Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

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Yeah, nobody's online. I heard people being in the be. Let's see. Here we go. Okay. So Christ's on me. Policy Council work session 6 p.m. Please rise for pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag, indivisible and justice. So, uh, you take roll, please.

Yes. I guess I'll yell. Oh, yeah. Sorry. Mayor Dumbo present. Councelor Hegedorn present. Councelor Pen. Thank you. Council reading here. Councelor Fage is excused. Uh, for planning commission. Sher King here. Vice Levante here. Commissioner House here. Commissioner Nikamp here. Commissioner Miller here. Um, Commissioner Kenodell and uh Cara are excused from the works at All right.

Uh, uh, good evening everyone and thank you for your time and attention. Uh, I know we were supposed to have this work session uh, back in December. Unfortunately, I was ill and uh unable to attend that night, so we've postponed it to tonight. Um but I'm excited to be here uh and sharing this information between planning commission and city council tonight. Um we are going to be covering the zoning and development code update strategy. Uh I'll go through a variety of information regarding code um priorities, funding and update strategies uh and everybody's role in the process. Uh I am going to try and keep my portion of the presentation pretty brief. Um because the real value of having a joint work session here is not for everyone to listen to me speak at the same time. uh but for you guys to have the opportunity to work together as two bodies and come up with solutions. We will reserve about 15 minutes at the end. So around 5:45 uh I'll ask us to switch tunes to uh listen to Chief Jones uh update you on some code updates and priorities outside of the zoning and development code in the general North Plains Municipal Code. Uh that's a little bit of a less complex process uh that we want to get you all briefed on as well. Uh so that said, I'm going to get in. I only have a few slides. Some of them are a little uh information dense, so we can always come back to those. If you need to look at them again during your discussion, please feel free to ask me to uh come back to those. Okay, beginning with uh a bit of a refresher, maybe uh some new information for some of you all. Uh zoning and development code versus North Plains

Municipal Code. Uh the zoning and development code is part of our municipal code. It's a subsection or it's a chapter within it. Specifically, that's chapter 155. It's right there down near the end. Um, and it is essentially the enaction of our comprehensive plan. Our comprehensive plan lays out all of the goals, the policies, the priorities for the city. The zoning and development code puts that into action and that is paired with our zoning map, which is what a lot of you are probably most familiar with being the regulating thing. It's the pretty colors on the map that says you can do this here, you can do that there. The zoning and development code gets into the nitty-gritty details specifically things like conditional use, design standards, um specifics for automobile related uses. That is where you get into specific regulations of land use. Um in addition to being a local regulation, those are uh handed down by the state. Um, so in the 1970s, Oregon established a land use program at the state level. And since then, there's been a lot of rules that have gone into place uh regulating land use in the state and regulating how we regulate land use. Uh, specifically for zoning and development code, that's chapter uh 660 of the Oregon administrative rules. And that puts a lot of rules on how we change our regulations, which means that updating the zoning and development code is a little more complex than updating other parts of the code. It requires advanced noticing to the state. Uh it requires more public outreach than other ordinances do and there's some more expense related to how we regulate land use change um than how we regulate say

traffic code. So, uh, that said, everything that isn't in the zoning and development code, that's our general North Plains Municipal Code. That includes public works, traffic code, um, nuisances, all of that and updating all of that is relatively simple. Comparatively, it's uh, adoption of an ordinance. There isn't advanced notice to the state. Uh, there isn't requirements for multiple public hearings or public engagement and noticing. Okay, so that's what the zoning and development code is. And there's a variety of priorities amongst staff and amongst the planning commission that we've heard. Uh, and that is laid out here in a nice little vin diagram. Um, we've got some things that are more staff concerns and we've got some items that are more planning commission concerns. Um, I'm not going to go into a ton of detail on specifically what within the subsections are concerns for each body. I will run through sort of the nature of each of these concerns. So, starting with staff, that's primarily myself. Um, and this is going to concern mostly things that affect the legality of our code, how we can be defensible in our code, that we're being fair in the implementation of our code. So, making sure we have solid definitions. Um, that's Just connect it.

