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M I N U T E S
Special
Meeting
February 1, 2007
–
6:30 P.M.
Dunes City Council
COUNCILORS
PRESENT: Mayor
Sheldon Meyer, David Bellemore, Peter Howison, Richard Koehler, Susie
Navetta, Bob Petersdorf, John Scott
COUNCILORS
ABSENT: None.
STAFF
PRESENT: George Burke, Gary Darnielle, Joanne Hickey, Christy
Lewis, Terri Tinker.
1. EXECUTIVE SESSION
The
Council held an Executive Session meeting immediately preceding the
Special Meeting, in conformance with Oregon Revised Statutes
192.660(2)(7), regarding potential litigation.
No decisions were made.
2. CALL TO ORDER
Mayor Sheldon Meyer called the Special Meeting of the Dunes City
Council to order at
6:30 p.m.
City
Recorder Joanne Hickey called the roll and stated that a quorum was
present.
Councilors
joined in the Pledge of Allegiance.
3.
CITIZEN INPUT
Mayor Meyer stated that Council consideration of issues related to three
of four City staff having submitted resignations would follow public
testimony on the topic.
Norman Martin,
83750 Rio Drive
,
Florence
, read a letter
from Rich Rodeman an attorney engaged to advise a group of
Dunes
City
citizens
regarding alleged irregular Council and Planning Commission decision
making processes. He stated
that Mr. Rodeman was experienced in dealing with such matters and that it
was his opinion that recent attempts to void the appointment of one
Planning Commissioner and expand the size of the Commission were unlawful.
He said the letter demanded that the Planning Commissioner whose
appointment was voided be reinstated and warned that if it was not, legal
action would be filed.
Mr.
Martin listed errors regarding the appointment process:
(1) The Council action was taken against the advice of the Acting
City Attorney. (2) The Council
did not allow the Planning Commission to fulfill its responsibility for
implementing the Dunes City Comprehensive Plan.
(3) Membership on the Planning Commission did not meet statewide
requirements for diversity. (4)
Staggered term limits were not assigned to Commissioner positions.
(5) The person whose appointment was vacated was not given due
process in violation of the City Code.
(6) The action was an abuse of the power of elected officials.
Bob
Read,
5020 Ford Way
, said he had
spoken with at least one member of the Council about the pending
resignation of staff members. He
said it was his understanding that the major concern of staff was being
over-burdened by the massive amount of work resulting from newly adopted
Ordinances. He said the staff
also suffered from interference by citizens and elected and appointed
official. He praised the work
of the City staff.
David
Davis,
83000 Jensen
Lane
, said he
believed City staff was commendably performing their responsibilities.
He said the resignations would force the City to hire and train new
employees, adding $10,000 to $20,000 of unbudgeted expenses.
He said he was concerned that the circumstances causing the
resignations be dealt with openly.
Mayor
Meyer reported that that during the Executive Session held earlier in the
evening, Council had asked the City Attorney to prepare recommendations
for the March Council meeting on how to deal with and monitor the work of
City staff. He said the
recommendations were intended to ensure that staff work was not
interrupted and was able to do their work.
He said he believed the current staff was the best the City had
ever had.
Mayor
Meyer said an additional issue considered in the Executive Session was the
potential of litigation related to voiding the appointment of a member to
the Planning Commission. He
said the Council had asked the City Attorney to prepare a draft Ordinance
that would expand the membership of the Planning Commission to six,
re-appoint the member who had been previously appointed as a member, and
assign staggered terms to all positions.
Panning
Commission President George
Burke said decision-making by the Planning Commission would be inhibited
by having an even number of members. He
said reconstituting the Commission to seven members would be a better
alternative. He said he was
opposed to any of the proposed changes because they were being made to
settle potential litigation. He
said the Council should “stand up and be accountable” for what it had
done.
Councilor Bob Petersdorf suggested that a way to avoid tie votes
was to designate that the Commission President only vote when the members
present were evenly split in making a decision.
Councilor Richard Koehler asked if all positions on the Planning
Commission were filled. Councilor
Peter Howison replied that a member of the Commission had reported that it
was operating “illegally.”
An unidentified voice from the audience asked how the Council would
deal with the need for staggered member terms on the Planning Commission.
Mayor Meyer replied that the terms of all members would be reset to
make the terms of two members expire each year.
Councilor David Bellemore said he believed the Council had acted
legally in its voiding of an appointment to the Planning Commission.
He said it was done in the best long-term interests of the City.
