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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1991-0321 REG MINMINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING ASHLAND CITY COUNCIL MARCH 21, 1991 CALL TO ORDER - Mayor Catherine Golden called the meeting to order and led the Pledge of Allegiance at 7:35 PM on the above date in the Council Chambers. Laws, Reid, Williams and Arnold were present. Acklin and Winthrop were absent. APPROVAL OF MINUTES - The Minutes of the regular meeting of March 5, 1991 were amended as follows: page 4, the Hospital and Library were resolutions and therefore were approved for adoption, not second reading; page 3, Almquist indicated 30 days might prolong the placement of third substation and the Mayor asked Eric not Brian if 30 days adequate; page 2, Houghten application, Roy Bashaw's suggestions (not suggested); page 1, Consent Agenda, regarding sewage spills, left out Mayor urged staff to resolve problem as quickly as possible. Approved as corrected. SPECIAL PRESENTATION & AWARDS - This is the third year in a row that the GFOA recognized exemplary efforts on the City budget and Jill Turner, Finance Director, accepted the award. Only 2.5 % of cities in local governments in the country have received this award. Turner thanked everyone for their support, including her staff, for making it possible, CONSENT AGENDA Laws asked if Council was considering the appointment to the Airport Commission as well, and the Mayor said it must have gotten lost in the shuffle. Willlares moved to add Matthew Ben Lessor as appointee to the Airport Commission to #3 of the Consent Agenda. Mayor asked to pull #5, Water Conservation, Williams moved to approve #1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 and Arnold seconded, all ayes. Regarding #5, the Mayor asked if this was the same article that Fregonese asked her to comment on previously and Fregonese said no, he wrote this article recently for an AWWA conference. Mayor had no further comments. Reid was impressed with it. Willjams moved to accept report on Water Conservation and Laws seconded, all ayes on voice vote. PUBLIC HEARINGS Reconsideration of CUP and Site Review on remand from LUBA to allow construction of medical offices at ACH. Fregonese commented that the application was remanded on the issue of transportation and a new copy of findings was included in the packet, the exhibits remained the same. There were only minor changes. LUBA's remand order rejected the issue of park land. LUBA remanded this back to the City after concluding that the findings were inadequate because they were not in compliance with the Ashland Municipal Code 18.104.040(B). Fregonese said Council does not need to discuss site design and parking, only livability. He read the definition of two words, "minimum" and "livability". Minimal constitutes the least possible and livability refers to the survival expectancy for raising livestock, the second definition meaning suitable for human living. He always thought it implied quality. Minimum impact on livability then becomes a very nebulous term. The first facts that need to be entered are the location, size and operating characteristics. Hospital property is 283,000 square feet, the hospital covers about 14% of that property, the proposed buildings cover an additional 3.8%. In its total development stage, lot coverage will be 51%, ordinance allows 65%, still leaving 50% open space. There are mixed land uses in area, representing flexibility of land use. All public services are available. Regular Meeting - Ashland City Council - March 21, 1991 - P. I of the date of the pictures. Murphy felt LUBA's remand had not addressed the traffic issue. Bashaw said these are suggested findings, not ones Council will ultimately adopt. In light of the evidence appearing, there hasn't yet been a request for a continuance. Williams asked what if there is not a request to continue and Bashaw said there is no error. Bashaw said a continuance of the public hearing would not have to be re-advertised. John Amos, 600 Chestnut, read letter from Joan Robbins which objected to the proposed medical buildings. Nancy Peterson, 367 Maple Street, has lived there for 16 years and felt the hospital provides an important service to the community. However, the human issue, livability, is one of open space. If that whole block is filled with buildings, it will still be livable according to the definition. But in Ashland, there is a certain quality of life that we have valued and it is up to the policy makers to decide, before it's gone, if this is a place that needs to remain open in Ashland. She said it makes good sense not to push ahead immediately and asked for a continuation of the public hearing. Dayne Cofer, 860 C St., noted the traffic statistics were quoted from 1988. Since then the BP Station reopened in late 89, which is a serious traffic consideration. Reid asked if presentation of hospital board minutes will become new evidence. Bashaw said no, they have been public record since their inception. Laws moved to continue the hearing until the second meeting in April. Reid seconded. Steve Hall noted a report from Brown & Caldwell would be presented to Council on that day. It was suggested to limit comments from the audience to the new evidence. Arnold said no new evidence in support of the application will be accepted and all agreed. The motion carried unanimously on roll call vote. Recommendation from Historic Commission to approve the addition of the Varsity Theatre sign to the Historic Sign Inventory. Fregonese said Owner John Schweiger could not be present and John is going to restore the entire facade. Reid said as representative of the Historic Commission that the sign is part of the facade. Golden opened and closed the public hearing without comments. Arnold moved to approve the addition, Reid seconded, and the motion carried unanimously on roll call vote. UNFINISHED BUSINESS Consideration of written testimony only regarding proposed ordinance banning phosphates in detergents. Almquist noted that there were comments/suggestions from Bashaw who wanted to make it clear that this was not prohibiting the use of phosphates but the sale offering the use of it. In Subsection C, the change made reflects prohibiting the sale of cleaning agents containing phosphorous. Laws said he didn't see the ambiguity of the previous reading. Bashaw said the exception didn't fit the prohibition