All right, we'll call this meeting of the Beaverton Traffic Commission order.

Today is Thursday, June 4th, 2027.

We'll begin with roll call.

What did I say?

2024.

Oh, well, all right.

Thank you for that correction.

All right.

Uh we'll begin with roll call.

Uh Commissioner Moore.

Present.

Uh Commissioner Banski.

Present.

Uh Commissioner McLean.

Present.

Uh, we'll give her just a minute.

Vice Chair Um Bobadia.

Here.

Uh Chair Conway is present.

And Commissioner Miranda.

All right.

Thank you.

Uh Commissioner Friedler is uh absent but excused.

Uh next up we'll begin with visitor comments.

Do we have any visitors in the gallery or on the phone?

All right.

So just a clarification for the person on the phone.

This is a visitor comment is for something that is not on the agenda this evening, so it would not be for the public hearing that we are gonna hold later on.

So that being said, Alex, it looks like you have permission to speak, so go ahead whenever you're ready.

I can you hear me?

Yes, we can.

Okay, great.

I uh I'm actually calling in to talk about the parking situation on 2nd Street.

Um I live at 13305, southwest second street, um, right by the baseball field.

Um so uh no surprise there's some construction going on.

Um the two two weeks ago, um no parking signs were posted on the street um permanently.

Um and that was a surprise to me as well as all the neighbors.

Um and it uh it's a it's a big big change in um quite frankly a uh inconvenience um for myself as well as all the neighbors.

Um and I'm kind of I'm looking for some direction on I guess is that something that can change or or what the plan is there all right thank you.

You you said you're at a hundred and thirty-third and second.

Uh my address is one three three zero five, southwest second, right?

But that's a hundred and I'm trying to think where you're by the ball field, right by the high school baseball field.

Okay, yep.

So third base is right out my front door.

We'll uh we'll take that uh into check and see if that's uh something we discuss later on and find out.

Um we can get an answer for you.

Great, thank you.

All right, thank you.

And then the information, his contact information is in the way to follow up with the gentleman.

Yes, I can um I mean we're just making sure.

Yeah, Alex, I'll provide an email um in the chat, and you can just email us there, or I can try to find your email through Zoom.

But we'll follow up with you.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

Excellent, thank you.

Appreciate that.

And thank you for bringing it up.

Okay, any others?

Okay, thank you.

With that then, uh next up would be staff comments, Mr.

Casho.

Uh no comments from staff.

All right, thank you.

Uh next up would be consent agenda items.

Um, we have one thing on the consent agenda, which is the meeting minutes of the last time we met.

Um would entertain a motion.

Or is there any questions?

And is there anyone who would need to abstain?

I'll abstain.

Okay.

Co-commissioner Bradford will abstain.

I will make a motion then to approve as written the minutes from the last meeting that we had, which was in April 2nd of 2026.

Thank you.

Is there a second?

Second.

Okay, thank you.

Uh Chair Conway made a motion and um Commissioner Moore second.

Um agenda, then we'll do a roll call.

Uh Commissioner Murray.

Uh Commissioner Moore.

Aye.

Uh Vice Chair Bob Dia.

Aye.

Uh Commissioner Banski.

Aye.

And uh Chair Conway is an aye.

Uh so that motion passes 5-0 with one abstain.

Thank you.

Uh next up then is um the one traffic commission hearing that we have this evening for TC 872.

Begin by reading the statement of the chair for opening.

Traffic commission will now hold a hearing on TC number 872 regarding parking restrictions southwest Watson Avenue at Fifth Street for bus stop access.

The hearing will begin with a report from the city traffic engineer, followed by testimony from the person who submitted the proposal.

City traffic engineering's report will list the applicable substantive criteria and the reasons behind the recommendation.

We will then hear testimony from other interested parties.

If you wish to testify, please complete one of the yellow cards available at the table near the entrance of the room and give it to our recorder, or if you are online, I believe you raise your hand.

Evidence and testimony must be directed to criterion section 6.02.060 determined to be applicable by the city traffic engineer or other criteria, current city, metro, trimet, state, or federal laws or policies which you believe apply to our decision.

After hearing is closed, the commission will deliberate on the evidence received and make an oral argument to approve, approve with conditions, or deny the proposal.

Decisions will not be final until a final written order is signed by the chairperson, and all persons who testify receive a written notice of the final decision of the commission.

Decisions of traffic commissioner recommendations to city council become effective after approval by council.

Typically, traffic commission recommendations appear on the consent agenda of the council and are approved by the council without discussion.

City Council ordinarily does not conduct a public hearing on such recommendations.

Any decision of the commission may be appealed to City Council.

When an appeal is properly filed, a separate hearing will be scheduled before council.

Any appeal must be filed within with the city recorder within 10 days of the date of the traffic commission's final written order.

And the procedures related to the written appeals are available from the office of our city traffic engineer in the city recorder.

With that being said, then will we begin the public hearing portion with staff updates?

This request is from TriMet.

They requested extending the no parking zone on the west side of Southwest Watson Avenue at Fifth Street at the bus stop.

Uh to improve ADA access and improve safety at the bus stop.

Currently, there is a no parking zone, approximately 15 feet, and that's on the west side of Watson, north of fifth.

So when people park beyond the restricted area, buses cannot fully pull to the curb, and it prevents access to people with mobility devices.

So staff is proposing to restrict parking beyond that point for 45 feet.

This will allow the bus to fully pull to the curb.

And from staff reviewed the parking during an average day, and it will have little impact on parking.

I'm not saying on Saturday it will it will because during Saturday farmers market parking is 100% five.

It appears that the benefits from restricting the two parking stalls outweigh the parking basically.

Staff is asking the commission to approve this request.

Is there any public comments?

Do you have a yellow card?

And is there anyone online?

No.

All right, thank you.

With that in mind, then we move to the uh next portion, which would be to close the public hearing portion since there's no one there.

Um is there any need for any final staff comment, Mr.

Casho?

No comments from the next up, then we will close the public hearing portion and begin staff or sorry, commission deliberations.

Um we begin with uh uh chair uh sorry, Commissioner McLean.

Oh, yeah, I'll just say I agree with the staff recommendations, TC872 as written.

I think a couple parking spots, even when it is busy, is okay to um improve safety if trim it's requesting it and also improve the uh accessibility uh using the fixed route.

So I think it's a good idea.

Excellent.

Thank you.

Uh Commissioner Bansky.

Yeah, I'm wondering is this an isolated instance or are there other parking uh bus uh stops where you're only allowing 15 feet for them to pull in.

In other words, is this the tip of the iceberg?

Are we going to see like I mean I'm all for it to you know just it to 45, but are there many other situations similar to this that we need to address?

Probably there are locations, you know, that it's impacted by parking.

But this particular location, they have 39 deployment of the ramp each month.

So there is heavy usage for people with mobility devices at that location.

They will do on a case by case basis.

Yes.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh there uh uh commissioner more.

I was curious as to how the bike lane is impacted by the interruption that's going to occur because I've actually sat at that particular stop sign, and there's frequent bike activity right there.

So if we're taking away, if we're making that bus stop longer, where what happens to the bike line?

