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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-11-10 Work Session Minutes 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 WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2010 ___________________________ Present were Commissioners Dennis R. Luke, Tammy Baney and Alan Unger; Dave Kanner, County Administrator; Erik Kropp, Deputy County Administrator; Dave Inbody, Assistant to the Administrator; and, for portions of the meeting, Capt. Tim Edwards of the Sheriff’s Office; Tom Anderson, Peter Gutowsky, Nick Lelack and George Read of Community Development; Judith Ure, Administration; Scot Langton, Assessor; Hillary Saraceno of the Children & Families Commission; Erica Hagendorn of Public Affairs Council and Scott Johnson, Health Services, via conference call; Hillary Borrud of The Bulletin; and two other citizens. Chair Luke opened the meeting at 1:33 p.m. 1. Election Recap – Public Affairs Counsel. There are still some ballots that need to be counted. Chris Dudley did not pull the votes for Governor that were anticipated from southern Oregon and the bigger cities. Ms. Hagendorn then went over the results of the recent election. Some tight races might end up in court for final resolution. Legislatively, the House is 30/30 now, Democrat/Republican seats. It is hoped they will find a middle ground. The Senate is 16/14 Democrat/Republican seats. The Kitzhaber agenda will likely remain on the environment and health issues. There is a budget showing $3.2 billion short of the current service level, including regular programs and special or short-term programs. Everything going through the process with a fiscal impact will be picked apart. They are talking about running everything through a policy committee and make tax credit recipients justify their existence, regardless of whether they were set to expire. Minutes of Board of Commissioners’ Work Session Wednesday, November 10, 2010 Page 1 of 5 Pages Minutes of Board of Commissioners’ Work Session Wednesday, November 10, 2010 Page 2 of 5 Pages Governor-elect Kitzhaber’s staff is looking into PERS benefits and co-pays, and this is probably where they will start. Ms. Hagendorn feels that the lottery funds and other things are on the table, and they may take big bites out of certain things instead of a lot of small bites out of a lot of things. Committees will be set up in January, with the first regular session to be held in early February. The committees will likely deal with bills the first month. The deadlines for getting bills in will probably be sometime in February. Discussion occurred regarding anticipated legislative concepts, changes in funding, structure, committees and other things relating to the Legislature. It may be that land rules might be lightened to allow for the development of industrial lands that currently cannot be used because of zoning. 2. Discussion of Draft Local Wetlands Inventory. A workshop is scheduled to address the concerns of the owners of 1,300 properties that are affected by this inventory. So far, only about a dozen have contacted him for further information. The study area is 19,000 areas in south County. There are 114 different regions on the map that are considered wetlands of some kind. The national wetlands inventory has been in place since 1992. If a property is not on that inventory, the new rules would apply, which includes a conditional use permit that has to go through many agencies. This regulatory system has been in place for twenty years, and the County will not change how it handles these wetlands properties. If the wetlands on property are under the jurisdiction of the agencies, how a property can be used can be affected. The County does not have wetlands buffers. Tom Anderson said that if it is felt the designation is incorrect, there are ways to challenge it. Commissioner Luke said that the question will come up, “Are you taking away the use of my property?” Mr. Gutowsky replied that if a property is on the national wetlands inventory or the local inventory, which is smaller than the national, it has already been in place for years. It is difficult to quantify and qualify the values of the wetlands and this knowledge has to be passed on to the public. Minutes of Board of Commissioners’ Work Session Wednesday, November 10, 2010 Page 3 of 5 Pages The wetlands program as a whole is not changing that much and he feels it will be a manageable process. Only 44 wetlands are less than ½ acre. There are 27 that are not natural wetlands, and he is not that familiar with them to know if they are stock ponds or other man-made features. Commissioner Unger asked how they address the ebb and flow of the waters. Mr. Gutowsky said they have improved how this is approached, using a snapshot in time. There were 4,600 properties identified in the study area. All were notified this process was taking place, and they were asked for access permission. They got 1,200 access forms returned, and this is the highest response ever. The wetlands consultant then had to visit those properties. The three highest value functions were nitrate removal, phosphorous retention and habitat. It does not address fluctuations, but was deliberately done during the irrigation season. In the event someone is concerned about a boundary or location, this local inventory does a lot better job of that than the national does. Otherwise, delineation needs to be done, which can be costly. The project has been grant-funded. This process allows people to question the wetlands inventory and get assurances if their properties are affected. Mr. Anderson stated that some people will want to focus on the end result, which is whether they are listed; but the new process is much better now, with people on the ground analyzing instead of relying on aerial photographs. Any development would have to be appropriately addressed. 3. Update on Destination Resort Map Amendment Process – “Grandfathered” Properties. Mr. Gutowsky said there is a public hearing scheduled for November 18. There are three applications. Two of the properties fit all the necessary criteria. The third one is owned by the Oregon Department of State Lands; the property is located next to Thornburgh, which involves 400 acres, 360 which are contiguous. There will be the removal of a lot of properties; however, he has received 450 requests to come back in, and handled 350 phone calls asking for clarification. Most are small parcels, many within Sunriver so they don’t fit anyway. The process does not need to be as cumbersome as other land use issues. One important aspect is compliance with the transportation planning system, which it is felt has been met. Minutes of Board of Commissioners’ Work Session Wednesday, November 10, 2010 Page 4 of 5 Pages The map can only be amended once every 18 months. Therefore, whatever is done should be as complete as possible. The map amendment procedures and approval criteria have been challenged by Central Oregon Landwatch. 4. Update of Commissioners’ Meetings and Schedules. The Commissioners and others will be attending the Association of Oregon Counties’ annual conference most of next week. 5. Other Items. BANEY: Move approval of the addition of Deschutes County to a list of supporters of the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Fund in the FY 2011 Appropriation. UNGER: Second. VOTE: BANEY: Yes. UNGER: Yes. LUKE: Chair votes yes. _________________________________________ Commissioner Baney said that there are a lot of nonprofits assisted by the County, including COVO, which perhaps could benefit by being placed in the same location as Veterans Services. However, this space would be tight. Mr. Kanner said that the downstairs conference room in the Mike Maier building gets little use, so perhaps that could be converted to that use. Another possibility is that there is a lot of space upstairs in the Community Development Department that is unused at this time. This would help CDD with the cost of overhead. However, eventually CDD will need the space again. The Commissioners are supportive if this works for all parties. Mr. Kanner said that there would not be much of a lease, though. Mr. Anderson said the DEQ advisory committee met yesterday, and Robert Ray asked the DEQ asked if the DEQ is also supposed to protect the rivers. They replied no. Immediately both Robert Ray and Ed Criss said there was a separate study on ground and river water that says they are connected. They then stated that if a solution is implemented to protect the groundwater, it also protects the waterways.