ESTACADA CITY HALL, COUNCIL CHAMBERS
475 SE MAIN STREET, ESTACADA, OREGON
MONDAY, JULY 25, 2005 - 7:00 PM
CALL TO ORDER BY PRESIDING
OFFICER
The meeting was opened at 7:00 pm. Mayor Austin led in the pledge of
allegiance.
Present: Cr. Marli Stauffacher, Cr. Michele Conditt, Cr. Richard Hartwig, Cr. Becky Arnold, Cr. Kay Nelson, Cr. Ben Erickson, Mayor Bob Austin, CM Randy Ealy, CA Eileen Eakins, DCR Traci Hovda, Planner John Morgan.
CITIZEN AND COMMUNITY GROUP
COMMENTS
Nina Hamilton, 27766 SE Hwy 211, doesn’t feel the goals of the Tourism group target the more proactive events of Estacada, but instead aim at static issues such as beautification. She feels that increasing publicity for all local City events would be a better use of a portion of the funds. She asked the Council to look at this alternative when the tourism grant proposal comes to the Council for approval.
Beth McKinnon, Director of Estacada Public Library, asked the Council to support the new library project. The Library has been saving for over a decade for this project. The Foundations throughout the state have donated substantial amounts of money. Citizens have volunteered and made donations as well. She asked the Council to consider waiving the transportation SDC’s for the new library.
CONSENT AGENDA
§
Approve July 11, 2005
Council minutes
§
Big Jim’s Corner
Market Liquor License
Mayor Austin suggested breaking out the liquor
license application for a separate discussion.
He feels since it is an empty lot that it seems premature to approve it
before the building is there. Cr.
Stauffacher stated it takes weeks to get the actual license and maybe the
applicant is just being proactive in order to have his license by the time he
opens the establishment.
Cr. Nelson moved to approve the minutes. Cr. Hartwig seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
Mayor Austin asked staff why it is being requested so early. Cr. Conditt stated that the license expires if it is not used, she also pointed out that it is simply a recommendation. She does not want to see the Council take time discussing this when they can be discussing more important issues. Cr. Arnold feels this is application is premature also. Cr. Stauffacher pointed out the building permit has been issued.
Cr. Conditt moved to approve the liquor license application for Big Jim’s Corner market. Cr. Stauffacher seconded the motion. Motion passed 5-2 (Arnold, Nelson).
Lt. Chuck Slaney reviewed the May 2005 Clackamas County Sheriff’s report and answered questions from the Council.
PUBLIC HEARINGS
Street Vacation 2005-01 – Jared Colton –
Edgehill Drive – Ordinance Series of 2005, No. 1 – An Ordinance by the Estacada
City Council vacating a portion of Edgehill Drive.
Mayor Austin opened the public hearing. He asked for
abstentions or exparte contact, there was none.
CM Ealy stated that the applicant has asked for a
postponement while he works out utility issues. It was council consensus was to continue the public hearing to
August 8, 2005.
Mayor Austin closed the public hearing.
Comprehensive
Plan Review – CM reviewed a letter
from Planner John Morgan. Mr. Morgan
has completed his scope of work as of tonight’s meeting. He has provided an hourly rate to continue
working on the project. He has also
provided an update from his meetings with DLCD and ODOT.
Mr. Morgan reviewed his written update. He stated the City could support the population forecast based upon building permits and subdivision approvals. He stated that the traffic analysis completed by ODOT states many intersections will fail if built out according to the proposed plan. These are two issues that need to be resolved. He feels that as long as there are unresolved traffic issues the City should not move forward because we will just end up in a long drawn out debate with DLCD. He feels either a peer review of the recent TSP or a full update to the TSP should be done before the City moves forward. Mr. Morgan recommends setting this issue over until September or October in order to provide time to work on these issues.
The Council discussed the options. Mayor Austin feels that setting this over
for a few months and having the peer review completed to see where we end up
would be the best use of time.
Cr. Erickson feels that this is the plan for the
next 20 years for Estacada. He doesn’t
feel taking 5 years to get it done right is taking too long. Cr. Conditt asked how much a full TSP would
cost. CM stated approximately
$50,000. CM suggested that perhaps a
TSP would not be required if the UGB expansion was not part of this package.
