March meeting minutes

City Wide Land Use Forum
Meeting Minutes
March 29, 1999


Attendance:
Jim Worthington Dave and Dixie Johnston David Allred Jerry Powell
Arlene Kimura Steven Yett Larry Westerman Terry Griffiths
Tracy Nichols Mary Dorman Frank Dixon Bruce James
Darlene Carlson Tom Badrick


The meeting started with introductions of attendee's.

Tom asked if we could adjust the agenda to allow Darlene Carlson to speak first and with no objection, Tom introduced Darlene Carlson from Commissioner Francesconi's office.

Tom announced he would not attend the next meeting due to a vacation.

Darlene gave a brief history of how we arrived at the amendment to the Blueprint 2000 vote to withdraw long range planning from the proposed Office of Planning and Development made by Commissioner Francesconi.

The amendment (approved along with BP2K proposals) was made because of concern expressed from citizens and a desire to spend more energy focused upon where Portland is heading with our long term vision and how we do long range planning. The Mayor appointed current outgoing Planning Director David Knowles to lead a team to make a recommendation to the Mayor as to how to proceed. Outreach has been made to neighborhoods, the Planning Commission, the American Planning Association Portland Chapter,, the City Club Density and Growth Management committee, the Portland Chapter of American Institute of architects and other groups. David has also interviewed Commissioners and Bureau Heads and staff about the issue.

There will be a report available and a short window of opportunity to comment prior to the Council moving forward on May 12th.

Other issues include how far the Planning Commission goes into detail on cases and proposals.

Questions and comments:

Concern over lack of information regarding the status of the SW Community Plan.
Comments regarding flaws in the Outer SE Plan
How will this situation "work" until the planning is worked out?
Dissatisfaction with the public process of this project-notification to neighborhoods was absolutely minimal and it was invite only.

Tom mentioned a feature of the Bureau of Planning web site that logs all significant projects and their current status. He passed around a printed version for review.
Tom gave very brief updates:

Title 34 land Divisions

This is a long process and there are several work sessions planned with the planning commission (several already completed too). One is scheduled for April 13th and another on May 4th. A major focus still is lot sizes and density issues. A target date to get beyond the Planning Commission is June with fall City Council presentation. Bob Glascock is the contact at 823-7845.

Residential Design Guidelines: This has just passed through the Planning Commission with a fact sheet being prepared currently. Council presentation goal is June. Mark Bello is the contact at 823-7810.

Tom handed out a summary of the issues created by Amanda Fritz for studying.

Blueprint 2000: Most of the significant events are either done or just starting. City Council passed the proposed requests with the exception of pulling out long range planning. There was support for creating a "rules coordinator" position that will facilitate coordination between bureaus and the public on proposed rules by different bureaus. This should identify conflicts early on between proposed rules and current rules. Future benefits include a coordinated computer system that will allow access to information at all stages. For example, a neighborhood activists could see the current state of the project including inspections, conditions, schedules, etc.

Dixie Johnston mentioned a desire to try and get Portland Public Schools to be more involved with neighborhoods in discussing their building plans and how to best use vacant buildings. A discussion followed regarding how PPS works and who they report to.

The last item was a mention from Will Stevens (Beaumont-Wilshire) through Tom that there was a bill working its way slowly through the legislature that all citizen activists ought to watch. HB2805 provides legal immunity to citizens that testify at public hearings (or in front of public bodies) from lawsuits against their testimony. Here actually was a land use case elsewhere in Oregon where the applicant sued residents over slander in their testimony. Although the defendants (the citizens) won, the legal costs and time demands defending themselves was high. This bill should prevent that, thus continuing Oregon's tradition of citizen comments.

The meeting adjourned at 8:45 PM.