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HomeMy WebLinkAboutApproved Minutes - 2010-01-12 SpecialCITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES January 12, 2010 Mayor Jack Hoffman called the special City Council meeting to order at 6:36 p.m. on January 12, 2010, in the City Council Chambers, 380 A Avenue. Present: Mayor Hoffman, Councilors Jordan, Hennagin, Moncrieff, Olson, Tierney, and Johnson. Staff Present: Alex McIntyre, City Manager; David Powell, City Attorney; Robyn Christie, City Recorder; Jane Blackstone, Economic Development Director 3. STUDY SESSION 3.1 Lake Oswego Retail Market Analysis Ms. Blackstone introduced Mary Bosch from Marketek, who conducted a study of Lake Oswego's retail market on behalf of a partnership between the City and the business community. She noted that the public and private sectors shared the cost of this study. Ms. Bosch gave a PowerPoint presentation. She mentioned that the full report was available on the City's website. She indicated that she wove into her presentation information from a parallel study of the Lake Grove commercial district funded by Clackamas County. She presented the outline of the report (p.1, Slide 2) and reviewed the study goals (p.1, Slide 3). She observed that the City's hiring of an Economic Development Director was timely in light of the study's last goal of developing a game plan for implementation. She showed a graphic illustrating the study process (p.1, Slide 4). She explained that when she helped assess how a community competed for new business, she looked through the lens of an investor, a business prospector, and a developer. She noted the competitive factors that Lake Oswego needed to address in attracting retailers and shoppers (p.2, Slide 1). She presented a balance sheet of Lake Oswego's strengths and weaknesses community -wide (p.2, Slide 2), which she pointed out was weighed heavily on the side of strengths. She indicated that the first thing that investors would look at in considering a new retail market was income and market growth. She observed that, while Lake Oswego stood out in terms of incomes, it did not do so in terms of population growth. Therefore, it should play to its strength of high incomes and not emphasize its slow population growth. She mentioned that the analysis also showed strong market opportunities. She indicated that the business community was appreciative of the City's work down through the years in making Lake Oswego an outstanding community, and it realized the need for everyone — businesses and the City — to step up to the plate in providing the best service possible to those who have already invested in the community (p.2, Slide 3). She discussed the two main commercial districts, Downtown and Lake Grove, which she noted had about the same amount of ground floor square footage. She reviewed the strengths and weaknesses of the Downtown (p.2, Slide 4). She described the vacancies in the Downtown as reasonable, which looked good to visitors but also meant that there was little prime retail -ready commercial space to show prospects. City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page 1 of 13 January 12, 2010 She mentioned that in order to enhance its competitive position, the community needed to continue to work on concentrating retail into nodes and clusters, and to continue to create pedestrian - oriented environments. She agreed with the business owners that the lake was the community's biggest asset. She reviewed the strengths and weaknesses of Lake Grove (p.3, Slide 1), which she pointed out were different from the Downtown's. She mentioned the visitor/employee market in the Lake Grove area, which reinforced the need for the 28 dining establishments in Lake Grove and convenience goods. She indicated that the Lake Grove business community was aware of its differences and eager to play to its strengths as a neighborhood community-based center, while reaching out to the employment and visitor market (p.3, Slide 2). She reviewed the market area for the Downtown (p.3, Slide 3), and the characteristics of the market area population (p.3, Slide 4). She mentioned the two sources of retail potential demand, existing demand and future demand (p.4, Slide 1). She commented that the amount of retail leakage in the Downtown market area was not a surprise (p.4, Slide 2), as the research done by Bob Moore from The Consumer Marketplace this summer reinforced these findings. She put the need for 2.2 million feet of retail space to capture that leakage into perspective by noting that Washington Square was 1.5 million square feet of retail space. She presented a chart illustrating the amount of leakage per category, noting that the largest gap was in Shoppers Goods (p. 4, Slide 3). She indicated that 10% of that leakage was a reasonable and conservative recommendation for how much of that leakage the Downtown could capture (p.4, Slide 4). She cited the 135,000 square feet in retail already on the books and the additional 315,000 square feet for mixed use development in concluding that the capture rate was in the ballpark (p.5, Slide 1). She reviewed the market area for Lake Grove (p.5, Slide 2), noting that it pulled more from the other side of the freeway and from the community as a whole than the Downtown did. She showed a graphic illustrating the overlap of the two market areas (p.5, Slide 3) with about 65,000 square feet of overlapping demand and 24,000 households. She reviewed the characteristics of the market area population (p.5, Slide 4). She indicated that the market leakage of $67.6 million or 273,000 square feet (p.6, Slide 1) primarily in the categories of general merchandise and grocery demand. She noted the other market factors of employees, visitors, and the Portland region (p.6, Slide 2). She discussed the appropriate business mix for Lake Oswego. She showed a chart displaying information about four key shopping areas, including the retail anchors (p.6, Slide 3). She showed a color -coded map showing the locations of existing uses in the Downtown, such as retail, restaurant, etc. (p.6, Slide 4). She noted the auto -oriented uses of gas stations in the prime retail corridor. She presented a similar map for Lake Grove, (p. 7, Slide 1), noting the strong office and restaurant bases. She noted retail trends (p.7, Slide 2). She mentioned that, in these economic times, the retail businesses that were closing tended to be the homogenous chains and franchises, with the locally based businesses holding their own in this down market. She indicated that she saw in