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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01/22/2013 Work SessionCity of Springfield Work Session Meeting MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION MEETING OF THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013 The City of Springfield Council met in a work session in the Jesse Maine Meeting Room, 225 Fifth Street, Springfield. Oregon. on Tuesday, January 22. 2013 at 5:30 p.m., with Mayor Lundberg presiding. ATTENDANCE Present were Mayor Lundberg and Councilors VanGordon, Wylie, Moore, Ralston, Woodrow and Brew. Also present were City Manager Gino Grimaldi, Assistant City Manager Jeff Towery, City Attorney Matt Cox, City Recorder Amy Sowa and members of the staff. 1. Springfield Representative to the Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission (MWMC). Environmental Services Manager and MWMC General Director Ron Bittler presented the staff report on this item. The term of Springfield's current lay representative, Doug Keeler, to the MWMC would expire February 1, 2013. The City Council needed to appoint a representative to serve the next term. which extended through February 1, 2016. Two applications for the position were submitted and were forwarded to the City Council for consideration. The MWMC was composed of seven members. Springfield was represented by one City Councilor, Marilee Woodrow, and one citizen, Doug Keeler, who has represented Springfield on the Commission since 1997. A media advisory was sent out announcing the vacancy and applications were accepted from November 7, 2012; through December 28, 2012. Two applications were submitted by Springfield residents. The two completed applications provide background information and the stated interest of the applicants. The Council determined which questions each would ask and then interviewed the two candidates The council members introduced themselves to the candidates. 1. Why are you interested in serving on the MWMC and describe any previous experience you have serving on similar governing boards? (Mayor Lundberg) 2. Please describe your professional and personal experience as it relates to your desire to serve as a MWMC Commissioner. (Councilor Wylie) 3. Describe your understanding of the MWMC's role and responsibility in managing wastewater services for the metropolitan area and please include your level of familiarity with the governmental budgeting process. (Councilor Woodrow) 4. Have you attended a MWMC meeting? If so; what were your impressions? (Councilor VanGordon) City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes January 22, 2013 Page 2 5. The Commission meets the second Friday of each month at 730AM and sometimes more often when necessary. There are also materials to be reviewed in advance of these meetings that may take a couple of hours to read. Given your work and/or your personal life demands, can you fully participate as a Commission member? (Councilor Brew) 6. ]n terms of water quality, what do you see as the current challenges facing today's wastewater utilities? (Councilor Ralston) 7. What specific initiatives are you interested in working on if you are appointed as a Commissioner? (Councilor Moore) Doug Keeler: Mr. Keeler asked the Council if there was something they wanted of him as the Springfield representative. He wanted to support the Council and their needs. Councilor Wylie asked a question about something she had heard about capturing unused water. Mr. Keeler responded to her question and explained some of the things MWMC was doing in that effort. Mayor Lundberg spoke regarding an effective way to connect a resident to the public system and that the City was looking at that issue. She also spoke regarding rates and the need to keep those in check. Mr. Keeler discussed the connections between residents and the public system and felt it was an important topic to look at closer. There were cities that had found ways to address that successfully. Councilor Brew asked for a Communication Packet memo explaining how the City was paying for bonds since development had slowed down substantially since the bonds were sold. Mr. Keeler said it had been a privilege to serve. Mr. Golik: Mr. Golik asked if they were looking for something in particular in an applicant. Councilor Moore said she was interested to hear if Mr. Golik knew of any new things coming that he had heard of through Oregon State University. Mr. Golik said most of the things they worked on were regarding stormwater. He explained some of the things they were working on through the university. Mayor Lundberg told both candidates that they would be making a decision tonight. Council discussed the qualifications of each applicant. Council consensus was to re- appoint Mr. Keeler to the MWMC. They asked staff to encourage Mr. Golik to look at other boards and committees to apply for; either a citizen advisory committee or some other way he could serve. Mr. Bittler said they had the Master Plan effort coming up and there would be citizen advisory committee (CAC) for those processes. That would be a great place for Mr. Golik to serve. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes January 22, 2013 Page 3 Council said they would support Mr. Golik being appointed to the CAC for the Master Plan. Mayor Lundberg asked that the letter sent to Mr. Golik about the appointment could ask him to apply for the CAC for the Master Plan. Councilor Woodrow said the MRWC was having an award ceremony for recognition tomorrow. Springfield 2030 Refinement Plan: Economic Element Policies to Address Commercial and Industrial Land Needs (Metro Plan Amendment File No. LRP 2009 - 00014). Planning Supervisor Linda Pauly presented the staff report on this item. At the November 26, 2012 work session, the Council requested additional consideration, additions and revisions to some items in the Springfield Refinement Plan Economic Element. Staffs suggested edits to address these items had been incorporated into the document in Attachment 2 of the agenda packet and were highlighted in yellow. The draft SRP Economic Element policies addressed the City's economic opportunities, land needs and strategies for the SRP 2030 plan horizon. Adoption of the SRP Economic Element would establish a clear economic development policy direction that identified the City's strengths and opportunities, and its position in the broader Southern Willamette Valley region. The adopted policies would provide support for job creation in Springfield by: 1) identifying industrial /employment land needs; 2) designating and zoning a 20 -year land supply to provide opportunities for commercial and industrial development and use; and 3) confirming the City's commitment to growth of the local, regional and State economy through excellent community development aligned with Springfield's interests, values and assets. The draft Economic Element policies were developed through an extensive multi -year public process; with