Another unidentified voice from the audience stated that according
to his recollection of the Planning Commission, it had never been unable
to reach a decision about any issue.
Still another unidentified voice from the audience said he did not
believe adding a sixth member position to the Planning Commission would
not resolve any of the issues inhibiting the ability of the Commission to
make recommendations.
Councilors and members of the public engaged in a lengthy
discussion about the importance of those holding opposing views being able
to reach compromise, instead of one side threatening the other with
litigation. They appeared to
agree it was “time to move on.”
Councilor
Koehler moved, seconded by Councilor Howison, to instruct the City
Attorney to prepare an Ordinance proposal to be acted on at the next
meeting of the Council that would expand the number of Commissioners to
six, establish that the Chairperson would only vote in cases of tie,
stagger the terms of members, and declare an emergency.
The motion was adopted, 6:0.
Mayor
Meyer declared a ten-minute recess in the meeting.
4. PUBLIC HEARING
Mayor
Meyer reconvened the Special Meeting of the Council and opened a Public
Hearing at
7:30 p.m.
City
Attorney Gary Darnielle stated that the purpose of the Hearing was to
continue consideration of an Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA)
remand of a Council decision to deny applications for Woahink Ridge
Estates Planned Unit Development (PUD 01-05), Zone Change (ZON 01-05), and
Subdivision (SUB 04-05). He
referred to a document entitled “City Council – Final Order and
Findings of Fact on Remand from LUBA – Woahink Ridge Estates –
Preliminary PUD Subdivision (PUD 01-05) and Zone Change (ZON 01-05).”
Each
Councilor declared that he/she had no real or potential conflict of
interest and had held no ex parte discussions regarding the
applications.
Bill
Kloos,
576 Olive Street
,
Eugene
, stated that he
was a land use attorney retained to assist the applicants to implement the
Woahink Ridge Estates plan. He
said he would raise issues that might be distasteful, but were necessary
for them to be used in response to the LUBA remand.
Mr. Kloos
referred to his letter dated February 1, 2007 distributed to the Council
through the City Attorney that identified two categories of issues:
(1) New testimony being received from those questioning the
development after the record of the hearing had been closed on January 18.
(2) An allegation that one member of the City Council had
contributed to the efforts of those opposing the application, indicating
prejudgment bias.
Mr.
Darnielle explained the
Oregon
standard of
bias.
Mr.
Darnielle said the Council should consider whether to open the record of
testimony for the hearing to accept the communications identified and
allow time for rebuttal/response by the applicant.
Councilor
Howison said he would find it useful to be able to consider issues of
slippage and stormwater drainage previously discussed, with new insights
provided by the communications.
Councilor
Petersdorf said he believed the time previously committed to evaluating
the applications had been ample and that the new information supplied by
the communications would be superfluous.
Councilor
Bellemore agreed and said he believed too many new issues were being
raised, making the process of a final decision drag on inordinately.
Councilor
Koehler asked if allegations of conflict of interest had been made mute by
the declarations given by Councilors.
Mr. Darnielle replied that the statements by Councilors could be
challenged.
Mayor
Meyer stated that the issue to be decided was whether to open the record
to submission of material received and allow the applicant to respond.
Councilor
Petersdorf moved, seconded by Councilor Bellemore, not to accept testimony
regarding the Woahink Ridge Estates applications received after its record
had been closed, and to make a decision based on what had previously been
received.
Councilors
discussed the ramifications of the motion.
The
motion was adopted, 4:3, with Councilors Howison, Koehler, and Navetta
voting no, and Mayor Meyer breaking the tie by voting yes.
Councilor Howison moved, seconded by Councilor John Scott, to
reopen the public record regarding the Woahink Ridge Estate applications
and accept as evidence to be considered communications received and
applicant responses to them. The
motion was adopted unanimously, 6:0.
Dan
Olmstead, no address provided, stated that he was an engineer
certified to work on issues “from the ground and down.”
He distributes copies of a letter that includes provisions for the
use of bio-retention cells and nutrient sequestration in the development
of the Woahink Ridge Estate project. He
warned that rejecting the PUD proposal would leave the application for a
Subdivision development of the property.
Councilors
discussed the details and issues related to the stormwater control
proposals for the development, advantages/disadvantages of Subdivision
versus PUD, Applicability of elements of the Dunes City Comprehensive
Plan, the possibility of limiting lawn sized on developed lots, and the
location of a buffer beside the road through the wetlands.
Mayor
Meyer invited testimony from those opposed to the application.
