2006-08-15

HIDDEN SPRINGS NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION MINUTES MEETING OF AUGUST 15, 2006 CALL TO ORDER. The meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM at the West Linn Adult Community Center by President, Lynn C. Fox. Other officers in attendance: Harvey Schultz, Vice President; Donna Baker, Treasurer; Charles Lytle, Secretary. QUORUM DATA. Eligible members in good standing as of the previous meeting: 40. At 10%, the quorum for this meeting was 4. Only members in good standing can vote. The number of eligible members in good standing in attendance at the start of the meeting was 7. Therefore, the meeting stands as an official meeting of the Neighborhood Association. The maximum number of members in attendance was 13. MINUTES OF THE JULY 18, 2006 MEETING. Motion To Approve The Minutes: Harvey Schultz Second To The Motion: Ingrid Mueller Vote On The Motion: 6 Aye, 0 Nay, 1 Abstention ? Motion Carried TREASURER’S REPORT. Treasurer Donna Baker reported an assumed current account balance of $1,500.00. President Lynn Fox reported that the bench purchased using funds from last fiscal year cost $600, not the $375 originally quoted by John Atkins. Mr. Atkins said that the balance would be supplied from City funds. POLICE REPORT. Officer Bunch reported that there were 64 police calls in the neighborhood during July, almost all nuisances, such as noise, barking dogs, etc. GUEST SPEAKERS. 1) Mr. Timothy Green, Lake Oswego dog park organizer. Mr. Green presented the history of the dog park at the intersection of Rosemont & Stafford. The land is owned by the City of Lake Oswego, but has not been annexed into the City. Both the dog park and the community gardens are not in the L.O. comprehensive plan. The City is moving the dog park and removing the gardens to make way for the construction of ball fields. Judy Hammerstad, L.O. mayor, has contacted West Linn about a joint effort, but W.L. officials stated they could not participate because of the current financial turmoil caused by the $1.4M embezzlement. There are three design plans for the land, and each one has the dog park sited at a different location within the parcel. The public hearing on the plans will be at L.O. city hall at 6:30 PM on Thursday, August 31st. Mr. Green brought copies of numerous articles on establishing and maintaining dog parks. He stated that two acres is really the minimum size and that five acres or more is better. Also, the land should be fairly level and without obstructions. The area should be fenced, and plastic poop bags should be provided. There are a small number of private dog parks in the area, the nearest being at 72nd & S.W. Huntzinger in Tigard. 2) Ken Worcester, Head W.L. Parks & Recreation Dept. Mr. Worcester’s visit was part of the P&R Department’s annual outreach program to all of the active neighborhood associations as a preliminary to a comprehensive update of the 1998 Parks Master Plan. His mission is to query the various neighborhood residents to find out what P&R is doing well and not so well and what citizens would like to see in the City’s park system. He agreed with the size requirements for a dog park and noted that Mary S. Young Park off Hwy 43 is the only park large enough to accommodate a dog park. In the 1990’s the City had an open forum on Mary S. Young Park, and at that time, the citizens in attendance were adamantly opposed to setting aside any of the park land for dog park. The City has allowed unleashed dogs at Fields Bridge Park along the Tualatin River. The Erickson property right within the H.S. neighborhood is large enough. However, most of it is owned by the W.L.-W. School District, and they are mandated to sell surplus property at market rates. Thus, the District could not donate the land to the City or make it available for City purchase at a highly discounted price. He recommended first going to the W.L. Parks Board and building general citizen support for the idea. HSNA Minutes August 15, 2006 Meeting Page 2 OLD BUSINESS. 1) Planned Development at 1165 Rosemont. An informational meeting (NOT an official meeting of the HSNA) was held at the W.L. Adult Community Center hosted by Bruce Goldson of Compass Engineering, under contract to Centurion Homes, general contractor for the proposed development, on Thursday, August 3rd. In attendance were a number of people whose yards back up to the proposed development and HSNA board members Lynn Fox and Charles Lytle. The surprise of the meeting was the presentation of the development as a PUD (planned unit development) instead of an ordinary, R-10 residential development. A PUD is allowed if the proposed development “adds value to the community” (W.L. Community Development Code). Mr. Goldson gave no insight into what the added value and left it to the audience to assume it must be replacing the existing narrow paved path with a sidewalk. At the pre-application meeting in July, Mr. Goldson proposed a different plan in which the paved path was to be replaced with a meandering path to match the one directly to the north of the proposed development. When members of the audience protested that the Voters’ Pamphlet made no mention of a PUD or the proposed nine lots of about 6,000 sq. ft., Mr. Goldson said that neither his company nor Centurion