Lake Oswego a positive indicator of market interest in the expansions and new businesses coming in, as well as an increase in entrepreneurship (p.7, Slide 3). She discussed how Lake Oswego fared with respect to national downtown retail trends and themes (p.7, Slide 4). She indicated that Lake Oswego fared well in terms of its development of clusters, as well as becoming the community gathering place. She presented a target list of business and merchandising opportunities and target prospects in the Lake Oswego market (p 8, Slides 1, 2). She indicated that the Business Action Development Plan's retail strategy utilized the tried and true basics of building a successful retail district (p.8, Slide 3). City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page 2 of 13 January 12, 2010 She discussed how the individual elements of the Business Action Development Plan applied to the Downtown and Lake Grove, beginning with marketing position statements (p.8, Slide 4; p. 9, Slide 1). She indicated that Lake Grove's key assets were its diversity of market served and its potential to serve a broad marketplace, while the Downtown's assets were its uniqueness as a lakefront arts and entertainment district with some specialty shopping. She discussed a draft approach to clustering businesses in the downtown (p.9, Slides 2, 3). She mentioned that, while it was more challenging to make this happen when the City did not own all the properties, it could be accomplished. She contended that pulling businesses together to create more synergy and more of a critical mass would attract more shoppers through cross -marketing and cross -customer traffic (p.9, Slide 3). She emphasized the importance of business clustering. She discussed the goals of a business marketing strategy (p.9, Slide 4). She spoke of the four legs of the table in the Business Action Plan (p. 10, Slide 1). She presented possible specific actions for the first leg of retail and product readiness (p. 10, Slides 2-3). She mentioned that this strategy was for the short-term in trying to fill the vacant properties and to encourage expansion. She discussed possible specific actions for the second leg of business retention and expansion (p.10, Slide 4). In reviewing possible specific actions for the third leg of business attraction, she noted that this leg was about packaging and promoting the community's vision to a targeted audience (p.11, Slide 1). She mentioned possible specific actions for the fourth leg of customer attraction (p.11, Slide 2). She commented that a major attraction element to reinforce in Lake Oswego was the arts assets, including possibly an off-season arts event. She discussed the roles and responsibilities of the public and private sectors in implementing a Business Development Action Plan (p.11, Slide 3). She stated that the most successful business development efforts centered around retail and small businesses were public/private partnerships. She indicated that managing the process was key to insuring implementation of the results. She stated her firm belief that the theme of implementation was "The readiness is all." (p.11, Slide 4). She indicated that she found Lake Oswego very ready to implement this work with participants eager to begin to implement a Business Development Action Plan. Ms. Blackstone presented an update on the activities of the City's economic development program. She indicated that these initiatives were works in progress, many of which responded to specific recommendations from Ms. Bosch's report. She discussed the economic development strategy (p.12, Slide 2) that staff developed in response to a specific Council request. She indicated that they have begun in earnest the planning work on how to support, attract, and retain local businesses, which would use the wealth of data in Ms. Bosch's report to make specific recommendations. She mentioned that this morning's workshop with the business community began the brainstorming vision for Lake Oswego's economic future. The second workshop would focus on success metrics and specific work program and priorities. She discussed their ever-increasing partnerships (p.12, Slide 3) with regional and local partners. She mentioned that their educational partners of PSU and Marylhurst offered a wealth of resources to the City as it considered ongoing economic development planning and implementation. She discussed the steps the City was taking to improve its way of doing business with businesses, especially with respect to communication and streamlining processes (p.12, Slide 4). She mentioned the Business Solutions Team and the work that Leslie Hamilton from Planning has already done as the Planning Business Liaison. She discussed additional initiatives (p.13, Slide 1). She mentioned a program discussed in the community of the City investing a portion of its resources in local banks with a strong history of community support activities. She clarified that this program did not take resources away from Wells Fargo, which had a strong and productive banking relationship with the City. Rather, it added to the pool of banks with which the City did business. She spoke of a top 50 outreach to Lake Oswego's largest employers, which was a business retention initiative to begin looking at the City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page 3 of 13 January 12, 2010 non -retail commercial marketplace to identify their challenges and how the City could support those businesses in a stronger way. She mentioned a marketing strategy recommendation from the Marketek analysis that marketing the community assets was key to recruiting businesses and attracting customers. A small staff committee was working on an RFP for marketing in order to leverage the upcoming community events, especially the Centennial Celebration events, to deliver a message about Lake Oswego's business strengths. She reported that the Clackamas County Regional Partners has approached Lake Oswego to serve as a pilot community for its new Economic Gardening program. She mentioned that they had a number of small manufacturing businesses that could benefit from the investment in market research and competitive intelligence that the City could get from this program. She reported that Clackamas County has approached a number of cities about forming a strategic investment zone as a way of attracting large capital investments ($100,000 plus). She reviewed the ongoing City programs and projects that contributed to economic development (p.13, Slide 2). She commented that arts support and small things like holiday