Uh actually at this time, the way it's set up, the bus will be taking part of the bike lane when they pull over because they cannot pull to the curb.

But uh, if we take the parking away, then when the bus is at the bus stop, bicycles can pass through without any blockage.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh other comments?

Uh I uh I agree.

I think uh it's pretty clear that it's pretty tight in there for the bus, and it's better they leave at least pull over and go to the bike lane than kind of stick out and then kind of churn in in the moment.

And I appreciate the mobility comment too.

So that was uh not as clear.

So thank you.

Uh with that in mind, then I would make a motion to approve as written TC 872 to uh restrict parking on Southwest Watson at fifth for the bus stop access.

I'll second the motion.

Uh thank you.

Uh Chair Conway made a motion.

Uh Vice Chair, or sorry, uh Commissioner Bradford a second.

Their final discussion on this.

Uh seeing none, then we'll do roll call.

Uh Commissioner Miranda.

Aye.

Uh Commissioner Moore.

Hi.

Vice Chair Bob Dia?

Aye.

Uh Commissioner Bansky.

Aye.

Commissioner McLean.

Aye.

And uh Chair Conway, aye.

So that motion passes 6-0.

Thank you.

Uh that was the only public hearing we had.

Next up, then is a wonderful presentation from city staff.

Anna, you're up.

This is your time.

Your time, Mr.

Hand.

I know these mics aren't always great, so I'm just gonna go ahead and sit right in front of it.

So let me know if it doesn't seem to be catching my voice.

Uh, good evening.

My name is Anna Slatinski.

I'm the planning division manager here in Beaverton.

I work with the two teams.

The current planning team is responsible for processing land use applications, which is one of the permitting processes for development in Beaverton.

And I also work with the long-range planning team that does policy analysis, long-range plans such as the Cooper Mountain Community Plan, um, and also um transportation plans now.

The transportation system plan update, go beaverton, um, is being done from within the long-range planning team at this time.

So um I've been working for Beaverton since 2016, but I'm sorry to say this is the first time I've come to traffic commission.

It's probably a visit that's a little bit overdue.

Um, but some of you I've had an opportunity to interact with in other contexts.

But my purpose here tonight is really to give a presentation that's kind of about an introduction to uh planning and land use.

Uh the planning in Beaverton is heavily influenced by what happens at the state level and the regional level.

So we'll kind of start with that state level context, which is fairly unique in the country for its kind of robust attention to land use matters.

So you can go ahead and uh and advance the slide.

The other thing I'll mention before I uh I dive in is that there's a lot of technical detail under the surface here.

So I'll be covering a lot of things.

Please feel free to stop me and ask questions.

Um, but by its very nature, this presentation is really kind of an introduction.

If there's an interest in diving a little deeper or questions I'm not prepared to answer tonight, I'd be happy to either respond with some additional information in writing or come back at another time to talk about specific things further.

So okay, so basic outline.

We're gonna start talking with talking about the organ planning and growth management approach.

This is that state level structure, policy framework, but also requirements uh for how Beaverton conducts its land use planning and and land use application review.

Um, and then we'll talk about the Beaverton development permitting process with a focus on the land use application, um, but with a little bit of reference to the other permitting that goes along with it for development in Beaverton.

And then just a uh just a brief slide about how to get more information about the land use process if you'd like it.

So next slide, please.

Here we go.

So the foundation of Oregon's land use system actually goes back to the 1970s.

Governor Tom McCall, who was uh incredibly important, shaping many aspects of how the state is today, um, really gave a lot of attention to uh to land use and planning.

And there were a few kind of really foundational important bills, Senate bills 1101, very easy to remember those numbers, that established um the organ land use system.

It created a framework for land use planning at the state level and established some requirements for local jurisdictions, both cities and counties.

Uh, and it led eventually to the adoption of statewide planning goals, and those continue to be policy, a policy framework that we have to actually respond to in detail to this day, when there is new policy that the city adopts, new comprehensive plan uh amendments, new development code regulations.

We have to make findings that they are consistent with those statewide planning goals in addition to a number of other policy frameworks.

Next slide, please.

So these are those goals.

I'm not gonna read them all.

Uh, the ones that are darker are the ones that apply are more likely to apply locally.

I'm not so sure about the forest lands, goal four, honestly.

Um, but the others all have some uh relevance to Beaverton when the comprehensive plan was originally adopted and when it gets amended.

Um it's kind of organized in order to respond to these goals.

Um, and as I mentioned, whenever there's an amendment to that comprehensive plan or to the development code, um, we have to make findings that actually discuss uh whether that proposal that's being considered is consistent with these statewide land use planning goals.

Next slide, please.

Yes.

I had a question about what category brownfield fall into.

Was that under would that have been under number six, I think it was.

I'm pretty sure Brownfield is um, yeah, it's it's goal six.

I think that you're right about that.

But you know, I'm not intimately familiar with goal six, um, and I don't know how explicitly goal six addresses brownfields.

Um I'd have to take a look.

Thank you.

Oh, it is sorry.

Um so we have we have the we have the state law.

Um, this is where the uh those uh those landing goals, those planning goals sit.

We also, in addition to um ORS, we just call it that for short, um, you know, it's gosh, it's um it's an ever-evolving um document.

Um staff actually spend a lot of time during the legislative sessions trying to stay on top of what's proposed in terms of new legislation uh to identify what it would mean for the city, whether we should oppose it, whether we should support it, whether we should ask for changes, and then once the legislation becomes law, we then have to figure out how we apply it, what we need to do to implement uh that new legislation.

Some of the major sections of state law that are most relevant to planning and land use are these sections that are listed here.

State law goes both into those kinds of policy matters, a lot of procedural information about how we are supposed to be applying land use regulations, the process of reviewing land use applications, and then lots of rules also about the that comprehensive plan and the city's obligations under those.

Next slide, please.

The organ administrative rules works in concert with the organ revised statutes.

The administrative rules are kind of the instructions for how to implement state law.

Sometimes state law on the on the statute level doesn't have enough detail to implement, or sometimes there's a need to make further rules in order to have them be more useful.

And sometimes it's taken up because there is the need for additional clarity.

So when it comes to land use, it's the Department of Land Conservation Development, that's the state agency that really addresses land use matters, and then there's the land conservation and development commission, which is the decision-making body that will then review and approve the ORS that is related to land use.

Next slide.

This is a very handy diagram.

So this kind of shows the relationship, a kind of cascading relationship that goes from that state level down through the activities of the city.

I would actually say there is a missing bubble over everything, which is federal law.

That applies directly, regardless of what state law says or local law says.

When there is a federal rule or case law, for example, that addresses our work, we have an obligation to apply that directly, even if there is something happening at the standard local level that says we should do something differently.

That higher level trumps, I did not intend that pun, what local law may say.

So here though we have the organ revised statutes, that's the adopted legislation.

We have the organ administrative rules, OAR, that is the state level department staff rulemaking.

We then have at the local level where we start to see the uh the bubbles that are not filled by blue, those are at the city level.

So we have the city's comprehensive plan.

We're required to have a comprehensive plan.

That plan has to be consistent with that state level stuff.

Um it also has to be consistent with metro.

So that's where that little lumpy cloud uh comes into things.

