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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1991-0604 REG MINMINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING ASHLAND CITY COUNCIL JUNE 4, 1991 CALL TO ORDER - Mayor Catherine Golden called the meeting to order and led the Pledge of Allegiance at 7:40 PM on the above date in the Council Chambers. Laws, Williams, Reid, Acklin, Winthrop and Arnold were present. APPROVAL OF MINUTES - The Minutes of the regular meeting of May 21, 1991 were approved as presented. SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS - Linda Jackson of the Hospital Board received a Certificate of Appreciation for serving 13 years on the board. CONSENT AGENDA - Winthrop moved to approve all items on the consent agenda and Arnold seconded, all ayes on voice vote. PUBLIC HEARINGS - Continuation of public hearing for improvement of Lori Lane. Steve Hall reviewed his memo of May 30th and explained the difficulty of putting sidewalks in a small area fronting tax lot 301. The property owner of tax lot 301, has concerns about his landscaping, that the trees would die if they were moved. Staff is also concerned with the narrowness of a 20' road and recommends a 24' road clear through. Reid said she spoke with Jim OIson who told her that it costs no more to have a 20' street and a 4' sidewalk than to just have a 24' street. Golden noted there would be no parking along the 20' section. Winthrop asked Bashaw about the history of the City allowing improvements in the right of way. Bashaw said the City once allowed people to build buildings on the right of way and thereby giving it up. Williams asked about landscaping and Bashaw said the City need not but may pay for restoring the landscaping. Reid said if we are going to encourage pedestrians, we need to provide sidewalks. We would be short changing the future if we don't require them now. Arnold said Drescher was his business partner and would not be voting but on the issue of sidewalks, in general, Arnold said he is in favor of a sidewalk. Acklin asked what the minimum width of a sidewalk would need to be for a wheelchair. Hall said 36". The public hearing was opened. Allen Drescher, owner of tax lot 301, said he does have a dispute with the city, and he disagrees with Bashaw's analysis. He said a public entity loses if a permit was issued. Drescher has a permit from the Building Division for the landscaping in the right of way and feels it's his legal right to keep it. Whatever the end result, it would have to be put into an agreement. The public hearing was closed. Hall said a 20' road would accommodate two cars only. Staff would like to keep 2' behind the curb for utility easements. Winthrop favored a 4' sidewalk, keeping a 20' travel surface and minimizing any changes to Drescher's land. He moved to authorize paving of curbs, gutters and a 20' wide road surface and a 4' sidewalk along said portions of Lori Lane. Reid seconded leaving some flexibility with engineering on where with width changes from the existing pavement. Winthrop supplemented the motion regarding the legal questions of compensation, he assumed the City Attorney would inform Council what sort of agreement would be appropriate. Golden said Council could give staff direction regarding landscaping. Willlares expressed concern that a 20' street will not allow much room for cyclists. The motion carried with Arnold abstaining and Williams dissenting. Remand of Planning Action No. 89-071 for 90 unit housing complex on Hersey (Mahar). Minutes - Regular Meeting - Ashland City Council - June 4, 1991 - P. 1 Golden read the criteria pertaining to this remand. Acklin was concerned with getting all the public hearings heard. Golden warned the Council that this issue would have to be continued because additional information has come in that is not within the 10 day review period. Bashaw said there is more to come regarding the question of plan policy 12.1, the number of undeveloped acres of E-1 land. The evidence issue in regard to criteria also needs to be considered. Due to more evidence forthcoming, he said the public hearing cannot be concluded tonight. Arnold suggested holding the next public hearing first. Winthrop asked if final action would then take place the second meeting in June because he would not be able to attend. Laws move to reverse the order of the first two public hearings and Arnold seconded, all ayes on voice vote. Adoption of proposed methodology and fee schedule for SDCs. Hall asked if Council wanted him to cover the resolution, methodology and rate structure at once and in how much detail. Acklin said hit the high points, point out changes and then allow the public hearing to begin. Hall noted some handouts on the table. Some developers had concerns about the water distribution system, that the percentages used were not all correct, and after studying them, Hall agreed. They also felt that the percentage of new water lines should not be beyond the potential growth of the city which is estimated at 22%. Hall disagreed. Three projects were adjusted on page two, the distribution and costs in one project were changed from 85% to 35%, due to the issue of the age of the line. The second project went from 90% to 50%, dealing with Strawberry Lane, and the third was a similar project on N. Main to update a water line changed from 85% to 15% growth. Hall said he hoped to evaluate three things over the next year: look at the aging pipe and determine how much assigned to growth and how much assigned to normal replacement; the capacity of that pipe being used; and