very well. Laws asked if there was any further information about the exemptions. Pam Barlow said one of the reasons Portland included these exemptions was the issue of substitute product availability. About a third of the country is under a phosphate ban and manufacturers generally produce two formulas of the same kind of product. This isn't necessarily true for some other sanitizing products that could potentially have an impact on public health. Reid moved the revised ordinance to second reading, Laws seconded. Motion carried unanimously on roll call vote. NEW & MISCELLANEOUS BUSINESS Letter from Friends of Greensprings regarding application of herbicides. Almquist read the letter. In a discussion with the State Forester, Golden was given clear indication that they would stay away from open waterways and irrigation ditches in Ashland. She also spoke with a representative of Boise Cascade and they had changed their minds and said they would not spray anywhere near open waterways. Golden called Friends of the Greensprings to pull this item off the agenda but was encouraged to leave it on with the intention of educating the Regular Meeting - Ashland City Council - March 21, 1991 - P. 3 Council. Wendy Fullerton said Boise declined to meet with her. A transcript of her talk is in Council records. Ken Conner, Chief Forrestor, Boise Cascade, works exclusively with the Oregon Dept. of Forrestry. Boise has an unwritten policy that people lose their job if they spray in or around any open water. They do everything to identify springs and TID would require class I screening. He said Hollie Cannon, Manager of TID, says less than 2% of their water becomes domestic water. He described the effects of Atrazine. Reid asked if there is a registration process (labeling) through EPA for forestry use. Connor said the labeling process comes through the EPA for which chemical companies provide information on the product they manufacturer. He passed around information on some chemical definitions. The Mayor thanked Conner and Fullerton for their information. Reid asked if they sprayed on snow covered areas and she responded no. Water Curtailment Ordinance - Steve Hall said the current ordinance only allows odd/even watering during curtailment as approved by City Administrator. Hall suggests, with Bashaw's comments, that the time element be changed to anytime of year rather than only June through Sept. The second stage would ban any outside use. Third stage would limit total consumption per day based on percentage of average winter use and fourth stage would do the same based on a fixed amount of usage per type of use. Laws commented that it was a good ordinance but felt it necessary to retain Section 2 of the original ordinance because it is the Council's responsibility to ratify restrictions, and not the responsibility of the City Administrator. The revised ordinance retaining Section 2 will be brought back to Council on the next agenda. Report by Director of Public Works on taste and odor problems. Hall referenced his memo dated March 19th and a report from Brown and Caldwell dated March 15th. The problem that occurred back in September had conditions Ashland has never seen before. He suggested to Almquist that we seek an outside opinion, and Hall introduced Dennis Eckhardt of Brown and Caldwell who summarized the report. He said the problem is mostly climatic. There are new drinking water standards that staff has to meet, which is difficult because there is less margin for error. He said algae is unpredictable. Reid referenced Phase 3 and asked about a new plant. The existing plant is 40+ years old and in a bad location. There has been some investment over a period of years to keep it going. Council dedicated a piece of land to Parks up on Granite Street. Reid asked if we are developing a park where we should be developing a drinking water plant. There is a limited amount of space in the canyon. Laws said it seems the City needs a Master Plan for water treatment. Eckhardt said parts of the plant have never been used. Hall said there are funds in next year's budget to handle some of the immediate needs. Laws moved that staff bring back recommendations on a long range proposal for an appropriate approach to future water treatment. Reid seconded, all ayes on voice vote. PUBLIC FORUM Dennis DeBey, Recycling Committee, asked Council to urge the Parks Commission to waive fees for the use of the Band Shell for Earth Day activities. Willlares noted that the Parks Commission will meet on March 25th and DeBey should try to get on agenda. Laws moved to support the Recycling Committee's involvement in Earth Day activities in the Band Shell and Susan seconded, all ayes on voice vote. Regular Meeting - Ashland City Council - March 21, 1991 - P. 4 ORDINANCES, RESOLUTIONS AND CONTRACTS Police Special Service Fees - Second reading by title only of an ordinance amending the Ashland Municipal Code relating to police special service fees and license investigation fees. Arnold moved to adopt and Laws seconded, motion carried unanimously on roll call vote. Affordable Housing - First reading of an ordinance amending the Land-use ordinance implementing recommended programs for Affordable Housing in Ashland. Almquist read the ordinance. Arnold moved to second reading and Reid seconded, the motion carried unanimously on roll call vote. Police Special Service Fees - Resolution setting forth police special service fees pursuant to the Ashland Municipal Code. Almquist read resolution. Arnold moved to adopt and Williams seconded, motion carried unanimously on roll call vote (Reso. 91-07). Firefighters' Contract Settlement - Ratification of contract settlement with Ashland Firefighters Association for period of July 1, 1990 through June 30, 1993. Arnold moved to authorize Mayor & Recorder to sign the contract, Williams seconded and the motion carried unanimously on roll call vote. OTHER BUSINESS FROM COUNCIL MEMBERS Almquist noted a Liquor License request from Paddington Station was inadvertently left off the agenda. Arnold moved to place it on the agenda and Willjams seconded, all ayes on voice vote. Arnold moved to approve the request and Williams seconded, all ayes of voice vote. Regarding appointments to Commissions & Committees, Williams said Jim Hibbert still very interested in the Planning Commission. ADJOURNMENT- The meeting adjourned at 10:1 5.~j~' Regular Meeting - Ashland City Council - March 21, 1991 - P. 5