Um, and then the comprehensive plan, though, is a policy document, which means that it doesn't necessarily apply directly.

It tells us how to write regulations.

And so from that, we write the regulatory documents.

Um and I'll be talking about those a little bit more later in the presentation.

But for the purposes of land use, our primary document is the development code.

So the Beaverton Development Code has actually the adopted standards, rules, and procedures that then are applied to proposed development, and it's consistency with the development code that determines whether or not permits will be approved.

Um, and then you see that final bubble there is city land use decisions.

Some land use applications also will require finding consistency with the comprehensive plan.

But those tend to be more uh what we'll call legislative land use decisions, and we'll talk about what that means a little bit later.

Next slide, please.

So I mentioned Metro.

Um, so in the Portland metro area, it's actually the only elected regional government in the country, as far as I'm aware.

Um, and one of the things that Metro is empowered to do is make rules about land use.

So Metro has uh rules and policies that also shape how we do land use and planning in Beaverton.

Metro is also uh the entity that controls the urban growth boundary for the Portland metro area.

So one of the features of state law is that every county and city has to have urban growth boundaries that include a 20-year supply of land for jobs and housing within that boundary.

And there is a process that is stipulated by the state to determine how you determine basically how big that boundary needs to be and whether it needs to be expanded.

But in the Portland metro area, we have all of these different cities all squashed up against each other.

It doesn't make sense to have them have separate urban growth boundaries.

So there is a regional urban growth boundary, and Metro is the entity that's responsible for managing that.

Next slide, please.

The county, I it always blows my mind to see this map because you can see urbanized Washington County shown in gray, and the rest of the county is it's huge.

I mean, it's really a very large area, but the population is really gathered in a pretty concentrated area.

And so you see Beaverton there, right?

Um it's only a small piece of the county geographically, but of course it includes a large part of the county population.

Um we also have to coordinate with the county.

Um we coordinate with the county in many ways across many activities of the city operations.

When it comes to planning and land use, um, we have a document, an agreement that specifically lays out how we will coordinate with the county.

It's called the Urban Planning Area Agreement.

It was last updated in 2018.

Um, and it has a couple of requirements that basically we've uh the county and the city agreed to share information with each other in a particular way around planning and land use matters.

Um that is the agreement that governs that, and there are some practices that have been established that are based on that agreement to implement it.

Um, and then the other thing that of course is of interest to you folks is that the county has jurisdiction over many of the roadways, particular arterials in the city, and so there is coordination that happens when there's development requested that includes the county in our land use process when the property that's being developed is fronting on county roadways.

Next slide, please.

We also have lots of other partners.

Beaverton, um, as you all know, right?

We have a separate park six district, a separate school district.

We have four water districts, that's including the city water district.

Um we have uh TV F and R.

Um there's a lot going on when it comes to coordinating all of these services.

Um, and then an additional additional partner I added there in the bubble, which is ODOT.

So county has jurisdiction over many of these large arterials, but we also have roadways that are under the jurisdiction of ODOT.

So, in a similar way that we coordinate with the county when there's development proposed on a county roadway.

Likewise, if there's development that is abutting a state roadway, then we work with ODOT and include them in that process.

Next slide.

So this is um uh there's always tension, right?

When we have a local jurisdiction that wants to have the autonomy to make policy independently, while the context includes having to be in compliance with state law, with federal law, with uh with metro, um, also with the coordination and cooperation that we have to do in order to function with our other jurisdictional partners.

Um, but this kind of boils down some of the obligations for planning in that context.

So one of them I already mentioned, which is that we are required to maintain a comprehensive plan that is consistent with state law and those statewide planning goals.

Um we also are required to regulate land use and review land use applications in a manner which is consistent with state law as well.

Um, and that sometimes gets into uh very specific um very focused and detailed mandates that are not always easy to apply, uh particularly in recent years.

Um but on the policy level, um, we do have a particular focus recently at the state level on housing and on transportation.

Um housing has been the focus of numerous pieces of legislation over the last several years.

Um, and then we also have transportation, um, which has been the subject of legislation, but also importantly um the uh executive order from the previous governor, the climate-friendly and equitable communities executive order, which addresses some housing but also transportation, parking, um, both on a policy and on a kind of execution level.

Next slide.

And this is just a listing, we I won't go through all of these, but this is a kind of high-level non-complete rundown of legislation over the last several years that has had a significant impact on how we do land use and planning in Beaverton.

Next slide.

So switching gears a little bit to talk about Beaverton's development process.

I mentioned that the land use application process is only one of the permitting activities that happens with the development.

Generally speaking, there are actually three phases to that.

The land use application that we manage in planning is typically the first, the first permit that folks need.

It is basically establishing the basic compatibility, the site layout, the use, the size and shape of buildings, some of the characteristics of buildings, making sure that their services are available in order to make sure that the developments that are proposed can get the services they need in order to function in the context of the city.

So it has to do with the actual detailed engineering plans to build out that street frontage to build the water facilities, the stormwater facilities.

They also review things like erosion control and grading to make sure that the function of all of these development sites is going to be consistent with the engineering design manual of the city.

But Beaverton actually is responsible for implementing and applying those rules at the local level.

And there's an intergovernmental agreement that governs how that happens.

But that happens at the site development level, kind of like things like at the surface and below the ground is one way to think about it, with a particular focus on the public realm and right of way.

And then finally, um, just one second.

Finally, um building, which is exactly what it sounds like.

It's literally the building.

Um a building permit is needed when you build a structure.

Um so there's this kind of layering of these three processes.

They have to be consistent with each other.

You can't kind of jump ahead and get to one without getting approval of the other one.

But I will say that not every development needs all three of these permits.

Sometimes things that are smaller won't need one of these.

For example, if there's a site that um is an infill development where there's already street and sidewalk, there's already utilities, um, all they're doing is building house.

Sometimes they're not gonna need a site development permit because they're not building the infrastructure, they're not making changes to the site.

Um, often there is one needed, um, but sometimes there's not.

Um, and sometimes there are things that you don't need land use for.

Um, again, usually you do, um, but sometimes you can get a permit and go build stuff.

So, Commissioner Moore.

With commercial development in real estate, often the question comes up is do you have entitlement?

Is that at the site development level, or is it entitlement means is the land use approval.

Right.

The whole the whole shebang.

Actually, entitlement just means land use.

Okay, it is land use.

Yeah, and so I think the term is it's possible that some people use it more generally.

Um, but if the site is entitled, it means that it's kind of like in real estate lingo, they use it as kind of like a way to talk about the site being able to do certain things.

So in South Cooper Mountain, for example, um, I don't want to get too much into the complexities of greenfield development because there's a lot there.

Um, but those properties often change hands a lot before you actually end up with a home that's occupied by the buyer.

There are folks that specialize in building the big pieces of land and laying out the streets, building the infrastructure, et cetera, dividing the property into those individual lots.

Um the the approval to do that is often called entitlement.

So in the real estate lingo, as they're like, oh, here's this fully entitled site, right?

What they mean is that you have land use approval.

It doesn't mean that you have every building permit.

Which is what I was asking because I was concerned.

What I've encountered is that someone will say they have entitlement, but do you have water running to this location?

Right.

