BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS'

REGULAR MEETING

January 30, 2002

following HACSA

Commissioners’ Conference Room

APPROVED 5/29/02

 

Commissioner Bill Dwyer presided with Commissioners Bobby Green, Sr., Anna Morrison and Peter Sorenson present.  Cindy Weeldreyer was present via telephone.  County Administrator Bill Van Vactor, Assistant County Counsel Stephen Vorhes and Recording Secretary Melissa Zimmer were also present.

 

1.  ADJUSTMENTS TO THE AGENDA

 

None.

 

2.  PUBLIC COMMENTS

 

Mona Lindstromberg, 87140 Territorial Road, Veneta, took issue with the observation that the task force did its job regarding the placement of cell phone towers.  She said there was no provision for active participation by citizens, but a tower representative was allowed to address the task force.  She said important work was accomplished by the members, but not nearly to the extent possible.  She was supportive of the Planning Commission’s work on the siting of towers.  She thought the task force’s recommendations were to go to the Planning Commission.  She attended the Planning Commission’s work session last week and was pleased with the proposed draft.  She requested a moratorium on cell phone towers until an ordinance is in place.

 

Jim Spickerman, 975 Oak St., representing Rexius Forest Products, stated he previously submitted a letter to the Board with his concerns.  He was concerned that when LUCU becomes adopted, the I-4 District becomes an I-2 District and at that time the I-2 District allows manufacturing uses including manufacturing concrete products, lumber, wood, machinery, metal and stone products.  He said Rexius was asking for a permitted use in the I-2 District as a matter of fairness.

 

Morrison asked what happens if and when the I-4 District takes place.

 

Spickerman responded the I-4 District becomes the City of Eugene I-2.  He said the I-4 District was a transitional district that didn’t list a lot of uses.  He said if and when LUCU goes into effect, the I-4 District becomes the I-2 District and then the City of Eugene look at the uses allowed in the district.  He said it should be a permitted use district but it isn’t,   and the uses were only allowed in the I-3 District.

 

Dwyer said they need to have that as a permitted use in the I-2 District so when the conversion takes place, they are not locked out.  He concurred with Spickerman.

 

Spickerman that noted the I-4 District is a special heavy industrial district.  He said it was part of a contractual agreement and it was a transitional zone.  They qualified because their uses weren’t listed.

 

Dwyer said they have to impress to the city that this needed to be fixed.

 

Sorenson asked if this request would affect other property owners.

 

Spickerman said that Lane Forest By-Products already had a site but it didn’t affect anyone else.  He added this was also subject to a DEQ permit. 

 

Tim Quade, 83246 Lorane Highway, represented the Lane County Sheriff’s Posse.  He stated that horsemen were excluded from the arena at the Fairgrounds.  He said they put together a package at Mt. Pisgah.  He noted to date they had raised approximately $21,000 to get it built. He said they wanted to add four high school equestrian teams at the venue along with high school rodeos and 4H clubs.  He said if they are successful in doing that then they would have a problem with restroom facilities.  He wanted help from the Board in adopting the 94 Mt. Pisgah Master Plan and help with building the restroom.

 

Green asked how they planned on managing the waste from the animals.

 

Quade responded by compost bins.  He noted there is a group that has a natural plant nursery and they could use 100% of what was generated.  He added they could also help the arboretum with water service and power.

 

Morrison asked where the ongoing money would come from for this program.

 

Quade noted it is generated from fees they have.  He said they have a two-tier schedule with activities during the day and from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 the users of the arena are billed.  He said they put together a communal pot with the Parks Department to generate dollars from those activities that should support this.  He said they have a $20,000 per year budget to maintain the facility once it is running.

 

Green suggested that this matter go through the budget process.

 

3.  EXECUTIVE SESSION as per ORS 192.660

 

None.

 

4.  COMMISSIONERS' BUSINESS

 

a.  REPORT/CVALCO Semi-Annual Report: July - December 2001.

 

Kari Westlund, CVALCO, stated she forwarded a room tax summary to the Board by e-mail and continues to do that on a monthly basis.  She noted through November, collections for the fiscal year from July 1 are off less than 1%.  She added for Lane County’s accounting purposes, they were up almost 3% because May and June are on the books for this fiscal year.

 

Westlund noted that nationally, 257,00 jobs had been lost in the hotel industry over the last few months but the industry growth in employment is projected to be up slightly for calendar year 2001.  She added things would be improving in 2002.  She said locally they are hearing cautious optimism about the future.  She said that December was off 27% for the airport compared to December of last year, bringing the first six-month total to about a 12% decease overall.  She commented they see a direct correlation between air service and passenger counts.   She explained they had been able to book more regional and national business over the last few years because air service had increased but there are concerns with the decreases in air service.