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See if I can get that back up for the people online. So, okay, picking up where we left off. Um, things like strong definitions, clear definitions, um, review procedures that are fair and equitable to everyone. uh things like how we regulate uh commercial uses for uh bringing business into the city and ensuring that we are bringing the types of businesses and accommodating them in a in a way that is reasonable. Um institutional and public use zone is something that we're concerned about making sure that that's effective. Um significant natural resources, the protection of wetlands within the city. Um trees also protecting a natural resource. uh something that we don't have a very strong code on right now um and something that's a state and a local priority that we've heard from you all. Uh and then partition and subdivision is a subsection that's very technical in terms of land use. Uh, I won't bore you with the details, but it's something that can become very important um as we add housing and other uses to the city, making sure that those go in um the way that planning commission and city council envisions them going in. some concerns that we've heard from the planning commission and planning commission has been very proactive in establishing a subcommittee for code updates um and going through fine to comb uh trying to make sure that they're catching all of the things that concern them and using the knowledge they have and seeing uh many land use applications come through to uh provide feedback. Uh things like park standards, how many parks, how much parks is required per home. Um, off- streetet parking and loading standard is probably one of the

most visible standards of land use that everyone sees and is concerned about. Um, and it's something that, uh, our planning commission has also highlighted. Sign standards are another highly visible um, standard. Uh, and then marijuana, marijuana and psilocybin. Uh, this was something that became an issue uh, in 2024. we had a use proposed to come in and there were some concerns about what was really meant by the code. Uh it wasn't clear and that is something that we really want to work on. And as we go down the middle of this ven diagram, um that's a highlight here. Uh things that are shared between staff and planning commission concern about the neighborhood community zone which isn't very clear and objective. Um and there's a lot of lack of clarity as to the intent um and the enaction of that zone. Um updating residential zones to properly uh enact what the planning commission and city council wants to see in those residential zones. Um design review standards. It's another section where um a lot of for lack of a better term fluff words are used. They're not clear and objective. It's it feels this way, it seems this way, it doesn't um it might not be offensive. And those are words that are based on how a person feels rather than the real conditions on the ground. Um non-conforming use and structure is a section that isn't very specific. We want to work on being specific um and making sure that we are only applying standards to cases where we want those standards applied and we're not catching more people than we should be. Um street standards is something where we're also vague and accessory dwelling unit standards is not very specific either. So those are the main ones um that are high up on both

planning commission and staff's list. Um, and the the takeaway here is that a lot of our code is suffering from a general lack of being in the 21st century. Uh, there was a time where the city could make some judgment calls on when things were implemented. Um, there weren't a lot of eyes on the city and that's not true anymore. We're a growing community in a really quickly growing county. Um, and we have to bring our code into the 21st century and make sure that we're planning for every situation and responding to all of our residents and businesses needs um instead of uh taking sort of a LZ fair approach.

Real quick, sorry to interrupt, but um we have about 33 minutes left. So I' I'd like to assume that everybody's read the packet. Can we um I' I'd like to have some discussion with planning commission. So, can we um skip through or or wrap this part up quickly? I know you put a lot of work into this and and I put a lot of time in researching what you put in. So, I just want to make sure we get to the planning. It was in the packet, so they should Yeah. Yeah. Chance. Okay. Go ahead.

Um this is just a quick approach to how staff has been thinking about updates. Um I think this is a pretty common model. I'm uh sure a lot of you have seen this in many contexts. Uh you can have something that takes little time and little expense, but you might sacrifice on quality. Uh you could have something that's very quick and high quality, but you're probably going to be paying more for it. Or you could have something that's really good and really expensive, it'll be quick. Um but we can't have all three. And I've highlighted sort of what that looks like where um something that takes a lot of time um and isn't very expensive. It's going to be staff writing code, but that is going to or uh it saves time and isn't very expensive, but we might sacrifice on quality because you only have one planner on staff um doing a lot of work. Hiring consultants, it's more expensive. You're going to get higher quality and the work done quicker. And then grant funded updates are using state resources like a model code. um they save on expense, they're high quality, but we're at the mercy of other agencies. Um and then this goes into more detail. Like you said, we've have some of this information, so I'm not going to read out everything here. Code updates are typically done by a team of planners. Um I am a single planning staff right now, so that is limited capacity for us with regard to time. And this is an urgent issue for planning commission. It's an urgent issue for staff as well. Um we have people applying for land use applications all the time and we do regularly discover deficiencies in our code. Um as far as expense goes, the community development budget is quite small at the moment. Uh the city doesn't have a ton of room to grow and community development budgets are usually funded by applications from people developing um in the city. So our budget is small um and that does present some challenges. And then quality. As as I