So you have the sidewalk built in.

Are utilities able to be entitled usually means that they have permission to do those things, not necessarily that they already exist.

That said, not everyone who uses that term necessarily uses it as a technical term.

But typically it means that they've got they know that they have permission to generally do what it is that they want to do.

Thank you.

Mm-hmm.

Okay.

Any other questions on this kind of basic permitting paradigm?

Um, what I will say, I'm gonna be focusing on land use because that's that's what my team does.

Um, but it is um it is important that these three permitting processes be well coordinated.

Um, and so at land use, we include site development staff in that review.

Building is a little bit less involved, but sometimes depending on the project, building will be involved as well.

Um, and it although you it kind of goes in order, land use, then site development, then building, there is the potential to do some concurrent review of permits.

So, for example, you know, as they're starting to wrap up the land use permitting process, they may they may be preparing their site development permit and submitting their building permit.

They're not going to be able to get those permits until the previous stages are done.

But developers are interested in using time efficiently, and so they'll sometimes overlap those permitting processes in order for it to take less time overall.

Yes.

So just a follow-up then, this is really when you are developing land as opposed to moving into an existing structure.

Right.

So let's say Beaverton Town Square, right?

You've got commercial property, it's built out, you've got separate businesses that occupy different spaces.

Um, if one of the businesses moves out and another one moves in, that is unlikely to require land use approval.

It's most likely to simply need a building permit.

We call it a TI for tenant improvement.

If they're like moving around interior walls, if they got to put in a sink, um, they might need a signage permit if they're changing the sign, but if they're only replacing you know the old business name with their name, but the the size and the shape and the design of the sign is the same, they might not even need a sign permit.

Um so again, it's it is it does depend on the scale of what's of what's happening.

Um but if it is a new entity occupying an existing space, um, they're less likely to need all three of these permits.

All right.

Well, circle back to a question and I have later I'll wait till the end.

Sure.

Thank you.

Next slide.

Oh, of course.

Um somebody's planning to build property, uh house on a new property.

We have a budget, you know, let's say it's a million dollars to build this house.

The longer you wait to get the permit, those costs will escalate out of proportion sometimes.

So it's critical to know how long each one of those three phases takes typically.

Well, I've been a planner, I've been a planner for almost 20 years now, and I sure wish I could give a really concrete answer to that question.

The truth is that we can give estimated time frames, but a lot depends on what happens during that process.

For example, just for land use, if they submit a land use application that is missing a lot of information, we send it back and ask them to provide the missing information.

Sometimes we have to send it back multiple times until they give us the information we need in order to determine whether or not what they're proposing is consistent with the regulations.

Um sometimes the during the development review process, we'll find things about the project that are problems that are difficult to solve, and developers will have to go back to the drawing board in order to change their design in order to be able to get permits.

So we can provide general time frames, but we can't provide guarantees for how long it will take to get through the permitting process.

What's the quickest it would be?

So it really depends on what kind of development it is.

So when it comes to um and oh, you know what actually?

I may have a slide about this.

Stephanie, can you zoom to the very end of the presentation?

I had some I call them back pocket slides, things that are a little bit more detailed that, but that I think might come up.

Oh, back one.

Yes, okay.

So this slide um is focused on housing, but it's I made this slide to address this question.

And the answer to what is how much time does it generally take is basically it depends.

So at the top we have the simplest type of housing development.

So here you see I've described this as being infilled attached, middle housing, and ADUs.

And so here, notice there is not a site development phase.

Um, they will probably just need land use building, and then they'll have then the construction period of actually building the home.

Um, sometimes a state development permit is needed, it just depends on whether they're whether they need to do utility work, whether they need to build out a frontage, um, whether they need to do grading.

Um, infill apartments, mixed use again, the assumption is that these are properties that are already served by utilities and streets.

And here you still have the site development there because those are larger developments that tend to be more complex.

Um, but again, you see there are these kind of four phases, right?

The three permits and then the actual construction.

When we're into talking about a subdivision, again, this is assuming that there's easily accessible city services, but you're going to assume that they're going to need to actually build out a little bit of infrastructure, those local streets, right?

Say it's a 20 home subdivision.

There's probably going to be a local street that connects to an existing street, but that creates the buildable scale blocks, gives access to those lots.

They have to actually build that out before they get building permits.

So that's why you have the additional phases there.

And then finally, the longest process is when we're talking about greenfield development, so South Cooper Mountain, right?

So we've got first there's annexation.

Then we've got land use, where again there are these developers that will often specialize in bringing something from literally a green field to being a kind of platted out, laid out grid that can then be used for developing homes.

You've got to build those roads, you've got to put in those utilities, you've got to build your stormwater ponds, then you can pull building permits and do that home construction.

So I didn't have periods of time on here.

Um, but I think it's really helpful to see that the complexity of the development that is being sought has a big influence on what goes into that development permitting process and the construction process.

And at every stage where you have the infrastructure construction and home construction, you have multiple, multiple loops of inspectors going out, checking to make sure that what's being constructed is consistent with the submitted and improved plans, is consistent with the engineer design manual, that it's safe, that it's going to function, and that happens over and over again throughout the development process.

It's not just a kind of at the end type of thing.

You got to see how the base of the road is built before people start laying asphalt.

Um you've got to see that the compaction uh around the utility lines is what it needs to be in order to know it'll be structurally stable for the decades to come when the city is responsible for maintaining that infrastructure.

Um when you build a home, right?

You need to see what the electrical stuff looks like inside the walls before you close them up.

So the process itself has a lot of different steps and components to it.

Um they're important, um, but there are opportunities for delay at every at every stage there as well.

Yeah, I was just wondering, you know, what is a typical waiting time?

Is it six months, a year, four years?

Waiting time?

Yeah, to complete let's say the bottom one there.

So if we're talking about a single detached home on a lot that already exists, um, where the proposal meets all of the standards.

In other words, they're not asking to do something that requires a special permit to do something that's a little bit different.

Um that could be you know, they could have their land use and their building permits within um a few months.

Um if they have aspects of their proposal that required that special review, um, or they run into issues about the site and have to do redesign, then that could take longer.

But if everything is kind of all set and they have done a good job designing something that is approvable under the code, um then it it doesn't necessarily take that long.

Um in general, we don't get a lot of isolated small developments like that.

Typically, that type of building is actually part of a subdivision.

Um so it's kind of a part of a larger process, but we do get some.

Okay, no, it's good.

Yeah, because in California, you know, it could take years to get all these permits.

Well, again, it depends on the circumstances, but California does have uh required environmental review, which is certainly an additional layer of complexity that um is not in place in Oregon.

Okay, thank you.

Follow-up on that.

So, what about let's say the I call it one, two, three, four from the top down, the easy part in fill detach.

What's the approximate time frame?

I mean, if you have a resident and asks you what's the positive approximate, is it four to five months, six to twelve months?

Well, when people ask us that question and they're not they're not a professional developer.

I'm not, that's why, and I'm the average person.

No, no, right, but but I'm saying that that as staff, when someone asks us that question, our answer depends on what we understand about their knowledge and experience.

So, usually if someone gives asks a question like that, we actually ask them for more information because we want to know well, well, what would you like to do?

