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WOODBURN PLANNING COMMISSION PUBLIC HEARING/MEETING MINUTES January 13, 2022 CONVENED: The Planning Commission met in a 7 p.m. virtual public meeting session via GoToMeeting, Chair Piper presiding. ROLL CALL: Chair Piper Present Vice-Chair Ellsworth Present Commissioner Hernandez-Mejia Present Commissioner Berlin Absent Commissioner Corning Absent Commissioner Bartel Present Commissioner Lassen Present (Late) Staff Present: Chris Kerr, Community Development Director Colin Cortes, Senior Planner McKenzie Granum, Assistant City Attorney Introduction Chair Piper opened the meeting at 7:05pm. New Planning Commissioner Anabel Hernandez-Mejia introduces herself. Chair Piper begins with a vote for nominations for a new Chair and Vice Chair for the Planning Commission. Lisa Ellsworth nominates Piper for Chair, which is seconded by Deb Bartel. Chair Piper ask for those in favor of him remaining as chair. Bartel and Ellsworth vote yes. It was called a decision, Piper reminds Chair. Now it moves on for nominations for Vice-Chair. Bartel asks Ellsworth if she would like to continue as Vice- Chair, and Ellsworth said yes. Bartel nominates Ellsworth, and Chair Piper seconds. All those in favor of Ellsworth being Vice-Chair are Bartel, Chair Piper, and the rest of the Planning Commission. Lisa Ellsworth is officially the Vice-Chair. Minutes: None. Business from the Audience: None. Communication: None. Public Hearings: Chair Piper opens the public hearing for the Woodburn Residential Care Facility at 550 N. First St. Its Design Review DR 21-11 & Variance VAR 21-05. Chair Piper asks if there are any declarations from the commissions for potential conflicts of interests, ex parte contacts, or site visits. There is none and Chair Piper asks if there are any challenges to the commission. There is none and then he introduces McKenzie Granum, Assistant City Attorney for the Public Hearing Statement. ---PAGE BREAK--- Granum reads the official statement that is required Oregon Law and the Woodburn Development Ordinance for these types meetings. Chair Piper then gives Chris Kerr, the Community Development Director the go ahead and Kerr starts the staff report of DR 21-11 & VAR 21-05. Kerr explains what will be explained for the commission; Action Type III land use application package: Design Review (DR) & Variance (VAR). The Commission decides upon all Type III applications and the staff reports and its attachments are entered into record. Kerr moves on to give the site context and the history for the address 550 N. 1st Street and even shows some historic photos of the property. Kerr moves on into the proposed development. The proposal would be to renovate and conversion into a Residential Care Facility: with 25 units, up to 40 beds, renovation work is primary inside the building and some minor restoration work. For the state agency involvement, it would be the State Historical Preservation Office and Department of Human Services. Kerr then shows the site plan, then an Elevation view along N. 1st Street plan. He then shows the first floorplan. Kerr discusses the Variance Request: Density, which the applicant is requesting the maximum density. Staff supports it and it needs to be approval and condition. Chair Piper asks if there is questions from the commission to staff. There is none so Chair Piper moves on to testimony by the applicant. Individuals who speak need to give name and address before beginning. Mildred White, from BAM Architecture & Design 7350 SW Milwaukee Ave, Portland, OR 97213 starts her presentation and shares her PowerPoint. She shows the plans that they are proposing. She talks about the living structures and what it would look like. Chair Piper has a question, which was if the fire escape was going to be retained. White said it would be more discussed in the plan review, but the intention is to remove the fire escape because it’s a safety hazard and due to it being old. Chair Piper goes on to ask for any other questions for Applicant White. Vice-Chair Lisa Ellsworth said she had two questions for the applicant. Her first question is about emergency vehicles, such as anticipating the need for ambulance or emergency vehicles, because these are fragile residence and if the driveway will be open for vehicles. Applicant White’s response is that in her perspective to keep it open. Ellsworth moves to her second question, which is about if the rooming option wasn’t limited to couples only sharing rooms, that family members or other types of couples could have that option to share. Applicant White said that there is not limitations and that anyone who wants to share a room with someone can. Commissioner Lassen arrived to the meeting and Chair Piper introduces him to the rest of the attendees. Chair Piper moves to the testimony by proponents, for those who are in favor of the application. Hearing none, Chair Piper leads into testimony by opponents, those who are not in favor of the application. Hearing none, Chair Piper leads into the rebuttal by the applicant, which there is nothing to rebut, so he asks if the applicant has any final comments. Applicant has none and is grateful of the feedback from planning commission. In that case, Chair Piper moves to close the public hearing and the commissioners will deliberate. Commissioner Deb Bartel speaks, saying that she like that this building is going to be fixed up, and that it’s going to be in good use. She’s excited to see its completion. Chair Piper agrees with ---PAGE BREAK--- Bartel and wishes the developers the best of luck. Ellsworth informed that this type of residential facility are good neighbors and that the building won’t be empty anymore. Commissioner Hernandez-Mejia likes that the new property will utilize the downtown businesses. Chair Piper would like to entertain the motion to approve the DR 21-11 and VAR 21-05 the Woodburn Residential Care Facility. He asks for a motion. Vice-Chair Lisa Ellsworth moves to approve the DR 21-11 and VAR 21-05. Chair Piper asks for a