look at vacant lands in the service areas. The original report said we would charge one flat fee for SFR and staff is sticking with that proposal. Hall suggests an alternative to use fixture units which is the best way to put a national average on the potential demand on our system for water and sewer. He showed an overhead of how the figures were computed. One concern was how to deal with landscape irrigation. Staff recommends two hose bibs on a SFR, 1250 sq. ft. On a larger home, 3,000 sq. ft., fixture units would be higher. Golden noted an error under private use for a hose bib, the table lists an equivalent of 3 fixture units and yet we've given them 6. Fregonese noted the error and said it would be recalculated. Reid said everyone is encouraged to use sprinkler system because it's more efficient and asked how hose bibs equated to sprinkler systems. Fregonese said they are more efficient in irrigation but not in home use. Reid said basing the cost on fixture units is much more complex than square footage. Another concern was how to deal with the expansion of single family homes. The transportation SDC is also in question. Staff recommends the flat rate first and the fall back would be using fixture units as Fregonese recommended. Golden asked why square footage was eliminated from calculations. Hall said it was a matter of timing. Almquist noted in discussing with Bob Moore, there would be problems using square footage because of Ballot Measure 5, there has to be a reasonable relationship between water demand and the charge and square footage is not a rational nexus. A bigger house does not necessarily mean greater water demand. Reid said she talked with City of Salem and they are dealing with same issue. She said you have to look at the overall life of the home which could be 100 years, and didn't agree with Almquisrs comments. The public hearing was opened. Larry Medinger asked Mr. Moore to address square footage vs fixture units. Moore said they chose fixture units because it did have the most rational relationship to consumption. Square footage is directly related to the impervious area and increasing the run off of storm water into the storm drain system. Medinger said they went through the ordinance process and appreciated that Council and staff took the time and made the effort to make it fair. But he felt the methodology was Minutes - Regular Meeting - Ashland City Council- June 4, 1991 - P. 2 rough figuring. Some developers looked at individual projects for accuracy. The state law is clear: you bring existing systems up to code, and anything beyond that is new growth and SDCs pay for it. The impression he gets from the figures in the methodology is that they are based on capacity. This is a very inflationary type of tax and should be kept to a minimum. Winthrop noted that Hall had made some changes after working with some of the builders and asked Medinger what he was proposing. Medinger said the law is specific about appealing this within 60 days of adoption. If Council adopts something that is incomplete, it would take 60 days just to get a lawsuit filed against the City in order to protect their right to appeal. Nobody wants to sue and the homebuilders want to avoid it. He suggested a citizen's committee and give staff time to work this out fairly. Don Greene, 375 Normal Avenue, said that Hall was very cooperative and aren't trying to do this on an adversarial position and are in favor of paying fair share but when they reviewed a few numbers, Hall adjust three areas only and it changed the systems development charge $400. He felt that was significant and the rest should be reviewed. The figures show that we're paying for a capacity for a 40% increase but the report says we're only going to grow 22%. If the costs could not be figured on a square footage basis, then he would rather see a flat fee because it's more fair. There will be a lot of bootlegging in of bathrooms if we go with fixture units. Golden asked Hall if he felt he had enough time to prepare the methodology for systems development charges. Hall said yes to the methodology but the fees need to be reviewed. He said what he's asking is that the developer pay one third now and give him a year to review the water distribution portion. Because of the time crunch that the state has imposed, he recommends Council adopt this proposal. Lois Wenker, President, Ashland Chamber of Commerce, read a letter of recommendations in the packet. Rick Harris, on behalf of Ashland Board of Realtors, reiterated what Medinger said. He believes square footage is an appropriate calculation and should take into account the fact that the average per house is 2.3 people and going down. The SDC figures have vacillated too much. He asked if, in fact, Council gives staff a year to recalculate the figures, is the city in a position to refund money if it charged too much. Medinger read and extensive biography of and introduced Jim Ervine from Portland. Ervine talked about the public policy issues and reviewed the proposed ordinance. Since 1982, he has seen a decline in home ownership. He passed out a sheet on the Impacts of SDCs on Housing Costs based on a $5100 increase. This translates to an increased sales price of over $7,000. This increases the down payment over $2,000 which means about 50% fewer people qualify for home loans. Reid asked if this was first time buyers and he said it included the entire home buying public. Winthrop thought the figures were devastating. Ervine gave a document to Council entitled, "Building Together, Investing in Community Infrastructure," which