mentioned, there was a time where North Plains could take a little bit of a looser um approach and use more judgment and interpretation. We're under a lot more scrutiny now as a city in a growing county. Um and we need to have a high quality code that is up to speed with um the most recent of the Oregon laws regarding land use. um the lowhanging fruits, easier updates, quicker updates or cheaper updates, things like administrative and process updates, very straightforward and um very uniform across Oregon cities. That's something that we can get done pretty quick. Definitions, another thing, straightforward, pretty uniform. There's lots of examples of them out there, so that doesn't take a big lift um to uh add those into the code. And then single subsection additions or edits, things like non-conforming use and structure, that's a single subsection. It's not very long. Um, that can be updated very quickly. Those things that are very targeted, automobile specific uses, targeted, easy. What's something that's going to take a lot more effort? A big lift. That's something like adding or eliminating a zoning district. It affects a lot of our residents. It requires a lot of public outreach to ensure that they understand what's happening and that they are on board with what's happening. We never want to surprise someone with changing what their land can be used for. Um that's not a happy surprise for a resident or a business owner. Um things like land partitioning and subdivisions uh that can have a major downstream effect. Um think of a large subdivision application like what happened with Brinhill. If you change that process, there can be trickle down effects. We want to make sure that we are uh making targeted strategic changes and that we've anticipated what effects are going to happen. That takes a lot of foresight

and effort. Um parking and loading standards seem simple. They are controversial. They are controversial statewide. They are controversial nationwide. Um that means you require a lot of public engagement, requires public buyin, and that you all as appointed and elected officials are very sure of what you're doing. Um and that we aren't going to be wanting to go back in 6 months or 12 months and make subsequent changes. Okay. Bunding options bill, do you want to go over this? I believe this is some new information.

Yeah, this is new information. This was not in the not in the packet. Um depending on how the conversation goes tonight and moving forward um regarding funds in order to um pay for whatever level of assistance, professional assistance on code rewrite. Um the city city council really has two primary options for um doing that. We did not budget for a project like this in uh in the the 2527 bianium budget. So there's two uh primary places where we can we can fund this uh any assistance. Number one would be in the general fund contingency um as part of the general fund budget. $200,000 were um approved as uncoded appropriations for unexpected this is right out of budget law. um unexpected um expenditures that couldn't be planned for or weren't planned for during the budget planning process. So, none of that money has been spent so far. That is a potential source and it's already pre-approved to be spent with no effect on the city's, you know, planned reserves and all of that. Um the second source would be a general fund supplemental budget. The current planning uh community development current planning um budget is little is almost $45,000. That's not much for two years. The material and services budget in total is uh a little over 211,000 almost 212,000 and we're we're a quarter of the way in into the bienium and there's a lot of different services including attorneys fees that are included in that budget. So it's not a a big soft target for additional funds to kind of squeeze out. Um so if you did a supplemental budget, you could easily by resolution simply say we are going to officially spend X amount more. Um add that amount of budget to community development current planning or professional services and that would

however much you approve would be a reduction in the um reserve for future excuse the um reserve for future expenditure um that's in the budget for 2527 at the end of this bianium. We expect if we spend on target, we'll have $446,000 in reserves for the general fund. So, however much you choose, 10,000, 5,000, 40,000, whatever it is, if by if you pass a resolution that adds budget for this project, it would simply be taken out of the um the projected expected reserves at the end of 2027, fiscal year 2027. So you have contingency funds which are already approved or you can add budgeted spending to the general fund via resolution and that would reduce your reserve for future expenditure by however much. Um and anticipating the question can the urban renewal agency pay for any of this and the answer is very likely not. um we can get a second opinion on it, but the bottom line is the urban renewal plan does not call for um it doesn't include in its projects, you know, zoning studies and that sort of thing that um when you're looking at zoning that affects citywide, it's not specific to the urban or rural district. Um so again, um that you we can get a second opinion on that about how it might help with some of it maybe, but just looking at it um it really doesn't look like an approved project. But those are your sources of funding and and they're available to as council. You can do that.

Okay. And one last note before uh I turn this over for discussion. Just um a reminder of everybody's role in the process of the code. City Council is ultimately your budget um to allocate and to decide what to do with um as well as providing direction to planning commission uh to enact your goals and priorities. And then planning commissioners um you all know this. I work with you on a monthly basis on enacting planning goals on um retaining your knowledge of our code and local planning issues which I know you're very in tune with. Um prioritizing uh updates. Thank you to the code reviewing subcommittee for that. Uh and then providing direction back to staff, myself and Bill. And then staff is here to provide you with expert advice and opinions um to synthesize those projects from what we hear from both bodies um to bring in resources uh that you all might not be aware of and maximize our time and our dollars uh by using outside resources to help bolster our projects. um and then to ultimately carry out those projects, bring those forward as applications to planning commission and then when it comes to code as applications that you will hear as recommendations from planning commission. Uh and with that said, I'll leave you with these two big questions um to maybe kickstart your conversation, which is which updates are needs, which are wants, and what resources are you willing to dedicate to getting those done? Uh if you have any questions, let me know.

