Planning Commission

SUMMARY MINUTES Regular Meeting Eugene Planning Commission Sloat Room—The Atrium—99 West 10th Avenue November 13, 2006 11:30 a.m. PRESENT: Rick Duncan, Vice President; Jon Belcher, Phillip Carroll, Randy Hledik, Ann Kneeland, John Lawless, Anthony McCown, members; Mike Sullivan, ex officio; Lisa Gardner, Susan Muir, Steve Nystrom, Richie Weinman, Kurt Yeiter, Planning and Development Department; Pearl Wolfe, Lane County Human Services Commission staff; Emma McArdle, Desiree Aflleje, guests. ABSENT: Mike Sullivan, ex officio. PUBLIC COMMENT ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS I. ROLE OF THE PLANNING COMMISSIONER Staff: Lisa Gardner, 682-5208 II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES—June 5, August 21, and September 11, 2006 Mr. Hledik, seconded by Mr. Carroll, moved to adopt the minutes of June 5, and August 21, as submitted, and September 11, as amended. The motion passed unanimously, 6:0. III. TEN-YER PLAN TO END CHRONIC HOMELESSNESS Staff: Richie Weinman, 682-5533 IV. ITEMS FROM COMMISSION AND STAFF A. Other Items from Staff B. Other Items from Commission  MINUTES Regular Meeting Eugene Planning Commission Sloat Room—The Atrium—99 West 10th Avenue November 13, 2006 11:30 a.m. PRESENT: Rick Duncan, Vice President; Jon Belcher, Phillip Carroll, Randy Hledik, Ann Kneeland, John Lawless, Anthony McCown, members; Mike Sullivan, ex officio; Lisa Gardner, Susan Muir, Steve Nystrom, Richie Weinman, Kurt Yeiter, Planning and Development Department; Pearl Wolfe, Lane County Human Services Commission staff; Emma McArdle, Desiree Aflleje, guests. ABSENT: None. PUBLIC COMMENT ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS There was no one wishing to offer public comment. There was consensus to revise the order of the agenda. I. ROLE OF THE PLANNING COMMISSIONER Ms. Gardner explained the Planning Commission bylaws stated that “the election of officers shall be for one year terms and the election shall take place at the year’s first regular meeting following Council action for your appointments”. She stated the Commission had previously expressed a desire to revisit the bylaws on the succession of the President and Vice President. She suggested that Commission take no action at this time, and allow Mr. Duncan to continue in his role as interim President until the issue could be discussed at the Commission’s retreat in January 2007. In response to Mr. Lawless, Mr. Nystrom said in the past, in the absence of both the President and Vice President, the immediate past President had presided over Commission meetings. Following a brief discussion, there was consensus to accept Ms. Gardner’s suggestion. Ms. Gardner formally welcomed new Commissioners and Ms. Kneeland and Mr. McCown. She explained her role as the Acting-in-Capacity Planning Director. Ms. Muir welcomed new members to the Planning Commission. She said the last two or three years had been a period of transition for both the Commission and Planning and Development Department (PDD) staff. Mr. Yeiter distributed and reviewed a memorandum he had written to Commissioners McCown and Kneeland regarding Metropolitan and Community Planning Section. Mr. Nystrom distributed and explained the Planning Division FY07 Work Program. Ms. Gardner said copies of a book entitled The Job of the Planning Commission by Albert Saint were available for Commissioners who did not already have one. She added that an orientation for new Commissioners was scheduled for November 20, 2006. She said another resource was the Planning Division webpage portal: http://www.eugene- or.gov/portal/server.pt?space=CommunityPage&cached=true&parentname=CommunityPage&pa rentid=1&in_hi_userid=2&control=SetCommunity&CommunityID=228&PageID=0 Planning Commissioners introduced themselves and offered information regarding their history and interest in being a member of the Commission. II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES—June 5, August 21, and September 11, 2006 • June 5, 2006 minutes No changes • August 21, 2006 No changes • September 11, 2006 Mr. Hledik offered the following correction: Page 3, paragraph 7, should read: Mr. Hledik asked if the project would encompass one or multiple MUCs, and if the workable walkable cities concept would be revisited. Mr. Hledik, seconded by Mr. Carroll, moved to adopt the minutes of June 5, and August 21, as submitted, and September 11, as amended. The motion passed unanimously, 6:0. III. TEN-YEAR PLAN TO END CHRONIC HOMELESSNESS Mr. Duncan introduced Richie Weinman, PDD Urban Services Manager and Pearl Wolfe, Lane County Health and Human Services Supervisor. Ms. Wolfe reported that the Lane County Board of Commissioners (LCBC) had