Loading...
City Council Minutes - 06/17/2008 Agenda Item No. '? ./ • '�L �i Meeting of 17 2Q O g s City of Tigard Tigard Workshop Meeting Minutes TIGARD CITY COUNCIL MEETING DATE/TIME: June 17, 2008 — 6:30 p.m. - Workshop Meeting MEETING LOCATION: City of Tigard - Town Hall, 13125 SW FLU Blvd., Tigard, OR 97223 1. WORKSHOP MEETING 1.1 Mayor Dirksen called the meeting to order at 6:32:30 PM. 1.2 Deputy City Recorder Krager called the roll. Present Absent Mayor Dirlaen ✓ Councilor Buehner ✓ Councilor Sherwood ✓ Councilor Wilson ✓ Councilor Woodruff ✓ Staff Present: CityManager Prosser,Attorney Ramis,Engineer Duenas,Community Development Director Coffee,Assistant Community Development Director Bunch,Associate Planner Wyss,Associate Planner Farrelly,and Deputy Recorder Krager City Center Advisory Commission members present: Ralph Hughes, Alice Ellis Gaut, Carolyn Barldey,Alexander Craghead,Lily Lilly,Linli Pao,Pete Louw and Martha Wong 1.3 Pledge of Allegiance 1.4 Council Communications &Liaison Reports 1.5 Call to Council and Staff for Non-Agenda Items — Councilor Buehner said she had an announcement to make at the end of the meeting. 2. DISCUSS THE TIGARD TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM PLAN UPDATE Associate Planner Wyss gave a brief report on Tigard's Transportation System Plan update process. He said the City was awarded $150,000 from the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) through their Transportation and Growth Management Program for the plan update. He said staff has been developing criteria for the consultant selection process. He said the scope of work needs to satisfy Oregon Administrative Rules as well as address community-specific issues. Work will begin on July 31, 2008. He said he will be updating Council at the July 15 Workshop Meeting. TIGARD CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING MINUTES -June 17, 2008 City and 13125 SWHaHBlvd. Tigard,OR 1 503-639-4171 _ .1 �.tigard-or.gov I ry g � g Page 1 of 10 Associate Planner Wyss said staff chose Kittelson&Associates,Inc. 4UA) as project consultants. He said when ODOT and KIA complete final negotiations and ODOT readies the Intergovernmental Agreement it will be brought to Council for approval. He said oppomuiities for public input include serving on the Citizen Advisory Committee (CAC), three public forums and an open house. He said staff will ask the consultant to take a closer look at the Tigard Triangle, including alternative land uses, transportation scenarios or possible changes to existing code. They will also revisit the Washington Square Plan to see if projects identified in the plan are sufficient or necessary to meet future needs. He said Council will be given a more detailed presentation on issues surrounding the Tigard Triangle at the July 15 Workshop meeting. Additionally, Metro staff will be in attendance to update Council on their Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) process and regional transportation needs. Councilor Buehner asked about the duration of citizen involvement with this project. Associate Planner Wyss said there would be four meetings held over a twelve-month period. Councilor Woodruff commended staff for writing a grant that resulted in the City receiving the $150,000 from ODOT. Councilor Wilson said he was involved in the last Transportation System Plan update in 2002 which was to be a glide for 20 years and had millions of dollars of improvements planned. He asked to what extent the report would be more realistic this time. Associate Planner Wyss said staff will build in a component that takes a realistic look at the financial difficulties, including a Needs and Deficiencies Analysis and Solutions Report. Mayor Dirksen asked about the timing of the plan update and Associate Planner Wyss confirmed that when Metro updates the Regional Transportation System Plan all cities within the region must update their transportation system plans. 3. REVIEW THE BURNHAM STREET AND ASH AVENUE EXTENSION PROJECTS 6:43:18 PM The Council and City Center Advisory Commission (CCAQ Members introduced themselves. Engineer Duenas presented a PowerPoint, a copy of which is in the City Recorder's Office. He discussed the current status of the Burnham Street and Ash Avenue improvements, saying the right-of-way acquisition for expanding the street and undergrounding utilities on Burnham is underway. He mentioned drainage issues near Stevens Marine and contamination coming from the railroad tracks. Engineer Duenas said there were major issues with right-of-way acquisition and the property needed for the Ash Avenue extension must be acquired before the project can proceed. 