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Home My WebLink About2012-07-02 Work Session Minutes Minutes of Board of Commissioners’ Work Session Monday, July 2, 2012 Page 1 of 4 Deschutes County Board of Commissioners 1300 NW Wall St., Suite 200, Bend, OR 97701-1960 (541) 388-6570 - Fax (541) 385-3202 - www.deschutes.org MINUTES OF WORK SESSION DESCHUTES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS MONDAY, JULY 2, 2012 ___________________________ Present were Commissioners Anthony DeBone, Alan Unger and Tammy Baney. Also present were Erik Kropp, Interim County Administrator; and, for a portion of the meeting, Tom Anderson, Community Development; Tanner Wark, Parole & Probation; Ken Hales, Community Justice; Susan Ross, Property & Facilities; and media representative Erik Hidle of the Bulletin. Chair DeBone opened the meeting at 1:30 p.m. 1. Discussion of Bend Fire Department Request regarding Licensing of Records Management System. This item was delayed. 2. Executive Session, under ORS 192.660(2)(e), Real Property Negotiations. 3. Executive Session, under ORS 192.660(2)(d), Labor Negotiations. 4. Other Items. Chair DeBone brought up an item discussed previously, involving a request for a land use action fee waiver. Commissioner Unger indicated he was not at the meeting but has since read the report. Chair DeBone said that he reviewed the ownership of the property, and the man who attended is one of the developers. Tom Anderson stated that the property had ended up with a bank and was later purchased by others. He said a site plan review is required on commercial buildings if altered at a certain level. The new footprint needs to fit within the original proposal. Minutes of Board of Commissioners’ Work Session Monday, July 2, 2012 Page 2 of 4 There is a tiered system for different types of site plan reviews, but the representative did not see the value or necessity for any of it. Mr. Anderson said the threshold is under 120 square feet for commercial uses to avoid this requirement, and there needs to be a building separation. The people would have to get a mechanical and electrical permit in any case. (The threshold for residential property additions is 200 square feet.) Every agency has this type of requirement. Commissioner Baney asked if there is a way to make an adjustment, perhaps up to a certain number of square feet that would trigger additional requirements. She said this is a small addition on a big parcel and should not burden traffic flow or other aspects. She does want to keep the integrity of Code, however. Commissioner Unger asked how this could be changed. There may be other ramifications that need to be considered. He feels it will be difficult to change Code for just an occasional issue. Perhaps there is another way to fund the difference. Commissioner Baney stated that there could be others who will not even try to do their addition because of Code requirements. Mr. Anderson said that a change would have to be a County-initiated Code amendment and would have to go through the process with the Planning Commission. He suggested rather than trying to cut it too fine now, instead they could look at minimum thresholds and come up with something more workable. Chair DeBone feels that this property will probably just need one site visit. Commissioner Unger reminded all that the fees are set to take in the difficult ones as well as the easier ones. Mr. Kropp stated that there could be some unintended consequences of making a change, so they need to give some thought to the situation. Commissioner Baney said that perhaps it could be based on the cost of service. Mr. Kropp stated that this might be considered unfair to those receiving similar services. Commissioner Unger said they could advise that they recognize this should be further reviewed and perhaps allow for a refund. Mr. Anderson said if there is a public benefit, a partial fee waiver could be given, if the Board feels this situation is unique and merits further review. This opens the door and allows for some time to work on a Code amendment. Minutes of Board of Commissioners’ Work Session Monday, July 2, 2012 Page 3 of 4 Chair DeBone said that perhaps if there is a change to a property that had already had a site plan review done within a certain period of time, part of the fee could be waived. DEBONE: Move that this fee be cut in half. The motion died from lack of a second. Commissioners Baney and DeBone asked Mr. Anderson to move forward with investigating this change. Commissioner Unger said that he would prefer Code be left in place as it is, as there can be unintended consequences. Mr. Kropp said that there could be more time spent with the site review because of things like ADA and other issues that perhaps are not being considered. Mr. Anderson stated that he believes this is the first time a waiver has been requested out of the thousands Community Development has done during the past thirty years. If the fee schedule is cut too fine, it will impact the administrative fees of the department. They have been set up to be uniform, and some will pay more, some less for the amount of time spent. Chair DeBone feels that this should be cut in half, but does not want Planning to have to go through a long and expensive process. Commissioner Unger said that there have to be findings and it needs to be justifiable since others may want the same consideration. He wondered what the cities do. Commissioner Baney would like staff to find out if this issue has arisen in the past. Staff will find out what the local cities have in place in regard to similar fees, and report back to the Board. _______________________________ Commissioner Unger reminded the Board about the visit from the Redmond Proficiency Academy at which time they asked for some funding for outside classroom work and instruction. Chair DeBone said they had been told to put in for an economic development grant. Commissioner Baney added that they have had other requests from various schools for help. The feeling was that it is difficult to provide funding for one when there are so many that need it. Chair DeBone said that if there is a specific project in mind, it might be easier to justify. _______________________________ The Board went into executive session at this time (2 :30 p.m.). Anthony DeBone, Chair Alan Unger, Vice Chair ATTEST: Tammy Baney, Commis ioner .~~ Recording Secretary Minutes of Board of Commissioners' Work Session Monday, July 2, 2012 Page 4 of4 ______________________________________ PLEASE NOTE: At any time during this meeting, an executive session could be called to address issues relating to ORS 192.660(2) (e), real property negotiations; ORS 192.660(2) (h), litigation; ORS 192.660(2)(d), labor negotiations; or ORS 192.660(2) (b), personnel issues. ______________________________________ Meeting dates, times and discussion items are subject to change. All meetings are conducted in the Board of Commissioners’ m eeting rooms at 1300 NW Wall St., Bend, unless otherwise indicated. If you have questions regarding a meeting, please call 388-6572. Deschutes County meeting locations are wheelchair accessible. Deschutes County provides reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities. For deaf, hearing impaired or speech disabled, dial 7-1-1 to access the state transfer relay service for TTY. Please call (541) 388-6571 regarding alternative formats or for further information. Deschutes County Board of Commissioners 1300 NW Wall St., Suite 200, Bend, OR 97701-1960 (541) 388-6570 - Fax (541) 385-3202 - www.deschutes.org WORK SESSION AGENDA DESCHUTES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS 1:30 P.M., MONDAY, JULY 2, 2012 ___________________________ 1. Discussion of Bend Fire Department Request regarding Licensing of Records Management System – Rob Poirier, 911; Chief Huhn, Bend Fire Department 2. Executive Session, under ORS 192.660(2)(e), Real Property Negotiations – Erik Kropp 3. Executive Session, under ORS 192.660(2)(d), Labor Negotiations – Erik Kropp 4. Other Items