approved the Ten-Year Plan to Eng Chronic Homelessness in Lane County on November 8, 2006. Mr. Weinman and Ms. Wolfe provided a PowerPoint presentation on the plan and distributed paper copies of the presentation. Mr. Weinman explained PROJECT HOMELESS CONNECT for Lane County was scheduled for Thursday, February 8, 2007. He asked the Commission to have a future discussion acknowledging that the problem was so great and worsening at such at pace that the situation in the community was not working for many people and making everyone unsafe. He added existing land use codes as well as numerous other economic factors contribute to the many challenges to finding a solution. He acknowledged there was neither a quick fix nor easy answer to the problem of homelessness. He added, that when people’s basic needs are not met our entire society became less safe. Ms. Muir said Develop a Strategy to Help the Homeless in Eugene was a City Council priority and was a significant issue as a statewide level. Mr. Duncan noted it was a balancing act to integrate land supply and rents, relative to disposable income issues. He asserted it was important to identify and maximize the amount of available land by building up and providing more housing units. Mr. Weinman said some people would always need housing subsidies, which was challenging for the community in terms of cost. He added that 95% of the homeless people in our community are from this area. Ms. Gardner added the December 13, 2006 City Council agenda included a work session on the buildable lands inventory. Mr. Lawless said it was important to identify the physical realities, and social and community dynamic impacts of the various types of needed housing. Mr. Weinman said a homeless campground in the City was tried ten years ago, with varying degrees of success. It was discovered there was not a piece of land in Lane County where the zoning would allow homeless camping. At no time was homeless camping taken into consideration during the overall land use planning process. He added that currently people camped illegally in various locations throughout the city without adequate sanitation facilities in unsafe conditions. Mr. Lawless asked what the reality was of providing the gradient of dwelling units that would most effectively solve the housing issues if the code issues were not barriers. Ms. Wolfe said the plan would provide a framework to explore what those housing options would look like. She said the community was loosing ground in providing emergency shelter and it would not be the answer in the future. Ms. Wolfe said some of the homelessness seen in the last three decades was the result of mental hospitals closing in the late 1960’s and 1970’s, when patients were intended to move to community based facilities. Unfortunately, that never happened for most, and the levels of chronic homelessness around mental health and substance abuse have increased. In response to Mr. Hledik, Mr. Weinman said the City of Eugene provides federal funding to buy land and allocates resources to nonprofit housing providers in the community including St. Vincent de Paul, the Neighborhood Economic Development Corporation (NEDCO), Housing and Community Services Agency of Lane County (HACSA), and Metropolitan Affordable Housing Corporation (Metro). He added over 1,000 subsidized units had been added since 1990, bringing the total in the community to over 4,500 including Section 8 certificates. He noted that most of the units were rental units. Mr. Weinman noted that it was his understanding that for the most part the current code did not allow for Single Room Occupancy (SRO). He said there was a significant need for housing for chronically mentally ill people, which provided much needed stability for residents, often met with neighborhood opposition. Mr. Belcher asked what prevented construction of affordable housing units due to code constrictions as well as impediments due to the community land trust in preventing people from moving into housing units. Mr. Weinman the economics of community land trust, in which the land was publicly owned while structures were privately owned, had not been successful in Eugene. He added it was more of an economics and property value issue than a code issue. He added it was extraordinarily difficult find affordable land at the present time. He said in 1990, one acre of R-2 land sold for approximately $20,000, with much land available. By 1995, the cost had raised to $40,000, if it was available. Mr. Duncan added that today an acre of R-2 land sold for $500,000 noting that the cost varied according to vacancy levels. He said vacancy rates right now were very tight. Ms. Muir said there were