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HomeMy WebLinkAboutdraft PC minutes 1-26-26 for PC agenda PLANNING COMMISSION Minutes – January 26, 2026 City of Tigard | 13125 SW Hall Blvd., Tigard, OR 97223 | 503-639-4171 | www.tigard-or.gov | 1 MEETING DATE: January 26, 2026 - 7:00 p.m. HYBRID MEETING IN-PERSON & MS TEAMS 1. CALL TO ORDER President Jackson called the meeting to order at 7 p.m. 2. ROLL CALL Present: President Jackson, Vice-President Miranda, Commissioner Bowerman, Commissioner Springer, Commissioner Sabbe, Commissioner Sprague, Commissioner Murphy. Excused:. Commissioner Tiruvallur Absent: Commissioner Choudhury Council Liaison: Councilor Schlack, Councilor Ghoddusi (remote) Staff Present: Assistant Director of Community Development Schuyler Warren, Assoc. Planner Jenny McGinnis, Planning Commission Secretary Joanne Bengtson. 3. COMMUNICATIONS Mayor Hu Welcome Comments Mayor Hu thanked everyone for coming tonight and shared that he’s open to meeting with community members and our Boards, Committees and Commissions to talk about what’s important to them. He noted that he started volunteering with the city because of his interest in a lack of sidewalks and how he could advocate for more of them to be built. That led him to service on the Planning Commission and then his election to City Council, so he encouraged residents to follow their interests and get involved. Mayor Hu then shared information about proposed plans for a combined Police & Public Works facility that will also house the city’s Emergency Operations Center. When new, the police building housed 25 officers and today isn’t meeting the needs of Tigard’s 80+ sworn officers and other staff. The facility’s problems are becoming harder to remedy and more expensive to repair so a new building will be essential for attracting and retaining talented staff to serve the community. He noted the agency has been responsible with public funds and is judicious in its spending. He encouraged residents and volunteers to learn more about the proposed facility and the bond that will be on the May 2026 ballot. President Jackson welcomed our new Planning Commissioners Elizabeth Sprague and Carl Springer to the first meeting of their new term. 4. QUASI-JUDICIAL PUBLIC HEARING – Comprehensive Plan Amendment/Sensitive Lands Review CMA2025-0003/SLR2025-0002 - HALL BOULEVARD PEDESTRIAN CROSSING Associate Planner Jenny McGinnis As a quasi-judicial hearing, President Jackson described the hearing’s procedures and read required procedural statements. He asked if any Commissioners wished to abstain or declare a conflict of interest in this case. There were none. He asked if any members of the audience wished to challenge the commission for bias or conflict of interest; hearing none, he asked if any Commissioners had ex parte contact to report City of Tigard P lanning Commission Minutes PLANNING COMMISSION Minutes – January 26, 2026 City of Tigard | 13125 SW Hall Blvd., Tigard, OR 97223 | 503-639-4171 | www.tigard-or.gov | 2 and there was none. He asked if, by virtue of the project’s proximity to city hall, there were commissioners present who had not visited the site. No one said they hadn’t seen the site. Staff Report: President Jackson welcomed Associate Planner Jenny McGinnis to present her staff report. Assoc. Planner McGinnis said Case No. CMA2025-0003/SLR2025-0002 is a Comprehensive Plan Map Amendment to remove protection from areas designated as Significant Wetland and a Sensitive Lands Review for work to be done within a FEMA floodway. The Fanno Creek Trail is a major pedestrian trail and transportation corridor and a key component of the city’s pedestrian and bicycle network. The location where trail crosses Hall Blvd. has a history of crashes and near misses with limited sight distance for motorists and the existing pedestrian-activated crosswalk beacon doesn’t comply with current standards. The combination of high pedestrian and bicycling activity, with a high daily traffic volume and long crossing distance, creates a need for a safer pedestrian crossing for all users. (^) The project will install a Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon, or RRFB, at the trail’s Hall Blvd. crossing, install sidewalk ramps that meet ADA requirements and new lighting, signage, striping, and stormwater improvements. The project area is 127 square feet within the vegetated corridor of the significant wetland and the reason a comprehensive plan map amendment is needed. Because the location has a history of crashes and near misses, the project was identified as a CIP project and staff have been working with ODOT on the design. Located between O’mara and Burnham Streets, work will occur entirely within ODOT’s right-of-way and impact significant wetlands on both sides of the roadway to accommodate three stormwater outfalls. When asked for clarification about work in the wetland, Assoc. Planner McGinnis explained the significant wetlands include the delineated wetland and the vegetated corridor buffer, but only the vegetated corridor buffer will be impacted by the project. (<) She shared an image illustrating the three areas for