All right. So, I'll I'll I just want to say a couple things before we move forward. Uh, so so the big challenge is we're at about a year and we've been talking about this and and we need to make progress on this. So, that's number one. Um, there I can't speak for for all of council, but I I can say for myself that if we don't fix this, then the rest of the growth conversation is not worth having. We have to fix the code. the code is giving me literally migraines at this point. Like we can't get this done. I don't know why we're we're still talking about it. So this this there needs to be a sense of urgency on this. And I'm not pointing fingers at anyone. I'm just making a general statement that we have to get this done. Um we cannot have any more of these in challenging discussions with developers or with the community. Um the other thing is um sorry I just lost my train of thought. Um so so anyway we just we need to make progress on this. We need to go and we need I know it's not going to be immediate but we start have to start having some uh some things fixed and and changed. Um, also if we're going to have code in there, things like, you know, if you're replacing a fence or if you're adding solar to an existing roof, if we're having code in there that requires a design review, everybody on planning commission and everybody on city council and everybody in city staff have better be able to explain to the public why. Because I'm sorry, but if you have to pay a fee to replace a fence, that's a tough call. That's a tough thing to explain. If you have to pay to put up solar panels, I understand that there's a building inspection process. I understand all this, but you got to be able to explain that stuff. You can't just say, "Well, that that's code." Because I'm I'm honestly I'm taking a lot of calls and I'm having to say, "Yeah, that's the code. That's what it

is." And if that's the case, then we just need to have it more clearly laid out as to why. So, with that, um, Stuart, I wanted to kind of give you a minute to talk because you probably have more experience than most of us on plan and and coach. Well, uh, number one is, you know, we have discussed both in public and in a private meeting some certain codes that I'm concerned about. I've got 30 years of experience of North Plance codes and changes. So, but uh Vice Chair Levante on a position of the uh code subcommittee and I think uh we probably should spend time hearing from her. Uh more importantly, I do have a number of things that I could cover, but I'd like to see her priorities before I sell the other ones that I have.

Question. you. Um, so this top and can I just jump in real quick, Mayor, if you don't mind. Oh, please. I just want to let you know, I know Rowan mentioned 645 for me to be able to if we need to push past that, it's totally fine. I can be super quick and brief because I know this is important. So, don't don't feel crunched on my behalf. Thank you. Um so the subcommittee and I we've uh met a couple times already. That's good.

Uh we've met a couple times already uh discussing a variety of um issues. Um it really comes around to residential needs and um employment needs and residential needs. It's it's hard to say, oh, it's going to be this code, that code, and that code, because by the time you touch one little aspect, you now have to open up three other sections and amend that. So, I've really kind of personally been struggling how to bring this forward to you to tell you what's the most the the highest priority because, like I said, you touch one little piece and my matrix just has me, okay, I touched this, now I got to go touch X, Y, and Z. Um, so we're kind of we kind of we we've only met a couple times, like I said, and we've just really barely even glazed the surface. Um, but like I said, it really comes down to residential. We're really trying um the focus is going to be bringing in our current R 2.557 and new 10 and going to try to take everything that's NC and make it comparable within those current zones so that any future expansion we can just say oh that's going to be R2.5 that's going to be R5 and it's going to be very black and white. um with that parking is a huge piece um that we are going to be looking at and that not only affects our our parking standards but it's going to affect all employment lands whether it's industrial or commercial um they they do need to take a look at um design review I absolutely agree with you the whole just prolonging a business opening just just to go through a design review process process. Um, we do definitely need to

look at that and see where we can make some changes in order to be be more appealing to anybody coming into town for small businesses. Um, what am I missing off the top of my head, Doug? Uh, parking then I think that was the most