Homes were responsible for any wording in the Pamphlet. Other concerns were: people cutting through the proposed development from Rosemont to Churchill Downs and out to Santa Anita to avoid the congestion at the Rosemont/Santa Anita intersection; who would ultimately be responsible for maintaining the small amount of open space; whether the existing trees would be cut. Mr. Goldson stated that “only sick trees” would be removed. It was noted by attendee Lynn Fox that City code requires saving only 20% of the trees. None of the trees are currently classified as “significant,” and thus any tree could be in the group of 80% that can be removed. The audience remained upset about what appeared to be a blatant runaround in terms of squeezing in substandard lots by trying to convince the City Planning Department to allow a PUD. 2) LDS Church. Dean Suhr reported that the proposed LDS Church will be before the Planning Commission at their September meeting. If approved, the proposed plan will next go to a public hearing. Mr. Suhr stated that the plan has gone through a number of changes, including enlarging the parcel. Issues in contention are: blending with the scale of the neighborhood; parking; and traffic. He felt that these concerns have now been adequately addressed. Members expressed concern over congestion at the Rosemont/Santa Anita intersection. Mr. Suhr stated that the Hidden Springs neighborhood had no standing in the matter because the association boundary was not contiguous with the proposed church. Members took strong exception to this and stated that the traffic caused by the church would cause impacts throughout the south portion of the ridge. 3) Transportation Plan. Skip Ormsby, Birds Hill (southern edge of Dunthorpe) resident and CPO member, presented an update on the Macadam Avenue/Hwy 43 Transportation Plan. West Linn has been cut out of the planning process, and no one from the City is lobbying for a seat at the table. Approximately 40% of the traffic load under study comes into L.O. from W.L. and beyond, but no one is representing this population, which will be significantly impacted by what is proposed. The plan under study will require three transfers to go from West Linn to Portland city center, where no transfer is needed now. An alternative being studied is turning Hwy 43 into a toll road. Mr. Ormsby has been in communication with W.L. city officials, but no one has as yet expressed any interest in participating in the planning process and seem content letting others decide the fate of West Linn commuters. He urged lobbying the transportation planning group directly, rather than trying to drum up interest in City officials who appear to be occupied with development issues. Gary Hitesman moved as follows: “The West Linn Hidden Springs Neighborhood Association directs its President, Lynn C. Fox, to work with the Birds Hill CPO in developing a joint resolution demanding that the City of West Linn be given the same number of memberships in the LOPPAC as Lake Oswego and other affected jurisdictions.” Second To The Motion: Donna Baker Vote On The Motion: 10 Yea, 0 Nay, 0 Abstention ? Motion Carried HSNA Minutes August 15, 2006 Meeting Page 3 NEW BUSINESS. 1) Candidate Forum. David Rittenhouse, President of the Tanner Basin N.A., announced that he is spearheading a candidate forum in October. The forum will be a joint effort with the League of W.L. Neighborhoods. All candidates running in the November elections will be invited to speak and answer citizen questions. 2) 19740 Wildwood Drive Proposed Development. HSNA President Lynn Fox reported on the pre-application meeting for this single-house development. The parcel is on an extreme slope and serves as a natural surface water drainage way to Robin Creek. 3) Proposed Tamarask Lane Development. HSNA and Planning Commission member Gary Hitesman reported that this development is also being proposed as a 34-lot PUD. Thirty percent of the lots are 40 – 45 ft. wide and less than 100 ft. deep, with an average of about 45x85, or 3,825 sq. ft. The parcel is currently zoned low density residential at R-15 and R-10. This again shows how zoning regulations can be circumvented by claiming “…value to the community” by cramming too many lots into too small a space. The nature of this “value” has not been made clear and appears to be only a value of gross profit to the developer. An association member noted that, by comparison, the minimum standard lot size in the city of Portland is 50x100 ft. or 5,000 sq. ft. Even more serious is the proposed solution to the projected traffic increase of installing a concrete median in the middle of Blankenship Road at the Tannler intersection that would prevent vehicles coming out of Tannler from turning left and thus continuing on to the I-405 interchange. The pre-application hearing will be on Thursday, August 24th. NEXT MEETING DATE TO BE SEPTEMBER 19, 2006 Motion To Meet In September : Charles Lytle Second To The Motion: Martin Brothers Vote On The Motion: 9 Yea, 0 Nay, 0 Abstention ? Motion Carried ADJOURNMENT. There being no other business to come before the membership, the meeting was adjourned at 10:20 PM by President Lynn C. Fox. CORRECTED MINUTES APPROVED BY FORMAL MOTION AND VOTE AT THE DULY-CALLED MEETING OF SEPTEMBER 19, 2006.