he co- authored. He urged Council not to risk what we've got in Ashland and to find a way to finance the infrastructure in our community. Etta Smith said she is presently living in Medford and having a home built in Ashland and if these charges were imposed when she was buying a house, she would not be able to afford to live in Ashland. Council postponed deliberation until after the next public hearing. Remand of Planning Action No. 89-071 for 90 unit housing complex on Hersey (Mahar). Fregonese said he spoke with the applicant and opponents who both feel they need more time and requested to set a special meeting with this being the only item on the agenda, or extend it to June 18th so they have more time. Almquist said there are already too many items on that agenda. The Council discussed which date would be best for everyone and decided on June 24th. Fregonese asked to speak tonight because if he waited, the opponents would ask for another continuance at the next meeting. Bashaw, Arnold and Willjams agreed and Mark Murphy could watch the video so he, as the appellant, will not miss anything. Laws moved to extend the public hearing until 10:00 and allow only Fregonese to present testimony tonight and the public Minutes - Regular Meeting - Ashland City Council - June 4, 1991 - P. 3 hearing be continued on the 24th. Willlares seconded if Laws allowed Bashaw to speak as well, if necessary. Laws amended the motion, all ayes on voice vote. Bashaw said only the issues raised on appeal should be considered tonight. One issue that was not appealed to LUBA is about the capacity of public schools. Winthrop said the issue of capacity could generally be considered under the issue of livability. The Comp Plan issue is the one that Fregonese will speak of tonight and the only Comprehensive Plan issue before Council on this remand on E- l land, whether or not you have a five year inventory of land for particular purposes. The question is whether or not there are 50 acres available for this particular use. The question of evidence relates to the City's inventory of lands. Fregonese addressed the Comprehensive Plan Policy regarding the vacant land that is needed in the City. He started with the Economic Element and explained where the numbers came from. Is land vacant when a piece of property is for sale? Is it vacant when only one out of four acres of a parcel is being occupied? In the concluding paragraph of the economic element says there will be 104 acres of light industrial and 98 acres of commercial property by the year 2000. LUBA referred to the following policy when it came to its decision: the City shall strive to maintain at least a five year supply of land for any particular need in the City limits. It doesn't say vacant or zoned. The findings that Council adopted stated that the 50 acres included all land zoned. LUBA found that the City's inventory of vacant land was not reliable. We need to prove that the land we claim to be vacant is, in fact, really vacant. Council also needs to define vacant. In the record, we have a study which was conducted for the comp plan revision required by state law, designating commercial and industrial lands in Ashland, accurate as of July 1990. Also in the record are slides of all these vacant lands and maps. M-1 land should be included as E-1 land available because it allows all the uses that E-1 land allows. Arnold pointed out that it was 10:00 and the public hearing could not be continued. UNFINISHED BUSINESS Presentation by Ashland High School students regarding availability of tobacco products by minors. Rose Otte gave a brief introduction about the Commit to Quit program which served as consultants to an Ashland group of young people. REACH Responsible Educated Adolescents Can Help) students Shawn Hall had to leave to take a final in the morning and Otte turned it over to Levi Brown. He explained that he, along with 14 other students, did a survey to test the availability of cigarettes to minors in Ashland and 14 out of 15 times, they were successful in attaining cigarettes (over the counter as well as machines). A gas station was the only one not to sell to a minor. Levi said tobacco is a gateway to harder drugs. The law says it is illegal to sell to minors but it is not illegal for them to possess tobacco. Ninety percent of adult smokers started at 19 years of age. Their purpose is to alert Council of the problem and their goal is to ask the City to adopt an ordinance to "do what they can to restrict access to tobacco." Adoption of 1991-92 Budget and Supplemental Budget for 1990-91. AImquist noted that the last two public hearings need to be continued to a date specific because we spent nearly $1,000 advertising our budget, we'd have to print the entire budget in the newspaper. Almquist suggested the 1 lth of June. Williams moved that the public hearings be continued until June 5th at 4:00 PM in the Council Chambers, Laws second, all ayes on voice vote. The Mayor invited everyone to the lobby for refreshments to honor Roy Bashaw, Acting City Attorney, who was presented with a Certificate of Appreciation. Confirmation of appointments of Hospital Board members. Reardon withdrew. Minutes - Regular Meeting - Ashland City Council - June 4, 1991 - P. 4 Appointments postponed. Confirmation of appointments to Audit Committee. Golden read the nominations. Pat Acklin, Lee Howard, Frank Billowitz, Lois Wenker, Ann Meredith and Harry Knight. Almquist read the resolution. Laws commented that the membership of the committee may not be adequate at times to carry out the purpose of the committee as