Planning Commission

'-.Y Mayor Council President Councilors JairoRios-Campos DaraTan John C. Miner Mark dark Patricia Smith aTY.OF.Wood ige WOOD VILLAGE PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES MAY7, 2025-6:00 PM PRESENT Chair Jim Mott, Commissioners Faith Fox, T. Scott Hamden, and Linda Jensen, Council Liaison Dara Tan, PlannerRobinScholetzky,City ManagerGreg Dirks, PublicWorks Projects ManagerBeckyGallien, and interested parties. ABSENT None. CITY FILEDR25-01: CARVANA ChairMottopened the session at 6 PM. Dirksopened by sharingthatwe havea design reviewfor Carvana first. Dirksread the rules ofthe hearing.Tan arrived at 6:02pm. Scholetzkyintroduced herselfas a planner in Portland who helps the city ofWood Village process Planning applications. Shegave the staff report and indicated that the Carvana site is located at 23585 NE Sandy Blvd. There is a small portion ofthe property also located in Fairview. It is next to a Union Pacific Railroad track as well. Scholetzky gave a summary of the projectandsaidthat requestis a type IIdesign review. The application requests improvements associatedwith an existingCarvanafacility. Underrevieware improvementswhichincludethe construction of a new 10, 000square foot vehicle inspection/car wash building and associated security facilities including fencing and gates. The applicantalso proposestwo secondarystructures includinga 60 squarefoot securitybuildingand 70 squarefoot trash enclosure. Scholetzkygavethe detailsofthe zoningcodecriteria as it appliesto this project, All use and standardsof Commercial/lndustrial zone will continue to be met. There were limited comments from other entities that were included in the packet, including a request from the Port of Portland to let them know ifthere will be a cranethatextends higherthan 75 ft aboveground level. Staffdetermined thatthe design reviewcriteria havebeen met. Staffrecommendationsareto approve the project with the 3 following conditions of approval: . To provide plans in compliance with those provided (ExhibitA) as part of this land use review. . TheApplicantshall provide proofofcompliancefrom the CityofGresham IPPpriorto building permit approval. . Design review approval shall expire in two (2) years if City ofWood Village building permits have not been issuedforthis project. Design ReviewBoard Minutes (May7, 2025) |Page 1 Tan asked a question regardingthe heightrestriction forthe crane. Dirksaddedthat is ifthere is a crane needed. Sinceit is a prefabmetal structure, it is less likely to be needed butit wasincluded as a condition to be surethat it is addressedappropriatelyif needed. Dirks invited the applicantsto give a statementor comments if theyfelt therewasanythingto add.The applicants indicatedthattherewasnothingto add. Mottopened the publiccomments, Therewere no comments, the public comments were closed. Fox indicated that the packet is very thorough, and she appreciatedthe note aboutthe pendingapprovalforwastewaterregardingthe carwash.Therewere no additionalquestionsorcomments added. Upon motion by Foxto approve DR25-01 for Carvana, subjectto conditionsof approval, seconded by Mott and passing4-0, DR25-01 wasapproved. Tan asked aboutphotos and iftheywill be taken in the round building,the applicantssaidyes, theywould occurthere. Tan askedaboutpossiblejob opportunitiesthatmay becreated bythe project, The applicants indicated that it would have a minimal impact but was a possibility. CFEC (CLIMATE FRIENDLY AND EQUITABLE COMMUNITIES) Dirksgave a presentation aboutCFEC,starting with a little backgroundforthe program. He shared the direct impactconcernssurrounding parking regulations in WoodVillage.Whenyou are 1 square mile and you cannothaveparking requirements withinVimile ofa transitcorridor, it can get interesting. "Frequent transit" is notdefinedby a certain timeline, but bywhicheveris the mostfrequent in yourcommunity. Our mostfrequentservice is around30 minutes. Thatleavesthe restrictionsover almosttheentirecity. That doesn'tmean parkingcan'tbe built, but it would mean thatwewould not beableto mandateit. There are twooptions, option A and option B. There are a numberof restrictions in Parking B thatwould need to be done ifthat path was chosen. This is for new parking lots only, not for current ones. Parking A took effect about a year ago. Parking B would take place in June ofthis year, The City Council agreed that we probablyshould comply, butdon'tfastrackthat. To be in compliance, wecan repeal all parking mandates. Whatareouroptions? Ifwedo nothing,we could be found outofcompliance. Wemightthen lose anystate fundingand peoplecould suethe city. They would likely win the lawsuitandgettheirattorneyfees paid as partofthejudgement. Wedid look at an option to adoptthe required standardsbut retain the currentcode. Doingso would be very confusing. Both of those options have enough concerns that