HomeMy WebLinkAbout07/16/2012 Work Session"`City of Springfield
W orlc Session Meeting
MINUTES OF "THE WORK SESSION MEETING OF
THE SPRINGFIELD CI "FY COUNCIL I3ELD
MONDAY, JULY 7 6, 2012
The City of Springfield Council met in a work session in the Library Meeting Rooan, 225 Fifth Street,
Springfield, Oregon, on Monday, _luly 16, 2012 at 6:00 p.m., with Mayor Lundberg presiding.
ATTENDANCE
Present were Mayor Lundberg and Councilors Pishioneri, Van Gordon_. Wylie, Moore, Ralston and
Woodrow. Also present were City Manager Gino Grim aldi, Assistant City Manager Jeff Towery, City
Attorney Mary Bridget Smith, City Recorder Arny Sowa and members o£the staff.
Planning Commission Chair Jolnvty Kirschen mann called the meeting o£tlie Planning Commission to
order_ "those present from the Planning Commission were Commission Chair Kirsch enm ami and
Commissioners Stacy Salladay, Tini Vohs, Steve Moe, Bob Brow and Greg James.
]. Annual Joint Work Session with the Planning Commission_
Planning Manager Greg Mott presented the staff report on this item. The Planning Comn-xission,
acting as the Committee for Citizen Involvement �CCI), recently reviewed —cl endorsed the citizen
participation opportunities for the newly established Development Advisory Committee
During the course fthis review the Planning Commission identified several aspects of this prctject
they felt would be timely and benef-icial topics of discussion for the annual meeting with the City
Council_ Thaw topics were:
1 _ What is the charge or mission of the DAC? Are there subject sideboards, or can the DAC
pursue any provisions found in the Development Code?
2_ How does the Planning Commission tit with the mission of the DAC? The Council normally
relies on the Planning Commission for early wa ing and advice on Code de Frcieneies and
amendment. It appears as if the DAC will independently identify Code provisions For review,
and then through that review, recommend amendments.
3. 1 -low do the ",NC support and advance the mission of the DAC? "the
Coda represents the broader interests of the entire commwzity, not just sped alization targeting
developers.
4. Is the JW"T list of projects an element of the DAC mission 2 page 6)? Those
ideas were generated by members of the development community; shouldn't other voices be
heard before a project list is developed?
Mr_ Mott noted that Council would be meeting on July 23 to appoint the members to the DAC. He
referred to the staff recorrxrnendation in the Council Briefing Memorandum kocated in the agenda
paeket. Staff recommended that the DAC= 1 ) review the process and requirements of land use and
development in the City of Springfield, 2) provide the Planning Coxrxniis lion and City Council with
recommendations on improving this process and outcome consistent with the Council Goal of
promoting and enhancing our hometown feel whiles focusing on livability and environmental quality -
and 3) provide another forum and venue for citizen participation in this process. Thai could be
changed by the Council if they chose, but it was usually helpful for the committee to understand
clearly what they were charged with doing_
City of Springfield
Council Work Session Minutes
July 16, 2012
Page 2
Mr. Mott said staff also recommended that the DAC identify those sections of Chapters 3 and 5 of the
Development Code as these two chapters were the most relevant to people interested in developing in
the City of Springfield or homeowners who had an interest in what they could do with their property,
and for citizens in general who expected that the City's codes and standards were for the citizen's
benefit. The other chapters were necessary, but included more legal language and could be tedious for
a committee.
Mr. Mott said the final recommendation from staff was guidance on tonight's discussion regarding the
process to involve the Planning Commission, City Council and DAC from brainstorming to a proposal
that would come to the City Council for a decision on whether or not to make changes to the Code. A
possible process would be to appoint the DAC, the DAC and staff brainstorm some topics to pursue,
forward that list of topics to the Planning Commission and City Council; the City Council refine the
list to something of interest to the Council, the DAC and staff would refine that list so Council would
know the cost and time needed for the projects. The Planning Commission and DAC would then meet,
perfect it more, and bring it to the City Council for a decision on which projects to move forward with.
The DAC would work on the identified projects and then go through the normal process. The City
Council would be involved twice before they gave direction on specific projects.
Mayor Lundberg said it would be appropriate to hear directly from the Planning Commission about
their questions and concerns regarding their role.
Commissioner James said he appreciated the time to meet with the Council on this topic. From a broad
standpoint, he wanted to gain an understanding about the direction of the DAC and how the Planning
Commission plugged into the process. Mr. Mott brought more definition to that tonight and that was
helpful. Initially there was a joint work team that picked a process. That group brought forward a list
of things that were of interest from a development standpoint. A letter dated October 2011 from that
group stated that they would like to stay engaged in that process. That was an ad hoc group and was
identified to look at specific issues related to development. The group was successful and brought
forward some changes and efficiencies to the Council. With the Goal 1 requirement of broadbase
interest, the Planning Commission had questions about this group continuing as a committee rather
than an ad hoc committee and bringing things directly to the Council. It was the Planning
Commission's understanding that the DAC was going to be more broadbased, and they wanted
direction from Council about the intent of the process moving forward and how the Planning
Commission fit into that process and could assist as the commission.
