City Council recap of April 7 work session

Council talks communication, codes and marijuana

Planning Commission Joint Meeting

In an effort to improve communication and cooperation between the city council and the planning commission, a joint meeting between the two groups was held April 7 as part of a city council work session.

The last year has seen some tension between the city’s council and the planning commission revolving around the regulatory streamlining project, previously known as “Cut the Red Tape.” Since then, the two boards have agreed to meet quarterly to discuss larger issues and how to improve communication.

“We would like to work on communications and getting the city business done. That is what we are here for, to work through issues that are a benefit to the 25,000 citizens of West Linn,” Mayor John Kovash said.

Planning Commission Chairwoman Christine Steel started the conversation by asking the councilors what they thought the role of the planning commission is.

As outlined by the city, the commission is responsible for land use planning and ensuring that development within the city is in compliance with the comprehensive plan, zoning ordinance and development code.

However, City Councilor Mike Jones alluded to the planning commission spending too much time on issues that are not council goals, which makes the city less effective.

When the planning commission was reviewing proposed changes to the city development code, they also tackled rewriting some code.

Steel told the council the lesson she learned was that perhaps the commission went too far by trying to rewrite code rather than just sending recommendations back to staff.

Councilor Jody Carson told the commission that the city works off a docket of projects that are top priorities to get accomplished, and when a board or staff stray off that docket, it leads the city astray.

“That docket was created to allow us to look on an annual basis really what the priorities are,” Carson said.

“Staff has limited amount of time, limited amount of people,” Kovash said told the commission. “Your role is very important.”

The commission and council came up with a few ideas to improve communication, including cc’ing the commission on items relevant to them and having a councilor attend planning commission work sessions concerning larger issues.

Councilor Jenni Tan said, “That is why we are volunteering. We want to have purpose with what we do. I really want us to move together as a team.”

Board members agreed.

“I too want to be positive about forward looking,” Commissioner Russell Axelrod said.

He told councilors he felt city staff has misrepresented the planning commission on several issues. He also expressed the desire to not have staff act as the go-between of city council and the commission.

“In order for us to move forward …  we need to improve communications,” Axelrod said. “I think it is about improving the process.”

“I think it is unfair to staff to stick them in the middle,” Planning Commissioner Ryerson Schwark said.

“We are trying to move forward, rather than back,” Kovash said.

Board members agreed that the Red Tape process didn’t work well, but it was an isolated issue.

“We need to understand at what level our involvement is wanted,” Steel said. ”I think the mistake we may have made with the regulatory streamlining project trying to fix it” rather than sending it back to staff for revisions or adjustments.

After an hour of discussion the two boards agreed to continue meeting quarterly.

“We totally have your back. … That is why we put so much effort into it,” Steel told the council.

 

Code Enforcement and Uniform Appeals Ordinance

Assistant City Attorney Megan Thornton presented to the city council an ordinance for code enforcement and the appeals process.

The goal of the ordinance is to make all city code enforcement more streamlined and to eliminate redundancies as well as provide a uniform process for citizens to appeal decisions made by directors.

“It is kind of a lengthy ordinance,” City Manager Chris Jordan said.

The new ordinance uses the state process for classifying and dealing with code violations. The process outlines the way to serve citations, give warnings and obtain administrative warrants.

The ordinance makes improvements to the code enforcement process and stems from neighborhood noise issues that arose last year. The ordinance even outlines how to deal with blasts and explosions.

The ordinance also details how to handle appeals more simply. Currently citizens have multiple levels of appeals to oppose a director’s decision. The new ordinance would take an appeal more quickly up the ladder to municipal court, removing the city council from hearing appeals.

Frank asked if there have been times when the council has had to hear such appeals. He was told there was an incident with a tree removal permit and an appeal regarding a system development charge.

“These happen so rarely, there is no reason to not deal with them efficiently,” Thornton said.

The council is expected to vote on the ordinance at its meeting next week.

 

Quarterly goals update

Assistant City Manager Kirsten Wyatt gave the council a quarterly update on the council’s 2014 goals.

“We really are trying to communicate back to you quarterly on your goals,” Wyatt said.

The areas the council is focusing on this year include transportation, the water system, economic development and citizen engagement.

Wyatt touched on the storefront studio the city will be hosting April 14-16 to get input on the redevelopment of the Arch Bridge/Bolton area.

“I think we’re all blown away by the level or citizen engagement,” Wyatt said regarding the more than 400 people who have taken the survey concerning the redevelopment.

 

Review of agenda

The council also reviewed the agenda for its April 14 regular meeting. Included on the agenda are the code enforcement and appeals ordinance as well as declaring a moratorium on medical marijuana facilities.

Cities across the Metro area are declaring similar moratoriums, including neighboring city Wilsonville.

New state legislation, Senate Bill 1531c, allows cities to adopt a one-year ban on registered medical marijuana dispensaries, lasting from May 1 to May 1, 2015.

Thornton told the council this is not a permanent measure, it just prevents the city from being one of the first guinea pigs if recreational marijuana use and sales qualifies for the November ballot and passes.

There are nine locations within the city of West Linn where such dispensaries could be located. (See PDF document below.)

“It’s a complicated issue for a number of reasons from a legal perspective,” Thornton said.

Carson said the city will need to be thoughtful on this issue going into the future. “I think having a dispensary is no different than having a pharmacy. I think we need to be thoughtful. … I think the moratorium is half the story,” Carson said.

Next council meeting is April 14 with a work session at 6 p.m. and regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. For the agenda, visit the website.