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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-04-22 Work Session MinutesTSS 0 { 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, APRIL 22, 2009 Present were Commissioners Tammy Baney, Dennis R. Luke and Alan Unger. Also present were Dave Kanner, County Administrator; Erik Kropp, Deputy County Administrator; Anna Johnson, Communications; David Inbody, Assistant to the Administrator; Laurie Craghead, Legal Counsel; Tom Anderson, Peter Gutowsky, George Read, Nick Lelack, Lori Furlong, Barbara Rich and Dan Haldeman, Community Development; Hillary Borrud with The Bulletin and a media representative with KOHD TV news,- and fifteen other citizens. Chair Baney opened the meeting at 1:30 p.m. 1. Community Development Department FY 2010 Work Plan. Tom Anderson said they do both accomplishments and the work plan every year (see attached.) The accomplishments document gives them a chance to brag about what happened in the previous year. The emphasis is on the work plan for next year, which is their first plan to project priorities. It is a chance for the Board and their customers to give them input on whether they are on target. It has been submitted to the Planning Commission for their input and they came up with some recommendations for changes. They are waiting for input from COBA (Central Oregon Builders Association) and after their recommendations are received, they will do a revised draft and have a public hearing. The plan is split up into divisions. Lori Furlong said for accomplishments, they kicked off an electronic plan review. It worked out very well for them and they had a web interface created. Next year they hope to have the building permit itself on-line. Commissioner Luke asked if the plans could be submitted now. Ms. Furlong said yes; they have to come in to get the building permit and can put the plans on line. Commissioner Luke asked if they have an opportunity to get corrected plans on line now. Minutes of Board of Commissioners' Work Session Wednesday, April 22, 2009 Page 1 of 10 Pages Commissioner Unger said that sometimes electronics are a challenge compared to paper. Ms. Furlong said it takes some getting used to but the software has wonderful tools to layer plans. They are putting more effort into upgrading the product and making it universal. She said everything is going to become more paperless than now. Ms. Furlong said another accomplishment is on-line services. Permits can be issued on-line, license facility reviews are on-line and they reduce the staff for people coming into the office. Goals for next year are adding more on-line services. Mr. Anderson said in terms of accomplishments, the first page is surveys from last year. He was not displeased with the results. As far as code enforcement division, business has decreased since last year. One of the goals will be doing better reports. One of the big goals is to continue proactive code enforcement. They will set it up to systematically trigger a re -inspection on replacement dwellings. Another item is AG barns in making sure they are being used for AG permitted uses. They have seen them used for apartments and other stuff. In Web and GIS, they lost one of three people so it takes a little longer to get things done. The biggest accomplishment is the launch of the web master, which they are getting great reviews about. On the GIS side, a lot of work is being done supporting the comp plan as well as the City of La Pine comp plan and the transportation update. Moving on to building, Lori already covered some items. One item is contractors can submit inspection requests electronically and will get a phone call back. They put codes in the phone system and the contractor can call and get information. It makes everything go smoothly. They will to do a lot more electronic plans in the future. In addition, the time turnaround has improved. They have downsized the staff but there are possibilities of having some laid off staff come back as temporary employees. Dan Haldeman said as far as environmental health, the main accomplishment last year was surviving. They have been shifting areas around to better serve the customer. They also inspect temporary vendors and they are trying to provide better service. During the busy time in summer, they have a sanitarian on duty on the weekends. They have an on-line temporary restaurant flow chart to see how everyone goes through the process. They are trying to be more accommodating to make it more equitable for services the customer will actually get. Minutes of Board of Commissioners' Work Session Wednesday, April 22, 2009 Page 2 of 10 Pages He said John Mason said the pool program has new laws. The State building codes and health codes are not caught up yet. Next year the septic permits will be on-line as well as restaurant permits. They want to be able to assist DEQ with the south county nitrate problem. Commissioner Luke said there are fewer restaurants than in the past and asked if that allowed them to spend more time with each one. Mr. Anderson said restaurants have not fallen off as much as one might think. Nick Lelack said last year the planning applications decreased by 15% but the appeals increased significantly so the time requirements of staff has increased. They are working on long range planning projects (Bend UGB), code amendments, Sunriver Town Center and event venues in EFU zone. For the work plan for current