Commissioner Brew said he was put off as a member of the CCI when asked what they thought of the
categories after recruitment had already started. It felt just like they wanted a rubber stamp. It was
confusing and seemed that the Council had forgotten they had a Planning Commission which did a lot
of the things that had been talked about. They wondered where they fit into this process. He didn't feel
there was a well laid out plan or mission.
Councilor Ralston said he had the same concern about where the Planning Commission fit into this
process. The Planning Commission's job was to find things in the Development Code that needed to
be changed or revised. Mr. Mott had said the DAC would be coming directly to the Council to provide
and receive input, but he wondered when the DAC would give the Planning Commission input. It
seemed like there was a step missing. Rather than coming to the City Council twice, he would rather
have them go to the Planning Commission to see if what they had come up with was something the
Planning Commission could work on, then bring it to the Council.
City of Springfield
Council Work Session Minutes
July 16, 2012
Page 3
Councilor Woodrow said she was looking at the DAC as providing information to the Planning
Commission then the Planning Commission coming to the City Council. She felt the Planning
Commission was the Council's direct line of sorting out information and making recommendations.
Councilor Wylie said she was coming from a totally different perspective and she was surprised to
hear the Planning Commission had a concern about this process. She thought they were looking at
customer service issues when working with developers, and concerns about increases in rates. They
wanted to find a way to work better with our community of developers. There was a whole section on
customer service and development review and City of Springfield's Development Services principles.
She thought they were looking at three things: 1) customer service principles; 2) better relationships
with development groups in the community; and 3) how Council could keep an eye on the costs that
were occurring for builders. She thought they were going to develop an ongoing committee so Council
could get feedback when things were getting difficult for developers to do business so we could keep
Springfield's doors open for economic development. That was her understanding.
Councilor Pishioneri agreed with Councilor Wylie. When it came to the community, they should
always be able to come to the City Council for resolution of issues. There could be other developers
outside the DAC that had concerns and those people should be able to bring those concerns to the
Council. There were going to be some layered approaches. They wanted to make sure that everyone
was heard. The job for both the Planning Commission and City Council was to find the best resolution
for the citizens.
Councilor Woodrow said there was a balance. If there was a prescribed purpose or pursuit that could
be used with the information being fed into the Planning Commission, then that was the informational
route that should be followed. It didn't preclude the DAC from coming to Council and having an open
door for something that hadn't been prescribed or requested.
Commissioner Brew said it sounded like they were presenting an industry advocacy group which was
different from what had been presented to the Planning Commission, which was designed to be more
broadbased and community -wide.
Mayor Lundberg said the group started when the Council had been approached by developers in the
community that had felt Springfield was no longer open for business and business friendly as it had
been in the past. Things had changed so they decided to talk about it with people from the
development community. That initial group made some recommendations based on their experiences
about what the City could do to help get Springfield back into a competitive mode for development.
The group then saw other places they thought they could explore further. If they continued it could be
viewed as an advocacy group, such as the Bike Pedestrian Committee which was an advocacy group
for bicyclists and pedestrians. This committee was going to be more broadbased since it had started
out too narrow.
Mr. Grimaldi provided an example of an issue that could come up in the DAC. The original group was
set up to discuss process. In the end, that group wanted to get into broader issues such as the site plan
review process. The new group would likely want to discuss this topic as well, specifically the process
used by Eugene. That was more of a policy issue. Staff needed to know what to do with that type of
issue.
City of Springfield
Council Work Session Minutes
July 16, 2012
Page 4
Councilor Moore said when she served on the Planning Commission, she had concerns that the
Planning Commission also served as the CCI. She felt that didn't open it up to citizen input and they
were dealing with advisory issues. In a sense, this felt like an advisory committee that was dealing
more with issues that came before the Planning Commission. She didn't see the need for both of the
groups existing, but wasn't sure what issues the CCI dealt with. It was always important to involve as
many citizens as possible and they had a long list of groups they were trying to invite to be part of the
DAC. She felt it best that the DAC first brought the information to the Planning Commission, then the
Planning Commission could bring pertinent topics on to the City Council. The DAC always had the
ability to come to Council. She understood the Planning Commission member's confusion regarding
their role.
Mayor Lundberg said originally this was an approach to the Council. The group had been working
under staff support with their own agenda with a broader desire to participate in site plan review.