they don't seem quite right. So, we are left with adopt the required state standards. To be in compliance, we would need to adopt Parking A requirements. The deadlineforcompliance is June. Staffcan pull togethercodeforconsiderationin Julyandwecould head towardscompliance, probablyin compliance by September.Wewill not be ableto complete it priorto the deadlinebutwon'tlikelyface majorchallengesas long aswe areworkingtowardscompliance. Mott indicatedthat he believeswe need to comply. Harden asked if we did nothing, what is the state shared revenue we might lose, just the gas tax? Dirks replied we would likely lose all state funding, the cigarette tax, alcohol tax, the gas tax, all of it. Harden asked howcould theyjustifytakingall funding away,notjust road related. Dirksadvisedit would be becausewewould not be in compliancewith state law. Tan asked ifa citizencomplains and wetake it to Design Review Board Minutes (May 7, 2025) | Page 2 the state, what is the response time? Dirks shared that if this were to occur and when we receive complaints, we can share that the state said we have to allow that. We cannot change the law, here is the contact informationforthe state. The Statewill likelysay it's a parking/codeenforcement issueandwe are not involved. Wewill still wantthe state to feel the impactoftheirdecisionsfor communitieswhichthey've nevereven visited. The community memberswill not likely get resolutions, but it is sharingwiththe state thatthe impactsare notjuststaffwise, but alsoto the peoplewho live there. A projectwasrecentlycompleted in Gresham,wherethere were no mandatesfor parking and they placed parkingthere anyways. Ifwe cannotmandateit, wecannothavecodefor it, butwecould still discuss options and alternatives. Wecan still discussparking,Additionally, lenders mayeven mandatesomeonsite parking. Some homeownersmayexpandwithoutaddingit, butsome still will. Harden asked ifthere wasany interest in the property acrossthe street or MaderaCt. Dirksadvisedthat there is not a lot of interest at this time. Someone had interest at some point in both, but they fell through. Everything with development is pretty slow right nowwith the economy. Foxsaidthat livabilitywould mean that many people will still build parking. Hardenshared an examplein the pastwhere IHOPhad to have additional parkingand we provided a varianceforthatsituation because a neighboringbusinessownerwasattempting to extracta large amountof moneyto sharethe parking spaces. Hardenasked if thatsituation could still happen if the newrules wereadopted. Dirkssaid no. Town center master plan has more building on the undeveloped parking locations. Town Center has a lot of covenants, tenants and deed restrictionson the parcelsthough. Kohl'shasguaranteed parking maximums so theycannotdevelop. Harden askedso state lawpreempts our home rule, butdoesn't preemptdeed restrictions? Dirks advised it does not preempt deed restrictions. There was discussion surrounding Kohl's parking lot boundaries. Harden asked if state lawdoesn'tpreemptdeed restrictions, mightwesee ifsome property ownerswantto adddeed restrictionsto circumventthis law? Dirkssaidthatis not a necessarytool andthis rule maychangeovertime. Doingso could hinderpositivedevelopmentofthe site. We knowwe will have parkingchallengesas wedevelop. Hardensaid askingfor parking is reasonable. Dirksshared an examplethatillustrated howmarketfactorswill likelycome into play here. DESIGN REVIEWDISCUSSION Dirksrevisited a discussionregardingdesign reviewthatoccurred during a meeting lastApril. In that meeting, the conversation surroundedthe design reviewprocessand howmuch workgoes into it. Type II design review is currently required for all projects in Wood Village. The only exceptions to that are singlefamily homes/middlehousing. Forthose, stafflooksto see if it is a yes or a no type ofthing, if it has the required elements. Ifso, those are approved. Otherwise, newbuildingsand alterations mustgo through design review. Design reviewtypically producesa fewpre-application meetings. In this case, therewere a lot ofquestionsthatarose becausethe ownersofthe companyweredifferentthanthe ownersofthe propertyforthe last project 10years ago. Dirksshared an examplefrom lastyearthatoccurredwith Fred Meyer. Theywanted to swapout a roll-up doorand turn it into a store-frontdoorfortheirpickuparea. It seemed odd thatwewere requiring all ofthis workfor such a small change.Thousandsofdollars spenton the review, for 200sq ft ofchange. Design Review Board Minutes (May 7, 2025) |Page 3 Ifwewereto put in optionsthataren't required to go to design review, it would need to haveclearand objectivecriteria, no subjectivity. We propose these options for discussion and consideration. Exempt from design review: . Alteration orexterioralteration however, wherethe changesproposed do not altermore than 24 Percent of the total area of each