Yeah. And but like I said Yeah. And like I said though, every time we open up something then that sparks, oh yeah, now you got to go touch this one and that one. Um, so I apologize from my standpoint. It's very hard to say. You know, $10,000 may be sufficient, but then you may get into the weeds and we may find out we might it might not touch the surface. So um I I'm glad you want us to keep moving forward because I'm very passionate about this. I don't want to wait any longer. I feel like we are just reactive instead of being proactive. Um once we get a good my my my goal is to get a good chunk of revisions, possible revisions, um give them to staff, have them reviewed thoroughly, come into workshop, and then hopefully have hearings. Um I know we can't do this all at once. Um it's, you know, that's obviously it's not going to be possible, not only with you know, the committee's time, but staff time. I mean, it's going to take a bit. Um, but I would hope that we could continue the open conversation for budgetary needs and possibly if we don't get everything we need now, you know, if we can come back in three or four months and say, "Here's where we at. this is a this this might be a more logical um funding amount needed or you know or even just going towards to the end of the fiscal year and seeing where we're at and just kind of before we set solidify the next budget going forward.

That's right. uh has there been any effort or or work done to size the scope of work and um level of effort and and if they did uh what percent would be um considered internal versus external um we have not done any of sizing of the scope of the project just because like I said at our meetings we're kind of talking um about areas that we want to address things within that area that are concerning and then I'm kind of taking it back and I'm doing tweaking on it and seeing what other sections of code it may touch. So, we as the committee haven't actually sat down. Well, we've we've barely gotten through anything in two meetings, but um haven't actually got through enough to see where we might even be, you know, in two three months for the scope of the project. But I I mean, in all honesty, I'm looking at the whole thing. We're going to have priorities, but I'm looking at the whole thing. will touch on almost every aspect in some some way.

Yes. Counselors, commissioners, pros. I have a question.

Yeah, maybe I can. Um, you know, I look at the vin diagram and everyone kind of focus on circularly the center is priority, but there's a couple of others that I will pull into the center just applying your lens, mayor. that is hey if we need to do this before we talk about expansion and expansion is kind of the customer of this if you will then I would I would submit to you partition into subdivision probably needs to be in that center of a priority because until you know that it's going to be hard for you to know how much you need to expand beyond that and then I would probably pull the as as vice chair said I'd probably pull the off street priority and voting.

And just just to be clear, I'm one of seven. Like it it does require majority vote, but that is my opinion. I I want to make sure I didn't overstate that. Council will have to decide, but that that's my opinion as one, and I would welcome the council to actually speak up on as well.

Um do I have Okay. Um, what areas of the code does this body see if they if they prioritized residential impact on a on the greatest scale, which opportunities would you say would be the first thing that you would pilot, for example, or or tough pilot updating? Um, well, the the main priority would be, like I said, to to basically we're not going to eliminate it because we're still going to have the NC zone because we do have an NC zone community. Um, but but we need to get the code to reflect any of those requirements in the NC in the in the R zones. Um, as well as look at, you know, lot setbacks. I mean, that's going to be a big one, too. You know, if you want to look at possibly doing more infill opposed to further, you know, footput footprint growth, then you know, you need to we need definitely need to look at subs.

We've also talked about like garage sizes and yeah, garage sizes is a big one. Being able to use them as along with that. So I think the question that that brings me to then is has another city of a similar size this question correctly has another city of a similar size done this work with a consultant can we borrow any of that or is this starting from zero and I'm just throwing this out as a general question I don't know the answer I'm just asking a question.

Um I I will tell you from experience and past code changes that um definitely we look at neighboring cities codes to see what they've already done to not have to reinvent the wheel. Um it's not uncommon for us to take a couple different cities codes and look at it and just basically pick out the bits and pieces we like um or what's you know more appropriate for our you know the city of our size. Um we've seen so much growth in the county uh King City. So they would be a great one I think right now to take a look at because they've done some massive expansions out on Roy Rogers council uh sorry commissioner camp and then sorry

so last time we went through code updates like this we had 3J on board helping us through that process and one thing nice about uh 3J is they've got experience with all different size of of cities for them to go out there and look at these ones that they I know they're going to find some of those

pull them or bring it to us and have us look at it and say can we pick part of this and part of this is bring it together. That that's just an experience in the past. Yeah, makes sense. Thank you.