Mr. Grimaldi said the group was not looking to participate in site plan review, but rather to review the
site plan review process and possibly suggest some changes. It could be a completely different way to
look at site plan review and there could be some dramatic impacts on staff and the Planning
Commission.
Mayor Lundberg said Council needed to know the extent of possible changes.
Mr. Grimaldi said they could determine that this evening. They could gather the group, find out what's
on their minds, get their list and somehow process it through the Planning Commission or Council,
then put sideboards on it. He didn't want to put limitations on anything until they heard from the DAC.
The Planning Commission was looking for their role in this process.
Councilor Ralston said he understood the first reason the group was formed, but didn't think it was a
great idea that the group continue unless they had another specific issue. If the group was going to
exist, he felt they should report to the Planning Commission rather than the City Council. He didn't
see any issues out there that were so drastic that needed to be changed now that required Council
attention. For rule changes, the Planning Commission was the place to go. Temporarily the group
could come to Council.
Councilor VanGordon said they would need to see the list of policy options, then get together and
agree upon the list. Once they had the opportunity to see the list and put some sideboards on it, that
would be the opportunity for the Planning Commission to work on the issues with feedback and
experience. Any kind of change needed to go to the Planning Commission first before the City
Council looked at it further. Given the list of applicants for the DAC, he could see how the list could
become very broad, but he could also see that they could limit it to a small scope. Once they had the
list, the DAC could go back and work on it, check back with the Planning Commission, then filter the
information back to the City Council.
Commissioner Brew said he wanted to be clear. If this was an industry rep organization, he wanted it
presented that way. He was confused about the group outlining the issues and bringing them forward.
If they had a broad organization with a lot of views, that would take a lot of time. He wanted to know
what they were dealing with.
Commissioner James said the makeup of the group as presented only had two developer
representatives and was broadbased. To meet Goal 1 requirements, staff had put together this group
City of Springfield
Council Work Session Minutes
July 16, 2012
Page 5
with a variety of members. It was important to get input from the development community in how to
streamline processes. The question was how that could be plugged into the City process and how they
engaged the Planning Commission in that process. He felt they were having a good discussion on that.
The makeup of the group would be critical to the issues that came forward and it may not be what
Council anticipated and may not align with the original vision.
Mayor Lundberg said she wanted to be careful that they recognized that the group came together for a
specific purpose and put in some extensive work. When things got sidetracked, it could make people
feel badly about the work they had done. The work was started because Council was hearing from the
community that Springfield was becoming the less competitive community when it came to attracting
business, and they wanted to figure out how to address that issue. There were advisory groups,
recommending groups (the Planning Commission) and policy groups (the City Council) and there was
a chain of events. It was legitimate to have some type of agreement of the makeup of the DAC. If
those that served on the original committee wanted to be on the new formation of the committee with
an expanded membership, they would be welcomed as a way to acknowledge their previous work. She
didn't want to alienate anyone that had already put in their time.
Councilor Pishioneri said the original group was formed for a specific purpose. As the group matured,
other needs were seen and the group became more inclusive. The Planning Commission was seeing
the contrary of where it started and what it had become. It had started as a specific group and they
needed to make sure the group was ready to be more inclusive and expand its scope of topics. He as
fine with it being more inclusive, but he wanted to make sure it was ready to be more inclusive and
hadn't changed too quickly.
Councilor Wylie said she didn't want to duplicate the function of the Planning Commission, who the
Council relied upon as an integral part of the City's process. This was clearly a citizen advisory
committee making the Council aware of issues regarding economic development in our community.
She thought it shouldn't be expanded to address other issues other than how it impacted the economic
development of our community and the processes that could impede our growth. The City had gone
through some pretty severe times and the reason for this committee was to combat that and help the
developers get back to work. We were trying to remove the barriers in that process and not recreate the
Planning Commission. The City already had a good Planning Commission. The Council liked to keep
up on what the problems were and what was going on.
Commissioner Kirschenmann said when the Planning Commission first looked at the flow chart, it
looked like the Planning Commission was not included. He felt the original group had done a great
job. His thought would be to take that group and add a few more core categories, set some parameters
and look at thing to run through the proper channels.
Commissioner James said the idea of ad hoc versus standing committee was something for Council to
determine. The flow chart as described was presented as an ad hoc group for a purpose, yet it was
going to continue. Council would need to determine if once the objectives were set, the committee
would continue indefinitely or would be revisited in a year or two to make sure there was the
feedback. Having a clear objective was very important to keep any group moving. If the range was too
broad, they would get sidetracked. He felt it was very important that the group was directed and had a
purpose. It sounded like that was now coming together.
