Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Okay, I have access, so it was just a second. Lisa, do we have a legal obligation? Okay, I have access, so... oh to order the july 14th 2026 planning commission meeting at 5 45. we do a roll call

Commissioner Viera-Brendell?

Here.

Commissioner Fott? Here. Commissioner Freybeck?

Here.

Commissioner Heller? Abt and excused. Commissioner Infante? Here. Commissioner Levin? Here. Commissioner Rhodes? Here. Commissioner Tev? Here. Commissioner Slater?

Here.

We have quorum.

ITEM NUMBER THREE, PUBLIC COMMENT FOR AGENDA ITEMS. I BELIEVE THERE ARE A LOT OF PEOPLE HERE THAT HAVE SIGNED UP AND THAT WILL BE A LATER AGENDA ITEM, SO YOU'RE NOT BEING SKIPPED. BUT NUMBER THREE IS JUST FOR PUBLIC COMMENT ON AGENDA ITEMS OTHER THAN PUBLIC HEARINGS, DELIBERATIONS, AND THE MERITS OF LAND USE ISSUES THAT ARE REVIEWABLE BY THE PLANNING COMMISSION. AND I DON'T THINK WE HAVE ANYONE THAT SIGNED UP FOR THAT. SO MOVING ON TO AGENDA ITEM NUMBER FOUR, CONSENT CALENDAR. 4.1, APPROVAL OF MINUTES.

Yes, that's good. So I will move approval of the June 9th, 2026 Salem planning commission meeting minutes.

Do you have a second? I second. We have a motion and second by commissioner Slater and Infante. Any deliberation? Okay. Hearing none. Moving on to a vote.

Commissioner Vieira-Brendel?

Aye.

Commissioner Fott? Abstain. Commissioner Freibach?

Aye.

Commissioner Infante? Aye. Commissioner Levin? Aye. Commissioner Rhodes? Aye. Commissioner Tebbs? Aye. Commissioner Slater?

Aye. Motion passes. On to agenda item 4.2, which is a resolution on There's two of these. 4.2a, Resolution 2602, Resolution to Initiate Code Amendment by Eunice Kemp.

Good evening. Can you hear me? Yep. Eunice Kim, Long Range Planning Manager in the Planning Division in the Community Planning and Development Department. I'm here tonight asking for approval of a resolution to initiate a code amendment that would essentially... implement our housing code project that came out of the housing production strategy that is looking at promoting the development of housing and removing potential barriers to the development of housing. The code amendment would also implement a lot of new state rules and laws that have come out in the last couple of years, largely around housing and process. and also implement changes that we've just noticed over the last couple of years that are needed to clean up the code. So it's a fairly large package. It would come back as a public hearing at the planning commission this fall, and then eventually to city council.

Thank you. Any questions or staff on this resolution?

I guess my only question is just to, my understanding is this resolution is purely administrative. This is what the city needs to begin to develop the code package. Is that correct?

Correct. We have been developing the code language, though.

Okay.

So this is just a part of the process to initiate the actual formal adoption process.

Thank you.

That's all.

Commissioner Freibach?

Yes, I know we talked a little bit about it. But as far as changes to like the RM2 code and other bits of the residential multifamily, this doesn't address lot size minimums or density as far as that goes. Can you talk about any possible future changes to that?

I'm sure this code amendment does address some small changes around middle housing in the multifamily zones, but it does not make larger changes to allowing more urban developments within the RM2 zone. That would be a future code amendment.

Do we have a timeline on what that might look like?

We don't have a timeline.

Okay, thanks.

Any other questions for staff? Okay, can we get a motion on the resolution?

I move to approve Resolution 26-02, Resolution to Initiate Code Amendment.

Second. Okay, we have a motion and second. Any discussion? Commissioner Freibach?

Yeah, I'm certainly going to be yes on this. I just want to recognize that this alone isn't going to be the key to fixing our housing shortage and our kind of crisis that we're experiencing. I know there's a lot of work that's going into this, and I'm certainly excited to see it move forward. But I'm also aware that our residential multifamily code as it stands makes it so that a large amount of our multifamily lots essentially function the same as single family lots especially if they're below six thousand square feet um which accounts for a large amount of our especially more urban multi-family lots and then and then those lots that are between maybe six thousand and You know, 13,000 square feet are tough to develop because they're usually more expensive and don't really allow a whole lot of housing. So I will certainly be a yes, but I just wanted to add that caveat that more work needs to be done in order to provide all this needed housing for people living in Salem. Thanks.

Anything else? Hearing none, can we move on to a vote?

Commissioner Vieira-Brundell?

Aye.

Commissioner Fott? Aye. Commissioner Freibach?

Aye.

Commissioner Infante? Aye. Commissioner Levin? Aye. Commissioner Rhodes? Aye. Commissioner Tevez? Aye. Commissioner Slater?

Aye. Motion passes. Now on to agenda item 4.2b, resolution 26-01, resolution to initiate zone change of property at 3333 Market Street Northeast. Jacob Brown.

My name is Jacob Brown. This is the resolution initiating proposed zone change of the property at 3333 Market Street, Northeast for mixed use 3 to mix is 2. The same housing authority of all is under contract to purchase the property and the indications of their to achieve that design as they indicated. Don't change for the mixed use to which would help facilitate that design. The this this is just the initiation of the application to be to be submitted, and this will be early for hearing socks. There is no change to the comprehensive zoning property.

Okay. Any questions for staff? Mr. Frebeck?

I was looking at the reporting documents here. In the letter from ODOT, they say that they would not be in opposition in the resolution that says ODOT indicates their support. In my opinion, that's a difference. Is there a way to possibly change that?

We can change that. Maybe so.

You want the resolution to say that they're not in opposition? Yes. Yeah, you can do that with the motion and we can update it in the final version before we sign it.