6:52:19 PM Engineer Duenas asked City Attorney Ramis to comment on the effect Measure 39 has on the acquisition of property for this project. Mr. Ramis said it is important to take time to build consensus between the city and the property owners regarding project design as well as TIGARD CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING MINUTES —June 17,2008 Gry oTigard and 13125 SW Trill Blvd Tigard,OR 97 ( 503-63 g � g ��__3 9-4171 1 vnvw.tigard-or.gov I Page 2 of 10 between the property owners and the taxpayers regarding relative costs. He reviewed the three main ways local governments can get projects built and the role condemnation plays in each of them. PubliclyFinanced Project— usuallyone large project that is paid for bytaxpayers. The advantage is that costs are spread broadly and the project can be built in one step. Condemnation is available for public projects with this option. • DeveIopment Driven—infrastructure improvements are built because someone wants to develop their property. In order to do this they must improve the frontage. A downside is that it just improves a piece of the street at a time,creating mosaic frontage development. It is not funded by taxpayers and condemnation plays no role. • Local Improvement District—creates an assessment district. An improvement is made, and the costs are assessed against the property owners immediately along the improvement that benefit from it. The advantage is that it creates an improvement at once and there is typically no taxpayer involvement. Condemnation can be used. He said in some past cases Tigard contributed funding to lessen the burden on property owners. He said the condemnation process has changed over the years and is designed generally to ensure that projects can move ahead. It's designed to make sure the property owner receives fair compensation and that the taxpayers are not paying too much. It is based on appraisals. When there is disagreement between the local government (representing the taxpayer) and the property owner it goes to court. There is an attorney fee provision in Oregon law designed to create an incentive for these transactions to be negotiated rather than go to court. He said Measure 39 created a situation designed to give an incentive for governments to make higher offers. It says attorney fees must be paid (by the local government) if the jury award is more than one dollar above the first initial offer. Property owners are not required to negotiate; they can force the matter to trial if they wish. City Attorney Ramis said,"In short,Measure 39 reinforces Tigard's historic policy of only using condemnation as a last resort." Councilor Woodruff asked what attorney fees would likely be. City Attorney Ramis said a circuit court trial can cost anywhere from $10,000 to $30,000 depending upon the complexity and experts brought in. Councilor Buehner said it appears Measure 39 penalizes taxpayers in favor of an individual property owner. She asked Caty Attorney Ramis if for every single piece of property, the City could have these lands of attorney fee awards. Mr. Ramis said, "Absent a consensus and cooperation,that could happen." City Manager Prosser said even with mediation,if that fails and it goes to court,the initial offer is what the attorney fees are based on. He said he wanted to stress that this is not just the case for the Burnham Street project or just Tigard's Urban Renewal, but every single property acquisition this city or any other city or any government in the state makes. This is a whole TIGARD CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING MINUTES—June 17,2008 City of Tigard 1 13125 SW Hall Blvd.,Tigard,OR 97223 1 503-639-4171 1 www.tigard-or.gov I Page 3 of 10 new world and unfortunately we are the first to test this;there is no case law for this yet. CCAC Member Barkley asked if a property owner received an offer they didn't like, was going to court their only option. City Attorney Ramis said the property owner can negotiate and in many circumstances they do, but the effect of Measure 39 reduces the incentive to do so. CCAC Member Lilly asked Mr. Ramis about the process timeline once the first offer is made. He replied that litigating fully can take a year. Councilor Wilson asked if an appraisal usually considers factors such as what the loss of the property does to the remaining properties. He asked if it was the total negative effect of the taking or was it the square footage. .Attorney Ramis said there are two components to the valuation 1) the value of the property that is taken and 2) any damage to the remainder. Councilor Sherwood asked if once the Caty has an appraisal it is the only one that can be done. Mr. Ramis said there could be others but for purposes of court awarded attorney fees, the first appraisal would be the one that counts. CCAC Member Louw asked Engineer Duenas what the impact is on the project if the City doesn't have all the parcels. Engineer Duenas said, "If we don't get all the properties we will end up with a piecemeal system It would be easier and less expensive to bid it all at once because there is more quantity and we also wouldn't leave anything undone." Mayor Dirksen said staff has asked Council what approach to take and this led to the meeting tonight with the CCAC CCAC Member Ellis Gaut asked staff how many of the completed appraisals have stalled and Engineer Duenas replied that there were two. CCAC Member Pao said, "In the community there is a lot of discussion about this. How many offers were made in person? Were there personal visits? As you read the Tigard Times, it seems like business owners are concerned about learning more about this." Engineer Duenas said that Right-of-Way Associates has been approaching the properties on behalf of the City and letting them know an appraiser will be on their property. He noted that an appraisal must be in writing. City Manager Prosser said the role of Right-of-Way Associates is to be the City's real estate broker. He said the process is similar to someone buying a home; initial contact is made by a broker. Councilor Woodruff asked, "Do property owners want to have improvements on Burnham)" He said he felt caught in the middle between taxpayers, the CCAC and property owners. 