lights were greatly appreciated by the business community. COUNCIL QUESTIONS Ms. Bosch indicated to Councilor Johnson that the greatest potential for market area growth for the Downtown outside its boundaries was into the city. She mentioned that Downtown businesses reported that West Linn was part of the Downtown market area. She spoke of a long-term goal for the Downtown to pull more people from Portland as Lake Oswego got on the map as another alternate destination, and for Lake Grove to pull more from further up 217 and down 1-5. Councilor Hennagin asked if other geographical areas that Ms. Bosch has studied previously had similar problems to those she saw in Lake Oswego, such as vacancy and lack of retail space, and how they resolved them. Ms. Bosch said that she has worked in downtown San Jose, in small towns throughout Oregon, and in Portland neighborhoods. She indicated that there was no formula. She explained that retail space was always tied to location. One must always consider the vacancy rate within the context of those property locations. She said that most of the places where she has worked had much higher vacancies. She indicated that the strategies tended to be a variety of things, such as creating a larger space out of several smaller spaces to attract a larger retailer or getting developers to invest in order to bring confidence and credibility to a business district with new quality development, similar to what happened in the Downtown. Ms. Blackstone indicated to Councilor Hennagin that the business ombudsman would be a public employee, in this case, Leslie Hamilton of Planning, to serve as a contact person for general business assistance. She said that they would publicize the information on both the current and the new website and through handouts at business license time. She confirmed that she was not asking for a new FTE. Councilor Moncrieff commented that she was pleased to hear that the City was assigning a specific planner to help the business community navigate the often -confusing City Code. Ms. Blackstone confirmed that a big part of the upcoming changes to the Code were to streamline it and to make it more user-friendly. She explained that they were working with Planning to identify the sticking points for correction, things such as inconsistencies, definitions, or formerly prohibited materials that the City now allowed. Ms. Blackstone confirmed to Councilor Moncrieff that eventually the City would have information about the permitting process on the website for prospective businesses. She mentioned that Ms. Hamilton has done a good job of `spilling up' the materials in a short time, and posting more forms. City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page 4 of 13 January 12, 2010 Councilor Moncrieff commented that, based on what one heard on the news, it seemed counterintuitive that Lake Oswego could be under -retailed. Ms. Bosch explained that creating a database indicating that the city was under -retailed would not in itself attract businesses, but having information and the facts available was an essential tool for Ms. Blackstone and the marketing team to use in locating the right prospects and selling them on Lake Oswego. Ms. Bosch acknowledged that it was counter -intuitive in today's economy to say that Lake Oswego was under -retailed but she believed that that was a true statement. She cited the evidence they had that community residents were leaving the community on a regular basis to do most of their shopping. She indicated that, in terms of competition, most retailers knew that the more retail there was the more shoppers that came into the district because consumers wanted choice and competition. She indicated that Lake Oswego was far away from being oversupplied in many categories. She explained that it was a matter of thoughtful business development in finding the unique businesses and merchandise that would complement the existing businesses and bring more local and regional shoppers and diners into the community. Mayor Hoffman raised the question of consumer behavior: why did consumers leave the community to shop and why did they stay to do some shopping? Ms. Bosch referenced the findings of Bob Moore' consumer research this past summer in which he conducted a shopper survey. She mentioned the two main perceptions that Lake Oswego lacked a sufficient supply of retail stores and that the prices were higher. Ms. Blackstone commented that there seemed to be a lack of knowledge about what retail Lake Oswego did have. Councilor Jordan recalled that, during her campaign four years ago, she asked the Chamber if it had asked the people in Lake Oswego what they thought was missing from the community and why they did not shop here. She commented that this information would be very valuable, as well as the idea of filling in the missing pieces with businesses that would complement the existing retail mix and create the synergy that they were after. She referenced a building in the West Lake Grove Design District, built in the last five years with ground floor retail, office above, and townhouses behind. However, due to its isolation, professional dental offices occupied the ground floor. She spoke of making sure that the development done in the district did not put people in a similar position where it would take a long time to create a retail node. She spoke of the importance of working with developers in designing properties to work. She acknowledged the work that the City did with Marylhurst University but wondered how much the City worked with Lewis & Clark. She spoke of capturing the population attending the various schools and bringing them into Lake Oswego and Foothills. Councilor Tierney observed that there were some things that the City had more direct control over than others. He asked whether the Downtown development overlay was consistent with the vision Ms. Bosch mentioned in her presentation in terms of driving the City where it needed to go. Ms. Bosch indicated that she did not know the answer but she thought that was a good follow up question. Ms. Blackstone agreed that it warranted looking into. She mentioned the Downtown visioning exercise conducted this morning with discussions about appropriate density, mix of uses, and the implications of a Foothills development for the Downtown. She commented that a closer, more comprehensive look at Foothills planning was appropriate in light of everything that was going on. She indicated that the City's Downtown plan was moving ahead but needed fine-tuning with respect to marketing