What is the property that you're talking about?

Because we want to make sure that we're not we're not giving them an answer that won't be accurate to the circumstances that they're actually interested in.

So it's more of a conversation.

So we want to find out, well, telling them a generic permit time frame isn't going to be very helpful.

Um understanding a little bit about what they would like to do and where they would like to do it will allow us to answer some threshold questions and be able to give them that more accurate answer.

Let me put it even much simpler.

Um I know the ADUs came into permissible uses a few years ago now.

How hard is it for someone to be able to build an ADU on the property?

If they bring us a plan for an ADU that is consistent with city code and they propose to put it in a location where uh it's allowed to be put, then it's quite short.

The ADU application is a type one application, we'll get to that later.

Um, and it you know might take us three to four weeks to get that out.

It's actually no charge for the land use application for an ADU.

Um, and then they may have to do some utility stuff again, depending on their site, um, but they should be able to go right to that building permit.

Again, if they are bringing us plans that are approvable, um, and those plans show that information clearly, then it does not take very long to get it reviewed.

Often um the concern with ADUs has to be more with the system development charges, um, which are often something that individual homeowners aren't aware of and haven't planned for.

Final question for that.

Does the ADU count towards the number of homes we're trying to build in the city, or is it just considered already part of the already existing single home or whatever?

Um do you know?

Well, I have to ask a question to give you a good answer.

So when we talk about our um kind of community goals to provide enough housing, we do include ADUs in that, right?

So it's place some place for people to live, right?

Um when it comes to how we regulate density and how many homes are allowed on a piece of property, they don't necessarily count.

I agree understood.

So you answered it.

Thank you.

Any more questions on this slide?

We can go back to the regularly scheduled presentation.

Um I have to a question on the common common first.

You know, avoiding it it feels like you're avoiding to answer the question.

I mean, I know you already explained what what was behind it.

Yeah.

The thing is though, um, what is the longest you have ever seen that it took to go through the whole process?

Well, state law actually limits how long it can take.

Uh-huh.

So uh But this is not answering my question.

I'm I'm asking you specifically.

I am answering it to you.

Because sometimes what happens is that because state law limits how long it can take, if we get up against that limit and we have a permit that we can't approve, we either have to deny that permit or we or we give the the applicant the opportunity to withdraw that permit.

So that is that is the problem.

So there are there are projects that um that have to stop because we hit that state limit.

It's not because the issues couldn't be resolved, it's that they hit that state limit.

Sometimes um there are projects that really struggled to get through the permitting process and they give up.

So when you deny, they cannot come back.

They can come back if they get denied.

Okay.

Yeah.

What's the state limit?

So um the total time, I'm sorry, it's it is it is um, yeah, there's there's math involved.

So um, so from when an app from the land use application is submitted, right?

Um, and that submitted could be an application that had it that does not have the information necessary in order to determine.

Um the total amount of time, the max amount of time it can take, um, is actually about a year.

Um the within that, there are a number of kind of subcategories of other time frames that affect how we process the applications and some obligations that we have.

But from just submitting the application, if they are not at the point where they can be approved within a year, um, then typically that's that's that's kind of it.

They can they again they can withdraw, but when they then refile, they have to pay the application fees again.

So we really we really work really hard to try to give applicants the information and feedback that they need in order to be successful.

We don't want people, we we we we actually deny very few applications because we want to give people the advice that will be useful for them to be successful.

Again, sometimes that means they need to revise their application materials.

Sometimes the change that would be needed are things that they are not willing to do or that they can't do, in which case they would withdraw.

It's very rare for people to get their application denied because in order for that to happen, typically it has to be a situation where staff has told them exactly what they need to do to be successful, and they have decided not to do that and pushed for a decision, and then that decision would be a denial.

But it's never a surprise.

We always communicate in advance and um with the intention of helping people understand what they can do in order to get their permits approved.

Okay, thank you.

What's the difference between the denial and a withdrawal or the difference in advantage?

I understand the terminology, but there seems to be a significant difference of why you would want someone probably to withdraw versus denial if you can receive.

Depending on when they withdraw, they might get they might be able to get a portion of their application fee refunded.

If we've if we've done a lot of review, then that may not be possible.

There are kind of some specific milestones that dictate uh eligibility for refunds of different percentages.

Um but if if they can withdraw um they can they can sometimes get some of that application fee refunded.

That's the money thing.

Well, it is, but also, you know, um part of why I like to try to avoid a denial is that um it's it's unnecessary, right?

We we don't want people to go through all of that work, and that takes money, right?

It's time and money.

They're paying they're paying architects and engineers, right?

Maybe they have a land use consultant, they're spending their time invest in this project, try to move it forwards.

City staff is investing a lot of time and in trying to move the project forwards.

We want it to be successful.

Um, getting to the point where we have to issue a denial usually means that there has been a breakdown in that process.

And sometimes it's a lack of trust.

Um, sometimes there's a uh sometimes there's a misunderstanding about what it means to get to planning commission, right?

Um, oh well staff says this can't be approved, but I'm gonna make my case to planning commission.

Um I think it's more common for people who are from out of state or who are not experienced, um, but that does happen sometimes.

I'll just leave it and then I'll give it to my colleague to the right here.

It sounds like it's people's best interest to probably schedule a meeting and just get some idea in the background before they start diving in.

Yeah, and we have pre-application conferences that are required for certain types of applications, um, but available to anyone who wants to have that early conversation to kind of assess um what they might need to know about the process and get early feedback on their project idea so that they kind of know better what they're getting into.

Do the permits have an expiration date?

Because somebody may have a million dollars to build, but you know, it's taken so long to get all the permits and they can't have to push it back for two years.

They do, they do have application, they do have expiration dates, and there are mechanisms for um extending those applications, those application expirations.

What what what are the what is the one year, two year, three years?

Um it depends on the type of application that it is.

Um, I perhaps this is something that I can follow up with you at a later time.

It's it's in chapter 50 of the development code, um, and there are specific criteria that they need to satisfy in order to have their application validity extended for additional time, how much time they they have before it expires, and the time periods for um for uh extensions uh will be different depending on different types of land use applications.

Yeah, I just wondered if it's like a year or two years or it's to it's most often two years.

Okay, um, with most often two years with the potential to extend for two additional two-year terms.

We have to save up the money.

Okay.

Okay.

So rewind.

Uh oh, you know, I think you already did.

Yes.

Okay, so you can you can see here um some of those time frames for review.

Um, I'm not gonna get into them now.

Honestly, I think that we should probably move on.

Um, I will note though that um there are also requirements for public notice for some types of land use applications, not all.

Um if if folks are coming in with an application where they're presenting a project where they're meeting all the code requirements.

Sometimes that's a type one application, which is considered a ministerial application, and that does not require any notice to be provided.

Um they should, in a clear and objective way, we should be able to say, yep, yep, yep, yep, you're approved.

Um, when there is some degree of discretion in making that decision, um, then that might be a type two or a type three application.

Those both require notice.

I will note that state law has made some changes that do affect what kind of notice that we require for um for many applications.

Um and it is in the direction of providing less notice.

So um so that's something that we are kind of digesting along with other jurisdictions in Oregon.