planning, the goal is to maintain their service across the board. They are looking at some areas for improvements with the main programs being; comp plan update, transportation, remapping south county projects and public involvement in general. The Bend UGB is an important project for them. It has been sent to the State and if it passes they will work with the City on it. Commissioner Luke asked if it remanded or required major changes, how much the County would be involved. Mr. Lelack said the assumption is the City would have to go back and review the proposal. He was not sure the County would be able to be involved as much as last time. They may have to clean up some code amendments but it will depend on what the State does. He said City of Sisters is also contemplating another UGB expansion. There are many other things mentioned in the handout, which includes an addendum as the Planning Commission gave them some ideas. Mr. Anderson said something they may need direction on is the request they allow someone to turn in an anonymous complaint. They request someone to sign their name to a complaint, which is kept confidential until the case is closed. Commissioner Baney said she heard due to relations with neighbors they would like to have the ability for people to file anonymous complaints. Commissioner Luke said no one is perfect in what they do with their home. If we make it too easy, we can get many complaints filed so he suggested they tread very carefully on going anonymous. Mr. Anderson said people could be referred to mediation. Laurie Craghead said her concern with the comments is how to find middle ground. Because of public records law if the person involved wants the complainant's name, we have to release it. Commissioner Unger said this is an issue that needs to be discussed further. Minutes of Board of Commissioners' Work Session Wednesday, April 22, 2009 Page 3 of 10 Pages Mr. Anderson said the plan has items listed in priority order. If the are other areas that the Board would like them to look at, let them know. The group went over some of the timelines in the plan. Mr. Anderson said it would come back to the Board sometime in May for a public hearing. Commissioner Baney said on another topic she has received concerns about cell towers. She asked that they get a heads up so they are not caught off guard. She heard that sixteen were processed in the last 6 months and she would like to see information on anything that seems abnormal. Ms. Craghead asked if this was on any issue. Commissioner Baney said she would just like it to be a "to let you know" kind of thing. Mr. Anderson said they do not always know what will be controversial. They do post land use applications on-line. Commissioner Luke stated changes were made after the last go around. The higher the tower goes up, the further the notices go out. There have been some changes made to County code and they did what they could within Federal and State laws. Commissioner Luke asked if Commissioner Baney would like a work session. Commissioner Baney said just a heads up will be fine. 2. Discussion of Options and Next Steps for South County Groundwater Protection Plan. Mr. Anderson handed out information on the Groundwater Protection Program. He said Section #1 is the overall update. Section #2 outlines options in the future. It is premature to decide on a firm course of action. They need to have a meeting with DEQ as to where they go from here. Commissioner Baney said there are some people at the meeting today with concerns. She said CDD's job is to give options, not just options they feel the Board needs to see. She agreed; there needs to be a meeting with DEQ to answer the question "where do we go from here". Minutes of Board of Commissioners' Work Session Wednesday, April 22, 2009 Page 4 of 10 Pages Peter Gutowsky said they have finished their first set of public meetings. They expect to mail information regarding their fifth meeting scheduled on May 12 at Community Rivers Elementary School. The results form that meeting will be some planning concepts, which are folded into the comp plan update. Commissioner Unger thanked them for doing the workshop training they did and for the enhanced mailing as well. Mr. Gutowsky recognized there has been some displeasure where people cannot speak up more. He thinks they may provide that opportunity at the May meeting. Not everyone is on board with the way they are doing things. Mr. Anderson said Ordinance 2008-019 was passed last June and that it has been challenged in court. They applied for grant funds to help augment what they are doing and they requested stimulus funds for a wetland inventory. They hope to have a contract in the next few weeks for Sunriver Sewer Feasibility study. The study should be done early next year. Commissioner Baney said it should be done right at the first of the year. If DLCD is not in agreement with Goal 11 that raises some concern. Dave Kanner said what DLCD is saying is, you do not need to take a lot of exception, but still go through the process. Commissioner Baney said tomorrow night the Planning Commission would look into the prospect of sewers. Commissioner Luke stated the Jackson County bill died in committee. Mr. Anderson said it should be a topic with DEQ. They have some things they can do to help make it easier for folks, both in terms of process and by some kind of mandate. Commissioner Luke said he would like to see a transcript of that portion of the