it. She speculated that a focus group of developers would yield specific ideas about densities and mixes of uses. Councilor Tierney wondered whether mandating ground floor retail, while well-intentioned, was self-defeating. He referenced the development Councilor Jordan mentioned and GB Arrington's comments that not every front door on the ground floor had to be retail. Ms. Bosch indicated that City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page 5 of 13 January 12, 2010 this question of how to focus retail has faced every community in which she has worked. She spoke of the importance of determining the appropriate location for retail, observing that it did not work everywhere and sometimes conflicted with other goals, such as creating pedestrian -oriented business districts. She explained that creating isolated developments, without thinking about how to fill in the space in between appropriately, yielded satellite developments that did not always work. Councilor Tierney noted that the City controlled its Community Development Department and permits. He asked if Ms. Bosch's research supported the initiatives mentioned by Ms. Blackstone as being part of the solution. Ms. Bosch indicated that her information on deficiencies and needs was mainly anecdotal, based on a dozen conversations. She encouraged a more thorough customer survey to track those sorts of details. Councilor Tierney referenced the Matrix Report that laid out some issues but not with sufficient specificity. He indicated that he did not know how the report was working in the department. Councilor Jordan recalled asking a new business owner last week how the process went for them. The owner said that everything went fine and that they had no problems. Councilor Tierney asked what the City's intentions were relative to working with the Chamber. Ms. Blackstone mentioned an ongoing conversation in the business community about the appropriate organization to take the business community into a partnership with the City and into a more organized economic development future. She spoke of the opinion research project conducted by PSU MBA students regarding business groups' functions in the community, which was still being processed. She indicated that the biggest gap in the public/private partnership was the lack of a marketing program. Councilor Johnson argued that an important element in the long-term vitality of the Lake Oswego business districts was to encourage age diversity in the City's demographics. She spoke of encouraging young professionals to shop and set up their own businesses in Lake Oswego. She suggested asking the question of what the City could be doing to market itself to young professionals and families to get them to come here. Ms. Blackstone observed that this was a complex discussion. She indicated that focusing on entertainment and dining was the place to start in terms of retail because that got people to the community, spending money, and seeing what else was here. Councilor Hennagin mentioned his observation that, in the suburbs, having a group of related professionals (e.g., a group of six to eight lawyers) generated more business than a single lawyer would generate. He wondered whether becoming a destination for one kind of retail, such as handcrafted jewelry, would benefit the business districts. Ms. Blackstone commented that they could build on the existing boutiques and attract more diverse businesses that enhanced the shopping experience. She explained that restaurants were key anchors in any retail business district. She indicated that there was room for arts, entrepreneurs, and arts -oriented retail, but they did need to start from where they were. She pointed out that the City had some good guidance in identifying targets based on talking to the customers and the existing businesses about what the community wanted. Mayor Hoffman commented that the West Lake Grove Design District was at least 15 years old; it might be worth someone seeing whether it was working or not, and if not, why not. He suggested that someone re-evaluate the Downtown design district to see whether it was appropriate for this new economy. Mr. McIntyre stated that he wanted to go on record with respect to Wells Fargo Bank, which was the City's transactional banking partner for its payroll and accounts payable and receivable. He mentioned a misunderstanding in the media regarding the City possibly moving $1 million of its funds from Wells Fargo to community banks. He indicated that the media spin has shifted the story City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page 6 of 13 January 12, 2010 from moving the funds as an economic tool to reinvest in the local community to a story critical of Wells Fargo and its practices because it was not a community partner. He emphasized that Wells Fargo was very much a community partner and has sponsored a number of community events. He stated that, while the City did not have any money invested in Wells Fargo, Wells Fargo had significant funds invested in Lake Oswego, carrying the line of credit for the West End Building and serving as LORA's banker. He reiterated his desire to clear up any misunderstanding regarding Wells Fargo and its practices. 3.2 Public Art Master Plan — Arts Council Don Caldwell, Arts Council Chair, indicated that Cheryl Brock, Executive Director, and members Malcolm Mathes and Ralph Tahran would make the presentation of the six-month update, fundraising efforts, and the Public Art Master Plan. He noted that members Pat Vessely and Chuck O'Leary were in the audience, as were Public Art Master Plan Committee members Judie Hammerstad and Margaret Snow. Ms. Brock gave a PowerPoint presentation. She observed that hearing the word `art' mentioned so many times in the previous presentation was a good thing for the Arts Council. She commented that their strongest program was the Gallery Without Walls. She thanked Susan Bitzer, the Program Manager, in particular for her work with contractors on the installations. She presented photos of the installations of several pieces (pp.2-5). She commented that the Arts Council's intent was to obtain the best artwork, which resulted in pieces both large and small. She described the hard work of the selection committee in researching and evaluating the proposals they had from over 30 artists. She observed that the siting process was just as important as selecting the art. She mentioned that the committee looked at safety issues, a diversity of materials, and a diversity of concepts in order to achieve a well-rounded and