Awesome. It mentions it's currently mixed use 3 and motion is to go to mixed use 2. What is the difference between the mixed use 3 and what it currently is?

House explicitly. Less of a urban, more dense design that's required under the excuse to zone that allows a more variety of urban design for the property, which they're trying to achieve.

Okay, thank you.

Are there any other issues regarding the conversation with the housing authority that indicate a contingency on the purchase?

I'm not aware of any contingencies that are associated with property.

Thank you. We need a motion. So I move adoption of the resolution.

And do we have a motion and second? Do we have any discussion or amendments anyone would like to discuss? Mr. Frebeck?

I'll move to amend the resolution to state that ODOT is not in opposition to the city initiated zone change.

Second. Okay, so we have a amended motion before us, is that correct? Okay, any discussion on the amended motion?

He did the second to the amended motion.

Okay, so motion and second. Anything?

No? No.

Okay, can we go to a vote then?

Commissioner Vieira-Brendel?

Aye.

Commissioner Fott? Aye. Commissioner Freibach?

Aye.

Commissioner Infante?

Aye.

Commissioner Levin? Aye. Commissioner Rhodes? Aye. Commissioner Tebb? Aye. Commissioner Slater?

Aye. Amended motion passes. Okay, no action items for 4.3. No public hearing tonight for Agenda 5. Six special orders of business. I don't see anything on the agenda. which takes us to agenda item seven, information reports, transportation updates from Cara Hall, city traffic engineer, and Julie Hanson, transportation planning manager. We appreciate all the public being here. We want to put you last to just build suspense.

My name is Julie Hanson. I'm the Transportation Planning Manager with the Public Works Department, and Tara and I have put together a pretty brief presentation to provide an overview of some transportation topics that might be of interest to you. To the extent possible, I'm trying to think of these in the context of how they relate to your role as Planning Commission, but you might be interested in them otherwise as well. so in advance oh i i have the thing sorry the transportation planning projects that i want to just touch on are three that we have going on right now uh i say freeze for all action plan a refinement plan relating to a pedestrian over crossing on highway 22 And then sort of the big one that we're just getting started on is Salem in Motion, which is updating our transportation system. So starting with the Safe Streets for All Action Plan, this came out of a grant application that we submitted that we received from the Federal Highway Administration. It includes creating a Safe Streets for All Action Plan, as well as doing a demonstration project, which is the 20th, Project we'll be talking about that. I'll talk about that in a little bit. Um, the. Action plan, what comes out of the safe safe streets for all action plan will feed into the update of the transportation system. Informing policies as well as projects and priorities. And we also have some additional funding that came into it. number of mobile radar speed signs that we have that are managed, operated by the police department. So the action plan, this is a, there's like five different, I'm counting right, different elements of doing a Safe Streets for All action plan. Just developed a vision statement that you see up there. I'm not going to read it, but we are looking at both safe road users, the safe vehicles, safe speeds, safe roads, and post-crash care. Obviously some of these are more relevant to planning and others are more relevant to maybe like fire. So we have an advisory committee that's working on this that does include representatives from fire as well as we have somebody who represents the public health field. Opponents of the action plan are shown up here. We're really early in this project and so unfortunately I don't have any like data that I can show you. We are right now doing the safety analysis and we're working with a consultant also reviewing our planning and regulations and starting to develop policies and things like that. So much of this is yet to come, but just letting you guys know it is happening. And go out to the Community and within the last month, we had a series of three can be at houses trying to hear from people about you know where the areas that are most important to them. When he has plenty project, this is separate but related, so this is a. Demonstration project, where we are reducing the speed limit on all of our local residential streets. 25 miles an hour to 20 miles an hour. A before and after analysis of that effort. And also doing some public education. Participate so the map that's shown there is they can't tell what streets and it's on, but all the little dots are new. or replaced speed limit signs. There's about 3,000 of them. And so it's going to take about a year to roll out starting in around January of 2027. Go to the project webpage. You can see that map live and you can like zoom in and see, you know, what streets The next project is this is a refinement plan of looking at an over crossing of highway 22 for people walking and biking. This actually comes out of our existing transportation system plan, we have this identified at a high level as a project and then, if you look there see the little you know purple dashed lines across highway 22 that is the. level of detail that we have in the transportation system plan and as you can imagine that's really not enough detail to really proceed to try to get funding or advance this project so for that reason we applied to the community paths program to do a refinement plan so this is our general study area both north and south of highway 22 between lancaster and cordon road There's a number of schools, there's a park, housing as well. In this area, we have preliminarily identified sort of five different corridors that could accommodate some sort of overcrossing, maybe. and two of them are actually enhancing the ends. So crossing at Lancaster and then the crossing over by Cordon Road and then three different alignments in the middle. We are working with our consultant team to do an evaluation of existing conditions and start to develop an evaluation framework of how we choose which ends. We have been doing some public outreach in the community with a focus on the people that might use this area. And so not, you won't have seen anything citywide because we're really trying. Unfortunately, we have been having a hard time really hearing from people. So that's something that our advisor committee is gonna have to deal with in terms of how to respond to that. A lot of door knocking and hanging of wires and things like that. So ultimately, this plan will result in some preferred recommendation that will then feed into our update of the transportation system plan, either with more detail and cost detail or, you know, maybe no bill. That will come back to you through the TSP process. And the TSP process, transportation system plan, This is something that we have been working on through a project called Salem in Motion. It's been around for a little while. You might have heard of this. We've been working on it for a few years. This came out of the Our Salem project, which identified, updated some of our goal and policy statements for transportation and identified a need to really take a fresh look at our transportation system plan. Our current plan was originally adopted in 1998, has been amended regularly through the time. However, some of those amendments have been very small. So I'd say the last major amendment was in 2012. And even that only touched the bicycle and pedestrian elements. So it really needs to be looked at again. Um, this is also advancing some of the actions from our climate action plan. And then the state decided about the same time to adopt some new rules called the climate friendly and equitable communities rules. All of these feed into the sale of emotion project. We have recently completed the phase one, which was the Salem-Keizer Regional Scenario Plan. This was a requirement from the state in order to move into. So phase two with the green outline is where we are. We went to council last night and they approved us entering into a intergovernmental agreement with the Oregon Department of Transportation to provide funding or the most much of the funding for this update. We still need to get it through signatures, etc. But I anticipate we'll be able to have a contract with our consultants in place by the fall. And it's expected to be probably two, two and a half year project when you include adoption. So As through this update, we sort of divided it into three phases that will be the focus of community engagement as we move forward. The first is, you know, looking at what are the existing conditions? You know, what is the vision from the community building on what we heard in the our Salem project? Second would be the future system framework. So looking at, you know, what's the future look like? What are all the alternatives that we have to deal with? And then finally, third phase implementing that. What are our preferred solutions and creating that final TSP document that will come through public hearings? That's all I have. I'm going to pass it.