meeting. Mr. Anderson said a financial assistance work session is scheduled on May 5 to go over the summary of recommendations. He will have some comments at the end of the week. Mr. Anderson said as far as future actions, one would be to meet with DEQ. Mr. Kanner said it is on the agenda as a discussion item. Commissioner Baney said Mr. Pedersen with DEQ would like to hear first hand from the residents. They want the structure to allow time to meet with the community. She understands they want the meeting to be something similar to what the County has had in the past including public testimony. Commissioner Unger said he had a discussion with Janet Brown. Commissioner Luke suggested a letter be sent to Janet Brown asking to meet with them and asking them what they have in mind. Minutes of Board of Commissioners' Work Session Wednesday, April 22, 2009 Page 5 of 10 Pages Commissioner Baney said she would call Janet Brown and see what they want to do. Commissioner Luke said the meetings should be here locally. Mr. Anderson referred to the handout and said there are four actions DEQ could take. Barbara Rich said there is a short list of actions and there is always the option they could do nothing. Another action could be geographic rule, which is the States analogy to our local rule approach. Commissioner Luke said a geographic rule could include Klamath County. Ms. Rich said yes, another option would be the public health hazard process. Mr. Anderson said another issue is testing. He did not know who might lead the effort for additional assessment. Commissioner Baney asked if we had questions about relevancy. Ms. Rich said yes about validity of testing. She said they could do one hundred monitoring sites for around $60,000. Ms. Baney asked if they could use the funds left over from the original grant. Mr. Anderson said those funds are restricted to financial assistance only but there are other monies that could be used. He said if DEQ gets in front of this it might be best if the County does not do the testing. Ms. Rich said the County has never taken lead on this kind of testing in the past. Commissioner Luke said if DEQ did the testing before and has questions; maybe they need someone else to do the testing. Ms. Rich said DEQ labs did all the testing before. Mr. Anderson said the next item is Ordinance 2008-019 that is in court right now. Other than new construction, an upgrade would be required. Dan Haldeman said not all authorizations require upgrades. He said they would not know for certain until they actually visited the site. Mr. Anderson said it is professional recommendation that they expand. Under certain circumstances they do not have to upgrade. The County has the choice to expand depending on the circumstances. Mr. Haldeman said some people had to upgrade because they were too close to the water tables. Commissioner Luke said he would like to see the recommendation from the professionals on what they think. Commissioner Baney said she would not want to make a decision that DEQ will not support because we are trying to navigate DEQ rules. Mr. Anderson said now that local rule has been repealed they are left hanging. He would appreciate clarification from DEQ. Mr. Anderson said the next item is financial incentives, such as stimulus application money that may induce people to take advantage and upgrade. Ms. Rich said they are sending out intended use plans at the end of April. She said they are on a list but do not know their priority and were asking if they could spend more money up front. Minutes of Board of Commissioners' Work Session Wednesday, April 22, 2009 Page 6 of 10 Pages Mr. Anderson went over the next possible actions, one of which is to turn it over to DEQ. It may now be that DEQ has the authority. He said CDD is now a one-stop shop. If turned over to DEQ, the property owners would have to go to two different places to get permits. There would be some other negatives associated with that, questions they do not have answers to. He said if they stop all efforts having to do with groundwater protection and stop requiring nitrate lowering systems, a lot of people would appreciate that but the County has responsibilities. The County could be liable if water becomes contaminated in the future. Mr. Anderson said the next action would be to start over. It would start with community meetings to come up with brand new legislation. With the public input, maybe something would come up that would work. It would be labor intensively expensive. Peter Gutowsky said there is a certain amount of distrust to staff. He pointed out there is a perception of the County influencing a process. There are ill feelings about what the County tried to do. Mr. Anderson said status quo is based on existing rules in place, anything about that falls on DEQ. If the status quo was expanded, they could do everything they are doing with the option to expand using nitrogen reducing systems in more circumstances. They could do this under existing rules. He said they could adopt a modified local rule and make changes to it that may make it more palatable. One option would be to take out the deadline, which made it prohibitive. There may be other items they have not thought of under this option. Based on the science they have done, it may not be enough. There are some other options which include re -adopt local rule and see what happens, re -adopt local rule and send it to the voters during a general election, focus on