 

Westlund stated their convention sales bookings were ahead of last year by 13,500 room nights and as they began to survey the business at the fairgrounds, about 4,500 room nights were related to business at the fairgrounds that would have come in anyway.  She explained they were actually ahead about 9,000 room nights.

 

Westlund explained that visits to their website have been very successful and television projects had been aired.  She noted that Lane County was included in three of 13 segments of a television series that was based in the United Kingdom.  She added there was another project, the Pacific Northwest edition of the Haunted History filmed by Greystone Productions for the History Channel, including seven minutes on Heceta Head.  She noted they saw one-third less visitors in their visitor center over the past six months but they were not that concerned because of the increase to their website.

 

Westlund noted there were several events pending.  She said the Village Green in Cottage Grove had been purchased and there are plans for its renovation, becoming a full-service resort with improvements in meeting space.  She added they were working with the Springfield Chamber on a possible convention center located in Springfield.

 

Sorenson asked what the Board could do to support CVALCO’s work in bringing in tourists to Lane County.

 

Westlund asked that the Board recognize that the money CVALCO receives for their marketing contract is an investment in the economy.  She said they invest the dollars in bringing in visitors who will spend money in Lane County.  She hoped the Board would continue with funding support.  She wanted to see the special projects money come back for organizations throughout the county.  She said the Planetarium project was good and recognized that at this point there wasn’t a lot of public money from room tax going into that facility.  She was concerned about funding for Oregon tourism and hoped it could be an issue discussed with the United Front.

 

Sorenson suggested an annual letter to elected officials showing CVALCO’s new brochure, to let them know about visitor opportunities and bringing tourists to Lane County.

 

Weeldreyer stated she appreciated Natalie Inouye, Vice President of CVALCO Tourism Marketing effort, as she had been an excellent liaison between the rural community chambers and her office.

 

b.  FIRST READING AND SETTING SECOND READING AND PUBLIC HEARING/ Ordinance No. 2-02/In the Matter of Amending Chapter 10 of Lane Code to Adopt Amendments to the Ag Agricultural District and New Cell Tower Siting Regulations in the Land Use Regulations Made Applicable to the Urbanizable Lands Within the Eugene Urban Growth Boundary; Adopting Savings and Severability Clauses; and Declaring an Emergency (Second Reading and Public Hearing, February 13, 2002, 1:30 p.m.).

 

MOTION: to approve the First Reading and Setting a Second Reading for Ordinance 4-02.

 

Green MOVED, Morrison SECONDED.

 

VOTE: 5-0.

 

Dwyer asked how soon the Board could receive the Planning Commission’s recommendation regarding cell phone towers.

 

Kent Howe, Land Management, responded the Planning Commission had been working on cell phone tower proposals. He noted that Ballot Measure 56 notice was required.   He said they were hoping to bring it back to the Board for a public hearing on April 3, 2002. 

 

Weeldreyer requested to see the modification that the Planning Commission had made to what the task force sent last August. 

 

Dwyer said if he'd known this was going to be dragged out until April, he would have started a moratorium when they gave direction to the Planning Commission.

 

Sorenson supported a moratorium.

 

Howe explained that citizen involvement takes time and that was the direction they had taken for the hearings procedures.  He noted that over the course of the last year there have been two or three applications for cell phone towers, of which the hearings official denied one.  He said they used that record as part of the development from the task force recommendations on cell towers.  He said that decision stopped the application run they were anticipating.  He noted the companies were waiting for the cell phone ordinance so they would have clear direction for cell tower placement.

 

Green opposed a moratorium.  He said the Board was responsive to citizens regarding the cell phone towers.  He said a task force was formed with citizen representatives and no one thought about the workload of the Planning Commission and staff.  He said it was unfair to criticize staff for dragging their feet.

 

Weeldreyer said it was her suggestion to have a streamlined process that involved the Planning Commission, the Board, County Counsel and citizen input.  She stated the task force had a product that was ready.  She noted the main issue was health concerns and Lane County is pre-empted from that in the siting criteria.  She was against a moratorium as it wasn’t part of their formal written agenda.

 

Van Vactor requested that Howe report back to the Board regarding the cell phone ordinance.

 

Sorenson asked if the Planning Commission could make their recommendation as specific as they could.  He asked that the recommendation be brought to the Board the following day, so they could take action.