Jerry
Wasserburg,
P.O. Box 2959
,
Florence
, said he was
concerned about issues related to the planned access road to the property
– its carrying capacity, location, width, traffic, and faulty
construction. He said
Lane
County
needed to be
involved with the planning and construction of the road.
He also said slumping also needed to be considered.
Mr. Kloos
stated that the applicants would be able to meet all of the concerns about
the road, and had addressed slop issues in its previous submissions.
Mayor
Meyer determined there were no other persons wishing to testify and closed
the Public Hearing at
8:55 p.m.
He invited to deliberate regarding the applications.
Councilor
Scott said he favored approving the 19-lot PUD application because it
addressed all areas of concern raised and conflicts with the Dunes City
Comprehensive Plan had been resolved in testimony received.
Councilor
Petersdorf said he agreed and suggested that the proposed development
would better protect the property than leaving it undeveloped.
Councilor
Bellemore said he was concerned about preservation of the wetland
identified on the property. He
added that he would prefer a 15-lot subdivision development to reduce the
population density of the area.
Councilor
Howison said he believed density was a primary issue that needed to be
concerned. He said the PUD
application reduced the size of lots and concomitant lower stormwater run
off. He emphasized the
importance of preserving the
Lake
.
Councilor
Koehler referred to Oregon Statewide Planning Goals and read its
provisions for carrying capacity level of use for property – the limit
that can be accommodated and continued without irreversible impairment of
natural resource productivity.
Councilor
Scott said he did not believe it would be possible to quantify the limits
of carrying capacity.
Councilor
Howison said he believed the Comprehensive Plan gave the City authority to
regulate individual lot sizes of more than an acre. He
added that he supported approving a 15 unit PUD because it would be
possible to meet setback and development requirements.
Councilor
Petersdorf suggested that a compromise could be to approve a PUD of 17
units.
Mayor
Meyer stated that he sensed the Council was about to arrive at a consensus
to approve the PUD application with the number of units to be limited to
less than 19. He asked Mr.
Kloos if the applicant could accept provision for a lower number of units.
Mr. Kloos
said he did not believe the applicant would agree to any limit in the
number of units in the PUD. He
suggested that the City Attorney be asked to prepare finding that would
justify a reduced number on a legal basis.
He said he did not believe it could not be done.
He said the Council had a responsibility to make a decision based
on clear and objective standards, which it had not identified.
Councilor
Koehler asked if the Council had authority to act on the number of units
to be constructed on the property. Mr.
Darnielle replied that would be possible only with a Subdivision
development.
Councilor
Susie Navetta moved, seconded by Councilor Bellemore, to deny the Woahink
Ridge Estates application for a 15-unit Subdivision.
The motion was unanimously adopted , 6:0.
Mr.
Darnielle asked what the basis for denial of the application was.
Mayer Meyer replied that he understood the Council to base its
decision on protection of the wetlands, better use of common areas, and
slope issues.
Councilor
Scott moved, seconded by Councilor Bellemore, to approve the application
for a 19 unit PUD by Woahink Ridge Estates, with original and new
Conditions identified in the Final Order and Findings of Fact; and adding
limitations of use of fertilizer and phosphate-containing detergents,
protection of the surrounding areas with wetlands, and creation of
bio-retention stormwater ponds.
Councilor
Howison stated that he had voted to deny the original PUD application and
continued to feel that there were significant problems associated with the
development. He said the
Council had learned a great deal from the process about the fragile nature
of lakes and believed the
applicant should be required to meet additional standards for controlling
the impact on natural environment.
Councilor
Scott said he believed implementing controls provided with a PUD would
result in significant improvements being made to the property.
He said the proposal would reduce the stormwater runoff from what
it was currently.
Councilor
Koehler asked what recourse the applicant had if the PUD application was
denied. Mr. Darnielle replied
that an appeal to LUBA would be likely.
Councilor
Howison moved to amend the motion to require consultation with a
recognized stormwater expert in designing of the related systems of the
development. The motion was
not considered because of the lack of a second.
Councilor
Navetta said her biggest concern about the development was its significant
increase of impervious surface.
The
motion was approved, 4:3, with Councilors Howison, Navetta, and Koehler,
voting no, and Mayor Meyer breaking the tie by voting yes.
Mr.
Darnielle stated that he would prepare Findings supporting the decision to
be adopted at the next meeting of the City Council.
The meeting adjourned at
9:34 p.m.
(Recorded by Dan Lindstrom)
____________________________________
___________________
Sheldon
Meyer Mayor
Date
Dunes
City Council
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