Thank you. Karen Hall, City Traffic Engineer. So I have Three things I want to just provide an update on tonight. The first is our downtown bicycle and pedestrian safety study that we've been working on for about a year now. And then two other efforts that are underway. One is a design speed update. So updating the design classifications. And then another area we've been focusing on is how we're managing construction impacts through. So getting into the downtown bicycle So Julie talked about the TSP, which really establishes our vision, goals, and policies for the transportation city. This study is an example of how we go about implementing some of those. So while this doesn't fall under the Authority Planning Commission the same way the TSP does, it's an example of how we're bringing some of those goals and visions to reality. So that's things like providing a balanced multimodal transportation system, that supports the safe and efficient for the people and policies that include prioritizing, planning, designing, constructing. So this study began about a year ago following a motion from city council to evaluate bicycle and pedestrian safety in our town. With that being kind of that overarching goal, we're really looking at achieving that in three ways. The first is looking at how we reduce travel speed area. The second is a focus on implementing low cost safety treatments. So not looking at large scale changes to the infrastructure that we know costs a lot of money and take a lot of time to, but how can we work with what we already have in place, making improvements in safety sooner. Then build on ongoing planning efforts. So that's things like the safety action plan, um that Julie just talked about and all the effort that's gone into making our down so as we're navigating that this study those are kind of the three things from the solution side so I do just want to note that a number of the streets in our downtown um are only maintained by this includes Front Street parts of commercial ferry and trade Any changes to operations at these intersections does require approval. We have been in coordination with them. We've been asking them to review findings and our recommendations as we go along. But final implementation is going. So getting into some of the safety analysis and findings that has come out. So we looked at five years of craft data in the downtown. focused on identifying intersections where we had a high number of crashes, and specifically looking at ones where we have crashes involving bicycles. There were about five intersections that came out of this analysis. We do have some areas where we have high pedestrian activity that we're also including in this, despite the fact that the data didn't it front and state uh that there was a fatality that occurred um so that happened to just one reason um what is it a meeting pedestrian interval yeah um so that is where the walk sign comes on three seconds So as we're looking at recommendations coming out of this study, we have kind of two approaches that we're taking. And the first one is what we're calling spot improvements or specific changes at intersections throughout downtown. So the first is we've identified five intersections where we propose to add advanced warning signs. So those are the signs that say vehicles stop for pedestrians or vehicles yield for bikes. So just looking to bring some awareness to areas where we know there are Either already observed complex or a higher potential for conflict. Bicyclists, pedestrians and vehicles. We're also proposing three locations where we will add no turn on red signs. So those are those three blue dots that you see there. And those are also locations where we either had a number of bicycle pedestrian-involved crashes or where we know there's high pedestrian activity. Complex exists. Over the past couple of years, we have been implementing leading pedestrian intervals throughout the downtown. So we actually have the majority of intersections covered. So as part of this study, we're really only proposing You just want to acknowledge there's one location on this map that we have not identified any recommendations as part of that effort that we do hear a lot about and that's liberty and ferry, so we know the crossing on the West side is particularly challenging. However, changes that we looked at such as no turn on red. Um, we're really, we're not supported by ODOT at this time because that is a high volume. The left turn on red there, um, would cause it to spill back even further than it. Um, despite that in conversations with ODOT, we do recognize that there are improvements needed at that intersection. They just don't fall under this purview of the low cost improvements that we can take. So ODOT is committed to continuing to have that conversation with us about what more substantial changes could look like at that intersection, including potentially identifying some grant funding that the city could pursue. While we're not identifying any substantial changes out of this study for that location, it did kind of renew that need, confirm that that exists, and bring ODOT back to the table to have some of those conversations. The other element of this is large-scale changes to our signal timing throughout downtown. So our signal timing at the corridor level around downtown four has not been updated and our best estimate is approximately 40 years. So this has been an opportunity for us to entirely revisit that with the goal of changing the speed at which vehicles are progressing through downtown. So right now, if you're driving through downtown, it's set such that you can travel at about 25 miles per hour and you should hit a green light Stapp, At most intersections. This effort is proposing to lower that progression for all of the quarter shown there in the layer green to Stapp, All of the signals downtown to encourage drivers to move a little bit slower and for the facilities for some of them. We were able to get out to agree to reducing it five miles per hour. So that keeps it at 25 miles per hour for progression speeds on the front. And then we do have some elements. The other change that I'll note there is we have Union and Chemeketa shown there in the purple. For those, we're actually proposing to set the progression speed at 15 per hour. And that's because those are our family-friendly bikeways. So we're looking to set those at a speed that is a little closer to what we would expect cyclists to be traveling so they too would experience um we do have a 12th street that i will note there at this time