Um I mentioned discretion.

Again, this does vary by application type in state law, but we pay a lot of attention to it because there are requirements for clear and objective standards that relate to housing.

So clear and objective and discretion are supposed to be very separate things.

In reality, the cut is not so clean, but they're important concepts.

And then of course, in Oregon, there is an appeals process that is laid out in state law.

And again, those appeal procedures will vary depending on the type of application.

But in general, the ministerial application where we go check, check, check, check, those typically are not appealable because again, they're clear and objective, unless there is the belief that that the city has actually made a mistake, has actually done something incorrect in assessing it, and that would really only be available to the applicant.

And then for decisions that are discretionary staff of staff decisions, those could be appealed to planning commission.

Planning commission decisions would get appealed to council, and then from there they would go to the land use board of appeals, which is a state-level review entity.

Next slide.

So I've talked a little bit already about application types.

So just to briefly go over it.

Type one, those are those ministerial applications.

The standards should be clear and objective.

There's no notice required.

Typically, those would take two to four weeks to review and get out the door if there aren't missing, if there isn't missing information, if there aren't issues that need to be resolved.

But those would typically be pretty quick turnaround land use applications.

Type two, again, this is kind of a rough way to say it, but they tend to be a little bit more complex, but not necessarily super complex.

Some discretion, some public notice required.

Type three, um, again, a little bit higher complexity.

Some of the things that are type three in our code are actually now required by the state to be processed as what's called limited land use decisions, which are more like a type two, also not exactly how we have it adopted in our code.

And then type four are legislative land use applications.

These would be amendments to the development code, amendments to the zoning map, amendments to the comprehensive plan, and these uh for these applications, the decision maker is city council, um, and that's where we have to make those findings related to those state planning goals that we talked about at the beginning of the presentation.

Next slide.

Okay, this is a very wordy slide.

But this is actually um, this is actually really important.

This is a kind of a condensed part of the training that I give to planning commissioners, new planning commissioners, and it has to do with how land use decisions are made.

This is something that is part of state law.

Um, it's embodied in our code, and it is a um it is intended to be a structure that makes the land use application process more predictable and more transparent.

And what it boils down to is that every land use application that are listed in chapter 40 of the development code, they all have approval criteria that are listed for each application.

Some of the approval criteria are really straightforward.

Have they paid their fees?

Right?

Let's like it's a yes or no question.

Um those approval criteria will include things like are they consistent with the design regulations?

Um have they proposed to do the things that are required by code.

But the decision for whether or not to approve a land use application must be based on the approval criteria.

In order to be approved, they have to meet all of the approval criteria.

If they do not meet even one of the approval criteria, the obligation of the decision maker is to deny the application.

Whether or not a proposal meets the approval criteria may not line up with how people feel about a proposed development.

Sometimes there's a development that we can get really excited about.

Maybe it's an organization that's doing something really great, maybe it's a building design that's really beautiful.

But if there's something, if they've failed to show that they meet the approval criteria, the obligation of the decision maker, whether it's staff or planning commission or council, is to deny that application.

Sometimes there's an application for something that people are not very excited about.

Maybe it's a business that they're like, oh God, those guys, come on.

But if they're showing that they meet the approval criteria, the obligation is to approve that application.

And so it's a really important concept.

It's it's usually relatively straightforward to apply, but our code and the uh incredible complexity of the real world mean that there is sometimes deliberation that has to happen.

Sometimes it's not necessarily a super easy call to decide whether a particular application meets the approval criteria.

But that is that is that is what the decision consists of.

It's not do you think this is good or do you think this is bad?

It's does this meet the approval criteria?

Um and so this is again, it's something that I talk early and often with planning commissioners about because it's really it's really the the core of their responsibility as a planning commissioner to make land use decisions based on the approval criteria.

There's a lot of room for asking questions for discussions, for debate, for disagreements.

Planning commissioners don't always agree about whether a proposal meets the approval criteria or not.

That's that's fine.

But that has to be why the decision is made.

If that is not how the decision is made, then that decision could potentially be successfully appealed.

Um so it's again, it's kind of the it's this it's the it's really the foundation of the city's decision making when it comes to land use applications.

Question.

Yeah.

Um you don't have to like give all the details now, but can you share with us any criteria that would apply to maybe the traffic commission?

So like traffic or congestion.

Next.

So this is not exhaustive.

Um, but I knew that this would it was important to at least get into this a little bit with you folks.

So uh the facilities review committee is is a set of approval criteria that um apply to many land use applications.

It's not a separate application itself, it's actually a set of criteria that are applied through the staff committee that has representatives of the utilities and site development, and sometimes our partners like TBFNR.

Um, and it's basically looking at the kind of the technical and and and utility service related um components of an application.

There are other places in the land use process where transportation requirements show up, um, but this was kind of the easiest one for me to kind of pluck out and show you.

So again, remember, these are approval criteria.

So for the applications that are subject to the facilities review criteria, the answer to these to these statements has to be yes.

They had there has to be, there has to be we call them findings, right?

There have to be findings made that are affirmative to these to these criteria.

So right, so public transportation facility improvements, that just means that they're they're building streets, right?

Um have to be consistent with the transportation system plan.

The proposal has to include safe and efficient vehicular and pedestrian circulation patterns within the project boundaries.

So that's on that's on private property, right?

So when we're talking about within a development, that's private property.

It's something that we regulate differently than public streets.

Um, and that the pros development is consistent with the applicable provisions of chapter 60 and all of the all of those requirements.

Now, chapter 60 in the development code, I don't want to get too deep into all of it, but chapter 60 is kind of the junk drawer of the development code.

It actually has a lot of miscellaneous things in it, including all of our design review, um, but it has transportation, it has parking, it has utility undergrounding, it has um it has ADU rules, it has it has like any miscellaneous kind of policy and regulatory category has a little place in chapter 60.

So this um this uh pointer to chapter 60 is actually really important, and there are additional transportation um transportation rules in chapter 60.

Um but and I just wanted again anticipating a question like yours, um, I wanted to include some of those specifics.

Um we work with our city transportation engineer.

Um, there is a planner who specializes in transportation, who is a planner, not an engineer, who works closely to apply these requirements to land use applications as a kind of specialization, whereas typically we have uh uh uh multi multi um uh multi-purpose planner assigned to take through these applications through the process.

But our trans our person who specializes specialize in transportation actually looks at most applications a little bit and discusses many of them with the with the engineering folks as well.

Um so we give um we give some focused attention to transportation stuff because of the technical aspects of it, and because of the way that it crosses over the private property interior stuff with the public right-of-way, which will ultimately become the city's basically the city's property and the city's responsibility to maintain.

So it's it's it has somewhat elevated status um in terms of the coordination that happens around transportation stuff.

You know what?

At planning commission last night, it was doing the same thing.

I recommend you use the other microphone.

Oh, wait, no, you have it on now.

No, it's my unpatient hitting.

So um when uh you so what was interesting was that you said usually it's only looking at the um uh vehicular and pedestrian circulation patterns within the boundaries, not on the public.

No, it's both.

So if you look at A up here, right?

The transportation facility as proposed are modified conforms to transportation.

Okay, but so for example, let's let's give you a clear example.