Councilor VanGordon said when this was done, he would like to have a check -in point. Then the
Council could decide to sunset the group or keep moving forward. He was open to see the end results
City of Springfield
Council Work Session Minutes
July 16, 2012
Page 6
and how it unfolded. If there were no clear long -term objectives, he would be happy to dismantle at
that point.
Mr. Mott said this was unusual. Traditionally staff brought deficiencies or changes to the Development
Code to the Planning Commission. Those changes were generally responses to mandates or an attempt
to implement Council policy or direction for something. It was easier for staff to make those
connections rather than citizens knowing something was wrong. If staff told Council they had to
establish some clean water provisions to comply with State mandated regulations, staff could generate
those changes, bring them forward and have the public look at them and understand the consequences
to their property. Other times, the Council may experience or see something and come to staff with
questions. Staff would then bring back options for Council to consider. When the Joint Work Team
left they got a taste of some of the other possibilities for a broad review and update to the Code. They
then honed in on specialized elements of the Code. All of the issues that interested them evolved into
a broader understanding of the cause and effect of the Code and the City's business practices. One
reason they talked about broadening the scope of participation was because once they got into these
other issues there were implications across the City and on policy that existed that created the Code
revisions in the first place. There was a Metro Plan policy that stated that the City of Eugene and City
of Springfield would adopt site plan review processes to address certain policies in the Metro Plan.
The City of Springfield agreed to that and so did the City of Eugene, but evidently in a slightly
different format. This process was entangled with and was existing to give a direct result of that plan
policy. To say the only people that should be involved would be a select group would violate Goal 1.
It was fine to get input from a select group, which was done often, but they often felt they had not
been involved from the beginning. That was a weakness in doing things that way. They avoided that
by having stakeholders involved in the Commercial Industrial Buildable Lands (CIBL) inventory and
land use study. Expanding this group was a way to involve the community. There was also an element
included in the Code that this was the entire City's code. Staff was required to enforce and implement
the Code, but also explain how this benefited the entire community. An objective of the City Council
was to ensure the environment was safe, the quality of life enhanced and that people would see this as
an attribute of the City of Springfield. Sometimes these things could go sideways as they seemed to
benefit one group and be a detriment to others. It was always a balancing act. Right now, it felt like
they were floundering a little bit because staff or the JWT weren't suggesting specific Code sections
that needed to be improved. There wasn't a lot of public input asking for specific changes. The City
was in a lull and calm so it was a good time to do them, but there was a lot to think about.
Councilor Moore said when they met on May 14, she had asked about staff time. She assumed that a
staff liaison would be assigned if this group was established. It sounded like the interests of the group
could involved a lot of time from staff to provide information, history and the law to the group. She
asked if they had the staff resources to deal with that type of broad group. The Planning Commission
had a staff liaison that provided them with issues for discussion.
Mr. Grimaldi said for the initial discussions and the brainstorming for the list, they did have staff that
could look at that. They did need to have a serious discussion about how much staff time it would take
to explore those issues.
Mayor Lundberg said she was looking for a level of support from the Council for the group to be put
together. She wanted to know if the group would put the list together with the Planning Commission
or if the group would put the list together on their own.
City of Springfield
Council Work Session Minutes
July 16, 2012
Page 7
Mr. Mott said staff s proposal was that once the DAC was appointed, the DAC and staff would work
together and generate a list of potential Code sections to pursue. That would go to the Planning
Commission and City Council, with the Planning Commission acting as the initial filter for the list.
The City Council would then select or direct which projects were worthwhile and staff would
determine how much staff time and costs those projects would entail. Once that work was performed,
the DAC and Planning Commission would have a one or two -hour work session and hopefully come
to consensus on the product that would be brought to the City Council. The City Council would then
provide direction based on that information. When giving that direction. the City Council would have
an understanding of costs and time and a clear picture of the concept of the amendments. There was a
research element to finding out that information.
Mayor Lundberg said the application process was currently underway. Tonight they were looking for
general consensus to move forward and that everyone had more understanding of the process. The
group would create the list and then move it forward. She asked if everyone had a better sense of
understanding.
Commissioner Brew said the role of the CCI was to ensure they had broadbased citizen involvement
for issues involving land use Code. They could agree to categories, but how those categories would be
filled was up to the City Council. That would make or break their ability to stand up to a challenge if
any changes were made to the Code.
Councilor Ralston said part of this plan was to promote and streamline the process for the business
community. To broaden this group, the opposite could happen. Certain members such as
environmentalists, could be counter - productive to what they were trying to accomplish.
Mr. Donovan said the application process ended on July 11. Council would be reviewing the
applications on Monday, July 23.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 6:56 p.m.
Minutes Recorder — Amy Sowa
Christine L. Lundberg
Mayor
Attest:
aV -InV >-
Amy Sqwk
City Rec rder