interesting exhibit every year. She showed a photo from last year's kickoff event (p.6), while discussing their plans to double the attendance at next year's kickoff event (August 25) through a more diverse celebration and event. She mentioned that the kickoff committee was working on a special Centennial project of a sculpture developed by the community. She indicated to Mayor Hoffman that they were working with Jane Blackstone and other City departments. She spoke of the educational and public tours they conducted of the Gallery Without Walls (pp.7- 8). She mentioned that, as a result of receiving more and more calls for tours from a wide diversity of groups around the region, they were developing a comprehensive marketing plan for the tours. She indicated that they developed the educational tours in partnership with the School District and Arts Literacy. She discussed the work of the Public Art Committee. She mentioned the all volunteer effort to install the Fairy Tree (p.9) and its dedication this spring. She noted the catalog of all the City - owned artwork (185 pieces or 130 art works). She invited the Council to a reception for past Chronicle pieces on January 28 here at City Hall to celebrate the artwork purchased through the Chronicle of the Life and Times of Lake Oswego. She thanked Ms. Snow and her committee for their work in moving pieces around at various public buildings. She mentioned an opportunity that the Arts Council had to locate a piece (Irish Ascendant) donated to the City by the Shorenstein Management Company at the West End Building in the Kruse Way entryway. Councilor Jordan noted that it was the piece currently located in the atrium of the Kruse Woods One building. Ms. Brock indicated to Mayor Hoffman that they did not yet know the value of the piece. She thanked the City Councilors who would be helping the Arts Council with the interviews for the new Public Arts Committee members. City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page 7 of 13 January 12, 2010 She described the work of the Chronicle committee in choosing 40 artists to invite to develop a piece of artwork that chronicled the life and times of Lake Oswego (p.10). She mentioned that they were working more closely with the artists this year to provide them with information about what was going on in the community that they could chronicle in order to obtain a more diverse and interesting picture of Lake Oswego. She noted that the Arts Council partnered with the Lakewood Center for the Arts and the Festival of the Arts for this three-day invitational show. She mentioned their preliminary conversations with local businesses about taking the Chronicle into the Downtown to share it more with the community and visitors this summer. She distributed the handout that they used in approaching the business community. Mr. Mathes continued the PowerPoint presentation, focusing on resource development. He mentioned a Matthew Arnold quote that he found in his research that the job of the arts was not only to entertain and provide pleasure, but also to educate and enlighten the public. He indicated that the job of the arts was very evident at the economic development meeting this morning, in that most participants agreed that public art played a vital role in Lake Oswego. He observed that the challenge was how to pay for these ongoing arts programs, as the Arts Council did not expect the City to cover all the expenses. Therefore, the Arts Council continued to develop revenue sources to help with the funding. He mentioned the Resource Development Committee, comprised of the people in charge of the various programs, whose job was to coordinate fundraising efforts and to avoid three different people approaching the same business. He commented that one result of this committee has been an evaluation of the costs and benefits of each program. He reported that all they found sponsors for all 14 sculptures this year plus additional annual sponsorships (p.11). He mentioned another fundraising effort, Art Parties, which increased awareness of the Arts Council and the artists exhibiting their work, as well as increasing the artist's income through sales and the Arts Council's through commissions. He indicated that they had 22 artists represented in the first two shows, and they were working on spring and summer Art Parties. He reported that their membership committee was developing a Centennial campaign to foster major giving for individuals, in addition to its efforts to increase general membership at the lower donation levels. He commented that, with the feedback they received on the importance of what they did, they felt that there was an opportunity to put out a higher giving category and help the Arts Council's bottom line. He discussed their most recent program to sell the rotating sculptures in 2010. He mentioned that three pieces have already sold, for which the Arts Council received a commission. He commented that this sales program was vital to the success of the Gallery Without Walls because artists knew that they might be able to sell their work, rather than having it simply sit in one location for two years. He recalled the early days when the Gallery had to beg people to display their artwork in comparison to today where people called the Arts Council asking that their work be displayed. He reported that their fundraising efforts have allowed the Arts Council to stay within budget and to contribute a larger percentage of the City Council's overall operating expenses. He commented that it cost money to move and install the sculpture pieces, which the City has provided. However, if they wanted to expand their programs and fund their projects, the Arts Council felt that it was important for it to meet a larger percentage of the expenses. He commented that what he has most enjoyed about working with people has been the wonderful partnerships the Arts Council has developed. He mentioned the library, the Whimsical Gardner, the Lakewood Center, the Festival of the Arts, the Rotary, and the City. Ms. Brock continued the PowerPoint presentation in discussing the Arts Council's organizational development over the last six months. She mentioned bringing in four new Board members with diverse skills and the ever-increasing number of volunteers, such as those who worked with the kids in the photo (p.12). She reported that their 65 regular volunteers put in around 2,000 hours City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page 8 of 13 January 12, 2010 over the last six months. She observed that it took a lot of people