There's a place where there was a school moved into um a building, and then you evaluate everything outside.

I mean, the what we deal with is then that people park um on the public roads, and then suddenly the kids walk out onto the street through the parked cars, for example, or whatever else, you know, like the compliant then becomes they can't see um the kids that can't, the cars that come out can't see stuff like that.

But do you is that also something that's um uh an a criteria that has to be passed particularly, or we we we do look at that.

Um how how deep we get into it depends on the details, right?

So they're we're talking about a scenario where there's an existing developed site where there is a new use that's moving in.

Exactly.

So there will be some things that they need to do to change.

So, for example, a school has to have like an outdoor play area.

There was an application recently where um a school moved into a commercial site, they had to create like a play area, and so they redevelop part of the parking lot to do that.

Um the depth and detail of the transportation analysis will depend on what the what the what the change in use of the site is.

So we have a requirement in the code in the development code for doing uh uh traffic impact analysis, a TIA.

There is a explicit threshold for requiring the full analysis that is what 200 trips?

Yeah, 200 chips.

Um is it 300?

Okay, 300.

See, I was I was like 30% wrong.

There we go.

Um so that threshold, we in order to understand whether that full analysis is required.

We actually usually get uh a memo from the from a certified transportation professional that basically says this is this is this is how many trips that this new use will have, and we compare that to the previous use.

So we have a we have a change, what's the change, right?

And that will help us understand whether that full analysis is required.

Mr.

Cosho also has the ability to flag the need for traffic analysis if he believes that is necessary, right?

Um, in the case like you're talking about, it would probably be a narrower evaluation, um, and we'd probably most focused on safety.

Um and and what would be required would probably vary depending on the exact circumstances.

And then um that also then requires public uh streets adjustments, but that wouldn't be.

Not necessarily.

No, parking.

If it I mean, I'm not saying it that it wouldn't, but it but it might not.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it might not.

But if it does, um then that that would be actually the city who has to take action, not the um people who apply.

Um, well, not not no.

I mean, if if there is a if there is a um an improvement to an existing street, an existing sidewalk, driveway, roadway, um, that would typically be something that is required um by the developer.

Um, but there is a little bit more to the conversation.

So uh next slide.

All right.

So you see, we're anticipating the questions.

Um so we talked a little bit about the traffic impact analysis.

The code requirements that are relevant to transportation topics more generally, these are documents we've already mentioned, right?

There's the transportation system plan, there's the development code, there's the engineering design manual.

Those are the regulatory documents that staff uses in order to guide this review and identify requirements.

The cross sections, which is basically the city standards for how many lanes of vehicle traffic, bike lanes, how wide does the sidewalk need to be.

That's very normal.

That's something that few would challenge.

Well, what if it's a corner lot?

And all of a sudden that 50-foot frontage turns into 150 feet, right?

How is that proportional, right?

The answer is we have to make, we have to be able to make specific findings for every exaction.

We don't we don't do that automatically with every land use application that includes exactions.

Because a lot of it falls under kind of common sense, right?

Yeah, of course, you build the sidewalk, right?

But sometimes we're challenged, and there will be developers that say, hey, it's not fair that you're asking me to do this, or that's a requirement that's out of proportion, and that is a cue for staff to call the attorney's office and make sure that we have the ability to explain why these exactions are appropriate pursuant to these legal standards that had been tested in court over and over again.

So the question of what developers are required to do is in some ways simple.

They need to make improvements that are consistent with our standards to address their impacts.

But there can also be a lot of nuance because there can be so much variation in terms of um what's actually happening on site and what they need to do in order to bring um their particular site up to those standards.

The question I had, and I think you answered it is I was thinking of a common example is a popular restaurant that has a drive-thru, submits a land use, there's gonna be a traffic impact analysis that's like an automatic unless they're occupying an existing drive-thru.

Okay, okay.

And then that traffic impact analysis, if it meets all the criteria, would be approved before it goes to the planning commission, before it gets approved by city council.

So there's multiple layers of checks and balances to make sure this land use is something that's you know beneficial.

So I mentioned earlier that pre-application conference.

So when people come in for that pre-application conference, that's when we start talking with them about the need to do a traffic impact analysis, and there's a whole process of meeting with our transportation experts, and they actually scope out what analysis specifically will be required as part of that TIA.

It's not always the same.

Um, and so that that that is a required part of the the land use permitting process.

Um, but most things don't go to council.

Council is not the decision maker for regular land use applications, um, only if there's an appeal or if it's a legislative project.

So typically it is either staff or planning commission, the decision maker.

I have a question for so just for the record, is can you clarify the following?

Depending on the type of application, type one, two, three, or four, not all of them go to the planning commission, correct?

Correct.

So some of them are determined, for example, one by staff.

Correct.

And if the applicant is in disagreement with staff on a type one, do they have appealable rights?

Yes.

That gets appealed to planning commission.

So then that's when it could go to the planning commission for review.

Correct.

Remind me, does a type two have planning commission oversight?

U so type two is a staff level decision.

Technically, it's the CDD director, although that is delegated to staff, right?

When does it trigger a planning commission?

If a type two is appealed, then then planning commission here's the.

It is type three and four.

However, I mentioned changes to state law.

There's some applications that are type three in the Beaverton code that state law does not permit us to bring to planning commission for a hearing.

And so those are now made by staff.

The reason for my question is more is um because I think we're all thinking, or most of us, and I understand where Commissioner Moran is going, is about a certain application, um, where there's a school, and my understanding is it went in into what was a pre-existing use, which was building, probably now which well in which school I'm talking about.

Um it is those kind of situations, they don't end up going to the planning commission, do they?

Um that you this was several years ago, right?

Yeah, yeah.

That would have gone to the planning commission or not.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that went to planning commission.

Interesting, because given the type of safety and all that kind of that I'm just wondering, and the circulation, um, that the planning commission wouldn't have questioned a lot of that deep.

So I was just trying to get the hearkin understanding that there has been I I was at a council meeting where there was some testimony about it in the last year, I can't remember exactly when it was.

Um the issues that arose would not necessarily have been predicted at the time they went to planning commission.

So, whenever we have, you know, we have proposals that come and there are um plans and assumptions made about how things will function.

That isn't always how they end up functioning.

So and again, this my this came to planning commission quite a while ago, so my memory of that original review is admittedly a little vague.

Um, but just in general, the the purpose of providing the application materials at land use is to lay out well, what does what is the circulation like in the parking lot?

How how uh is there visibility when vehicles pull into the driveway and pull out?

Um, how you know how are parents gonna do pickup?

That that kind of stuff is reviewed in that type of application.

How it will actually function in real life is not necessarily going to be exactly like it was.

Not because it's a one means it's gonna go to the planning commission, doesn't always get that oversight, not the general public doesn't always understand it, and it kind of gives somewhat of a guidance.

Uh my intention wasn't to quiz you, but it really was more to provide consequences.

I just like to provide as much information as I can.

I want myself to remember all the details, even though it's a good idea.

Yeah, and if there's a and it provide provided context also regarding that specific site that again, Commissioner Moranna was probably assuming was referring to, and we're shaking heads it is, because that's a beast and it's gonna come back to us, and we're all really shocked about how it was approved.