consideration. An Environmental, Social, Economic and Energy (ESEE) Analysis was conducted to identify and evaluate the consequences of allowing, limiting, or prohibiting conflicting uses in the resource areas. The analysis revealed that allowing the conflicting use is most beneficial in providing safer facilities for pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists, more viable alternative transportation options that could reduce vehicle trips and increase Tigard’s perceived livability. Additionally, the applicant will provide a fee- PLANNING COMMISSION Minutes – January 26, 2026 City of Tigard | 13125 SW Hall Blvd., Tigard, OR 97223 | 503-639-4171 | www.tigard-or.gov | 3 in-lieu of onsite mitigation because mitigation isn’t possible in this small of a project area. That fee will help fund regional stormwater management projects. Lastly, Planner McGinnis said the vegetated corridor areas proposed for impact have been determined to be in a degraded state already so the benefit of fully protecting them is minimal compared to the benefits to Fanno Creek Trail users and motorists to gain a safer crossing. The proposal provides detailed information on how the development complies with all applicable comprehensive plan policies, statewide planning goals, and Metro Titles 3 and 8. All applicable development code criteria and standards are met or can be met through conditions of approval and there are adequate public facilities to serve the proposed development. Staff is asking the Planning Commission to send a recommendation of approval to City Council for the approval of Comprehensive Plan Map Amendment and Sensitive Lands Review CMA2025- 0003/SLR2025-0002, subject to the Conditions of Approval in the staff report. Questions: Vice President Miranda asked if a rapid-fire signal will be installed at both Hall Blvd. and O’mara St. or just Hall Blvd.? Planner McGinnis said the actual signal at Hall Blvd. will be one rectangular rapid flashing beacon with buttons on both sides of the crossing to activate from either side of Hall Blvd. She deferred to the applicant to answer the question about O’mara since it’s not part of this application for work in the wetland. Commissioner Bowerman asked for clarification about the ESEE report’s consequences of allowing limiting and prohibiting work. She read the analysis to say that limiting the conflicting use of the proposed project would result in the most positive consequences, but the staff report appears to disagree and say that allowing is the most positive course. Planner McGinnis was joined by Asst. Director of Community Development, Schuyler Warren, to answer the question. Asst. Director Warren stated that for the purposes of the ESEE, there are three potential outcomes being considered, but for staff’s decision there are two – “yes, allow” or “no, don’t allow”. President Jackson asked if staff was seeking a decision by Planning Commission to allow or limit? Asst. Director Warren said the ESEE analysis is required under Goal 5 Statewide Planning Goals. In that analysis, we consider building the proposal or not building the proposal and what would happen if we were to limit it. That is the “limit” language in the staff report. In other words, this is a limited impact on these wetlands given the size and scale of the proposed impacts. Ultimately what is before the Planning Commission is a question of allow or don't allow, but it’s within the Planning Commission's power and purview to limit (through conditions) where it's necessary and it complies with the approval criteria that are applicable to the application criteria. Commissioner Murphy asked if work will intrude into existing bike lanes? Assoc. Planner McGinnis said yes. The applicant representing ODOT later responded that there's enough shoulder on Hall to have bump outs to shorten the crossing and still having a standard bike lane, within the ODOT ROW President Jackson asked if there were accident statistics available at the crossing, or data about the sort of safety improvements gained with this sort of replacement. PLANNING COMMISSION Minutes – January 26, 2026 City of Tigard | 13125 SW Hall Blvd., Tigard, OR 97223 | 503-639-4171 | www.tigard-or.gov | 4 Assoc. Planner McGinnis said she did not have that information, but the applicant might. President Jackson asked whether this work is necessary to correct a non-compliance issue or in preparation for future development? Also, will the work impact plans for a jurisdictional transfer of Hall Blvd. to the city? Will it impact potential undergrounding of the overhead lines on the eastern side? Will sidewalks be added farther down each side of Hall Blvd.? Assoc. Planner McGinnis said she would have the applicant speak to those project questions; she couldn’t give a definitive answer. Applicant Presentation: Planner Matthew Robinson from DOWL, the consulting, planning and civil engineering firm is working with ODOT. Matt said his presentation was almost identical in content to Assoc. Planner McGinnis’ so he moved to introduce his team and ODOT’s team. ODOT’s Paul Langdale joined Matt at the podium and asked for the commissioner’s questions.  