Stacy Hopkins, DLCD, feels Mr. Morgan has done an
excellent job representing Estacada in their meetings. Population growth forecast is near agreement
due to recent data provided by Mr. Morgan.
She explained the current issues DLCD has with the transportation
system. She feels a TSP update will
address all growth, including the 154 acres on Cemetery Road in the process of
being annexed.
Cr. Hartwig asked if she had any possible solution
of how we can accommodate our proposed growth plan. She stated that both agencies are exploring sources to help the
City with the burden of a full TSP. She
is looking at what is not in the urbanization element that would help get
approval. She suggested the economic
opportunities analysis could also prove to be an avenue to explore to justify
the urbanization element. Cr. Erickson
asked if the major issue with the urbanization element is because of the change
from light industrial to medium density residential. Ms. Hopkins stated that it is portions of this area to the north
side that are causing concern.
Andy Johnson, ODOT thanked the city for the
opportunity to discuss the issues. He
understands the need to attract jobs through commercial/industrial land. He would like to help make these goals a
reality. ODOT is looking into funding
sources to help with the TSP update. He
understands the sense of urgency to move forward but would like to see the City
hold off until a resolution is found.
Cr. Arnold feels that it is hard to see that a few more industrial
properties providing jobs will cause our intersections to fail all at
once. She feels the traffic through
Estacada on a sunny weekend is much greater than any industrial land could
produce. He explained how large parcels
such as these could develop and affect each other.
Cr. Stauffacher stated that when we had concerts in
the Timberpark it handled 10,000 people and feels that if we develop this land
it could not be this drastic.
Dean Holden, 141 NE Pierce, member of the
Comprehensive Review Committee, stated that the rezone was not just proposed to
provide jobs, but to attract more commercial stores to keep people from
shopping out of town.
CD Stauffacher reflected on the past 30 years and
feels there is a better highway through this town than to it. He stated traffic bottles up through the
Carver curves and down Deep Creek Road.
Terry McAulay, has watched the City grow very slowly
and suffer because we lack jobs. He
feels if we had jobs to keep our families and work force here the problem would
only be during peek hours. He feels it
would be wiser to limit the amount of miles the peek hour traffic goes to 2 or
3 miles instead of 20 or 30. He feels
to improve the quality of life in Estacada the City needs to provide more local
jobs so parents do not have to spend so much of their day commuting.
Mike Park, discussed the infrastructure that he has
brought to his property and stated that none of these other areas have
any. He doesn’t feel the Council should
wait any longer; we need to work together and get this finished. He discussed the percentage of the land that
would not be developed and wondered if it was taken into consideration in the
current TSP. He asked if the Council is
behind the project, specifically the changing of zones. Consensus was that most were behind the
rezone, but feel we must work out the issues with the agencies. Mr. Park discussed a lead he has on a
company that wants to relocate and would provide 60 jobs. He currently does not have enough land to
serve this business. Cr. Conditt stated
that it is extremely frustrating to hear this type of thing.
Cliff Atkinson, Chairman of the Citizen Review
Committee, explained they started this project in February 2002. He was told it would take 18 months and it
has now taken 3+ years. He would like
to see ODOT give us a commitment that we could make this plan work as
presented. If it is not going to work
it should be sent back to the citizens group for another recommendation.
Alan Rademacher, 30735 SE Rivermill Road, has been
waiting for the last meeting to give his input, however, he doesn’t think there
is going to be a final meeting on this issue.
He has run a commercial business from the corner of Rivermill Road and
Hwy 224. He read a statement into the
record regarding his support of the proposed plan.
Nina Hamilton agrees that things should not be rushed,
especially because certain individuals have personal needs. She is concerned with changing commercial to
residential. She doesn’t feel homes
should be placed along a major arterial.
She feels light industrial uses have less of an impact on the community
and that a commercial zone outside the core would be detrimental to the current
core.
It was council consensus was to continue this public
hearing to September 26, 2005. Mayor
Austin closed the public hearing.
COUNCIL BUSINESS
Library Construction Project- Status Report – Dave Piper, Project Manager, stated that the project is on schedule. Mr. Piper reviewed a handout of the proposed layouts and an updated project budget.