we're not proposing any changes on 12th we do have an upcoming project on that street so uh we will plan to look at some of these larger scale changes both signal timing and operations of the intersection That's going to make some changes to that quarter. So those in place. So, um, just a summary here. All of these findings are going to support this goal of interviewing bicycle pedestrian safety in downtown. Some other benefits that we're seeing is the improved system one progression. So this update to the signal timing is really allowing us to make sure that If you were driving at that 20 miles per hour or near it, so between 18 and 20, we'll have that green wave and you'll be able to travel through downtown without stopping. That has some additional benefits. We're seeing decreased delay experienced by drivers on some corridor, as well as a reduction in emissions from downtown. And then some of these targeted safety improvements, the no turn on red, the addition of bleeding some of the city's recent efforts to minimize. So the next update that I wanted to share is our an update to our public works administrative rule. And this is specifically related to design speed. So these rules are where our design requirements for infrastructure that's required by Salem Advice co-live. So if you all are reviewing a land use application that is required to make improvements in the public, these rules really guide how that infrastructure gets built. The design speed that we use. So we are taking advantage of some other updates that are happening to that to start the process of making some changes. So this table shows all of our street classifications that we have called out in that document, as well as the current design speed. So that's what they are set at today. These changes will go into effect at the end of this week. So on the second, you can see there are proposed updates. So for collectors, materials and parkways we are proposing to reduce the five miles per hour and at this time we're not planning to change the local design speed and the reason for that is we just feel we need a little bit more time to evaluate some of the impacts of there are a few areas where we see designers struggle to meet those standards today and that is curvatures in the roadway so the frontal curves and the vertical curves um and that starts to impact things like site distance at driveways we have um especially some of our failure areas where we're seeing a lot of development now um as we lower those design speeds people sometimes struggle to me so um it's not to say that we'll never change to the 20 miles per hour consistent with the speed limit changes on our local street It's just that at this time, as part of a pretty minor update to these administrative rules, we just didn't feel like we have the time to really evaluate that and make sure we understand. The other changes is to the existing posted speed and how that affects the design speeds. As you can see there, our current standards say that when we have a posted speed for collectors, arterials, and parkways, uh that differs from that design speed you just saw we would use a design speed that includes that plus five or ten miles per hour um as part of this update we are removing that increase so for collectors for example if the posted speed today is 25 miles per hour the design speed moving that is similar on arterials parkways we're leaving um an additional five miles per hour just because on those streets are intended to function. So more changes to come on this in the future. We do expect that we'll revisit these design speeds a little more holistically when we start to look at updates to things like street cross sections following the TSP update. So that will be kind of Engineering's trigger to reevaluate these at a larger scale and make sure that we're aligning with any updates or changes coming out of the transportation. But we did just want to take advantage of this opportunity to at least start that process and make some minor And then the last one is just temporary traffic control. So I just want to highlight this as one other element of the development and construction process that we've been attempting to focus on. And temporary traffic control is really used to manage the safety and efficiency of all users through or around work zones. So this is not something that you all are typically seeing as part of the land use process, but as those decisions move into construction, they are required to develop a temporary traffic control plan For anyone that's going to impact the flow of people walking writing or bicycle or driving in public right away. And just to share a little bit about our process for that. So these plans are typically submitted as part of the permitting process and not like I mentioned is written And we review those as part of that and are also often putting things out as part of our own construction projects. So if the city is out reconstructing AV ramps or anything like that, we're also deploying traffic. There's really two documents that are guiding this and that's the manual on uniform traffic control devices and the Oregon temporary traffic control handbook. So those really set the standards for the necessary signage that we need to have out as part of that to alert drivers, changes in traffic patterns, and how much space we need to allocate to work zones based on. So from the city's perspective, one area that we've been attempting to focus on for as part of this is that as we're reviewing these plans that are prepared by others or if we're putting out our own traffic control, we're really looking to make sure we're being mindful of how this is impacting people walking and riding bicycles through these work zones. This means making sure that we have reasonable detours in place to maintain access through construction, considering where we need to implement traffic control that goes above and beyond standard. One example of this is there's been a lot of construction on Coogler near Costco in that area. We heard outreach from someone who bikes through that area and said, hey, the bikes on roadway sign is really not sufficient for someone who wants to ride safely and comfortably through this area. So we were able to work with the contractor doing that work to establish a fairly reasonable bicycle detour and get that signed so that they had an option that did not require them to just be merging into traffic on Coogler. So as we continue to refine this process, those are the types of things that we're thinking about and trying to be more mindful of