7:20:20 PM . He asked if there was a common voice. In response to a question from Councilor Buehner about the width of the strip of land being requested from Burnham property owners, Engineer Duenas said it varied from ten to twenty feet. TIGARD CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING MINUTES —June 17,2008 City of Tigard 1 13125 SW Hall Blvd.,Tigard,OR 97223 1 503-639-4171 1 www.tigard-or.gov I Page 4 of 10 Councilor Buehner said, "When I was on the CCAQ prior to becoming a Councilor, it is my recollection that we had an outreach program to those on Main and Burnham and personally knocked on doors of businesses." CCACMember Ellis Gaut agreed that this occurred. Councilor Buehner expressed surprise that property owners did not feel listened to because earlier in the project planning they came and spoke freely to CCAC about their issues with the roundabout.The CCAC brought those issues to Council and the project was redesigned. Councilor Wilson said he was surprised as well. He remembered a few years ago some downtown business owners said the City was not moving aggressively enough. He said the long-term goals should be the same--to improve downtown. CCAC Member Hughes asked, "Why weren't all the appraisals gathered and disseminated at one timer" City Manager Prosser said that getting twenty two appraisals is big project to take care of. CCAC Member Lilly suggested the City meet one-on-one with property owners to bring out any issues. She supported mediation, or appointments with the Mayor and a CCAC member present. Mayor Dirksen said he would be willing to meet with property owners with a CCAC member or City staff as requested. CCAC Member Craghead said he saw that the City has four possible courses: > Back away from the entire project > Scale down the project > Condemnation > Make counter offers and negotiate with owners when necessary CCAC Member Barkley expressed appreciation to Councilor Woodruff for asking what they think. She said business owners have different concerns than property owners. She said she talked with property owners on Burnham and found none opposed to Burnham Street improvements. She said she found some who were critical of the communication between the City and property owners and some who felt the project could be scaled back somewhat. She referred to newspaper articles saying the City blames property owners for the hold up and asked for documentation of this. Mayor Dirksen said holdups were caused by timelines slipping due to redesign of the roundabout and Ash Avenue which came about from Burnham Street property owner comments. He said,"But no one is saying there is a big holdup." CCAC Member Barkley said property owners are reacting to misinformation. She asked if the median is necessary. Mayor Dirksen said the medians planned for Burnham are for aesthetics. He offered the suggestion of using large planters with trees in them to create movable medians which wound give flexibility to adapt to changing needs along the street. TIGARD CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING MINUTES —June 17 ,2008 City of Tigard 13125 SW Flall Blvd.,Tigard,OR 97223 1 503-639-4171 1 www.tigard-or.gov I Page 5 of 10 CCAC Member Louw asked Engineer Duenas if it was possible to go through an acquisition cycle to see what the city can acquire and then redesign to fit what was obtained. He said that would be a way to move forward and still make a huge improvement. Mayor Dirksen asked, "Are you interested in going back to square one and redesigning the project?" He said redesigning the street would be very expensive. Councilor Buehner said, "We have another issue. The Downtown Improvement Plan is a result of many volunteer hours. They wanted a pedestrian-friendly environment which meant wider sidewalks and hopefully,trees. The issues are different but there is a definite focus on making it pedestrian-friendly with less emphasis on cars. Voters considered that plan when they approved the Urban Renewal District." Councilor Wilson expressed interest in knowing if the median was the primary obstacle.He said the median could be added later. He proposed that the City continue negotiations to discover what the issues are. He said that to the extent accommodations can or should be made, the City should do that. CCAC Member Hughes asked if public comments could be received tonight. Councilor Sherwood said there was an "elephant in the room" and asked to hear directly from business owners what the sticking points are. At Mayor Dirksen called a 10-minuted break 8:06:04 PM At 8:18:42 PM Mayor Dirksen called the meeting back to order. He asked if any property or business owners would like to comment. Mike Stevenson, owner of B & B Print Source on Burnham Street said there are misconceptions, but they are solvable. He said the street improvements will help some businesses, but not others. He has attended meetings where answers given to some business owners' questions were disconcerting. He asked how many property owners have received an appraisal and said it was not a majority. He said it would be a plus to have the Mayor talk to property owners. Mayor Dirksen said asking a staff engineer a question will, "get