Planning Commission

SUMMARY MINUTES Regular Meeting Eugene Planning Commission Sloat Room—Atrium Building—99 West 10th Avenue October 9, 2006 11:30 a.m. PRESENT: Mitzi Colbath, President; Rick Duncan, Vice President; Jon Belcher, Phillip Carroll, Randy Hledik, John Lawless, members; Mike Sullivan, ex officio; Gabriel Flock, Kent Kullby, Allen Lowe, Susan Muir, Steve Nystrom, Planning and Development Department; Gary McNeel, Public Works Department; Dan Terrell, John Barofsky, Zachary Vishanoff, Charles Biggs, guests. ABSENT: None. PUBLIC COMMENT ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS I. PLANNING COMMISSION ACTION: YOON HWAN SHIN, SHIN PROPERTIES LLC, ZONE CHANGE (Z 06-3) Staff: Kent Kullby, 682-5453 Mr. Lawless, seconded by Mr. Hledik, moved, based on the oral and written testimony, the available evidence in the record, and the Commission’s discussion, to reverse the decision of the Hearings Official and uphold the appeal concerning the denial of the zone change request for Yoon Hwan Shin, Shin Properties LLC (Z 06-3). Mr. Lawless, seconded by Mr. Hledik, further moved to adopt the draft Final Order, Findings, and Conclusions of the Eugene Planning Commission as prepared by staff. Mr. Belcher, seconded by Mr. Hledik, moved to table the motion pending further discussion. The motion to table passed 6:0. Mr. Belcher, seconded by Mr. Duncan, moved to encourage the Planning Department to strongly consider the potential impacts of noise as they move towards a Site Review Permit for the Shin property under discussion. The motion passed 6:0. Mr. Duncan, seconded by Mr. Belcher, moved to put the main motion on the table. The motion passed 6:0. Moving to the main motion, Ms. Colbath noted no commissioner wished to address the motion and called for the vote. The main motion passed 5:1, with Mr. Carroll voting in opposition. II. WALNUT STATION CITIZEN INVOLVEMENT PLAN MINUTES—Eugene Planning Commission October 9, 2006 Page 1 Staff: Allen Lowe, 682-5113 Mr. Duncan, seconded by Mr. Lawless, moved to approve the Citizen Involvement Plan presented by staff and modified through today’s discussion. The motion passed 6:0. Mr. Belcher, seconded by Mr. Hledik, moved to reappoint Mr. Duncan and Mr. Lawless to the Steering Committee and Mr. Lawless to the Technical Advisory Committee. The motion passed 6:0. III. ITEMS FROM COMMISSION AND STAFF A. Other Items from Staff B. Other Items from Commission MINUTES—Eugene Planning Commission October 9, 2006 Page 2  MINUTES Regular Meeting Eugene Planning Commission Sloat Room—Atrium Building—99 West 10th Avenue October 9, 2006 11:30 a.m. PRESENT: Mitzi Colbath, President; Rick Duncan, Vice President; Jon Belcher, Phillip Carroll, Randy Hledik, John Lawless, members; Mike Sullivan, ex officio; Gabriel Flock, Kent Kullby, Allen Lowe, Susan Muir, Steve Nystrom, Planning and Development Department; Gary McNeel, Public Works Department; Dan Terrell, John Barofsky, Zachary Vishanoff, Charles Biggs, guests. ABSENT: None. Ms. Colbath convened the meeting of the Eugene Planning Commission at 11:30 a.m. PUBLIC COMMENT ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS John Barofsky, 2010 Hubbard Lane, addressed the timing for development of the City of Eugene Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). He advocated that staff and the commission consider putting a place holder in the next two-year CIP for the Walnut Station Mixed Use Development. Zachary Vishanoff, Patterson Street, distributed a copy of a February 28, 2003, email to Kent Kullby regarding the March 11, 2003 public hearing on the Walnut Node. Mr. Vishanoff spoke in opposition to construction of a basketball arena on the University of Oregon campus, asserting it was not the role of the Planning Commission to facilitate the project. Mr. Duncan arrived at 11:35 a.m. Ms. Muir introduced Lisa Gardner, the Acting in Capacity (AIC) Planning Director. I. PLANNING COMMISSION ACTION: YOON HWAN SHIN, SHIN PROPERTIES LLC, ZONE CHANGE (Z 06-3) Mr. Flock provided the staff report based upon the Agenda Item Summaries (AIS) included in the September 26 and October 3, 2006 agenda packets. He said staff had prepared a revised draft of the final order, and distributed copies of revised proposed motions to commissioners. Mr. Lawless thanked Mr. Hledik for clarifying his concerns and the added text to the findings about using site review permit approval criteria. Mr. Belcher expressed concerns about not having specific conditions added to the site review permit approval criteria because of potential noise impacts of commercial activities on the ten abutting residences. MINUTES—Eugene Planning Commission October 9, 2006 Page 1 Mr. Flock asserted that Eugene Code (EC) 9.8440, criterion (1) addressed compatibility of commercial development as it related to building locations, bulk and height, noise, glare and odors. He was uncertain how the criterion would be applied to a specific development plan, but he said the criterion language enabled staff to consider conditions and potential mitigation actions during the administrative review process of the site review permit. In response to Mr. Belcher, he thought it might be possible to limit the hours of loading, unloading, garbage collection and other related activities, although it had not previously been done in other site review permits. Mr. Nystrom cautioned that in terms of overlay restrictions, the ability to control activities such as the hours of operation, were possible, to the extent necessary to achieve compatibility. He added that a recommendation from the Planning Commission did not legally have any bearing, but could be added as part of the record. Mr. Belcher stated that although the Planning Commission and the public could offer comments about noise, glare and other issues, it would not make