Any questions?

I certainly have one or two. Commissioner Slater, go ahead. Thank you. If we could go back to the slides about the speed design updates. I think some of my colleagues will remember a conversation we had about a property being developed off of, it wasn't Court Road, it was Battle Creek. Battle Creek. where we had a conversation about design speeds. And I think that, as I understand it, the design speed discussion we're having today is really a long, delayed follow-up from that original conversation where the design speeds were set and that there was not a lot that we or other people could do about speed issues on the street. So I'm glad to hear that they're at. So in terms of the slides, I'd be interested... I get it. Sorry. a minor arterial, and it has a design speed of 30. Are there design strategies that we can use to then... It's not that we want people to go... I guess my concern is that we want to create a design context that cues people to keep their speeds lower, right? So they can go 30 is the maximum, but we really don't want them to go 45, for example. So are there design strategies that we have that can encourage people to drive 30 or lower rather than kind of create these nice clean freeway experiences that say 30, but you feel you could safely drive 50?

Yeah, part of that is where we set that design speed. And by lowering that, we start to see things like curves become tighter. And we know that is kind of part of those visual cues that help to narrow. The other element is, and this is not something that we're going to do this time, but will be something we revisit. about other kind of visual cues that people's perception of whether the street, you know, that's a big component of how fast people choose to drive. Like for extensions, looking at the turning radius, how tight that is and how much that's encouraging people to right turn where they might not feel like they need to yield and look for pedestrians. First, we tighten that up. It forces people to take back So there are a number of design requirements that are heavily influenced by the design speed that this will already capture and then there will be more work to be done here for some of those. into work.

And so if the design speed is 30 in collectors and arterials, does that then create opportunities to install things like raised pedestrian walkways or pedestrian tables and other sort of strategies to keep traffic slower? And at certain speeds, those are not options anymore. So I remember we could not consider those at like a 35-mile-an-hour zone. But in a 30-mile-an-hour zone, do those become tools that are available to us?

It does. Let's bring more tools that we have identified in our neighborhood traffic management plan into play for some of these larger screens. Such as? The chicanes, looking at the raised intersections and the things like that we really want to see at 25 miles per hour. Okay. So not bring those in quite yet at that design speed, but it will start to kind of put more. Elements that are not just the.

All right, thank you.

Anyone else?

With the wind, whereabouts are you in this design development process? Or the it this is this is an update conversation. And where in the process does the public get to review and comment on the proposed changes?

So just for this update or for broader design changes?

Moving forward starting tomorrow.

We don't have that timeline defined yet. And part of that is working through as it gets underway, we wanna follow that. So we wanna make sure that we're getting enough of the way through that update for things like goals and policies to make sure that any design changes that we're making align with that process. So we are still a ways out from that broader conversation and kind of identifying exactly what the public process would look like for that. Even for these updates, there was a reading at council. The changes are posted for 30 days. We do notify interested parties that were changed. Even at this level, there was a public process, and that would be the minimum moving forward. For any more substantial updates, it will just depend on how we kind of correlate this to... That's really a large trigger for us to reevaluate this and some of the other elements of that.

I understand the concern about safe streets, pedestrian safe walking, et cetera, et cetera. But I also know that there is the necessity for the city to provide good access and circulation for the commercial conduct of business. And doing things like approaching sidewalk, pedestrian ramps, curbs, to create narrower spaces and tighter turn lines Turn lanes is good from a concept standpoint, but plays havoc or anybody delivering with a truck and trailer or, you know, something is, you'll see something as small as a 28 footer in downtown Salem. And you will also see long haul and 53 footers. parked in the middle of the street trying to unload. And for the city not to accommodate the reality that all of the businesses have to receive goods and services to be able to market their products and not provide for consideration of commercial vehicles on the street, an error in judgment. If you take a look at downtown, and you take a look at the five intersections that showed up on your map with primary concern for additional signal controls, no left turn, no right turn, et cetera, I constantly am driving north or south through the downtown area. And seeing a homeless person crossing the street at their leisure, having no interest in a traffic signal is normal. So I don't have a suggestion for how to resolve that because I don't know. And as long as the homeless population is predominant in the downtown core that's going to be an issue. And the question that I have is a part of your design evaluation needs to be, realistically, are there other issues that could be addressed? because this isn't a situation of saying, oh, we've got a problem with a specific intersection. I really appreciated if it was possible to take a look at maybe a little deeper into the location, the populace in the immediate area, and if there are other contributing factors that may have a beneficial impact contribution to the discussion of the safe streets. I'm also on the Citizens Traffic Planning Advisory Commission and the conversation from one of the members was her very severe concern about access and egress for school kids to and from school. And that has been agreed upon that it's an education process as much as putting in some design changes. So I will ask that you consider that as well.

I just wanted to add in that that's part of that safety action plan that we're dealing with is looking broader than just and looking at what we're seeing. We don't necessarily have control of all of those aspects, but that's why we have police and fire and public health at the table to try to have a whole host of recommendations.

And I think on the design side, that is already how we're approaching project specific implementation is making sure we understand the context of the area that we're designed for and recognizing that I think streets around a local school in a neighborhood, that street has different than one of our commercial corridor access for We are being mindful of the different contexts that apply throughout the city and how our streets function differently for different.

Thank you. I just have one more question if I could. Just so I understand, so collectors and the arterials in the central business district are going from 35 to 30 and arterials are going from 45 to 40. That right so arterials would we have two categories of arterial defenders and we have minor and major arterials are they both will they both be then going to 40. yeah we don't differentiate between.

We do have a number of minor materials where it differs and you have through the other table. If we already have arterial where the posted speed limit.

Okay, I think that's important for me to understand because one of my concerns, I believe, The drone is considered an arterial. That goes through a number of residential areas. In some cases, the speeds may even post it third. So if someone were to come in with a proposal to redesign a piece of Madrona and they'd say, well, we're going to our new design standards could be 40 and the planning commission would be told, well, that's just the design standards. Nothing you can do about it. You just have to approve it or not. We don't want I guess I don't want to be in that situation. SO IF WE'RE LOOKING AT RETROFITTING EXISTING ARTERIALS THAT ARE IN RESIDENTIAL AREAS, WE'RE NOT GOING TO HAVE THAT ISSUE OF BASICALLY UPGRADING THE SPEED.

PAST WHAT'S SUPPOSED TO BE.

COMING INTO THE PLANNING APPLICATION PROCESS. And what is the process then for determining the posted speed?

So the posted speed is set through speed zone investigations done by OCOG. So there are, there have been some revisions to the statutory requirements for setting speeds recently. That is what we're using to we'll use when we look at changing the actual post and feed in downtown to Metro. But for the majority of streets, we do make the request to ODOT to change. That process is, but in situations where been through that process, where it is statutorily set,

A couple other questions that maybe I'll just send them in writing. I'd be very interested in kind of safety advantages or what design tools become available when we move from 45 to 40. But I'll follow that up with you.

We think I could provide that.