stated in the resolution. He thought we needed more than one person on the committee who has expertise in accounting and auditing, so he moved to change the resolution to read 3 citizens at large instead of one, and one from the Budget Committee, changing the overall committee to 7. Winthrop seconded, motion carried unanimously on roll call vote. Laws moved adoption of the revised resolution and Acklin seconded, the motion carried unanimously on roll call vote. (Reso. 91-16) Williams moved approval of six of the seven members, Laws seconded, all ayes on voice vote. Deliberation on the SDC public hearing was continued. Arnold said the standard to adopt the methodology is not perfect but is a justifiable record from which we can conclude that this is a reasonable methodology. The fact that we might later find that some figure should be modified for accuracy would not render the initial action wrong but that the adjustment would be an improvement. All the work that went into this by the consultants and staff gives Council a valid basis for enacting this methodology. By implementing this in 1/3 stages, we have built in some additional cushion for any future problems. Arnold felt there would be no way to avoid a law suit in any case. Golden suggested a happy medium of enacting the 1/3 portion in the first year and that staff work with selected builders over the next year to go over the figures with a fine tooth comb which might defer potential law suits. Reid felt the builders have demonstrated an effort to work with staff to avoid a law suit and disagrees with Arnold. She is also concerned what is equitable in Ashland to people building modest homes. She agreed with Greene that fixture units would create a lot of illegal plumbing. An argument can be made for square footage and builders and community members are supportive of that. Acklin was told that the state homebuilders association was looking for some good, meaty test cases for systems development and because Ashland has the good fortune of developing ours earlier than most, it very likely will be Ashland that experiences being the test case. Willjams said he disagreed with Arnold too and most homebuilders are not ready to go to court. When he first looked at this methodology, he felt the numbers were miscalculated and after Hall has adjusted only a few, Williams felt uncomfortable in voting for this methodology without a closer look at the numbers. Laws agreed with Golden's suggestion to adopt the methodology going into the first stage charging 1/3 of the rate, and then sunset this after a year of reviewing the numbers. He said he would much rather be sued by a single builder that and the Association. Winthrop said he must act with a level of comfort and with the numbers having been changed so often, he is not satisfied with the existing figures. Acklin said the consultants and staff made calculations from existing documents that have been around for eons so irs not that they have done a shoddy job but have relied on the best possible data available. Arnold said he believed in working on it further to get it as good as we can. The existing ordinance has it built in that the SDCs be reviewed after three years, and Williams asked Arnold if he could be comfortable with a one year review and Arnold said yes. Arnold moved to continue the deliberation and Acklin seconded, all ayes. Arnold suggested that fixture unit is the right approach to take because square footage would not meet the rational nexus test. Williams saw both of those as flawed and wants to go back to the original set fee. Reid chose the square footage method first feeling that the fixture units method would lead to shenanigans. Laws agreed to per unit charges. Winthrop felt the efforts that were made on affordable housing are being undone here potentially. Let's try to keep something in the program that has a progressive or graduated character to it. Acklin said one final plumbing Minutes - Regular Meeting - Ashland City Council - June 4, 1991 - P. 5 inspection can be done before a certificate of occupancy is done. Hall suggested, deferring to Bashaw, charging fixture units based on actual fixture in and roughed in plumbing to minimize the misuse. Willlares added to eliminate hose bibs also. Bashaw said that was fine. Reid didn't like the idea of being a test case for the whole state. Moore noted that every City in the state has to back up systems development charges with a rational methodology by July I st. Arnold suggested that the suggested modifications be made to the ordinance and read at the continued meeting tomorrow. It would be modified for plumbed in fixtures using fixture units, including the working toward the resolution of refining the figures over the next year and include the sunset provision that Laws talked about and move that staff have the resolution ready for tomorrow's meeting and continue this issue until that meeting. Acklin seconded. Hall said staff should word it so there is an automatic review after 12 months. Council said that's not what's being proposed. Laws asked for feedback from the builders if Council is going toward the right direction. Medinger said, as usual, Council and staff are showing that they want to cooperate and be fair and they were pleased. The motion carried unanimously on roll call vote. Acklin moved to continue and Williams seconded, all ayes. NEW & MISCELLANEOUS BUSINESS Letter from Jack Davis relative to project on "A" Street and fuel contamination. AImquist said this was in the packet for Council's information only and should not be discussed this evening