Analysis, which proposed couplets to the plant that would necessitate a complete rebuilding of the trunk line pipes approaching the plant from all directions (North Willamette interceptor, Tryon Creek interceptor, McVey interceptor, and the South Willamette interceptor). He asked who would pay for rebuilding those lines. City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page 13 of 15 January 9, 2010 He spoke of his frustration regarding the lack of a signature page from the County on Birdshill's bylaws, which meant that the approved edition of their bylaws has not been set forth. He indicated that, as far as he could tell, the Second Look Committee has not addressed the boundary conditions between Birdshill and the Multnomah County line with respect to Riverdale. He mentioned the interface of plans on a variety of subjects, including sensitive lands, sewer infrastructure, and water infrastructure. He mentioned wondering what was happening with surface water management in the Birdshill Watershed, especially along Hwy 43. He addressed neighborhood planning. He spoke of the importance of having maps with decent resolution and elements stratified at various levels to pi,asent the information visually. He commented that, with respect to Lake Oswego's Urban Growth Management Agreement and Urban Services Boundary, his area had no desire to go in to the City of Portland. He addressed the issue of rail. He indicated that the technical people have not communicated with the neighborhoods about how data was collected regarding noise abatement and noise and vibration relating to the Willamette Shoreline project. He alleged that Metro shut the neighborhood people up in a backroom during their meetings, and did not address their issues or provide adequate explanations about the Metro staff work. He commented that if the Tillamook branch line came through Lake Oswego, that would be a game changer and an issue of broad concern to the community. He held that at grade crossings were not acceptable solutions for addressing the safety, speed, and noise concerns. • Cindy She mentioned her e-mail regarding the dog park. She asked for a quarterly update on the status of the Council's goals and the costs corresponding to the goals. She suggested posting an easy - to -read summary online. She suggested changing the language of the action statement on p. 9 regarding the West End Building from "could include public engagement" to "will include public engagement." She indicated that she did not understand the jargon terms used in the goals, such as `not to collar the line of credit.' She agreed that the reports should avoid using jargon. She questioned why the City did not utilize the West End Building for City office space or the library, instead of relocating to other leased space. She asked how much the consultants would cost. She suggested attaching dates to the staff meetings with citizen organizations and neighborhood associations regarding sensitive lands. She asked how much the financing plan under Economic Development was. She indicated that she liked the goals document, as it was easy to read. Councilor Tierney commented that a short summary of the complicated budget and an organizational chart with FTEs would answer the question about economic development. • Norma Heyser, 890 F Avenue She spoke to the issue of infrastructure and the need to address the aging infrastructure in America's communities. She commented that, while the City has been addressing infrastructure for decades, the neighborhoods have not been thinking about it consciously. She wondered what was happening underneath the city, her neighborhood, and her house. She said that she has lived here for 75 years and could remember when the lake was beautiful and clear. Now, it was becoming putrid before their eyes. She mentioned experiencing a disconnect in the neighborhoods in terms of people learning from each other. She remarked that the best way to learn about aging was for people who were aging to get together to talk about it. She suggested starting a new dialog in the neighborhoods about livability and safety. She commented that infill could be beautiful and exciting, and that it had to happen sometime. She spoke of the lack of money driving a new way of thinking creatively, as they had to do in her youth. She suggested that the City encourage the citizens to create their own programs that City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page 14 of 15 January 9, 2010 utilized volunteers from the pool of creative people living in Lake Oswego neighborhoods, including retired people. 4. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Hoffman adjourned the meeting. Respectfully submitted, Robyn Christie City Recorder APPROVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL: ON A ril 010 Jack D. Hoff", Mayor City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page 15 of 15 January 9, 2010