 

Howe stated that assuming the Planning Commission finished their work with a final recommendation next Tuesday night, that the following week they will have a draft in final version for the Board’s review and they can schedule a work session on that within a week.

 

c.  FIRST READING AND SETTING SECOND READING AND PUBLIC HEARING/ Ordinance No. 3-02/In the Matter of Amending Chapter 10 of Lane Code to Adopt Amendments to the I-4 Special Heavy Industrial District in the Land Use Regulations Made Applicable to the Urbanizable Lands Within the Eugene Urban Growth Boundary; Adopting Savings and Severability Clauses; and Declaring an Emergency (Second Reading and Public Hearing, February 13, 2002, 1:30 p.m.).

 

MOTION:  to approve a First Reading and Setting a Second Reading and Public Hearing On Ordinance No. 3-02 for February 13, 2002 at 1:30 p.m.

 

Green MOVED, Morrison SECONDED.

 

VOTE: 5-0.

 

d.  NINTH READING AND DELIBERATION/Ordinance No. 5-00/In the Matter of Amending Chapter 10 of Lane Code to Adopt a Revised and Updated Version of the Eugene Land Use Regulations for Application to the Urbanizable Lands Within the Eugene Urban Growth Boundary; and Adopting Savings and Severability.

 

Jan Childs, City of Eugene, explained the Board received a memo from Teresa Bishow from the City of Eugene with a proposed Exhibit A3 responding to the testimony that they heard on a public hearing and there was no objection to allowing golf courses as a permitted use in the agricultural zone.  She noted the second item dealt with recycling facilities.  She noted there was additional comment from Spickerman.  She believed they would replace the (c) conditional with a (p) in that section of the Errata.  She stated the direction was not clear after the public hearing.  She said a revised Exhibit A3 would be given to the Board.  She distributed a revised copy of the ordinance based on review with legal counsel.  She noted a change was in the third “whereas”.  She stated the Board had adopted Ordinance 10-00, adopting the City of Eugene Measure 7 claims processing ordinance for use within the urbanizable area. She explained the second change (page 2 of the ordinance) is adding the reference to Exhibit A –3.

 

MOTION: to approve a Ninth Reading and Setting a Tenth Reading and Deliberation for

Ordinance 5-00 for March 20.

 

Sorenson MOVED, Green SECONDED.

 

VOTE:5-0.

 

5.  COUNTY ADMINISTRATION

 

a.  Announcements

 

None.

 

b.  ORDER 02-1-30-1/In the Matter of Amending Chapters 4 and 21 of Lane Manual to Revise Provisions Regarding Grants (LM 4.010(21)-4.010(22), 21.137, and 21.147.

 

Margaret Wilkenfeld, Budget Analyst, stated this was an item that would amend chapters of Lane Manual to incorporate changes related to grants.  She said in the past there had been discussion about the sequence of fund expenditures when grant funds or revenue contracts were available. She added there was no time limit stated when a grant or contract sunsetted and that action was terminated.  She stated that Boards in the past had been provided information about the grant.  She said staff had drafted a series of questions that would be included in the agenda memo that is presented to the Board when it was represented.  She noted a group was convened to study the issues and they reviewed the questions that were drafted and came up with two recommendations that resulted in changes to the Lane Manual.  She added this was presented to the Finance and Audit Committee on October 30, 2001.  She said they brought back a way of streamlining the processing of grant applications.  She noted that currently the grants are presented to the Board as an application and brought back a second time for acceptance.  She said the work group recommended the process be condensed into one, if certain conditions were met.  She added that the County Administrator be granted the authority to extend a grant if the conditions remain substantially the same for a maximum of three years.  She noted this would apply to grants over $50,000.  She noted those two provisions are included in Chapters 21, Sections 137 and 147.  She added the nine questions that were drafted would become a part of a new section of the Administrative Procedures Manual, providing a comprehensive look at grant applications.

 

  MOTION: to approve ORDER  02-1-30-1.

 

  Morrison MOVED, Green SECONDED.

 

Weeldreyer said she had no problem with the process, as it would be more efficient.  She would be more comfortable if it went through the Management Team before it came to the Board.

 

  Dwyer stated he was comfortable with the way it was.

 

  VOTE: 4-1 (Weeldreyer dissenting).

 

  Weeldreyer stated she was opposed on principle and process.

 

6.  PUBLIC WORKS

 

a.  REPORT/Information Briefing Regarding Optional Statewide Master Builders Certification (HB 2012).