any difference. Therefore, he changed his vote on the straw poll on the Fourth Assignment of Error: The Hearings Official erred by concluding that site review will not ameliorate impacts from the proposed commercial uses on the adjacent residential uses. The change in vote would change the vote from 6:0 to 5:1, with Mr. Belcher in opposition. The vote would pass. Ms. Colbath entertained a motion on the Planning Commission Final Order of Findings and Conclusions. Mr. Lawless, seconded by Mr. Hledik, moved, based on the oral and written testimony, the available evidence in the record, and the Commission’s discussion, to reverse the decision of the Hearings Official and uphold the appeal concerning the denial of the zone change request for Yoon Hwan Shin, Shin Properties LLC (Z 06-3). Mr. Lawless, seconded by Mr. Hledik, further moved to adopt the draft Final Order, Findings, and Conclusions of the Eugene Planning Commission as prepared by staff. Mr. Belcher, seconded by Mr. Hledik, moved to table the motion pending further discussion. The motion to table passed 6:0. Mr. Belcher, seconded by Mr. Duncan, moved to encourage the Planning Department to strongly consider the potential impacts of noise as they move towards a Site Review Permit for the Shin property under discussion. The motion passed 6:0. Mr. Duncan, seconded by Mr. Belcher, moved to put the main motion on the table. The motion passed 6:0. Moving to the main motion, Ms. Colbath noted no commissioner wished to address the motion and called for the vote. The motion passed 5:1, with Mr. Carroll voting in opposition. II. WALNUT STATION CITIZEN INVOLVEMENT PLAN Mr. Lowe provided the staff report and reviewed the materials included in the AIS. He said in MINUTES—Eugene Planning Commission October 9, 2006 Page 2 June 2005 the City of Eugene initiated a site specific planning effort for the Walnut Station Mixed Use Area in partnership with the State of Oregon and the University of Oregon (UO). For budgeting purposed, the project was divided into two phases. Phase One was funded primarily through the City of Eugene General Fund and focused on the development of a vision and planning framework for the Walnut Station study area. Phase Two would focus on plan development and implementation. The study area consists primarily of commercially zoned land along both sides of Franklin Boulevard and Garden Avenue in the Fairmount neighborhood. The study area excludes the Fairmount neighborhood residential area south of 15th Avenue. The Planning Commission, acting as the Eugene Citizen Involvement Committee, was asked to approve the citizen involvement plan for the Phase Two process, which was funded primarily through a State of Oregon Transportation and Growth Management (TGM) grant. In response to questions from Mr. Lawless, Mr. Lowe said although a more ambitious citizen involvement program had been prepared and desired, it had been scaled back to ensure that adequate funding was available to conduct necessary technical work. Ms. Muir stated that the Planning Commission could reprioritize its work program to free up funding designated for other purposes, and then enter into renegotiations with the State of Oregon. Mr. Lowe added that renegotiations would likely delay the project implementation by several months, making it more difficult to complete the project within the project’s timeline. He said there were a number of unknown factors to consider if the commission wished to get more funding from the State, citing political and economic factors, and explaining funding cycles of 36 months or more. In response to questions from Mr. Belcher and Mr. Carroll, Mr. Lowe explained the Quick Response public involvement and notification process. He noted the intention of the process was to help developers understand design options that would achieve state and local goals and was not specifically intended to accomplish dispute resolution. In response to Mr. Carroll, Mr. Lowe explained the Quick Response process had its own specific set of objectives that could not be applied to all properties in the project area. Mr. Duncan, seconded by Mr. Lawless, moved to approve the Citizen Involvement Plan presented by staff and modified through today’s discussion. The motion passed 6:0. Following a brief discussion about Planning Commission members on the Walnut Station Technical Advisory and Steering Committees, Mr. Duncan and Mr. Lawless expressed interest in continuing to serve on the committees. Mr. Belcher, seconded by Mr. Hledik, moved to reappoint Mr. Duncan and Mr. Lawless to the Steering Committee and Mr. Lawless to the Technical Advisory Committee. The motion passed 6:0. The commissioners thanked Mr. Lowe for his work on the Walnut Station project. III. ITEMS FROM COMMISSION AND STAFF A. Other Items from Staff MINUTES—Eugene Planning Commission October 9, 2006 Page 3 Mr. Lowe distributed a flyer entitled City Design II describing offerings by the UO on October 26 and November 16, 2006. Ms. Muir reported the City Council would make appointments to the Planning Commission on October 23, 2006. Mr. Nystrom reviewed the Planning Commission October and November schedule. Mr. Sullivan explained the Kemper Development Company proposal for the former Sears site that would be considered by the City Council on October 11, 2006. B. Other Items from Commission Mr. Carroll reported that he had been invited to serve on the River Road Citizen Involvement Plan TAC. Ms. Muir reported that the City of Eugene was currently reevaluating parking for members of boards and commissions. Ms. Colbath adjourned the Planning Commission meeting at 12:55 p.m. (Recorded by Linda Henry) m:\2006\planning and development department\planning division\planning commission\pc061009.doc MINUTES—Eugene Planning Commission October 9, 2006 Page 4