facade; or . Changesproposeddo not reducecompliancewith underlyingapplicabledesignstandards;or . Changes any building elements that are not visible from any public right of way; or . Doesnotchangethe existing roofline;or . Parkingspaces may be reconfigured, or existingspaces may be converted into exclusivespaces such as handicapped, pick-up, or loyalty parkin, or landscaping/plaza space as long as the work doesnot add any additionalparkingor alterdriveways. Some examples, T-Mobile is 375 sq ft. 24% of that means they can move 90 sq ft without design review. Kohl'sis about30 ft tall by440ft wide;or about 13,200sq ft. 3, 168sq ft could be altered withoutdesign reviewfor24%. In additionto the percentage, you could also set a maximumsq ft amount. Mott said he thoughtit wasa good idea.Jensensharedconcernsaboutensuringthe design matchedthat is there. Dirkssharedthatthere is alreadya requirementthat it blendswith theexisting environment, We don'twantto get too discretionaryorsubjective, so if someonewanteda large purple door, thatwouldgo to design review. Dirksasked aboutthoughtson the notto exceedsq ft option. Foxinquiredaboutthe "or" betweeneach item forthe wording and wondered if that should be an "and" instead. There was discussion about what makessense, and it wasdecidedthat500sq ft makessenseto cap it at, and it could beadjusted later if it doesn'tworkas planned. Dirkssharedthatthe plan hereis to bring both topics backto the Commissionat the same time, Not much is goingon developmentsideofthings right now. Dirksadvisedthattherewasa meeting at GrandeRondelastweek. They are updatingthe economicfeasibilityreport, and then theywill need to take time to discusseverything. Walmartremodel happenedand there is a grand reopeningon Friday. Fred Meyerremodel is underway. ChickFil A remains in progress. The park restroom should be completed at the end ofthe month. The community garden is finished. Hardensharedthatoneofthe conditionsfor Fred Meyerto build a fuel stationwasthe electroniccharging station. He advisedthatonewas knockedoverand hasneverbeen replaced and the other3 don'thave cords on them. Dirksadvisedthatwe sent noticeon that. Hardenwondered ifwewerefiningthem. Dirks advisedwe need to followthe processto fineon that. Therewasdiscussionoverthe differentgrantsthat were appliedfor, Oneofthefederalgrants had been approved butwill not be provided now. Jensen shared some concerns over people running red lights in Wood Village and nearby areas. Dirks sharedthatthere is a countywidesafetyaction plan on 181st,223rd,238thand 257th.They are looking at speed camerasand red-lightcameras. 223rdand Glisanis the highestcrashcorridornearus. Also, they are Design Review Board Minutes (May 7, 2025) | Page 4 looking at speeding on the freeway. Staffing has been a real issue with the Sheriffs department. Dirks shared that it is hopeful that during the summer they will be better staffed. Mott asked aboutthe traffic info for Chick Fil A. Dirks said that the ITE manual is what is used for that, and the information is very outdates. Chick Fil A and In and Out that have this unusual drawfor a restaurant of that size and the ITEdoesn'taccountfor that. Chick Fil A did not haveto do any mitigation. He saidthat theydid take theconcern overto the countyon this. We have beenworkingwiththe countyfor 3 years, that has been frustrating. Wehave been told this summerthere is a plan to redo Glisan and Park, We have been pushing for a 4-way on Park. We are working with the county on that as well. They want to wait until ChickFil A is open to do thetrafficstudy. Dirks has pushedfor it to happen sooner, but it hasn'thappened yet. Mott asked aboutthe unhousedpopulation at ThousandAcres. Dirksadvisedthere had been a meeting about that today. There is going to be a joint effort on this to start a concerted effort to do outreach to those that call that home. Early June, they will have teams come in to remove the stuff. Being contacted with supportive resources now, in advanceofthe Junetimeline. It is goingto bethe SalvationArmy doingthe outreach. Maybearound30orso people call thathome. Duringthesummer, there are a lot more transient people so that mayhavean impacton the numbers, Resourcesaren'tplentiful at this point. Hardensaid theyjust gofurtherintothe federal land when moved and thatthe numberof people hasn'treally ever changed. Even with the Hope team, nothing has ever really changed. Dirks said we met with the Salvation Army and the Hope team; we have all been meeting together. There was a map of known people and there werefewerthan in the past. Withthe summer months, we maysee more. Hopefully nowwiththis newteam we can keep thingsmanageable,given the lack of housingand shelteroptions. ADJOURNMENT With no furtherbusiness, the Design ReviewBoardadjourned at 7:13pm. Jim Mott Chair ATTEST: c CITYRECORDER DesignReviewBoard Minutes (May7, 2025)|Page 5