Um thank you mayor. Two things I think uh you all will be very interested in. Firstly, uh the transportation growth management program of DLCD and ODOT is actively working on a small a new small cities model code. Uh the previous small cities model code is outdated. It was updated I believe in 2015. Um the new one is set to come out in spring or early summer of this year. Uh I know that is a few months out. Um that's a long time to wait when things are pressing. Uh but there should be a lot of material in that small cities model code that will be directly applicable to North Plains circumstances. Um I've received a lot of good uh feedback from DLCD that they think this will be a good fit to addressing some of our concerns. um in times that we have applied and unfortunately not received funding, they have encouraged staff to uh engage with the process that is going forward for developing that new code and to ultimately use that new model code. Um so I think that's an exciting resource um that if we are still looking at that when that comes out um would be be great thing to have on file. Uh the second thing is uh vice chair Leonte mentioned King City. I do know that King City was recently uh selected for technical assistance from DLCD to help with code. Um so they should have a project coming up. Um that should be something that we can look to and ask them questions about how they're approaching it. Be a great thing. Um they're similar to us, a little bit different circumstance being in metro. Um but we also have um cities throughout the state that are great examples to look at. Sisters is a great example. Um we've got cities down by Eugene Junction City is a great example. Um out Esticada is a great example. A

little bit larger than us but in a very similar situation. Um we've got a lot of people that we can go to um and get not only their codes but their planners uh experience with their code and learn from them. Can I switch question over?

Yes. Sure. Uh the number one priority moving forward uh considering any urban growth expansion is the neighborhood community zone. I mean that was used in the last expansion as just a kind of a whole new zone as the county uses an FD10 FD20. Uh it wasn't completely designed for the issues that we had, but because it was mostly a residential expansion, it kind of worked. But we have already seen where it didn't work in this uh development of the Greenlight deal that was supposed to be a commercial node, just a neighborhood commercial node, and now it's an apartment complex. So, you know, we also have a small 1acre in Bridge View or excuse me, Sunset Ridge that needs to be considered because it could also probably go into that same kind of deal with the uh states uh thing on affordable housing. Their push for that clearing objectives uh standards uh is a big issue. So, um, the reszoning of the residential in the NC zones is probably not as critical as making sure when any expansion happens, there's going to be employment. So, we're going to be looking at industrial, we're going to be looking at commercial, we're going to be looking at mixed uses, and those are the really big issues that need to be handled. Uh we're probably going to be looking at apartment housing uh with expansion for the increase in densities and we have no language on apartment houses in our current code. We have a mixeduse multifamily

uh which is in our R2.5 but it it is not very clear on what can be done and the uh green light development was all pushed by state on densities and u so I we need to get control on that. Um, you know, the one of the things that they talked about before the expansion is concept planning. You know, having an area that you can concept plan and then start developing what type of zones you need from there because there's going to be mixed use residential um with commercial and then you're going to go commercial to industrial. We've got different uses now that we don't really uh we just started touching base on that like resident or restaurants in industrial areas you know so we need to look at like flex areas uh some of the stuff for instance the law and sunset highway on the east of Hellvasia road kind of a flex area they got a multiple different uses in there that's some things we really need to be considered. Um, some of the other things that just cleaning up some of our codes, there was the concern about the marijuana facilities. Uh, the city council decided back when they legalized it that they wanted to allow it in the code, but wanted it zone to be difficult to do. uh you know there's now ambiguity on what exactly it says because it talks about the distance between um parks and schools but it doesn't say that it's straight line doesn't say that it's around a corner so those things should probably be addressed and cleaned up for instance uh as I mentioned you know we don't have to worry about it now

probably but apartment houses you know sizing of apartment houses you know how many per unit the height of them. I mean, we do have height requirements now, but we may want to relook at those kind of things for those purposes and specifically set exactly the way we want it to be. Uh, you know, the words from the city attorney is you zone it the way you want to see it. So there's some other issues I think uh I mentioned about the C1 or about the dam or the expansion area. The both the expansion areas had commercial use areas. I think those were important to have them in there. That's what we decided we did the visioning in 97 and so we need to protect those for those areas and when there might with any expansion to the east would expand on the one the one acre that's there that was the whole plan and so we need to make sure that they remain uh some kind of commercial use so uh there's also u the one of the things that changed since I've been on here on the planning commission was that the IPU uh which is the institutional and public use was originally an overlay. Now it's becoming its own zoning district and I don't think that's the way it really should be. I think we need to reook at that. I think it there's underlying zonings that used to be under them and if these uses are no longer there, what do they become? They aren't free land to do whatever you want. They should go back to the zones that they were taken from. So they should be an overlay. Uh we do overlay our um historic our flood planes and our sign significant natural resources. And so