Responding to Vice President Miranda’s earlier question about placing a RRFB at the O’mara intersection – he stated it will have an RRFB aspart of ODOT’s overall project. The reason it’s not included in this land use application is because it doesn’t impact any significant wetland and there’s no requirement for the project to go through the city’s application process.  Responding to President Jackson’s questions about impacts to jurisdictional transfer, sidewalks and undergrounding, Paul said the sidewalk work ODOT is doing is standard and will not impact the median. As to the other issues, they couldn’t say. ODOT said he’s aware that replacing the bridge and undergrounding might be included in the city’s Capital Improvement Plans, but he didn’t have an answer to the questions as they weren’t part of this application. It was stated that any improvements made on this highway would serve future projects and contribute to safety and system reliability.  Neither representative had safety numbers to share with the commission but said blinking lights and extra signage help lower accidents and increase awareness.  Vice President Miranda asked about the kind of public feedback applicants received from the neighborhood meeting for this project. Both gentlemen said only two people attended and their questions were primarily around construction timing for the work. Public Testimony: There was no public testimony, so President Jackson closed the public portion of the hearing. He said even though this is a quasi-judicial hearing, the commission would typically be the approval authority, but in this case the commission is providing a recommendation to the City Council. Deliberation: President Jackson asked each Commissioner for final questions and thoughts. Comments were supportive and appreciative attention given to pedestrian safety and limiting wetland impact. Commissioner Sabbe said she’s a bit concerned about construction congestion affecting foot traffic between O’mara and the library and senior center and church. She supports the proposal and asked staff to share safety data for the crossing with the commission. Vice President Miranda said she looks forward to the changes with limited impact. Commissioner Bowerman said she’s always supportive of increased pedestrian safety and sees the upgrades as reasonable for a low impact. President Jackson said he also supports the proposal and asked if activity in this encroachment would cause further degradation and the response was that it will not increase damage from work done in previous years. Motion & Vote: President Jackson asked for a motion and reminded Commissioners this is quasi-judicial, with the Commission sending a recommendation to Council. PLANNING COMMISSION Minutes – January 26, 2026 City of Tigard | 13125 SW Hall Blvd., Tigard, OR 97223 | 503-639-4171 | www.tigard-or.gov | 5 Commissioner Bowerman motioned for the Planning Commission to forward a recommendation of approval to the City Council for application CMA2025-0003/SLR2025-0002 Hall Boulevard Pedestrian Crossing and adopt the findings and conditions of approval contained in the staff report. Commissioner Murphy seconded the motion and when called to vote, it was unanimously approved. The Commission’s recommendation for approval will go to Council for a decision on March 3,2026. 5. OTHER BUSINESS: Asst. Director Warren (Schuyler) welcomed new Planning Commissioners, Sprague and Springer. He briefed the commission on legislative issues to watch when the state legislature convenes for a short session in February. The most significant and impactful issue to watch is Legislative Concept 222 about housing. The other item with potentially strong impact on Tigard’s revenue and project planning is the transportation bill. The 2026 Planning Commission meeting schedule is expected to be much more active than last year. The Commission will receive regular updates on River Terrace 2.0 planning as the proposed adoption date nears in just under a year. The Tigard HOME project is starting to move into the policy recommendation and code writing phase. The Downtown Reimagined project will also come before you and the Council. Lastly, Community Development was awarded about $190,000 from the Department of Land Conservation and Development to fund our housing capacity analysis and housing production strategy. It’s a short timeline (approximately 18 months) to deliver the project by the grant deadline and we’ll bring you regular updates as it proceeds. A question was asked about TriMet’s intention to make service cuts for budget reasons and Washington County’s pilot micro transit service called SPOT. Asst. Director Warren shared that we were able to sit down with TriMet and Washington County and advocate for bringing that service into River Terrace 1.0 and 2.0 and demonstrate we have sufficient density to support it. MOTION FOR ADJOURNMENT President Jackson received a motion to adjourn from Commissioner Murphy, seconded by Commissioner Bowerman. Commissioners voted unanimously to adjourn the meeting at 7:59 p.m. Joanne Bengtson, Planning Commission Secretary ATTEST: President Nathan C. Jackson