Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/05/2015 Work SessionCity of Springfield Work Session Meeting MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION MEETING OF THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD MONDAY OCTOBER 5, 2015 The City of Springfield Council met in a work session in the Library Meeting Room, 225 Fifth Street, Springfield, Oregon, on Monday October 5, 2015 at 6:02 p.m., with Council President Woodrow and Mayor Lundberg presiding. ATTENDANCE Present were Mayor Lundberg (6:15pm) and Councilors VanGordon, Wylie, Moore, Woodrow and Pishioneri. Also present were City Manager Gino Grimaldi, Assistant City Manager Jeff Towery, City Attorney Mary Bridget Smith, Assistant City Attorney Lauren King, City Recorder Amy Sowa and members of the staff. Councilor Ralston was absent (excused). 1. Springfield 2030 Comprehensive Plan Urbanization Element: Potential Land Use Planning and Development Policies to Guide Efficient Urban Transition within the Springfield Urban Growth Boundary (UGB). (Metro Plan Amendment File No. LRP 2009-00014) Linda Pauly, Principal Planner, presented the staff report on this item. Ms. Pauly said the last time staff met with Council on this topic, they discussed the purpose of the urban growth boundary (UGB) amendment. They had previous work sessions to discuss the Economic Element of the Plan and the focus of tonight was the Urbanization Element. Ms. Pauly said the City would be in a transition for a number of years in which Springfield's Comprehensive Plan would consist of our Comprehensive Plan policies and the Metro Plan policies. The Residential Element is already adopted and acknowledged. Council has held several work session on the Economic Element and it is nearly ready for adoption. The Economic Element and Urbanization Element will go forward for adoption at the same time as the UGB amendment. Ms. Pauly discussed the connection between the Metro Plan, Comprehensive Plan and the Springfield Development Code. The Development Code is where all of the regulations are written to implement zoning and plan policies (Metro Plan and Comprehensive Plan) for Springfield. The Urbanization Element will replace Chapters II C and II E of the Metro Plan. Those policies will be brought to the Council for their work session on October 19. The Urbanization Element addresses statewide Planning Goal 14, Urbanization. She referred to the goal statement which was about efficient transition from rural to urban. Springfield's Plan policies and zoning code needs to address permitted uses, both interim and future uses, for any land brought into the UGB that is currently rural. Ms. Pauly referred to a map showing existing transition areas within our current UGB. These lands all need to be addressed in the Urbanization policies, in addition to the new proposed areas. Councilor Moore asked if this would be to maintain these areas to make sure no one did anything on them that was contradictory to the City's existing plans. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes October 5, 2015 Page 2 Ms. Pauly said that is correct. The UGB is the twenty-year land supply and we are required to have land in our UGB to meet our twenty-year needs. She noted the five goals that staff is asking Council to consider. She acknowledged City staff, County staff, County counsel, City attorneys, and others that had helped work on these over the last 6 or 7 years. Council discussed the five goals: Urban Goal 1: Promote compact, orderly and efficient urban development by guiding future growth to vacant sites and redevelopment areas within the established areas of the city, and to urbanizable lands where future annexation and development may occur. Councilor VanGordon said he was fine with the first goal. Councilor Moore referred to the word `promote' and how the City does that. Sometimes property owners don't know if they can subdivide their larger lots. She asked if the City had a plan to promote infill development. Ms. Pauly said we don't have that type of plan at this time. It is difficult to determine what can be done with property unless someone comes in to the department. Many people that have lived in a place for a long time don't realize what can be done. Councilor Moore said it would be nice to develop a strategy to promote that efficient infill development and make that well known. Councilor Pishioneri asked about the minimum lot size. Ms. Pauly said the lot size depended on the zoning. The next step during and after getting the UGB amendment approved is to work on the 2030 Comprehensive Plan diagram. That process will include a lot of education and outreach. Councilor Woodrow said if we are going to educate and promote, the wording on the goal would need to change, as it now says to `promote ... by guiding', not educating and promoting. She preferred the original language. Council agreed to leave the wording as originally presented. Urban Goal 2: Promote efficient and economical patterns of mixed land uses and development densities that locate a variety of different life activities, such as employment, housing, shopping and recreation in convenient proximity; and where accessible by multiple modes of transportation — including walking, bicycling, and transit in addition to motor vehicles — within and between neighborhoods and districts. Council agreed with the proposed goal. Urban Goal 3: Direct orderly and sequential urban development within the Springfield UGB through the timely provision of an adequate level of urban services, including but not limited to public water, wastewater, stormwater management systems, environmental services and an urban multi -modal transportation system. Councilor Pishioneri asked about urban multi -modal. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes October 5, 2015 Page 3 Community Development Manager for Transportation Tom Boyatt said the urban multi -modal system is a comprehensive system of walking, biking, auto, truck, vehicle and transit. They are looking to promote a multi -modal system for maximum efficiency. Councilor Pishioneri asked if would include residential. Mr. Boyatt said it was a general statement about the quality of the transportation system we desire for the future and would include things like sidewalks, bike lanes, and all other transportation systems. Mr. Grimaldi said it reflects the system and is basically what we are currently doing. Councilor VanGordon said he didn't like the wording "Direct orderly and sequential urban development". He wants it to be more of a partnership with the community rather than something the City would dictate. Discussion was held regarding this section. Council asked that the wording be changed to something like, "Provide adequate level of urban services, including but not limited to public water, wastewater, stormwater management systems, environmental services and an urban multi -modal transportation system, as urban development occurs within the Springfield UGB." Councilor Moore said it would be nice if we could sequentially go into neighborhoods that don't have sidewalks, bike lanes, etc. and make those improvements. Mayor Lundberg said they need to make sure urban services will be available. Urban Goal 4: As the City grows and as land develops, maintain and reinforce Springfield's identity as a river -oriented community by emphasizing and strengthening physical connections between people and nature in the City's land development patterns and infrastructure design. Council agreed with the proposed goal. Urban Goal 5: As the City grows and as land develops, increase Springfield's resilience to long range trends in natural hazard impacts to enhance public safety, health and robustness of the economy and natural environment, and to create opportunities for innovative urban development and economic diversification. Council felt the wording on this goal was difficult to understand. Mayor Lundberg said she would prefer not to use the word resilience as it had become a buzz word for natural disasters. Mr. Vogeney said part of this goal is to recognize that the world changes around us with things such as earthquakes, flooding, etc. and how we would address those events. How we plan for it today may not be adequate for those types of events. Discussion was held regarding other wording for this goal. Councilor Wylie suggested wording such as "Increase Springfield's ability to continue to deal with long-range trends and natural hazard impacts". City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes October 5, 2015 Page 4 Mayor Lundberg said these types of changes and events have always occurred. She asked to remove the term `long-range'. Ms. Pauly said this goal related to the expansion areas where there are wetlands, etc. Further discussion occurred regarding the wording for this goal. Following the discussion, Mayor Lundberg suggested removing the words `resiliency' and `long range trends', and use the term `ability to respond'. Ms. Pauly said she could change it to read, "Increase Springfield's capability to respond to impacts of natural hazards to enhance public safety, health and robustness of the economy and natural environment, and to create opportunities for innovative urban development and economic diversification". Council suggested splitting it into two sentences. Ms. Pauly said an example of `creating opportunities' was RiverBend which was built to withstand a 100 -year flood. Ms. Pauly said one reason they are going through the Urbanization Element is because they are proposing expansion of the UGB to add land for employment. The Commercial Industrial Buildable Land (CIBL) study determined the amount of sites needed and the large size of some of that land. Policies are needed to support redevelopment for current land in the urban transition area. She reviewed information from the last meeting and noted the plan designation of the proposed sites for expansion. Ms. Pauly referred to the maps distributed to the Council which included the proposed sites for expansion and the proposed land designations. All of the land identified as suitable for employment would be designated as Urban Holding Area Employment. Land in the floodway would be designated Natural Resource. When a city expands their UGB, they have to plan designate and zone the land right away. The Urban Holding Area Employment allows them to hold land for employment only. More planning work needs to happen before lands are shovel ready. The steps have been outlined if the City initiates the planning process or the property owner initiates. The process laid out includes six steps. Before development can occur, there may need to be amendments to the Transportation System Plan (TSP) and Public Facilities and Services Plan (PFSP). A property owner would have to request Council to initiate those amendments to support development. Councilor VanGordon asked how long it would take to break ground if someone had a development plan ready. Ms. Pauly said if the land is already in the UGB, it could take a minimum of several years. If the Council wanted to initiate, it could happen sooner. Mr. Grimaldi said while they want some predictability, they also need to keep as much flexibility as possible to provide opportunity for development. Councilor Wylie asked if greenways could be used for anything. Ms. Pauly responded that it could be used for parks. City of Springfield Council Work Session Minutes October 5, 2015 Page 5 Councilor Moore asked how much of the land was needed for employment and if there was flexibility to make any of it mixed-use. Ms. Pauly said the proposed expansion areas are to address the land need for employment - industrial and commercial. At a future date, Council could decide on some of the uses, but they do need policies in place to protect the land for the employment uses identified in the study, especially to keep the large sites intact. Mayor Lundberg said it was determined the City doesn't need residential. Ms. Pauly said when they did the Economic Element policies they talked about creating more flexible employment districts. Mr. Grimaldi said the Council will go into creating policies from the five goals at their next meeting. Ms. Pauly noted that staff is proposing to keep the City's existing annexation policies. If Council wants to look at those, they can do that at a later meeting. Councilor Moore asked if the City was building infrastructure in these areas. Ms. Pauly said the City will be required to plan infrastructure, but not build it. Mayor Lundberg said developers will have ideas and we would work together. Councilor Moore said she wants citizens to know the City is not putting out funds at this time. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 6:55 p.m. Minutes Recorder — Amy Sowa Christine L. Lundberg Mayor Attest:nn-- l� iCUTA Amy Sowa City Recorder