unless Council wanted to go into an executive session. It involves potential litigation. No action taken. Memo from the City Administrator regarding the City Attorney's position. Almquist asked for approval to readvertise the position. Reid moved and Williams seconded. Arnold asked if that was full time which would average about $120,000 annually. Almquist agreed. Almquist said yes. Arnold said proposals on a part time attorney were around $80,000 on a contract basis plus $11,000 for prosecution services. Acklin noted when the subcommittee met, they did not feel a full time attorney was warranted. This may mean the individual may not have the work to fulfill a full time position and the person hired should be able to have other skills to do other assignments from time to time. All ayes on voice vote. Confirmation of Mayor's appointment of Interim City Attorney. Almquist said he was unable to contact the individual in mind for this position. When he is finally reached, Council will have to meet and confirm the appointment. Fregonese noted that they were ready to close on the property for Second Street at East Main Street regarding the right of way line. Staff recommends that Council move to approve the attached plat subject to required changes in the dedication statement and the monumented location of Second Street based on a 50 foot right of way. Fregonese said the line is about. 15 of a foot off from where it should be and before accepting the right of way, we'd like to clear up the problem by signing the plat. Reid moved and Arnold seconded, all ayes on voice vote. Reid asked Fregonese what the status of the parking lot on Lithia Way across from Copeland. Bashaw said the transaction closed Monday and the exchange is complete. PUBLIC FORUM Ron Thurner felt he was intimidated by Jill Turner in the lobby who said he should get a business license due to his involvement in the Mahar Project and he resented it. Turner said that was not her intention and gave a public apology. The public forum was closed. Minutes - Regular Meeting - Ashland City Council - June 4, 1991 - P. 6 ORDINANCES, RESOLUTIONS & CONTRACTS Second reading by title only of an ordinance relative to transient occupancy tax. Laws moved to adopt the ordinance and Arnold seconded, the motion carried unanimously on roll call vote. (Ord 2632) Second reading by title only of an ordinance amending ordinance No. 2052 and Section 18.12.030. Laws moved to adopt the ordinance and Willjams seconded, the motion carried unanimously on roll call vote. (Ord 2633) Second reading by title only of an ordinance relative to system development charges. Buck Munson, 1535 Angelcrest, said he was misinformed about the last meeting so he did not attend the first reading. His problem is that he has an agreement signed with the City in February and he paid his fees on April 19th. He requested that the wording be changed on 4.20.080A to read, "any development which have agreements signed with the City for charges prior to April 16th," or move the date back. Reid thought it was reasonable. Almquist noted that other developers came in shortly after the 16th and paid all of their hook up fees to avoid the charges. Munson said not all of them had an agreement. Bashaw said he hasn't seen the agreement so he could not comment. Laws suggested Council accept this rewording and read it as first reading tonight and second reading tomorrow. Reid and Arnold agreed. Willlares moved to amend the ordinance as suggested by Munson and move passage to second reading. Winthrop seconded. Acklin said Almquist would have to read this with the changes. Williams withdrew his motion so that Bashaw could review the ordinance and bring it back to tomorrow's meeting. Winthrop withdrew his second. Munson suggested moving the date to April 20th. Winthrop objected because it might set a precedent. The meeting was scheduled for 4:30 PM tomorrow. First reading of an ordinance authorizing and ordering the improvement of Lori Lane. Almquist suggested moving the reading to June 18th. All agreed. Numbers 5 through 10 under Ordinances, Resolutions and Contracts pertained to the budget and Almquist said they could be postponed until tomorrow's meeting. OTHER BUSINESS FROM COUNCIL MEMBERS Golden noted a letter from SOREDI. The intent was to send money through the Chamber and Golden would like to have Acklin and Mary Lee Christensen as the two voting members and rather than have money go through the Chamber, have it go directly to SOREDI to retain our voting spot. Laws said he recalled that the City appointed the Chamber to act on our behalf and suggested having the check made out to both the Chamber and SOREDI. All agreed. Arnold suggested reading the SDC ordinance with the suggested wording changed so that the second reading could be done tomorrow and implement the resolution. If we don't do it that way, we can't get to the resolution tomorrow. Bashaw said the amendment involves striking the word "for" after development in the first line, and adding the phrase, have agreements signed with the City, after the word, "which" in the first line, and in the second lines, strike the words "were paid". Laws moved passage to second reading and Arnold seconded. The motion carried unanimously on roll call vote. Laws suggested improving the speaker/mike system for the tv audience. Minutes - Regular Meeting - Ashland City Council - June 4, 1991 - P. 7 ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 12:00 Midnight to June 5, 1991 at 4:30 PM. Nan Franklin, City Recorder Minutes - Regular Meeting - Ashland City Council - June 4, 1991 - P. 8