there's no no reason to make uh this not an overlay unless it's public streets or something like that. Something that you're not going to change. But um so I think those the you know and then other thing that was brought up is the non-conforming. I think we need to make it easier for those people that codes change while they already existed and we need to be friendly to them and we need to look at how to take care of those things. And and something else, sorry, I know I'm talking a lot, but something else I'd like to see planning commission guide us on because again, you're the experts, I'm not, is um as you're doing this, it would be helpful if you and if it's out of scope, just tell me. But if you could look at resource utilization, things like water, electric, what's that going to do down the road? Obviously, data centers are one thing, but there's also other things that we might need to think about. And again, this is why I'm asking you because I hopefully you you will know or when you get the resource because in thinking about some of the industrial uses, it got me wondering if if we need to put anything in the code to make sure that we're not driving up residential rates because we've been seeing a lot of this in central Oregon and other areas where residential rates are going up significantly. Now we're looking at legislation at the state level to basically raise uh industrial rates but to keep residential rates flat. So is I guess I'm asking you to think about that as you're going through this and tell us if we need to fix that. Like I don't know like is that something that needs to be codified? So just consider that. And if if it's not, great. If it's something we need to get an attorney on, tell us because I have no idea this.

That's the first I've actually heard of that. So, that's interesting if we handle it on a city level. I I don't even know if we can. It just was something that I, as I'm researching, I'm seeing the state do it. And because we're a home rule county, I would rather us beat the state to the punch because they're not going to give us what we want.

Yeah. That's my opinion, but I I don't know like if again these are things we got to figure out together in answer to one of your prior questions on are there other cities we may want to take a look at. They're probably the most recent that have done one for that deals with higher density multifamily as sharing said and um and uh subdividing and those kind of things of hey how do you multiuse multif family density how do you deal with that so they're probably the most recent one that has dealt with it not that we would copy it but it might be useful to look at it might inform it might be informed I like I like that idea Yeah.

Um might I just prompt especially city council to um consider the information provided as far as funding goes and people that make sure my next question. I love the conversation we're having about what we want to do. Um but the best thing about planning commission I don't care about funding. Yes. Thanks for that. Thanks, chair. Um, now in all seriousness, um, so council, what let's kind of transition a little bit for a minute because we're running out of time. What do we think about money? How do we want to handle this? I like blank check.

I know you take it on here. Um I would like to see a quantification somehow or sizing of what we would need farmed out externally external resources on. Um so that way we know what we would need to spend and how we would spend it. I would also like to know how we would ensure that our consultants are only leveraged when necessary too. So how what guard rails will we put in place there as well? I think so you're asking for a level of effort and a um basically what they're yeah what the guard rails are

level of effort quantification of internal versus external how we're going to measure and track this. So do we have an ethics um and then of course uh guard rails on how we would leverage external consultants only when necessary. So that might need a definition of what um the specialized assistance would need and entail. I know Rowan, you kind of flirted with that notion, but maybe we could crystallize that a little bit better. That might help us to pull that together. Uh, council me, I would also just echo I was just curious, I actually had into my notes of what is the approximate cost for partnering with 3J on on a minimal level. Um, so I think planning commission has a great lens on what needs addressed, but I think we do need some of that professional insight as well. And then I would just share um you know my my initial reaction is to not touch the general fund. I would love to not touch any sort of contingency money. Um I would love to source this and and bring back some sort of supplemental budget. Um and I think my question just for planning commission um you know is what is the timeline? And I know that it sounds like you you turn over one stone and something else pops up. Um, but you know, if you had to prioritize commercial or residential, which one would it be? And what would be like the two biggest or most impactful pieces of code you would update in the next 3 months? Um, and that would be my question for planning commission. Um, because I again trust your judgment, but I I think we really need to prioritize and start small and then continue um, turning over those stones.

That's not a small question. Um I'm not sure what I would um So here's what I'm fighting with most right now. We have absolutely no mixeduse code. Nothing. We are silent on it. Um and we know we've already, you know, bit been bit by it by not having anything to fall back on. Um, so that is way up in my priority list is to it's a brand new code. We got to create it from scratch. Um, and that affects both commercial commercial residential because it's a mixed use. Um, I don't know Stewart, do you have any thought on it?

First thing I would suggest is it's a little early to set up a work or a little late I excuse me for setting up a workshop for the January meeting. But I think for our February meeting, we should do a workshop and work on these issues and just come up with our prior priorities and you know our ABCs and uh what we'd like to see done and then submit it to staff and with council and see all wants to Yeah. If we could do the priorities with the approximate costs and the timing sounds like those are the things you're asking for. I think you're on a technical council reading.