input from City Council and Planning Commission work sessions, public hearings; the Commercial and Industrial Lands Stakeholder and Technical Advisory Committees, an on -line community development survey; two visioning workshops, a series of public open houses to review options and concepts for potential Land Use Efficiency Measures and potential expansion of the Urban Growth Boundary, and additional analysis by staff of potential commercial and industrial sites inside and outside the Urban Growth Boundary. Economic development goals and strategies from the draft 2006 Springfield Economic Development Plan, the Metro Plan and the Regional Prosperity Economic Development Plan (adopted by the Joint Elected Officials in 2010) were considered and incorporated into the draft Economic Element. Ms. Pauly said the Plan would help identify what would be the most effective strategies to maintain and build on the momentum that had been started in Springfield with the adoption of the Glenwood Refinement Plan, with continued job growth in the Gateway industrial employment center, redevelopment planning for the Mohawk Center, and the revitalization of downtown. They would look at how updates to land use plans and zoning did a betterjob supporting commerce and redevelopment alone our Main Street corridor in Springfield. The Plan would also look at how existing commercial and industrial areas could be improved and /or expanded to provide more employment and shopping opportunities, and how we could get more value from our existing infrastructure. As the City continued to look at expansion of the urban growth boundary (UGB), they would need to look at the role of large sites in Springfield's economic future and how the City could grow to add such sites in the most economical way. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes January 22, 2013 Page 4 Ms. Pauly said they appreciated the Council input from the last meeting and noted that the revisions made based on those Council comments were highlighted in yellow in the agenda packet. During toniaht's session, staff would like Council to let them know if their concerns were addressed and the proposed implementation strategies made sense. Springfield had a lot of potential and there was a lot to be done. Staff was prepared to come back on February I 1 if needed to continue the discussion. This was an iterative process that would be seen again as they brought it toward adoption. Ms. Pauly said the Springfield 2030 Plan was a twenty -year plan which charted a course beyond what we saw today and looked out twenty years to see how we could best match our projected need for land with our potential to grow and improve what was already here. The twenty year time horizon for the Plan and the other statutory requirements for comprehensive planning were two things that set this Plan apart from other economic development plans. By adopting this Plan, Council was establishing guiding direction for future action. While this plan provided an outline, it was not a strategic plan and didn't prioritize the items. It was more of a menu of choices, organized by goals. This could be used in the future by prioritizing items in the Strategic Plan or Goal Setting process, or to respond to opportunities as they arose. She noted that the Metro Plan was a General Plan and the 2030 Plan was a refinement plan for Springfield. The 2030 Plan lived under the umbrella of the Metro Plan and must be coordinated with our transportation and facilities plans. It also had to be comprehensive and address all of the applicable State wide planning goals. Future decisions about Plan amendments, zoning and. annexing land for development needed to address consistency with the 2030 Plan. Ms Pauly said there needed to be enough specificity in the 2030 Plan to demonstrate and ensure we balanced all of our land needs as the community grew and opportunities for change arose. The goal was to have a good balance of land forjobs and housing, schools, parks and recreation, open space and public facilities. Given the highly constrained supply of land suitable for growth, this task was very difficult. The City also needed sufficient specificity in the Plan to plan for and protect public and private investment in the community, while establishing a fair and logical playing field for change and transition over time. The policy and implementation strategy statement had purposefully been written to provide maximum flexibility that left specific details and outcomes for future actions to be determined through future public process. This was a long -term action plan to work towards the Council's goals. The document before Council was a draft including input from a number of groups throughout the public process, including this Council and past Council's. Councilor Moore said she appreciated the changes from the last meeting. She referred to Attachment 2 -21 of the agenda packet, where it discussed redevelopment. That section mentioned downtown and Glenwood, but Mohawk and Thurston also had needs for redevelopment. She would like the Plan to be inclusive of all areas. If there were other areas in the Plan that only listed Glenwood and Downtown, she would like those to also be inclusive of all areas. Councilor Woodrow said she liked Councilor Moore's point of being inclusive. Councilor VanGordon referred to Attachment 2 -17, Policy E42 regarding workforce readiness. He liked the implementation strategies and thought more specificity could be added to include Lane Community College (LCC) or the Springfield School District and science and math skills. Councilor Moore said she would get the information about the test from Lane Workforce Partnership regarding workforce readiness. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes January 22; 2013 Page 5 Development and Public Works Director Len Goodwin said they were exploring the possibility of the City being a sponsor for that testing. Staff was getting information. Mayor Lundberg referred to Attachment 2 -18 regarding industry clusters. Research and development would be a category of industry clusters. She would like to encourage the City to continue discussions with the University of Oregon (UO). Council said staff was on the right track. Councilor Ralston said he looked through the full packet and saw all the updates Council had asked to have included. He was ready to move forward with Option I and didn't feel they needed the extra work session time on February 11. The rest of the Council agreed. Mayor Lundberg said it would be appropriate to hear from the public. Changes may need to be made after getting public input. Ms. Pauly said during the February 25 work session; they would begin discussions about the expansion areas. At that time. she would like input from the Council about a process to get information out to the public. /UaL�l�l.�►�i� The meeting was adjourned at 6:23 p.m Minutes Recorder —Amy Sowa Christine L. Lundberg Mayor Attest: ud Amy Sow City Recorder