you a technical response. Staff cannot make policy; Council does. If an issue arises that It's our fault if your questions weren't answered to your satisfaction." Councilor Wilson reiterated that a design change is a policy issue and staff cannot do this. Councilor Buehner asked Mr. Stevenson and other business owners to feel comfortable coming to Council to discuss their concerns. Someone has to get that infomnation to Council. Mike Weigel of K & M Embroidery on Burnham expressed concern about his appraisal because it didn't show a small triangle of land and a driveway easement that were previously TIGARD CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING MINUTES —June 17,2008 City of Tigard 13125 SW Hafl Blvd.,Tigard,OR 97223 1 503-639-4171 1 www.tiard-or.gov I Page 6 of 10 discussed. He also requested that they be allowed to keep their current driveway and not have a median. City Manager Prosser explained that the appraisal just covers the property they own at the time of the appraisal. He said the triangle of land was not included in the appraisal because they do not own it;the driveway is a separate issue. He said an additional meeting needs to be held that includes Mr.Weigel and a Verizon representative to discuss granting K &M the permanent easement to a shared driveway which would guarantee his company's access. Councilor Woodruff,"We don't want this to be an adversarial process.However,we aren't going to agree with everything that is said." He offered to meet with Mr.Weigel to make sure his concerns are heard. 8:46:26 PM - Burnham Street property owner Dick Miller, said he was fortunate because he talked to the CCAC and one of their members went to Council and his issues were resolved. He said he thought no one on Burnham has sold property in the past several years because they are happy with their properties and tend to hang on to them. He said he had received an appraisal and made a counteroffer which he heard was refused by the City Manager. CCAC Member Ellis Gaut asked, "Are you saying it didn't show comparables?" Mr.Miller said the comparable examples used were on Scoggins Street and Pfaffle Street. Councilor Wilson said to Mr.Miller,"As you said yourself,there have been no recent sales on Burnham Street so the appraiser had to look elsewhere." CityManager Prosser said he did not remember seeing Mr.Miller's counter-offer. Councilor Woodruff said, "We want to be fair with you. But other people in the community could ask, `Why aren't you getting the most value for my tax dollars?" CCAC Member Barkley asked if signage or landscaping improvements are included in property appraisals. Engineer Duenas said the improvements are included. Mayor Dirksen said, "Where we have rejections of our offers maybe we should meet with owners to find out what the separation is. City Attorney Ramis advised that in the case when a property owner is represented by cotulsel, they should make sure they consult with their attorney prior to discussions with the City." CCAC Member Suggestions: • Use a mediator when there is disagreement between property owners and the City's appraisal. • Don't completely redesign, but tweak where possible. a Have personal meetings that include a member of Council, a CCAC member and property owners (if owners are interested in such a meeting). TIGARD CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING MINUTES -June 17 , 2008 City of Tigard 13125 SSU Hall Blvd.,Tigard,OR 97223 503-639-4171 www.tigard-or.gov I Page 7 of 10 • Based on those meeting outcomes, mediate counter-offers to find common ground prior to taking condemnation approach. • Take a second look at appraisals to see if they tend to be low. Council Suggestions: • Talk to Right-of-Way Associates to see if thereis a wayto make propertyowners more comfortable with the appraisers. • Ask about the issue of comparables. • Council is willing to meet with property owners if they desire to find common ground and perhaps move forward with a counter offer before any kind of condemnation is considered. Councilor Wilson said another option is to build the street in two phases, even though we've agreed it is not a good idea. Mayor Dirksen asked the CCAC members if they are willing to consider this option. The CCAC members suggested meeting with owners about individual issues and consider taking a second look at appraisals before taking this route. 9:20:38 PM Mayor Dirksen asked the CCAC their opinion about the Light Rail street lights, noting that it will be Tri-Met's responsibility to maintain them. The consensus of the CCAC was that they approve of the lights. 