By Chris Kerr
The City Council directed the Planning Department, as part of its adopted planning strategy, to prepare amendments to the Community Development Code to provide for alternative regulatory approaches to create more desirable infill housing that is compatible with the community’s overall vision.
The Planning Commission and Planning staff determined that it would be advantageous and efficient to establish the Infill/PUD Task Force that could provide a greater range of relevant expertise on the subject to assist with the drafting of these code amendments. The Infill/PUD Task Force will direct any recommended code changes to the Planning Commission for their review and consideration.
To this end, the Planning Commission recently appointed seven residents to the newly created “Infill/Planned Unit Development (PUD) Task Force:”
1. Barbara Baker
2. Kevin Bryck
3. John Carr
4. Jerry Offer
5. Chris Sherland
6. Michael Babbitt
7. Christine Steel
These residents will work with City Planning staff to facilitate more appropriate and desirable residential infill development in the city by modifying the PUD Chapter, as well as other Community Development Code sections as necessary, coordinating applicable regulations, removing obsolete and ineffective provisions, and clarifying confusing and contradictory language.
The City is also pleased to announce that a specific web site on this issue has been established at http://westlinnoregon.gov/planning/residential-infillpud-task-force. The work program, schedule, meeting agendas, background materials, and any draft code language produced by the Infill/PUD Task Force will be compiled on this site for easy public access. If you would like to be notified of any updates made to this page, please sign up for the Planning Department’s RSS feeds or email notifications.
Public comments and recommendations are encouraged and can be made at any Infill/PUD Task Force meeting, or emailed to ckerr@westlinnoregon.gov. All Infill/PUD Task Force meetings are open to the public and are typically held in City Hall every second and fourth Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. Please check http://westlinnoregon.gov to confirm all meetings and agendas.
Chris Kerr is West Linn’s senior planner, and the staff contact for the Infill/PUD Taskforce.