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Woodburn Planning Commission Meeting Minutes October 12, 2023 Convened: The Planning Commission met at 6:59 p.m. both in person and through a public online/virtual session via Microsoft Teams. Roll Call: Chair Ellsworth Present Vice-Chair Hernandez-Mejia Present Commissioner Bartel Absent Commissioner Berlin Present Commissioner Bravo Present Commissioner Corning Present Commissioner Lassen Present Staff Present: Chris Kerr, Community Development Director Dan Handel, Planner Renata Wakeley, Special Projects Director McKenzie Granum, Assistant City Attorney Introduction: Chair Ellsworth opened the public hearing at 6:59 p.m. and asked Staff to begin roll-call. Chair Ellsworth led everyone through the Pledge of Allegiance. Minutes: The minutes were from the September 28, 2023, meeting. Chair Ellsworth asked if there were any corrections or additional information needed and there were none. Commissioner Lassen motioned to approve the minutes; Commissioner Berlin seconded. The motion passed unanimously. Business from the Audience: None. Communications: None. Public Hearings: DR 22-06, PLA 22-04, SA 23-04, & VAR 23-04 Chair Ellsworth opened the hearing for DR 22-06, PLA 22-04, SA 23-04 & VAR 23-04: 1030 Young Street Apartments, located on 1030 Young St. She stated that the applicant requested to continue the public hearing to December 14, 2023. Chair Ellsworth entertained a motion. Commissioner Corning moved that the public hearing of DR 22- 06, PLA 22-04, SA 23-04 & VAR 23-04: 1030 Young Street Apartments, located on 1030 Young St., to be continued on December 14, 2023. Vice-Chair Hernandez-Mejia seconded. Chair Ellsworth called for a vote, and it was unanimously in-favor. Therefore, DR 22-06, PLA 22-04, SA 23-04 & VAR 23-04: 1030 Young Street Apartments, located on 1030 Young St was continued to December 14, 2023. DR 23-03, PLA 23-03, SA 23-02, & VAR 23-05 Chair Ellsworth opened the public hearing for DR 23-03, PLA 23-03, SA 23-02, & VAR 23-05: Commerce Way & Industrial Park on 1414 Commerce Way and gave a brief summary of the application. Chair Ellsworth then asked if the Planning Commission had any ex-parte contacts, site visits, declarations, or potential conflicts of interests they would like to report and there were none. Chair Ellsworth asked if there ---PAGE BREAK--- were any challenges to the Planning Commission and there were none. Assistant City Attorney McKenzie Granum read the public hearing statement and Planner Dan Handel presented the staff report. After the presentation, Planner Handel asked if anyone had questions. Commissioner Corning asked about the turn lane and if it’s going to be omitted and Planner Handel said yes. Other questions were asked about other future developments in that area with the dead end and Planner Handel explained how the roads and sidewalks would look like and he showed photos. He highlighted that the property is in an industrial zone and that semi-trucks won’t travel into town as industrial zones are already located at city limits and close to freeways and intersections. Commissioner Corning asked what qualifications trigger a fee in-lieu of planting street trees. Planner Handel explained the reason why that condition is on there was when new subdivisions planted street trees, some of those trees damaged the stormwater pipes and water meters. Therefore, the Public Works Department has been carefully watching where those trees will be planted to avoid that problem. The budget goes to the Community Service Department, as they have an Urban Forestry Program, or the city could use the money to plant trees in parks. Commissioner Berlin asked how Staff charges projects for traffic improvements and Planner Handel commented that they can only charge the applicant with the amount that their project contributes. Commissioner Bravo asked about the semi-truck schedules, as that area becomes packed during the timeframes of school starting and ending; Planner Handel responded with peak morning times of 6:30am-7:30am and evening times of 5pm- 6pm and that’s with 3 semi-truck trips with about 20 trucks total. The timeframe is about 1 truck per 20 minutes, but they don’t know yet due to lack of an official tenant. Testimony by Applicant: Jason Haslam, Project Director with 9460 SW 160th Ave. Beaverton, OR 97007. Applicant Haslam explained that he had been in front of the Planning Commission before, naming Sprague Lane Apartments Project as the most recent project in Woodburn. Applicant Haslam presented a promotional video about the Cobalt Industrial Park Project. Applicant Haslam then addressed the questions from the Planning Commission, such as how tall the building will be. The building’s height will be 40 ft to the ridge and it’s single-story. The only two-story would be a front office space, potentially being 5,000 sq. ft. Applicant Haslam moved onto the question about parking and addressed that the code minimum is 92 stalls and they figured for 127 stalls. Applicant Haslam stated that they don’t know the exact use of the building yet until a tenant has been identified. He stated that their civil engineers had done research on other buildings in a similar situation and made sure that they met the code minimum of the City. Applicant Haslam talked about traffic hours, which is tough to determine when they don’t know the tenants that will use the building and the traffic report that is presented, is what they have now by current data. Applicant Haslam asked