City Council recap of 11/10/2014 meeting

The West Linn City Council held its regular meeting Nov. 10 at city hall. The Community Development Code, street fees and a fire code adoption were a few of the items on the agenda.

Community Development Code Amendment

The city initiated a Community Development Code (CDC) amendment project in 2010 to address some of the CDC related to infill development, including planned unit developments (PUDs), flag lots and the development of land with natural resource constraints. The desire was to better coordinate regulations, remove obsolete and ineffective provisions, and clarify confusing and contradictory provisions.

The goal is to amend the planned unit development (PUD) regulations to no longer require a PUD in order to develop sites with natural resources/constrained areas and facilitate appropriate development. It also sought to identify and implement ways to improve the design and minimize the adverse impacts of flag lots.

The amendments address a variety of different kinds of infill development: planned unit developments (PUDs), flag lots, cluster development, cottage housing, zero lot line housing, and moves and consolidates several chapters that relate to residential development to a new, single chapter in the CDC.

“This has been in the process from the planning commission for years,” Mayor John Kovash said.

During the council’s pre-meeting work session, councilors said they heard some confusion from the community about the proposed amendments, with some people thinking the amendments are tied to the Arch Bridge/Bolton master plan and that the amendments would increase density.

To allow more time for the community to review and learn about the amendments and to give input, the council remanded the item back to the planning commission for further discussion.

“It is very important people understand this code,” Kovash said. “What we do today affects what West Linn will look like for our children and our grandchildren. … Let’s make sure we get it right and we understand what it is. … I want you to tell the planning commission what you think about each part of these ordinances.”

Councilor Mike Jones moved to remand it to the planning commission and Councilor Thomas Frank seconded it. Councilor President Jody Carson recused herself from the discussion and the vote.

“I want to thank the task force that has been working on this for more than four years. … Thank you for all those years of work,” Councilor Jenni Tan said. “I appreciate you coming out and I hope you will go to planning commission and learn about these codes.”

Commercial Street Fees

The council also voted to approve a one-time increase to the roadway maintenance fee for commercial businesses.

Last year, the city raised street fees 75 percent for all West Linn residents. The new increase reflects the same increase for commercial businesses, based on a recommendation from the Economic Development Committee.

“Trying to weigh a fee increase is never easy, whether to a resident or to a business,” Frank said.

The ordinance changes the city’s cap that restricts fee increases to just 3 percent a year, according to the municipal code. The new proposed cap is $893, which will bring in an estimated $65,400 in annual revenue.

The increase raises monthly fees from $510 to $892.50 and affects only 17 businesses in West Linn, including Safeway, Albertsons, Walmart and Market of Choice.

The EDC explored the impacts the street fee would have on commercial businesses and city staff reached out to the business community for input, including sending notices to more than 400 licensed businesses, holding an open house and setting up one-on-one meetings.

“There’s been a lot of outreach, this is not a surprise to the businesses,” Kovash said. “This has been very smooth.”

Carson moved to approve the resolution and Tan seconded it. It passed unanimously.

TVF&R

In routine business, the council unanimously adopted some uniform fire regulations developed by Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue, which provides fire and rescue services to the city. The fire prevention code allows for fire code enforcement within the city of West Linn.

The fire code is based on the 2012 International Code Council’s Fire Code. It was adopted by the Oregon State Fire Marshal earlier this year with the state’s amendments. As a fire district, the state allows TVF&R to further amend the fire code.

TVF&R requested that the city pass an ordinance adopting its fire code to comply with state law. Procedurally, all cities in TVF&R’s district are required to adopt the fire code. Adoption allows TVF&R and the building division to enforce the provisions in the 2014 Oregon Fire Code.

Surplus property

The last item on the council’s agenda was to designate a piece of city-owned property as surplus.

The city is considering selling the property at 4979 Summit Street, which was purchased in 1916 for $1 for use as a water reservoir and water tower site. However, the reservoir’s use was discontinued in the 1980s and removed as part of improvements to the water system.

The property is 18,000 square feet and zoned R-10, single-family residential detached.

If the property is sold, the funds would be dedicated to the water fund. A public hearing would need to be held before a sale can be approved, however.

The council unanimously voted to designate the property as surplus.

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The city council will next meet on Monday, Nov. 17, for a work session at 6 p.m.