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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/03/2014 Work SessionCity of Springfield Work Session Meeting MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION MEETING OF THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD MONDAY NOVEMBER 3, 2014 The City of Springfield Council met in a work session in the Jesse Maine Meeting Room, 225 Fifth Street, Springfield, Oregon, on Monday November 3, 2014 at 5:57 p.m., with Mayor Lundberg presiding. ATTENDANCE Present were Mayor Lundberg and Councilors VanGordon, Wylie, Moore, and Woodrow. Also present were City Manager Gino Grimaldi, Assistant City Manager Jeff Towery, City Attorney Mary Bridget Smith, City Recorder Amy Sowa and members of the staff. Councilor Ralston was absent (excused). 1. Draft Main Street Corridor Vision Plan: A "Roadmap" to Support Achievement of the Community's Preferred Future Land Use and Transportation Outcomes. Linda Pauly, Principal Planner, presented the staff report on this item. Council is asked to review and provide input on the Draft Vision Plan to prepare the draft for public review and adoption early next year. Ms. Pauly introduced project consultant Tom Litster from Otak who gave a presentation at the work session. The Draft Main Street Corridor Vision Plan identifies a new broad, achievable vision: the transition of Main Street to a "complete community street" consistent with the Five Goals for Our Main Street Projects: • Encourage economic revitalization and land use redevelopment. • Provide transportation choices to residents, businesses and commuters to encourage individual and community well-being and public safety. • Improve transportation safety and access for walkers, cyclists, transit riders and drivers along and through the corridor. • Improve aesthetics on Main Street, making it an attractive place to live, work and shop. • Create Main Street identities. The Plan identifies specific vision statements, goals, activity nodes, redevelopment opportunity sites and potential implementation strategies for three distinct "segments" along 7 miles of Main Street between Downtown and Thurston, based on what staff has heard from the community so far, and in response to existing and expected future conditions in the corridor. Beginning in the summer of 2013, hundreds of caring citizens, business owners, city leaders, and property owners have participated in a visioning process to identify a preferred future for Springfield's Main Street Corridor. The Draft Vision Plan is the product of this process. Next steps include stakeholder meetings and open houses on November 4ffi and January 21 ", and public hearings before the Planning Commission and the Council on January 15`h and February 17`h. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes November 3, 2014 Page 2 The emerging vision for Main Street is one important piece in Springfield's overall community development vision. With an adopted Vision Plan serving as a Big Picture roadmap of where the City is going, the City and its partners can more effectively align and leverage partnerships, projects and resources to support the kinds of positive changes in the corridor the community wishes to see over both the short and longer terms. The potential projects and programs suggested in the Plan do not represent any decisions by the City to fund or participate in projects, programs and redevelopment projects, but the plan can be used to facilitate continued public conversation about the future of Main Street. Ms. Pauly noted the anticipated growth in Springfield over the next twenty years and the type of businesses and development needed to accommodate that growth. She distributed a copy of the original Main Street plan from the 1980's which was quite small and included a small group of participants in its creation. The citizens are asking for a place to connect with neighbors and hubs in the community. The Vision Plan has some great ideas that can be implemented. Mr. Litster said over 500 people shared their ideas about the vision for Main Street. He reviewed the overall guidance received from the outreach. A lot of people would like Main Street to be a place they could meet, and not just drive through. There are a number of challenges with the existing land use patterns, including infill development and pedestrian and bike mobility. The new vision for Main Street is that Main Street is the `heart' of the community. There needs to be a better balance of transportation and land use. There is no `one size fits all' for a 7 -mile corridor. Making Main Street better will make neighborhoods better. Mr. Litster spoke regarding the couplet area which includes Main Street and South A Street in downtown. He noted the vision for both streets in that area. The mid -Springfield corridor was from 23`d Street to Bob Straub Parkway. That area should remain an affordable place to have a business, but could be better organized. The Thurston Neighborhood Area between Bob Straub Parkway and 69t'' Street is a good neighborhood, but they need enough retail to support the residents. Mr. Litster showed a map of the transportation framework which included 6 nodes. The vision is for better neighborhood connections between schools and parks, and includes transit, bikes, and vehicles. The land use framework includes a mixed-use approach. Councilor Moore asked what Council could do in terms of incentives to help with redevelopment. She referred to an opportunity she had recently to go to an automotive service business in the Bob Straub area and was pleased with the service and how easy it was to get in and out. Ms. Pauly said Attachment 3 of the agenda packet included actions Council could take. Mr. Litster said it is important to