Councelor Reading here. I think my fellow council members have done a great job addressing issues. I agree with Mandy. I really like counselor Hagenor um with the goals and and outcomes. Um I love the planning commission's going to come up with something in February. It sounds like I think that's a great idea and get some ideas on funding or uh costs. So I think from an instruction to staff perspective seems like what we want is for and the planning commission is give staff what you give give them a level of effort and kind of some prioritization and I can speak for councelor Page because he's brought this up loudly a few times. Um I think most of us are at least at this point on board with funding this. We just need to know how much and then we'll have to go figure out the budget. Is that and we need some other basically we want

we need a scope for work. Okay. So I'm getting consensus on that. So chair is that good? That's good. Uh Rowan Bill are you? That sounds like a good plan to us. Um and chair King it is quick for the January meeting but I want to get you guys started on that process. So we'll bring forward an agenda item. It might not be super in-depth, but let's get you guys at least starting having that information flow back and forth so we can really um get something nailed down in February. Okay. And Chief, I apologize, but it's nine minutes.

Yeah, I can do it in three. You're good. It was just I just wanted to take the opportunity to kind of scratch the surface of some of the code um updates that we kind of should be looking at as far as what police department works on enforcing. And like Rowan kind of prefaced early on, it's really about bringing the language up to date in a lot of it. There's a lot of vague u code language throughout the code that we utilize a lot. Uh and some of the big ones that I think was mentioned also was the parking issues, right? Those the most visible ones we have. Um and so for some a few that we want to look at closely early on and I know we have a work session I think scheduled in February for code enforcement right books. Uh we can dig into this more then, but again just I'm scratching the surface on really um dialing in our definition on abandoned versus stable vehicle, which is one that holds us up a lot. Um we get calls quite often about vehicles that are parking the same way for far too long. And so uh cleaning up that language uh make it more clear for us to be able to enforce. And the biggest one I know that came up early on this year and I think is still a bit of an ongoing issue that uh up in Britall primarily is the parking and commercial motor vehicles within the residential area. Uh there are some neighboring municipalities that have code specifically addressing uh that issue. Um and unlike Rowan's uh zoning code, ours is a lot easier to research and compare and update. And so, um, it's not going to take nearly the task that they have ahead of them to kind of get it up to date. But those are kind of the big ones that we want to highlight, uh, throw it out to, uh, council as well as the planning commission if they have ideas that of code that we tend to enforce as police department, what might be some highlights or priorities for you guys as well that we can dig into and do some research and homework on and kind of see what we can compare locally. Council question

here. Um, could we could we anticipate a civil work with your work stream along with Cherokee? I think I think Ro and I can probably work on that separately. It might be easier for us to kind of just because they have to go a vastly different path than what we tend to have to go down. It might be easier to kind of scope them separately. in uh I think it's the February 17th work session we have scheduled for code enforcement be a good time for us to kind of bring some of these uh codes that are in our wheelhouse to the table to discuss and work on I mean I is it possible you could have a recommendations by then or is that too soon I think we could have a good start yeah okay

yeah and I guess my ask in return is if there's things that you want to make sure that are on that list and on our radar please that this way and um should take a look at. Can I add one? Of course you can. Recreational vehicles parked on the street. That is that is on the list. Yeah. And there's there's kind of uh it's not real clear. RVs versus trailers versus cargo trailers. That whole kind of distinction. So that is on my request is just uh clear and objective. Sorry, that was my trouble.

That's that's going to be the word for the year. the term for the year because every just whatever you whatever you put in there just make sure it's clear and objective so that if we have to defend this in court I don't want to be the idiot that gets left out of court that's typically the one that

else only thing I would add to that um anything that uh the planning commission uh can look at as far as codes that affect your enforcement I mean most of That stuff is not in our wheelhouse, but if there is anything, please bring it forward to us so that we can take a look at it in depth and make corrections. Would you add um camping to your list? We do have a camping ordinance. It's relatively up to date. You're okay with that one that we have.

It's it's it's worth looking at again, but it's it's only probably three or four years old tops. Okay. Um, in light of the I forget the name of the case with one in Roseberg. Is that going to come back to bite us? I'm not sure which one you're referring to. The Roseberg got sued. Yeah. Public boat camping. It's just something we may want to send to the city attorney just for review just because there's been a couple of recent cases and I just want to make sure that whatever we have is in compliance with state and federal law and and that we can defend it. Yeah. that we that's that's the other main goal. Yep. Anybody else?

Well, this was a productive work session. Thank you all. Uh and with that, we'll be adjourned until 7 o'clock and adjourn our regular city council meeting. And just a reminder that there's