if there were any other questions and Commissioner Corning asked if there would be 100ish employees at the warehouse and he said he doesn’t know, and it would depend on the tenant who uses that property. Commissioner Berlin commented on traffic and how that’s been a concern for that area of town. Applicant Haslam commented that he understands the concerns, but they’ve done everything they could in preparing for the traffic flow by their traffic report. Applicant Haslam also wanted to address one of the conditions in the staff report, which was about staff recommending that the public utilities be complete, prior to building permit issuance. Applicant Haslam proposed that the public improvements for both utilities and the street improvements be complete by the Certificate of Occupancy, rather than the building permit issuance. There are a few reasons for this request, as some are for completing planned stages in a timely manner to being good neighbors to the neighboring property by letting them have access to their properties. Steven Aiello, Director of Design with Cobalt, 8215 SW Tualatin-Sherwood Rd #200, Tualatin, OR 97062 added a few details and clarity about the project. Mr. Aiello wanted to address the question that the Commission asked, regarding the number of employees. He highlighted the traffic report used industry standards in trip generation and used the trip generation manual to determine the percentage of traffic and employees. Mr. Aiello stated that the entire site is designed to be balanced between those two components. Vice-Chair Hernandez-Mejia asked what the best guess towards the percentage of manufacturing warehouse and Mr. Aiello answered a 60 % to 40 % split, in favor of warehousing. Testimony by Proponents: None. Testimony by Opponents: None. ---PAGE BREAK--- Chair Ellsworth closed the public hearing and moved to deliberation. Commissioner Corning was excited about the project and other Commissioners shared the same feeling. Chair Ellsworth commented that the project looks straightforward and is looking forward to seeing more new jobs available for people. Vice- Chair Hernandez-Mejia said that the project is close to residential so that potential workers can walk or bike from their homes to work. Commissioner Corning asked Planner Handel about adding the exception of the street improvements and public utilities required to be complete by the certificate of occupancy and if there is a problem with making that change. Planner Handel explained that the City policy is to have the applicant complete them prior to building permit issuance. He also explained that the applicant could pursue a phased building permit that allows for construction of on-site utility and flat work at the same time as the public infrastructure work. Commissioner Corning asked if that needed to be added to the motion or is it how the department operates, and Planner Handel said it’s how the department operates. Chair Ellsworth entertained a motion. Commissioner Corning moved that the Planning Commission approve of the consolidated applications of DR 23-03, PLA 23-03, SA 23-02, & VAR 23-05: Commerce Way & Industrial Park on 1414 Commerce Way, subject to the staff conditions of approval and a final decision be prepared for the signature of the chair. Commissioner Berlin seconded the motion. Chair Ellsworth called for a vote, and it was unanimously in-favor. Therefore, DR 23-03, PLA 23-03, SA 23-02, & VAR 23-05: Commerce Way & Industrial Park on 1414 Commerce Way was approved. Workshop: Economic Opportunities and Analysis (“EOA”) project Chair Ellsworth moved on to the Workshop: Economic Opportunities and Analysis (“EOA”) project. Special Projects Director Renata Wakeley and Community Development Director Chris Kerr provided a power point presentation on the upcoming Legislative Amendments to Comprehensive Plan: Update to Buildable Land Inventory (BLI) and Economic Opportunities Analysis (EOA). The presentation talked about the project and timeline, reviewed data, expected findings with a staff report, what the Planning Commission can expect, showed the development activity map, draft Comprehensive Plan Goal and Policy amendments, and where to go from here regarding the project. Special Projects Director Wakeley stated that the Planning Commission can request another hearing for this project, in case the scheduled meeting on November 9, 2023 isn’t enough time. Specifically, if the Planning Commission doesn’t feel comfortable in recommending the project to the City Council, they can opt to continue their hearing and the City Council hearing/meeting for the project would also be continued. Special Projects Director Wakeley and Director Kerr believe that once the Planning Commission is able to review the draft report, they are hopeful they will be comfortable recommending advancement to the City Council and concluded the workshop and answered any questions the Planning Commission had that evening. Business from the Commission: None. Updates from Staff: Director Kerr stated that there is no Planning Commission meeting for October 26, 2023. Adjournment: Chair Ellsworth entertained a motion to adjourn. Vice-Chair Hernandez-Mejia motioned to adjourned and Commissioner Berlin seconded. The vote was unanimous, and the Planning Commission adjourned the October 12 meeting at 9:03 p.m. ---PAGE BREAK--- Lisa Ellsworth Date Chair of Planning Commission City of Woodburn, Oregon Attest Chris Kerr, AICP Date Community Development Director City of Woodburn, Oregon