areas around the county that had virtually no land in which to expand. She cited Portland as a city that was doing great things to develop all kinds of housing within the constraints it faced. Ms. Wolfe said the City of Portland had been successful with its adopted Ten Year Plan. Mr. Duncan noted Portland’s land mass and economics were larger than Eugene’s. Mr. Carroll asked if chronically homeless people were unlikely to move through continuum of care. He opined chronic homeless had a social as well as land use component, and wished to see input from social service agencies in the future through the code amendment process how the issue interacted with the land use code. Ms. Wolfe responded some homeless people, with mental health issues, when provided assistance with medications and stable housing, would be able to move through the continuum. Ms. Wolfe input had been received from the homeless liaisons with the local school districts. In response to Ms. Kneeland, Ms. Wolfe said information on Ten Year Plans adopted by other communities could be viewed at the Interagency Council on Homelessness: http://www.ich.gov/slocal/index.html . Ms. Wolfe said the Housing First Model had been successful in large cities such as New York City and San Francisco where there were sufficient public, corporate and private resources to support the concept. Mr. Weinman added such a model would not be as successful in Eugene, where there were not many corporate headquarter offices. In response to Mr. McCown, Ms. Wolfe said the Continuum of Care process had included meetings regarding employment and discharge planning, and more work would occur in that area. Mr. Belcher opined expansion of the urban growth boundary (UGB) would not solve the availability of affordable land problem. He said if the expanding the UGB was considered, opportunities to address affordable housing could be taken into consideration. IV. ITEMS FROM COMMISSION AND STAFF  A. Other Items from Staff There were no items from staff. B. Other Items from Commission In response to Mr. Hledik, Mr. Yeiter said the development of the citizen involvement plan for Opportunity Siting was underway, adding that the Planning Commission was the Citizen Involvement Committee for the Opportunity Siting process. A brief discussion on the project timeline followed. Mr. Belcher moved to extend the meeting 15 minutes. Mr. Lawless offered a friendly amendment to extend the meeting 10 minutes. Mr. Carroll seconded the amended motion. The motion passed unanimously, 6:0. Mr. Belcher referred to information he had distributed previously to Planning Commission and staff via email: • Information from Rob Handy with comments from Paul Conte about the process for the land use code updates. Mr. Belcher expressed concern about the role of the public in the process. • Information about the Jefferson Westside Neighborhood joining with a developer to file a Ballot Measure 37 claim against the Chambers Area Families for Healthy Neighborhoods (CAFHN) plan. It indicated a concern that there were two components, one of size and scale, and the other density. He said the neighborhood was arguing against the density standards they had set. He said he planned to address the issue at the November 20, 2006 City Council meeting, and asked other interested Commissioners to join him. Ms. Muir clarified that the claim was filed by a private applicant, not the neighborhood, adding that the City was required to complete the claim process within a statutorily specified time. Subsequently, the neighborhood group had approached the developer to determine if there was a way to mediate the claim, and join together to recommend a win- win solution. She said information was posted on the City’s webpage. In response to a question from Mr. Carroll, Ms. Muir explained there had been a City Council public hearing on the givings tax. She said the City Council was scheduled to conduct a work session on December 11, 2006. Following a brief discussion about City Council buddies, the following assignments were made until addressed again at the Planning Commission retreat: Commissioner Lawless Mayor Piercy, Councilor Bettman Commissioner Duncan Mayor Piercy, Councilors Kelly and Prior Commissioner Carroll Councilor Solomon Commissioner Hledik Councilors Papé and Clark Commissioner Belcher Councilors Ortiz and Taylor Commissioners McCown Councilor Poling Commissioner Kneeland Councilor Zelenka Ms. Gardner confirmed Saturdays were acceptable for Planning Commission retreat dates. Mr. Duncan adjourned the Planning Commission meeting at 1:44 p.m. (Recorded by Linda Henry) m:\2006\planning and development department\planning division\planning commission\pc061113.doc