second. Commissioner Lassen seconded the motion. McKenzie Granum, Assistant City Attorney, requests a slight modification to the motion. She states that along with the approval, that the commissioners are approving with conditions and that the chair can sign the order. Agreeing, Vice-Chair Ellsworth moves to approve DR 21-11 and VAR 21-05, with the staff recommended conditions and the chair be allowed to sign. Commissioner Bartel seconds the motion. Chair Piper asks for all those in favor, which was followed up by unanimous approval, therefore the motion carries. Chris Kerr leads into the next presentation, WDO Legislative Amendment 21-01: Transportation System Plan (LA 21-01). Senior Planner Colin Cortes will be presenting this presentation. The main overview of the presentation is the changes to the ordinance. He brings out the slide presentation: Amendments List: Examples & Illustrations. Cortes offers an option for the commissioners to ask questions or if they have a specific ordinance they want more information. Chair Piper said he has some comments on page 32. WDO 1.04.03 non-conforming development. Chair Piper states that he has both a comment and a question. He appreciates the problems that non- conforming buildings create and the need to have a standard with regard into dealing with non-conforming buildings. His question is if there is allowances for non-conforming. Cortes understands this and explains that the slides will contain information about non- conformance. Cortes start the presentation. He starts off with the Basic Structure of Amended WDO Sections followed up by the right-of-way (ROW) regulations. He then discusses Upgrade of Nonconforming Development and what minimum upgrades look like. Cortes moves on to drawings on Replacing Street Crossings. This is followed up by new Alley cross section and a new bike/pedestrian WDO section. As Cortes goes more in depth about this topic, Chair Piper asks a question about having an option to have the city to change the usage that it’s been acquired for. Cortes answers the question, by summarizing that it would need to be consulted by city attorney. That if the city owns land outright, there is more leeway. If it’s more private property but has a public easement, it limits the use of the property. The most common easement that the city has is a public utility easement (PUE). After further discussion, Cortes then moves to Drive Aisle Width. Then, he discusses about “Grasscrete” and Walkways. Next topic is the Parking Stall Dimensions. This sparks discussions about the dimensions of the parking stalls. Most of the commissioners are concerned that by shrinking the stall widths, larger vehicles can unintentionally take more space. Commissioner Hernandez-Mejia question is that if any business is going to restrict their parking lots, would they need to it to the dimensions in the chart or would it follow under the ---PAGE BREAK--- maintenance where they don’t need to and keep the measurement. Cortes answers that it would be a considered maintenance and the dimensions on the chart would apply to new development. Cortes talks about Carpool/Vanpool parking, then leading into the Electric Vehicle (EV) Parking. This can be seen as an expense and it would mostly apply to larger development. The commission and staff had an extended conversation about this topic, as some were positive remarks and other had concerns or questions about where would these go and who can benefit from them. Bartel asked about how much the electric charger at the Woodburn Memorial Transit Center / Park and Ride is used. After making note of the last remarks, Cortes moves into Bicycle Parking, then moves to More Parking Lot Landscaping and then. Cortes into the Planned Unit Development (PUD) new table of Incentives for Enhanced Public Amenities. This is followed by PUD Amenity Examples and then Lighting, followed by last slide the Street Exception application type renamed to Street Adjustment. Cortes concludes the presentation and asks for questions. Hearing none, he concludes his turn. Business from the Commission: None. Staff Update: Chris Kerr has a couple of things. He asks Cortes if there will be a public hearing on their first February Meeting. Cortes said yes and that staff is in a position to make a limited degree in edits, to accommodate the feedback that was heard tonight. If the commission was okay with it, staff would come back to this on February 10 to have the public hearing and make a recommendation to council. Kerr said the goal is to review it again, look at the changes closer and give the council a set in well-advance, before the meeting date. Kerr then moves to the other item, stating that it will be a busy spring as there will be more legislative and code changes. There will be a start towards Middle Housing Project immediately [LA 21-03]. This is the state requirement for all cities to make changes to the zoning code to allow middle-housing in all zoning districts. There will be more meetings and workshops about the codes. The will be modifications to the tree code [LA 21-02]. Amazon has been moving forward, being on time with permits and on schedule. Last update is on the Annexation ANX 2020-02 Trillium Reserve PUD on Boones Ferry Rd NE. The item was reviewed and approved of last spring by the city council and it was denied by the city council. The applicant appealed the Council denial of it to the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA). Kerr had a meeting that morning with the property owner and was told that a new legal team has been assigned to the project, adding that applicant has agreed in both writing and verbally to dismiss the LUBA case. Adjournment: Chair Piper entrains the motion to adjourn. Commissioner Lassen and Ellsworth seconds this notion, leading to a unanimous reply of agreement from the rest of the council. Chair Piper adjourns the meeting. Charlie Piper Date ---PAGE BREAK--- Chair of Planning Commission City of Woodburn, Oregon ATTEST Chris Kerr Date Community Development Director City of Woodburn, Oregon