Any other questions? I will just share a small anecdote. I live near Savage Road in Northeast Salem. Recently, five very large bumps were put in the road. That is an area that, much to my frustration, every summer is full of cars drag racing and then spinning donuts in the intersection outside my house. So these bumps have been like Christmas in July to me. They have been wonderful. And there's a very large temporary sign that says bump, and somebody spray painted the word big right above it. It's a very nice touch. I have no, any other? Okay, thank you. Agenda item eight, subcommittee reports. I believe the wetlands subcommittee is meeting after this meeting and I believe the other subcommittees have been dissolved. So I'm gonna assume there are none of those. Agenda item nine, planning administrators report.

I don't have much. I sent the annual report to the commissioners, and I've heard from one. I looked at it. Great. I'm not saying I need edits. I'm just saying. I only heard from one of you. And once we make the edits, then Commissioner Pierre Brundell and I will work on a date for when you will appear at council. Yes. Assuming you will assume that.

Absolutely.

It's part of your role. Great. And then we do have something scheduled for our next meeting. It's on the fly sheet, July 28th. Urban Development will be here to talk about the North Waterfront URA.

Okay.

All I have.

Agenda item 10, any commissioner comments for the good of the order?

I do have one briefly. So I attended the Waller Dam Advisory Committee meeting last week. Very informative. So the major issue there is the impact of the dam on fish passage. So Mill Creek is connected to the North Santiam River, which is a focus of interest for both ODFW and NOAA. So there's a real interest in improving the habitat quality and salmon rearing quality of North Saniem. And so part of that then is how Mill Creek, which is connected to North Saniem, plays a role in all of this. So the considerations now are what to do about the dam. The dam does not allow fish passage. It also is extremely maintenance intensive. It requires almost daily maintenance. clearing of sediment to allow water to move into Mill Race. So the committee's task here is to decide to make recommendations among a number of different options for the future of the dam. Options at this point include Rebuilding the dam with a different type of dam structure, one that allows it to raise up and down. Another part would simply be moving the dam fish ladder structure, rebuilding that in a different way. Third option would be to remove the dam and create kind of a series of boulder rapids. And then a fourth would be to remove the dam entirely and use a pumping station to provide water for Mill Creek, Mill Race.

So...

very interesting options and the funds exist to bring the, to develop the concept and bring the engineering design to a 60% design status. So look at this as a couple year project to finish that work. And then of course, many, many years to go through the rest of the process and get it built. So that's what I can share.

Very cool. Anyone have any questions for Commissioner Slater?

No.

Okay. Well, I think we can put it off no longer. Agenda item number 11, public comment. So I'm actually not sure I've ever had this happen before, so give me a moment. Public comments. Chris McGee, come on up. And again, since we don't typically do this, Megan, oh, look at that, right up on the screen. You get three minutes.

Name and address or ward for the record?

Oh, yeah. Please state your name and address or ward for the record.

Good evening. My name is Chris McGee. I'm a representative of the Coastal State Guard. First of all, I want to thank you all for what you do. Budget proceeds also be family living wages, not just. Export a lot of things, but local job for local families shouldn't be 1 of them. At a data center isn't built in Salem. It will be built somewhere else. The local family waits jobs for the Salem community. It means the construction worker, other a carpenter, electrician, plumber, or similar trade gets to be home after work, taking their kid daughter to dance recital, spending time with their family in their community. In all the concerns, not many people like change or something new. The first combustible engine was put on the road. Folks didn't like that noisy. Especially if you're traveling out of town to go to work. I noticed a couple of individuals that rode bikes here. Tonight, nothing wrong with that at all. Actually, that's pretty awesome. If you can do that. Close enough to where you live and work. Also want to do our due diligence to put safeguards in place to address these concerns that some. A lot of jobs, you know, too.

Thank you.

Any questioners have a question for him? Okay. Next, Jesus Sauceda.

Also a reminder to everyone that's coming, if you could speak really close to the mic, it helps people on YouTube be able to hear you better. Thank you.

My name is Jesus Salceda. Address or ward, please. I'd like to offer a perspective that often gets overlooked when people talk about patacenters. Whether we realize it or not, nearly everyone benefits from them every single day. When we send a text, stream a movie, access our medical records, attend online classes, or even call 911. for relying on digital infrastructure operating quietly in the background. It becomes such a normal part of everyday life that most of us never even stop to think about it. In many ways, data centers are similar to other infrastructure we depend on. Don't think much about electrical substations, auto treatment plants, telecommunication networks, or distribution facilities until they stop working. Their value is found in their reliability, not their visibility. That's the role data centers play today. They support our businesses, our schools, our hospitals, emergency services, government operations, and countless parts of daily life that most of us now take for granted. From our perspective, they're also some of the most sophisticated construction projects being built today. They require highly skilled craftspeople, years of planning, exacting standards, and an unwavering commitment to quality and safety. These are projects where there is very little room for error, and the people building them understand that responsibility. I'm not here to suggest that there shouldn't be questions or discussion. Large infrastructure projects deserve thoughtful public conversation. I simply hope that as those conversations continue, data centers are viewed in a broader context of the essential role they play in modern life, and that the perspective of their skilled men and women who build it, build that infrastructure remains part of the discussion. Thank you.

I'm just not familiar with the data center discussion here. Is there anything that we should know in advance in any context?

Yeah. So there was a Salem Reporter article came out. So I've been aware of it. So I guess I didn't think to ensure that everybody else was up to date. But I said, would you care to update the city? I know that the sounds like the NDA was recently lifted. There's been some discussions between the city and.

Yeah, there's no. We currently don't have an application on file. So this is not ex parte. um there was a pre-application conference with the company that's interested in building a data center at mill creek corporate center is a permitted use in that zone zone ec employment center the city did have a non-disclosure agreement with the company but some other organizations let the information out accidentally so the city's been released from our non-disclosure agreement again there's an application on file they've had some meetings with staff about land use requirements, infrastructure, that kind of thing. Thank you.