Cr. Arnold has to leave (9:15 pm), but feels the City should drop every fee and SDC that they can in order to support the library. She feels the citizens have worked very hard to support this project and it is our responsibility to do the same. She feels changing the roof to shingles will just increase the maintenance. She wants the city to build this library and get it done. She would vote 100% in support of dropping every permit and fee to make this project happen.
Vic Cain, Chair of the Library Advisory Committee,
stated they have made cuts that were hard to do, but are still enthusiastic
about the project. He feels it would be
a shame not to build the community room at this time, but not the end of the
world. He asked the Council to do what
they can to support this project.
Waiver
of Library Transportation SDCs
(David Bugni, Estacada Public Library Foundation) – CM discussed state laws
that relate to waiving SDC’s. He also
polled the City Manager’s Association where he found there are communities that
do this and communities that do not.
CA Eakins discussed the precedent that may be set if
the Council waived these SDC’s. She
suggests making it a policy decision of the Council, and recommends the City
change their ordinance to set a policy for when the City will waive SDC’s. Mayor Austin asked if the Council could
waive the fees tonight and then amend the ordinance to take care of the
housekeeping. CA feels under state law
they have the authority to waive the fees tonight before amending the ordinance
but feels it is more conservative to amend the ordinance first.
Mayor Austin feels this is just moving the current traffic from this location to the new location and that is why he is in support of waiving the SDC’s fully.
Cr. Conditt is confident they are going to build a library if we do not waive the fees. She agrees there is going to be a larger facility with several more services to the public and therefore, will create more traffic. She does not agree with waiving the full amount because there are several other projects in Estacada that could use this money.
Cr. Stauffacher would like to waive everything but knows the street fund needs the money as well. She would be willing to waive a portion as a compromise.
Cr. Conditt suggested waiving a portion of the street SDC’s and the cities portion of the building permit fees.
Cr. Hartwig feels there are projects slated for this year that will not be done if this waiver is given.
CM stated we have a precedence of waving building permit fees in the past such as the school scoreboard.
Cr. Nelson reminded the group that Curran McLeod recommended not waiving the SDC’s.
CM reviewed the reduced SDC charge as recommended by the City Engineer. Mayor Austin feels if the engineer can change his figures to reduce them it shows that they could be waived completely. He feels that the storm drain is an obvious increase to the system and there should be a storm drain SDC charge.
Cr. Conditt does not feel it is fair to claim they will not be able to get this option or that option if these fees are not waived. It is possible to still get some of the outstanding grants and these options may still get funded.
Cr. Erickson knows the monies generated will not impact the project at hand. He would support waiving all of the fees because it would be taking money from the library to complete the other capital improvements in the city. He does not agree with the formula for waiving a portion of the SDC’s.
Cr. Hartwig feels this makes the people outside the City benefit from something the citizens will subsidize. He feels the people outside the City use the failing streets when they go to the library and those streets would benefit from the SDC money.
David Bugni, Estacada Public Library Foundation, reviewed a handout that summarized the financial position of the project. He stated there is not a change in the type of use between the current and the new locations. He reviewed statistics that show circulation trending with the change of building size. This library will not create additional stress on the street system, therefore, he suggests waiving the SDC’s. He does not think this is a decision that should be made tonight, but a decision that should be made carefully. He thinks the Council should change their ordinance to allow for waiving SDC’s. He stated the Project does not need a decision tonight, and could wait approximately 30 days.
Consensus was to have staff draft a revision to the SDC ordinance for the next agenda. Cr. Conditt would also like to look at the credit language while we are revising the ordinance.
Charter
Review Committee Recommended Revised Charter – CB Stauffacher, member of the committee, gave a brief update on the
major changes the committee proposed.
CB stated they put language in the proposal regarding system development
charges, but neither the model charter nor our current charter has language
regarding fees. He feels that the CA
should look at this issue.
It
was consensus of the council to set the public meeting dates as recommended in
the staff report.
DEPARTMENT & COMMITTEE
REPORTS
CITIZEN AND COMMUNITY GROUP
COMMENTS
COUNCIL REPORTS &
COMMENTS
Cr. Conditt stated that some decisions are very hard
to make and the Council comes to the best decision they can.
ADJOURNMENT OF MEETING
The meeting was adjourned at 10:15 pm.