to work in public art and a lot of strong partnerships. She attributed their success to those partnerships. Mayor Hoffman mentioned that, at the morning economic development meeting, he heard loud and clear that Lake Grove was also interested in art, as the discussion around the Lake Grove and Kruse Way tables named `art' as the Lake Oswego cache. He commented that the Gallery Without Walls was probably the premier compact sculpture gallery in the Pacific Northwest. He suggested putting a sculpture gallery down the Lake Grove Boones Ferry corridor, similar to EI Paseo. He doubted that anyone contacted DKS to ask them to include in their analysis sculpture -friendly locations. He emphasized that they needed to reach out of their silos in doing place making and looking at retail and increased support for the arts. He held that the community had the components it needed to create a Great Place. He encouraged the Economic Development Department to take advantage of Lake Oswego's tradition of art. He asked if anyone has contacted LOCAL 14 about hosting their event in Lake Oswego this year. He explained that the Lake Oswego Arts & Crafts League was started by 14 women 15 years ago. He spoke of the August 25 kickoff event attracting foot traffic, which drove retail and a sense of place. Mr. Caldwell observed that they first needed to build a reputation of having a great event before they could really drive foot traffic, but they were working on that. He recalled looking at whether to spread the Gallery Without Walls throughout the city, and concluding that it belonged in the Downtown. He mentioned Chuck O'Leary's suggestion that the Boones Ferry Corridor have a string of pearls type concept. Mr. Tahran observed that over the years the Arts Council has become the clearinghouse for all arts -related requests in the city. He mentioned that a variety of planning studies and documents were naming the Arts Council and assigning it responsibilities. He explained that the Arts Council decided to do a master plan in 2009 as a way of organizing all these requests in one document in order to visualize, prioritize, focus and promote their program. He indicated that the Master Plan expressed the Arts Council's mission, identified what it did as an organization, and defined how the Council processed all the ideas and information brought to the Council informally or formally through the various committee. He held that the Master Plan guided the City's efforts in its growth into a significant art community, which other communities now called for advice. He attributed the growth to their partnerships with various community agencies and their strong volunteers. He commented that, through the Master Plan, the Arts Council provided an efficient way to identify and capitalize on upcoming opportunities, such as how to incorporate art into the Foothills district. He recalled asking Bob Galante five years ago why public art had not been incorporated into one of the redevelopment projects, and hearing the answer that the Arts Council could not react fast enough to be part of the process. Consequently, the Arts Council found a way to make its decisions as quickly as needed. He presented a map showing the seven major focus areas in the master plan (p.13). He acknowledged that the first focus area of the Gallery Without Walls was the Arts Council's signature project. He mentioned that they have been involved in the initial planning conversations around the second focus area of the Foothills redevelopment area with the goal of incorporating art at the conceptual level, as opposed to winding up with plop art after the fact. He cited Lakefront Park as an example of their preferred methodology. He commented that the third focus area of the gateways to the city were significant and important in identifying communities, both the city gateways and the neighborhood gateways. He mentioned the two top priorities for gateways as the Rosemont Roundabout and the Lake Grove district. He indicated that he was the Arts Council member liaison to the Lake Grove Business Association. He said that he thought it was appropriate for the Council to emphasize the plaza areas of the City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page 9 of 13 January 12, 2010 string of pearls concept, although they were willing to help however they could with this fourth focus area. He referenced Mayor Hoffman's comments about pedestrian traffic along Kruse Way in discussing the fifth focus area of Meadows Road. He reported that, in talking with a major property owner on Meadows Road about developing a linear parkway/art walk, they discovered that the property owner had been thinking along the same lines and was strongly interested in working with the Arts Council on the idea. He indicated that the sixth focus area of the neighborhood public art program came out of a request from the Lakewood Neighborhood for a piece of public art in their neighborhood. The neighborhood did fundraising for what became a matching program, went through the Public Art Committee, and really liked a particular piece that was three times their budget. However, the Committee talked with the artist and he did a piece especially for the neighborhood that was within their budget. He noted that the Arts Council also maintained the City art collection, which included cataloging the pieces as well as taking care of them physically. He spoke of increasing the visibility of the City's indoor permanent art collection through ongoing publicity and an arts education program. He indicated that the Arts Council intended to revisit the Master Plan annually at its goals retreat to use it in prioritizing their goals and to make sure that it remained relevant to the times. COUNCIL QUESTIONS Ms. Brock indicated to Councilor Moncrieff that a map of the walking tour was online at their website, artscouncillo.org. Councilor Moncrieff mentioned talking to many people who came to last year's kickoff event for the Gallery Without Walls who ended up dining and shopping locally. She concurred that there was a tight relationship between the arts and economic development. Mayor Hoffman observed that the purpose of public art was to get people out of the car, thus generating foot traffic. He asked if anyone has considered creating pedestrian -friendly walking connections using sculptures as the attractors, rather than retail anchors. He cited the placement of the Travis Pond sculpture in an alleyway as an example of something that did not invite a pedestrian in to any place. Mr. Caldwell indicated that when