9:22:43 PNII Mayor Dirksen adjourned the City Council and convened the City Center Development Agency(CODA) Present Absent CCDA Chair Dirksen ✓ Board Member Buchner ✓ Board Member Shenvuod ✓ Board Member Wilson ✓ Board Member Woodruff ✓ 4. DISCUSS THE DOWNTOWN URBAN DESIGN VISION REFINEMENT UPDATE Associate Planner Farrelly discussed the project and presented a PowerPoint on the work the University of Oregon students are preparing on the Tigard Downtown Improvement Plan (TDIP). Assistant Community Development Director Bunch said the process will provide the ability to see what the TDIP can represent. They want to identify for the community what is possible and utilization of this tool will help builders and developers. Associate Planner Farrelly said they will be looking at block-size recommendation and TIGARD CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING MINUTES —June 17, 2008 City o_f Tigard � 13125 SW Hal Blvd. Tigard,OR 97223 503-639-4171 www.tigard-or.gov I Page 8 of 10 circulation which will provide the basis for an eventual downtown circulation plan. He said they are also looking at street trees, green roofs and small scale open space sprinkled throughout the downtown. He said the project is also assisting with design standards. graphically portraying different building types, masses and scales. A model will be created showing existing conditions and the effects on potential development. He said the final document will be completed in July and staff would be back to meet with Council in August with the University of Oregon professor and students. Board Member Wilson asked if the limiting factor on floor area ratios was due to preference, economic or transportation limitation issues? He asked Mr. Bunch if the City was considering minimums as well as maximums. Assistant Community Development Director Bunch said the City was considering minimums because the TDIP was fairly specific in terms of scales. Board Member Buehner said, "If you're looking at a building over a certain number of stories, does it make sense to require underground parking?" Mr. Bunch said that because of costs needed to offset higher foundation costs,underground parking is not market-feasible anymore. In response to a question from Board Member Wilson, Mr. Bunch said there had been developer interest in building 15- to 20-story buildings on the east side of the Tigard Triangle. He said, "But ODOT has level of service requirements that restrict development size floor area ratio in the Triangle because of the surrounding state highway system capacity. We want to approach some kind of resolution on this with ODOT." Board Member Wilson asked if office buildings being built in close proximity to Tigard's downtown might help commercial, housing or office development there. He said downtown Tigard is not faraway from the Tigard Triangle and is still surrounded by freeways and arterials. Assistant Community Development Director Bunch agreed that development in the Tigard Triangle could very positively affect development in the downtown both from retail, other kinds of job opportunities and housing,particularlyif there was improved transit. Board Member Wilson said he didn't see modeling for the location of a light rail route and asked if Tri-Met has done any corridor studies. He said that Barbur Boulevard to 99W may not be the only route and suggested the way to string together the most town and regional centers would be a north MacadarrrHiillsdale-Multnomah-Garden Home-Washington Square- downtown Tigard route. He said this might be more beneficial for Tigard. Mr. Bunch said that when Metro gets their high capacity transit options study going,Tigard will be at the table. He also said staff is attending the TriMet's Transportation Managers Committee TMAC every Friday. He said they wish to push the concept of high capacity transit on 99W as it is the last spoke to be implemented in the original light rail plan. Board Member Buehner asked if this was a vehicle to again ask ODOT to look at flyover ramps on 72"`1 over 217 which would make Tigard Triangle more viable.Mr.Bunch said the Transportation System Plan and the Regional Transportation Plan are the appropriate vehicles; this is more of a town center study. He said City staff will promote the ramps in the Transportation System Plan, however,the proposed Columbia River bridge will have a significant impact on funding any other transportation projects in the region. TIGARD CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING MINUTES -June 17,2008 City of Tigard 131_5 SAY/Hall Blvd.,Tigard,OR 97__3 �l 503-639-4171 � www.tigard-or.gov�� Bard or.gov I Page 9 of 10 Chair D rksen said he thought the PowerPoint overlay showing 200 blocks of downtown Portland projected onto Tigard's downtown was interesting, but wanted to avoid a headline tomorrow saying that what Tigard intends to do is recreate 200 blocks of Portland in the downtown. Assistant Community Development Director Bunch reiterated that Tigard has its own downtown characteristics and established street system, but commented that the downtown streets lack connectivity and could become more permeable and accessible. Board Member Woodruff moved to adjourn the City Center Development Agency(CCDA) and reconvene the City Council Meeting. Board Member Sherwood seconded and all voted in favor. 9:51:31 PM Councilor Buehner announced that her son was involved in Olympic trials for the two-man rowing event and the United States finished first. The team will be travelling to Beijing, China to compete in the Olympics. 9:52:09 PM Councilor Sherwood moved to adjourn and Councilor Woodruff seconded.All voted in favor. The motion was approved by a unanimous vote of Council present. Mayor Dirltsen Yes Councilor Buchner Yes Councilor Sherwood Yes Councilor Wilson Yes Councilor Woodruff Yes � Caro A. Krager,Deputy City cot er Attest: J MhV, City of Tigard Date: �• --)- (9. O$ �:\ADh(\G�h}\CGl\�G78\OROG17 nmislnp.doe TIGARD CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING MINUTES -June 17 ,2008 City of Tigard 13125 SW FLA Blvd.,Tigard,OR 97223 503-639-4171 f www.Ligard-or.gov I Page 10 of 10