Yeah.

Any other questions? Contextual background request?

No?

Okay. Tino? I think it says Ward 7 here. Is that correct? Yeah. Okay. Come on up.

Appreciate it.

and I'm with the North Coast States as well. And I just wanted to throw my two cents as we're talking about this data center. Sorry to throw you guys off the topic on a sidecar for some of you. But we've heard a lot of conversation regarding data centers over the past several months, especially in Oregon and in Hillsborough. And there's a lot of concern that the community can bring with the potential water, noise, traffic, and other potential impacts that people bring. And while I do recognize that those are important concerns, but the one thing that I've learned in being in construction in this industry over the past years is that a lot of times before the project even hits the dirt, there's so much research, data, engineering, and things that go into play in these processes. And there's many times there's a lot of evaluation happening in these projects before construction even begins. And and I think it is very important, as you know, whether you support or you're against data centers that I think it's important that the discussion is begins with accurate information. The same is true for issues like noise setbacks landscaping traffic and other Community impacts those are afterthoughts they are part of the planning and review process. As builders, we don't just ask communities to ignore these concerns. We ask that those concerns be evaluated using facts rather than just assumptions. And I appreciate the opportunity to offer this perspective here with my colleagues about building these types of facilities, and I hope that these perspectives remain part of the conversation as this thing

Lecomteau? I think you wrote down Ward 6. Is that correct?

Okay.

Thank you.

Good evening, Commissioners. For the record, my name is Lecomteau with the North Coast State Carpenters Training Center. Every skilled carpenter starts somewhere. Our apprenticeship is more than a training program. It's a career pathway. Men and women enter our programs with little or no experience, and through years of classroom instruction and on-the-job training, become highly skilled professionals who build the school, hospitals, bridges, manufacturing facilities, and infrastructure our communities rely on. Projects like these provide the consistent, long-term work that allows apprentices to develop their skills alongside experienced journeymen. They aren't just learning how to build a project, They're learning a trade they'll carry for the rest of their lives. When apprentices have steady opportunities to work, they complete their training, remain in Oregon, and become the next generation of skilled craftspeople our state will depend on for decades. As an apprenticeship coordinator, I've seen firsthand what these opportunities mean. I've watched people enter our program looking for a chance and graduate with a career that allows them to support their families, buy homes, and contribute to their communities here in Oregon. As conversations about data centers continue, I simply ask you to also consider the opportunities they create for developing Oregon's future workforce.

Thank you. Thank you.

Dan? Don, sorry, I can't even read my own writing, so I apologize.

Ward 6.

Ward 6, actually 4555 Japonica Street, Northeast Salem, Oregon. I am a graduate of McKay High School at Scott Waldo, MK. So I am above this town and this data center, I'm gonna give you a different perception In about eight months, I'm going to retire from the UBC. Grad from McKay, one of the first projects I ever worked on was Siltec in the Mitsubishi. And it catapulted my young family and my high school sweetheart that we got married, had three children. We bought our first house at the age of 22. And it's work like this and data centers like this that catapult us. It gives us that opportunity when we graduate. And so these projects give apprenticeship this huge opportunity right out the window to be successful. And then when you learn that trade within that four or five years of these data centers, it's just, I'm going at any time, anywhere in the United States to do the trade. Intel, back when we had the recession between 08 and 12, great opportunity. It kept a lot of carpenters busy, like myself. These projects shouldn't be just built in certain places, but built Everywhere where it's needed. Trades like ourselves behind us to do this work. So I really, I'm just trying to kind of see how important these kind of projects, especially for Salem. It just gives all these kids graduating graduating class and kids an opportunity to be successful. But after that, I have one child that did graduate. The other two are successful too, but didn't graduate. She lives in Boise, Idaho. She's trying to catch up to dad financially and I'm just, you know, amazed by the choices that she's made too, but it's because this trade, these projects, given us the opportunity to be successful, make it happen. Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you guys.

Thank you. Zach? And address or ward?

Good evening, council. My name is Zach. I live in 56. I JUST WANT TO ADDRESS THE DATA CENTER. I UNDERSTAND WHY PEOPLE HAVE CONCERNS ABOUT THIS PROJECT. WATER USE, ELECTRICAL DEMAND, NOISE AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS. HOWEVER, THOSE ISSUES SHOULD BE CAREFULLY EXAMINED THROUGH PUBLIC REVIEW PROCESS AND IF THE PUBLIC CAN'T, I'M SORRY. THOSE ISSUES SHOULD BE CAREFULLY EXAMINED THROUGH THE PUBLIC REVIEW PROCESS AND IF THE PROJECT can't meet Salem's standards, it shouldn't move forward. But I don't believe we should reject a $5 billion investment before we've completed that process. This project represents thousands of family wage and construction jobs for several years. Those are electricians, laborers, operators, plumbers, pipefitters, ironworkers, and many others. These are local men and women who buy homes here, pay taxes here, volunteer here, and spend their paycheck in Salem business. While the permanent workforce may be around 75 employees, the construction workforce will be many times larger, creating opportunities for apprentices to enter the trades and build lifelong careers. Salem has designated Mill Creek as an industrial employment area. We tell companies that meet our zoning requirements that they aren't welcome simply because they're data centers. What message does that send to every future employer considering Salem? Appropriate question isn't, do we like data centers? The question is, can this project meet Salem's environmental utility community standards? If it can, then we should welcome an investment that strengthens our tax base, creates good-paying jobs, and keeps Oregon workers...

Thank you. Paul Elder? Paul Elder? Sorry. and address reward for the record.

1968 Reisner Drive, Kaiser, Oregon.

Thank you.