art was part of the conceptualizing stage of urban design projects, it became part of the design parameters with the intention of drawing people in. However, with the Gallery Without Walls, the Arts Council had to work within the existing right-of-ways but it did give serious consideration as to what piece of artwork was appropriate for a particular site. He described Foothills and the Lake Grove business areas as great opportunities to design the attention getters and rest stops during the conceptual stage. Mayor Hoffman asked if it were possible to increase the number of sculptures in the Downtown by 50% and position them in such a way that they would increase the sense of place that drew people out of their cars to walk from sculpture to sculpture in front of stores. He noted that it would have to be done in combination with the streetscape and LORA projects. Mr. Caldwell said that if the Council set that out as a goal and a primary design parameter, he would say yes, it was possible. Mayor Hoffman noted the importance of this idea increasing retail traffic. While people going from sculpture to sculpture and not shopping at the stores might be a Gallery Without Walls, that did not accomplish the economic development goals of generating revenues on a square foot basis. Mr. Tahran indicated that they could expand the number of sculptures, but probably not double the number, as one did not want a sculpture every five feet. He mentioned their discussions of an iPhone applet displaying the walking tour map and information about each sculpture. Councilor Hennagin wondered whether the City could ask developers to incorporate City -owned sculptures in their private developments. Mayor Hoffman noted that both Drew Prell and Barry Cain incorporated art in their developments. Mr. Caldw II indicated that the Arts Council was City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page 10 of 13 January 12, 2010 developing a method for dealing with these kinds of requests. He commented that it would not work without the developer being seriously interested in incorporating art. Ms. Brock confirmed to Councilor Tierney that the City's contribution to the Arts Council came through the Parks & Rec Department budget, although she was not sure how it all worked. Councilor Tierney encouraged the Arts Council to resolve the confusion and to inform the City Council what the City was funding, what the funding sources were, and whether the funding level was sufficient to meet the Arts Council's needs. He referenced the benefits of public art mentioned this evening, and held that the cost of.some of those benefits should be borne by the City. Councilor Jordan mentioned that it has been her great pleasure to work with Ms. Brock and the Arts Council this past year as the City Council liaison. She stated that the budget situation did not work. She concurred that arts were part of the city and the quality of life that people have come to expect. She agreed that the public agencies should support public art, and not just individual public members, which meant that the City needed to step up to do its part. She referenced the work that the Arts Council has done in the three years that she has been on the City Council in terms of cataloging the City art collection. She argued that the City Council needed to give the Arts Council more certainty regarding their budget line item, whether it was under Parks & Rec or Economic Development. She spoke of the arts as part of the City's annual spending, especially with the change to an annual budget, which made it more difficult for the Arts Council to do its work. Mayor Hoffman commented that the only other group that has come to the Council requesting more art has been the Economic Development people. He noted the duality of public art as recreation and as an economic development tool. He wondered whether they have been undervaluing public art in terms of the economic benefits it brought to the community. He suggested looking at the economic contribution of public art and the potential economic contribution that it could make to the whole city through indirect benefits, such as people coming to the August 25 kickoff event and spending retail dollars in Lake Oswego. Councilor Hennagin commended the Public Art Committee for cataloging the collection and for rotating the pieces out of the closet and on to the walls. Councilor Olson seconded Councilor Hennagin's remarks about enjoying the visibility of the collection. She commented that what has struck her for the last couple of years was how the Arts Council has matured. 3.3 Miscellaneous • Goal Setting retreat Mayor Hoffman mentioned that, in response to Councilor Olson's concerns about the space for the goal setting retreat, he met with Mr. McIntyre and Mr. Hertzberg to discuss the agenda and the set-up. He reported that they were comfortable with the situation for the Council and the 30 to 40 people who might attend. He reviewed the ambitious retreat agenda. The Council discussed Mr. Hertzberg's request to start earlier on Friday. The Council agreed to start at 10 a.m. on Friday. • TOD Tours Mayor Hoffman discussed taking a group of about 18 people up to Vancouver, B.C. in May or June. He suggested a mix of four Councilors, some City staff, and some downtown and neighborhood people. He spoke of having a core group of people who would have a common frame of reference in discussing Foothills and transit -oriented development (TOD). He mentioned a cost of $14,000, ($700 per person). He noted that Vancouver also had good examples of attainable/affordable housing. Councilor Olson asked whether there were local examples of TOD housing and well done TOD, such as in Gresham. She commented that it might be more beneficial to wait on both a Vancouver and a local tour until after the November election. City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page 11 of 13 January 12, 2010 Councilor Jordan mentioned that those going to the National League of Cities conference in Washington, D.C., could look at the Arlington TOD mentioned last night. Councilor Tierney commented that the Vancouver development had much that Lake Oswego could replicate, while he was not certain how relevant the Arlington TOD would be to Lake Oswego's situation. Mayor Hoffman mentioned that Patrick Condon and Gordon Price would be their guides in Vancouver. Councilor Moncrieff spoke in support of looking at more local examples in the Portland metro area. She recalled Gordon Price's comment that northeast Portland and north Portland were good examples of TODs. She