keep the energy and attention focused on Main Street now that they have a vision. The City needs to find some meaningful things they can do in the next three to five year. Those kinds of successes give the public a lot of confidence in the City that things can change. More specifically, outreach and business recruitment to this corridor will be a big benefit. Springfield has good business recruitment and when there is time, the City should use the same energy on Main Street. Partnerships with LTD will be a help if they proceed with a large transit project. Staff helping smaller property owners through the approval process, and providing information to them that is helpful will be a big benefit. It is important to find ways to reward those that work towards fitting the vision. Partnerships with other agencies to help financially could be helpful. The City could also change some zoning in the area. They need to make their intentions evident. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes November 3, 2014 Page 3 Mayor Lundberg said she likes the concept of districts (i.e. downtown district, etc.). The City is divided by ward and most of those boundaries go north to south. All wards cross Main Street with the exception of Ward 1. There may be some natural boundaries near to the ward boundaries that could be used. Dividing it this way could allow councilors to focus on areas that incorporate their ward. She likes the Paramount District and thinks other names can be created for the other areas. There is a lot of potential and that is something the Council could do fairly easily. They need to take into consideration that Main Street is a goods and services corridor and they need to make sure they move efficiently. On the other hand, they have the option to reduce speeds and she doesn't want to lose that. Slowing traffic down would help to get people to businesses, but they do need to work with the State since it's a State highway. She doesn't want to lose sight of the east to west bike corridor and getting it off of Main Street, especially in higher speed areas. They need to know the demographics of the neighborhoods at some point in terms of kinds of connectivity. There are other businesses and residents that are not directly on Main Street, but have an influence usage of Main Street. Business Improvement Districts (BID) focus on graffiti and garbage if people would like to do that if it didn't take too much staff work. When the time comes, they may want to expand downtown so it has the blighted designation up to 23rd Street in order to be able to apply Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds. She also likes form -based codes. Mr. Litster said form -based codes are not so much about land use, but more about design, landscaping, parking, and colors. It is a good way to capture a vision statement and has been applied in situations to address old highway or commercial corridors. Generally, form -based codes are broader than just one street covering a larger area because it is a completely new administration. They might want to apply it to downtown, the corridor and some of the neighborhoods to make it worth administering. Mayor Lundberg said she is looking at how to get rid of the hodgepodge of zoning along Main Street. Mr. Litster said the uses will remain until they decide to change or move. They can start with the form -based code. Doing so is a good way to get neighborhoods involved. The Paramount district is one of the most promising. Anything they can do in terms of incentives and programs from the downtown district up to 23rd Street is a huge benefit. He encouraged them to look at the rest of the corridor east of 23rd Street differently. They also recommend doing a neighborhood walkability assessment to engage neighborhoods and attach their neighborhood to Main Street. Councilor Wylie said she was involved in the transit station downtown. At that time, the concern was the speed of the traffic along South A so they used some traffic calmers. That set a precedent of using techniques in heavy traffic and can be used in areas where they are planning for pedestrian travel. Mr. Litster said with ODOT jurisdiction of Main Street, there is a long process to get speeds changed. In some ways, what the sign says is the least effective way of slowing down traffic. What makes more of an impact are the land uses, character of the buildings, amount of activities and design changes to the street. Councilor VanGordon said he likes the Paramount District. He has also been warming up to the idea of reducing speed along Main Street. One area he is struggling with is getting a sense of the mid - Springfield area. It might help if it is split up into two sections. He is interested in a program for people that invest in creative jobs here to automatically qualify for a visa. Mr. Litster said there are a lot of creative things the City can do and the more they can offer, the more it shows the community that the City is committed to making changes. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes November 3, 2014 Page 4 Councilor VanGordon said he is looking at things they can do to get the most impact at the lowest cost. He agrees the corridor is too narrow and thinks they could have a bigger discussion about expanding areas, such as near 21St Street. Mr. Litster said he would recommend they have that discussion in their next steps. Councilor Woodrow said she is getting the sense that having something to see or go to is the most effective way of slowing traffic down. The Thurston area is a big piece of Main Street and although there is a lot, there is also a lot missing. Creating a focus will help that area, even if they go with the form -based code. Walkability and connectivity in that area is important for a sense of unity. She feels they should look at least t/z mile in on either side of Main Street to get that sense of place. Mr. Litster said the activity nodes are a good place to start. The more those can be connected to neighborhoods, the better. Councilor Moore said she appreciated his comment about the mid-section being affordable for businesses. They need to look for marketing strategies for that corridor. She likes the idea of slowing people down and feels public art comes into play in doing that. Downtown has murals that slows people down. They need to put the vision to use. Mayor Lundberg said this is a good report and good information. This is a visioning plan for the future. They identified some things, but their plates are very full right now. She would encourage Councilor Woodrow and the person that fills the Ward 6 position to look at Main Street more closely and how it can be better identified. 2. Council Operating Policies and Procedures Review Amy Sowa, City Recorder, and Mary Bridget Smith, City Attorney, presented the staff report on this item. How should the Council's Operating Procedures reflect their intent to appoint a diverse range of persons to City Boards, Commissions and Committees while acknowledging incumbent committee members who are being appointed for their second term or have served the City by participating in multiple boards, committees and commissions? On January 21, 2014, Council amended the Council Operating Policies and Procedures, Section IX, subsections 3.10 and 3.11 regarding appointment to Council boards, commissions, committees and task forces. This amendment was to encourage new membership on the many City boards, commissions and committees, opening up the opportunity to a broader range of citizens. Since adoption of that section in the Council Operating Policies, there have been two processes to fill vacancies on a Board in which the incumbents were also elected officials of other agencies. There was confusion about applying the new policy to those recruitments so Council asked to review Section IX in order to provide clarification. Mayor Lundberg referred to Section IX 1.3) which was the existing language. Ms. Smith said she looked at that section when drafting the options. This section gets at what the Council is talking about and she wanted to look at all of the policy. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes November 3, 2014 Page 5 Mayor Lundberg said that section already seems to accomplish their goal. Ms. Smith said there is language in the overall policies that gets to what they are trying to accomplish. The additional sections 3.10) and 3.11) were added specifically to address appointing people to boards, commissions, and committees. The options presented to Council included editing those two newer sections, adding new language, or leaving the language as written. She reviewed those options. Councilor Moore said she feels the language in 3.10) and 3.11) is negative. After reading through the options, she likes the first paragraph of Option 4. Last time they had a vacancy in the Historic Commission, the Council did not appoint the person that reapplied. The language reflects what the Council is doing. Councilor Woodrow said she agrees that they don't need the language about not giving preference to incumbents. The Council chooses the best person for the position. She feels the phrase "try to avoid" is too negative. They want to be positive and enhance all the commissions and committees with as many diverse people as possible. Discussion was held regarding some possible ways to word it differently. Ms. Smith said if they left 3.10) as it is, there is more of a positive connotation. The other option is to add the language in the first paragraph in Option 4. Councilor VanGordon said he thinks they should take out the language in 3.10) and 3.11), and replace it with the first paragraph under Option 1. The first paragraph from Option 4 encompasses everything. In order for Council to consider appointing an elected official on another board to a City board, commission or committee, there will need to be a very compelling reason. Even with the language in Option 4, they are setting themselves up to have this conversation again. The phrase `take into account' is very loosely interpreted. They need to have a conversation about what that term means. To him, it means people currently serving on anther board that apply to be re-appointed to a City committee would be grandfathered in and could be appointed. Going forward, they would look to broaden the base of people appointed. Mayor Lundberg suggested putting Section IX 1.3) in the agenda packet when they have candidates for appointment as a reminder of their goal. Councilor Woodrow said Section 1.3 and the first paragraph under Option 4 says it all. The first part encouraged any member of the community to step up and participate, and the second part explains that Council will take into consideration when deliberating whether or not an applicant serves on another board. Ms. Smith noted that the two paragraphs under Option 4 were choices within that option. Mayor Lundberg said the Council is the electing board for the City's boards, commissions and committees. They are trying to make sure they have a balance of people that represent a broad cross section of the community. In making those decisions, they have to consider each board as it stands. She wants wording to give the Council flexibility to look at each board appointment separately. She feels Option 4 does that. ADJOURNMENT City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes November 3, 2014 Page 6 The meeting was adjourned at 6:55 p.m. Minutes Recorder — Amy Sowa Christine L. Lundberg Mayor Attest: EDL Amy Sow City Recorder