 

  Roger McGuckin, Land Management, said they should adopt the policy.  He believed this was a win-win proposition for contractors as well as the jurisdictions involved.  He added there is potential if everything works out meeting the state’s criteria.  He noted it would probably speed up the plan review and permit process by a day or two and might not be used as much as expected.

 

  McGuckin spoke with Marion County who participated in this project and they reported that during the 18 months of the pilot program, they had a total of 44 certified master builders and 29 of the 44 utilized what was referred to as an expedited plan review.  He stated it was a self-verification by the contractor of a life safety item of a job such as smoke detectors, or windows.  He said that becomes part of the permanent record of the property file and travels forward with it. He added that not all of the inspections are allowed under the pilot program.  He thought this could happen as late as September or as early as June 2002.

 

  Dwyer asked if Lane County had to have a master builder program and if there was a downside to this.

 

  McGuckin said it was not mandatory and there was no downside.

 

  Dwyer was concerned about this as it limited competition.

 

  McGuckin said this had an additional cost for the contractor because they are producing a permanent record that has to become part of the property record and there would be administrative work. He noted in Marion County, after 18 months, no one had come forward to use it.  He said there was no reason not to do it unless there is problem with competition.  He said it could be an advantage to a contractor who has the tools and it would not end up being a burden for the jurisdiction.

 

  Weeldreyer stated since the Oregon Administrative Rules had not been finalized, that she would want to implement this now.  She said having an opportunity to have certified master builders that could sign off on permits and have their authority part of the property file record has merit.

 

  Dwyer was concerned that competition would be eliminated and the result would be higher prices for the consumer and less opportunity for people who were qualified but couldn’t meet a calendar statutory requirement.

 

  McGuckin said there was a downside in terms of turning loose of the program if adopted.  He said once they start the program, they couldn’t release it for a period of at least six months.  He noted there were elements in it that they could take advantage of at a local level.  He said it would add 31 jobs for Lane County.

 

  Sorenson asked what efforts were being made to brief the construction industry to involve the homebuilders and contractors.

 

  McGuckin responded that on February 12 he would be meeting with the Home Builders to discuss this.

 

b.  THIRD READING AND SETTING FOURTH READING AND PUBLIC HEARING/Ordinance PA 1165/In the Matter of Naming a Newly Constructed Frontage Road Connecting to Weatherberry Lane, Along State Highway Number 58, Jolene Drive (18-02-34). (Second Reading and Public Hearing: February 13, 2002, 1:30 p.m.)

 

  MOTION: to approve a Third Reading and Setting a Fourth Reading and Public Hearing for Ordinance PA 1165 for February 13, 2002 at 1:30 p.m.

 

  Morrison MOVED, Green SECONDED.

 

  VOTE: 5-0.

 

  Weeldreyer stated this was a win-win situation for everyone.

 

7.  CONSENT CALENDAR

 

A.  Approval of Minutes:  None.

 

B.  Children and Families

 

1)    ORDER 02-1-30-2/In the Matter of Awarding a Contract for a Total of $60,000 with Looking Glass Youth and Family Services, Inc. for the Period January 1, 2002 Through June 30, 2003 to Provide Runaway/Homeless Services for Youth; and Delegating Authority to the County Administrative Officer to Execute the Contract.

 

C.  Health and Human Services

 

1)    ORDER 02-1-30-3/In the Matter of Accepting an Agreement with the Lane Practice Association in the Amount of $600,000 for the Period October 1, 2001 Through September 30, 2004.

 

D.  Workforce Partnership

 

1)  ORDER 02-1-30-4/In the Matter of Appropriating an Additional $250,000 in Revenues and Expenditures, and Adding Two Employment Specialists, One Community Service Worker Position and Increasing One Half-Time Accounting Clerk II (.5 FTE) to Full Time (1 FTE) in the Lane Workforce Partnership Department (37), Fund 249.

 

MOTION: to approve the Consent Calendar.

 

Morrison MOVED, Green SECONDED.

 

VOTE: 5-0.

 

8.  COMMISSIONERS' ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

Weeldreyer announced that Mayor Weathers of Lowell called her regarding Forest Service properties on land owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.  She noted it is declared surplus and will be donated to the Lowell School District.  She noted that Weathers asked the Board to send a letter of recommendation.  She stated it would be on next week’s agenda for approval.

 

9.  EMERGENCY BUSINESS

 

None.

 

There being no further business, Commissioner Dwyer recessed the meeting at 12:00 p.m.

 

 

Melissa Zimmer

Recording Secretary