mentioned hearing about cottage developments in Gresham. Mayor Hoffman asked if people could commit to a Saturday tour hitting development examples in the Portland Metro region. He suggested a group of 16 to 18, including some Planning Commissioners, Development Review Commissioners, neighborhood people, and downtown people. He indicated that he would work more on this project. Councilor Jordan mentioned that the comments made by a prominent developer at this morning's meeting regarding Orenco were entirely different from what the Council heard last night from the planning side. Mayor Hoffman mentioned a streetcar line tour taken by the Portland Transit Steering Committee last Friday with a briefing by the Metro director on timelines, current status of the engineers' work, alignments, and public outreach. He said that he talked about how Foothills related to the streetcar. He suggested proposing a similar tour for the upcoming Railvolution. • Stafford Councilor Olson asked if the City would have official testimony about Stafford at any of the Metro public hearings. Mayor Hoffman indicated that he had not planned on attending the hearings, but he could go. He commented that his testimony would not make any difference, as he has already been in contact with Metro and the CORE Four regarding Lake Oswego's position. Councilor Moncrieff held that it was important to testify, commenting that public testimony swayed her, even if she has already heard it. Councilor Jordan argued that reiterating in a public forum the general consensus of the population that the Council served sent the message that the Council was hearing the people and restating that consensus for the record. She pointed out that, whatever happened, there would be intergovernmental agreements developed. She thought that the positions of the local communities would be reflected in the way those agreements developed. Mayor Hoffman indicated that he would attend one of the hearings on January 20 or 21. Councilor Jordan mentioned the opportunities on the Metro website to provide feedback. She recalled that Metro hit Lake Oswego hard on the last MTIP funding because Metro received so much negative feedback in e-mails. • Urban/Rural Reserves Update Mayor Hoffman updated the Council on the status of urban/rural reserves. He noted that there were a number of maps going around showing different amounts of urban reserves, from David Bragdon's 30,000 acres to Clark & Liberty's 15,000 to 20,000 acres to the Washington County Farm Bureau's 17,000 acres. He said that all these maps showed Stafford as entirely urban reserve or partly urban reserve with the rest up for discussion. He stated that he has not seen any map showing Stafford as rural reserve. He mentioned that Clackamas County has been pushing an undesignated status for a number of months but he thought the chances of that going through were slim to none. He indicated that Metro looked at the types of agricultural land within the whole Portland Metro region, and not just in Stafford or Washington County. He noted that Stafford did not have as high a quality of agricultural land as Hillsboro and other areas. He explained that, to the Metro Councilors' way of thinking, it was more defensible to bring in conflicted land (Stafford) than foundation soils land (Washington City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page 12 of 13 January 12, 2010 County) in terms of balancing urban and rural reserves. He concluded that it was very likely that Stafford would come in as urban reserve. He explained that if the CORE Four could not agree on what lands to designate urban and rural reserve, then the default process was the old process of identifying 20 years worth of land to bring inside the UGB. State statute dictated bringing in the poorest soils land first and the best soils land last. He said that the poorest, most conflicted soils land was three miles to the south of Lake Oswego. Therefore, if the urban/rural reserves process did not work, then Stafford stood a 99% chance of coming inside the UGB in 2010 or 2015 and eventually being urbanized. He pointed out that, if Stafford came in as an urban reserve, there were a lot of conditions to satisfy before the area became urban, such as concept planning, jurisdictional assignment, annexation, zoning, and infrastructure provision. It could be 15 to 20 years before the area closest to Lake Oswego going down to the river was developed, although the Borland area would urbanize sooner because it was next to the freeway and ready to be annexed. He indicated that he was putting most of his efforts into the conditions that would be part of the intergovernmental agreements that Councilor Jordan mentioned. He spoke of a possible condition that nothing could be done until there was a concept plan for the entire basin in place, and accepted by all four jurisdictions. Other possibilities were Stafford not coming in until all three jurisdictions and the main cities agreed on who would provide governance, or until there was light rail along 1-205. He said that he would bring up those sorts of arguments at MPAC tomorrow. He mentioned that staff was also talking with their peers from the other jurisdictions. He said that, while there were still negotiations going on between Charlotte Lehan and Tom Brian, he was relatively confident that they would reach a deal because Washington County had such great farmland that it would get no land for urbanization in the near future under the old process. Councilor Moncrieff mentioned her appreciation of the Mayor's willingness to attend one of the public hearings to represent their constituents because there were so few opportunities left to do so. Mayor Hoffman stated that he has been very clear with everyone to whom he has spoken that Lake Oswego had no time, energy, or interest in Stafford. Neither did they have the staff capacity to deal with planning it. He commented that the cost of developing Stafford was staggering. He gave the example of North Bethany, which cost between $60,000 to $120,000 per house to build the infrastructure alone. He said that the message that Lake Oswego was giving to people was that the City wanted to put its infrastructure in Foothills, and not in Stafford. 4. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Hoffman adjourned the meeting at 9:14 p.m. Respectfully submitted, 4�JWZ2 Robyn Christie City Recorder APPROVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL: ON A ril 6 Kristin J nson, Council President City Council Special Meeting Minutes Page 13 of 13 January 12, 2010