City Council

Oroville Planning Commission Wednesday, April 1, 2015 The meeting was called to order at 4:40 by Vice Chairman Judy Dunston. Present: Commissioners Judy Dunston, Suzie Seger, Arnie Marchand, and Alternate Commissioner Valorie Johnston. Absent: Luiz Perez, Marc Egerton Staff present: Chris Branch and Deanna Rowton. Approval of the minutes from the March 4th meeting. Motion by Suzie Seger, second by Arnie Marchand, motion carried. Public comment period / Planning Commission inquiries / Staff updates: *There was discussion regarding the recent flooding of Tonasket Creek and the clean up plans. Chris mentioned that property owners were “on board” with efforts for improvement and such. Several options are being researched in order to prevent future flooding as happened this year. *Chris stated that resolution is still being sought for situations within the Ambulance department and the shortage of volunteers. Mayor Spieth and Chris will be meeting with the County Commissioners next week to discuss some of the current issues the department is facing. The Comprehensive Plan was the main topic of the meeting. Chris is wanting input, such as a public process / workshop format to get reaction from the community before we take it to the hearing stage. Chris mentioned there are different formats in which to get input from the community including surveys, S.W.O.T. (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) The content of the Comp. Plan was discussed: 1) What do we have, 2) What do we want, and 3) How do we get it. Chris also described required and some of the optional elements of the plan including Land Use, Transportation and Capital Facilities, as well as Economic Development, Downtown Revitalization, and Housing. It was brought up that the “issue of the day” is that the downtown looks as though it has “died”. Several thoughts / ideas were suggested of what is desired in our community. Chris suggested we consider that there may be a difference between the state of the economy as there appears to be job opportunities and people working; however, it doesn’t show in the downtown businesses which may be relative to where people spend their income. It was mentioned that no matter what point we take it to hearing stage there will always be a certain number that will find fault in it or have conflict with what is presented. Arnie stated that he felt it should be sent forward for approval. The general feeling was that the workshop the Chamber of Commerce is sponsoring on April 17th might provide some insight as to public / community opinions. The meeting was adjourned at 6:10 pm. 1