sewers, seek more money to do more feasibility studies, or the County could go into the public works business and be a sewer provider which would need additional expertise and staff. Commissioner Luke said why as a property owner you would spend $15,000 to $20,000 to hook up to sewer if you do not have to. Sewers might be the best option but how do you pay for them. Commissioner Unger said we are talking County and State, not Federal government. Do we need to worry about some kind of federal threat? Is the problem more than a state problem? Ms. Rich said they thought about it. Commissioner Luke said if they needed his vote to put it on the ballot again, it is not going to happen. Minutes of Board of Commissioners' Work Session Wednesday, April 22, 2009 Page 7 of 10 Pages Commissioner Baney asked that items # 7 and 8 be removed from the list. As far as item #6, they need to have a conversation with DEQ. Commissioner Luke said they need additional clarification with DEQ on other options. Commissioner Baney asked that item #3 be removed from Section #2. We do not have the capacity to go through it again and the role should be altered so that we are in a supportive role, not in a leadership role. Commissioner Unger said we should take #2 off as well or modify it. Ms. Rich said that would be under the provision to adopt a modified local rule. Commissioner Luke said they did a good job of catching the alternatives. A citizen from the audience (no name given) said the people in La Pine have spoken and voted down local rule. Don't you people get it? Commissioner Luke and the citizen began to discuss the issue and Commissioner Baney reminded the audience that although this is a public meeting, it is not open for public comment. The discussion ended. 3. Response to March 25 Letter from DEQ. Commissioner Baney will call Janet Brown with DEQ and get more information on what DEQ is looking for. 4. Other Items. Planning Commission appointments were discussed. Commissioner Luke said two people have terms that have expired and we need to decide what to do on those positions. Nick Lelack said if Christen Brown is moved into an at large position, it could open up a south county position. Commissioner Baney said she would like to see the position opened up for applicants for a south county person. They may want to draw out issues they had before. Commissioner Luke asked about Susan Quatre's position. Commissioner Baney said she would be in support of reappointing her. Mr. Lelack said the notices were issued yesterday and closes on May 18. Minutes of Board of Commissioners' Work Session Wednesday, April 22, 2009 Page 8 of 10 Pages Peter Gutowsky, liaison to the committee, said Deschutes River Mitigation Enhancement Committee has asked for a letter of support. The Board said okay; he is just making some edits to it. He will forward their letter and his with modifications so the Board can see both. Commissioner Baney said she would like to be a part of the Farm Bureau. Commissioner Luke said she could be a member but County only pays for membership in chambers and City Club. In the past the Farm Bureau paid for one of the commissioners to be a member but we can't accept those any more because of the ethic standards. Commissioner Baney said she thought the County should have a member of the Farm Bureau. Commissioner Luke said if she wanted to revisit the policy that would be fine. Dave Kanner said it is an informal, not a written policy so it would be their decision. Commissioner Unger said he did not mind doing that. He would like an understanding of what types of groups Commissioners should be involved in. Commissioner Baney said either way, it is an inexpensive olive branch that we support our state farmers. Commissioner Baney said the Public Health Advisory Board would like to put forward a letter about menu labeling. She read it and did not see any political issues. Mr. Kanner said the policy board and the County employees do not represent their affiliation with the County unless approved. Commissioner Baney mentioned that to them and she said they will know what issues do not work for us. She asked that the letter be reviewed and asked if the Board was ok with the concept. Commissioner Luke said it is a house bill. Commissioner Baney said they would have to re -do the menus. Mr. Kanner said the difference is restaurants are now required to provide nutrition information but not on the menu. Commissioner Baney said this applies to restaurants with 15 or more outlets. Commissioner Unger asked why single out McDonalds. Commissioner Baney said she would ask them to not identify McDonalds specifically. Commissioner Luke said he agreed that it should not be specific. Minutes of Board of Commissioners' Work Session Wednesday, April 22, 2009 Page 9 of 10 Pages Commissioner Baney said in talking about the merits of HB 2726, we do not agree to it but do agree with the merits of the bill. Commissioner Unger said he was disappointed that it is limited to chains of 15 or more restaurants. He asked the letter be modified and that it come back to the Board for review. Being no further items addressed, the meeting adjourned at 4:45 p.m. DATED this 22nd Day of April 2009 for the Deschutes County Board of Commissioners. ATTEST: iRectryr-ytA---( ordincretary Tammy Baney, Chair Dennis R. Luke, Vice Chair alo,vt. p( -- Alan Unger, Commissioner Minutes of Board of Commissioners' Work Session Wednesday, April 22, 2009 Page 10 of 10 Pages