Chair, members of the Seattle Planning Commission, thank you for your time. My name is Paul Elder. I serve as business manager for Local 290, representing over 5,200 highly skilled plumbers, piefitters, HVACs, including many who live and work. One thing that saddens me about our areas, we export our children, like our jobs. In years, the people have many years of people have had conversations from data centers. It turns me into concerns about energy. This project has been assigned to address concerns. While industrial facilities may not have zero water needs, investing in closed-loop systems technology demonstrates a commitment to water as efficiently and responsibly as possible. This data center is designed to use less than an 18-hole golf course. The region continues to improve conservation of long-term water supplies. Projects prioritize the conservation

Thank you.

Wow. That was very well done. That was the last name on the list. So if there is no one that wishes to speak that did not sign up, and I think we should end it right there because that was pretty great.

moving on to uh agenda item 12. well i guess i would like to meet if you'd like to have some comments yeah if i could so i appreciate you all coming out here um i don't know if you're familiar with the planning commission process um in general our our charge is to if we can approve applications We don't determine in advance of an application what's gonna happen to that application. So when it comes in, we're tasked with doing one of a couple things. We either approve something when it meets the requirements, and there are regulatory requirements that we follow. We don't bring in our own judgment on these matters, or our own personal biases, whether it's for or against data centers or any other business. What we look at is what are the regulatory requirements for approval, And if they meet those regulatory requirements, we approve them. And I think all of us here have voted for things that maybe they weren't a big fan of, but clearly met the criteria to be approved. And that's what we do. If they don't meet the criteria and we can condition changes to make an approval happen, then we vote to impose those conditions and then grant approval as well. In rare cases, we can't get there and then we vote against it because it doesn't meet a criteria. The staff report that the staff will develop is gonna have a very significant impact on us because it will tell us at least the staff's view of whether or not the application met the criteria. I don't know if there have been too many cases in at least the six or seven years that I've been on the committee where we have voted against the staff approval, the staff recommendation. So I think that's something for you all to keep your eye on. But this, unlike some other parts of the city, this is actually not a terribly political body. We are going to be looking at the regulations. I know many of you have talked about whether it meets the standards or not, and that's really what we're going to be asking questions about. I have to imagine with the data center, there will be lots of questions that we're going to be asking, but it sounds like there will also be a lot of answers out there. So I just wanted to give you a preview of what lies ahead if, in fact, an application comes to us. I hope that's helpful.

Any other comments? Mr. Previck?

I actually had a question for Lisa. You mentioned something about the NDA with the city. I was curious if you could talk about what happened or you mentioned somebody broke their NDA and so now the city's released.

I believe Marion County inadvertently published some of the information in their agenda packet at their last meeting. They attached some information from CEDCOR. Accidentally. That's what I understand. Not the city.

Do we know if there would be as much public testimony today if that wouldn't have happened?

I don't think it was made public until that happened, so no, I don't think probably until a land use application had been submitted and notice had gone out, unless the company was going to choose to make an announcement or something. The city manager spoke about it at council meeting last night. It might be on a future council agenda for the council to receive public testimony, just generally not about the land use application, but

And to clarify, we wouldn't have a hearing on this by default, only if they're requesting a change or something. So there's a chance we might not even see this.

Yeah, so it's a permitted use in the zone, so they won't need a zone change. They'll need site plan review, which is a staff decision. They might need other applications that could elevate it to a public hearing, but most likely it wouldn't have a hearing unless there was an appeal of a decision.

Okay, thank you.

Oh, do we have a question?

Sure, yeah.

Zach, . Ladies, you referenced staff is going to make a decision which . No, no, I didn't say that. No, no, no. My words.

Often.

Often. Right. What is that staff body you referenced?

This is the planning administrator. The planning administrator will review all planning applications and most of the decisions are made by the planning administrator. Some decisions require approval by the planning commission. Usually if there's a change, you want a variance of some sort, like the standard says you have to be 10 feet from the road and you want to be five feet from the road, then it might come to the planning commission. But ultimately there will be a report that lays out to what extent all the criteria that the development is required to meet and then staff's evaluation of if it did meet all of those requirements and any changes it might need to make. And all of that will be a public document. Yeah, so you'll be able to read this thing once the application's in, then there'll be a response and it's all public record.

Yeah.

I believe you had mentioned that if there's a review of the administrative decision, that might be another pathway to the planning commission. I would think on something of this size, that feels likely to occur.

Yeah, and it depends on what land use applications they end up needing because the appeal might go to the hearings officer instead of the planning commission.

Okay, depending on which type, if it's a type 2 or type 3.

Yeah, just depending on exactly what they submit and what applications that entails. So, yeah.

So a lot of directions this could go. our land use laws are really set up that if you meet the criteria you get to build here that's how it's set up yeah it's very different than some other states that are having these data center conversations okay um any other public i just want to actually thank everyone for coming out we have these meetings once or twice a month i make the same joke at every meeting and i say any public comment oh no one's here So I actually appreciate the opportunity to engage with the public. It's not something I think we get to do as much as would be good because I think as a planning body, we're a central part of democracy and we need the public's engagement for that to function.

It might be the last comment of the evening, but so the city has a land use application portal. If you're kind of curious about how the land use application process goes, you can Google Salem land use application portal. Do it all the time and you can look at all these different land use applications that come in and maybe get approved around the city. and every document that the applicant submits is on there, and you can click on it, and you can read through it as much as you want. Some of it's really long. Some of it's really short. It shows site plans, judgment staff uses, references to SRC, and then sometimes it includes a planning commission decision and other different things, and it's just kind of a general useful tool to use even if you're concerned about what's going on in your neighborhood, being able to figure out what's going on. Thanks, everybody, for coming.

Okay. Now I'm going to adjourn the meeting. All right. Adjourned at 7.09.