I respectfully disagree with your analysis of like some of assumptions that you could have never forecasted.

Um I respectfully disagree with that.

I know some of that is just seemed really obvious, and they haven't even met the numbers of traffic yet.

So uh it's fine.

I it to me, it gives me a lot more understanding now why how certain things could have came about, the building was already there later on they try and modify it.

I'll let it go.

Thank you.

I won't have you know, so uh I have two questions in regards of the school situation, for example.

The um one is maybe you couldn't foresee the um how much, or they say, okay, we have that this many trips, right?

You said 300 trips, and they and then they don't need to do certain things, which saves them money.

So it was, you know, who knows.

But the thing that I was wondering is if then the amount that was originally possibly thought of, right?

Because one thing I think we heard in that whole school thing was that they actually had more people than anticipated.

Like more students.

More students.

Yeah.

I I yeah, yeah, so let me let me of course ask you the question.

The the so they had that happening.

Is there then would they have to come back to you and say, hey, we have more people, you know, like is there another round or are they allowed to have uh this growth without any um further development or checking?

Evaluation.

Well, yeah, evaluation and permits.

So maybe they yeah, I didn't come prepared to discuss this case particularly, so I'm gonna answer it in a more kind of general way.

So if I recall correctly, this school needed a conditional use approval.

Again, I I'm not positive about that, but I think that it did.

And so a conditional use approval would typically identify the characteristics characteristics of that use, and it seems like it probably identified a size at the size of the student body.

I do not know what that number was that was approved.

I'd have to look at the decision in order to um in order to refresh my memory on it.

But if the conditional use approval identified a specific number of students or students and staff, and they're now enrolling more than that, then that would mean that they should come back for a modification of that conditional use approval.

So that so that should trigger a land use application to modify that conditional use if that is the situation, which I I can't confirm.

But for a curl card for the record, but if they have not met that number and there are present problems and issues, they don't need to come back and ask for more permission.

Is that correct?

If they're operating consistently with their approval, number.

Well, approvals usually have more to it than just the number.

Um, but just in general if they're not operating consistently with that approval, then they would be operating outside of that, and the remedy would be that they should come back for a modification of that conditional use.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Is that so as a follow-up to that and taking a step back and not specific to this case?

Where in the process is the trigger though that if you have a zone that's meant for heavy truck traffic, and you want to put a youth-based business, because there's more than just this one case that have come before, right?

What's the trigger that says is this a good idea to put a youth-based business in the middle of a what amounts to a commercial industrial area, and then say these people now need to move because this group wants to come in.

Yeah.

Where's where's what's that?

They're making it dangerous now.

Well, right.

Where's the where's the where in the process does the trigger review come from that says it from a safety, because I saw your safety slide, and it's not about this or that, and it's not the specific case.

No, that's actually that's a great question.

We've had that we were asked to put no parking all over the place because you suddenly have a youth-based business in an area that's designed for a specific type of business, right?

Business, trucks, long-term truck parking, overnight truck parking, because it's within this, it was in the city's code that these are all legally parked trucks, and yet the business that goes in then says, well, now I don't want any of this, but it's designed for this.

So I'm just trying to understand where in the process it it gets triggered that says this location is not a good site for this particular kind of business.

So chapter 20 of the development code addresses use.

And the permissible uses are there's like table where there's the zoning districts and there's the uses that are listed, and it shows whether it's permitted, conditional, or prohibited.

Okay.

So if you just at the most basic level, it's by zoning district and by use.

Okay.

So if a use is permitted, it's permitted, right?

If a use is conditional, it means that they need a conditional use approval in order to place that use in that zoning district.

And there are nuances, there's like footnotes, there's like land use applications for it, et cetera.

But that's the basic structure.

If it's prohibited, then it's prohibited.

So the procedural part of it is that there is there are land use applications specifically for conditional uses.

There is a an application for a new conditional use, there's an application for a modification of an existing conditional use, right?

And so those land use applications all have what we call thresholds.

And if you we say trip, if you trip a threshold, it means you need that application.

It triggers the need for that land use application.

So when you look at, and then land use applications are in chapter 40.

So you can look in chapter 40 of the development code, look under conditional use, and there are several different conditional use applications.

At the top, it has like the purpose of it, and then there's a paragraph about thresholds, and that lays out why would a particular use need a conditional use application, and if if you fall under one of those thresholds, then it means that you need to come and get that particular land use application approved in order to operate that use.

Okay.

I've asked in the past, but it wasn't your division, whether a mixed use type of opportunity were available.

It doesn't seem to be, I'm sorry, I'm not in microphone.

Uh doesn't seem to be here in Beaverton.

I've seen such in other parts of the country, and it's what do you mean mixed use?

Well, we're what we're what we're experiencing with all this conditional, you got it, something going on in an industrial area that's not industrial.

Ah, okay.

So you would need a conditional.

You mean an area that has a number of different uses on different pieces of the city?

Correct.

And it's intended to be that way, which means it will function better because you planned it that way, or at least modified it in that capacity.

Uh, whether that's feasible, uh, currently it currently I was told it's not in our code um to be able to do that.

And it sounds as though we're making things do that by creating all these conditional uses, and I'm just curious as to why we don't just um create environments that are suitable for what is currently happening.

So we do have what we call multiple use zones explicitly in the code.

There's a table for them.

But in reality, any commercial district and most industrial districts, like like uh office industrial districts, um, are also multiple use zones because a wide variety of uses are allowed.

For example, in almost every commercial zoning district in Beaverton, you can also develop residential use.

It doesn't mean you can develop it in the same way that you can in the residential districts, but the the code allows for a variety of uses.

Again, how much and how they're range, there's a lot of nuance there.

But really, there are very few zoning districts that are extremely strict about separation of uses.

And I think for our for our concern, it's less about what's going on inside the building than what's happening on the streets and roadways around them.

And that's why it comes up in a different way for us.

We're concerned about, of course, the safety of it and how workable it is for who is uh going to buy train plane automobile or whatever we're on to give where we're going.

Well, you know, one of the things that I find really important and interesting, partly because it's complicated and hard to do, is that the transportation network is this you know has a whole system of regulation, and then we have land use that really is focusing on what's happening on the properties, and there's overlap there, right?

The transportation system exists so that people can get from one place to another.

Like they don't, they don't actually, they're not they they can't even really be thought about rationally as being separate.

They they they're very interwoven, but the way that we regulate them is is not seamless.

So for streets, right, we have these different street classifications, right?

Arterial, collector, local street.

Um, a lot of the regulation of our transportation system is tied to those designations.

Meanwhile, for zoning, we have zoning districts.

A zoning district will have lots of different kinds of streets, right?

There are residential districts that have arterials, collectors, neighborhood routes, local streets, commercial districts, same.

So the the I think the the fun and complicated part, but one that is challenging is how the planning for those things is actually integrated.

Um, because they really are not separate, they really depend on each other and function together.

Um, but our regulatory documents have specializations that use different approaches to regulating these different things.

So, you know, I think a lot of the conversations that we've had with the current transportation system plan update is trying to think through how the land use context should be informing the planning we do for the transportation system.

And it's again, it's it's it's it's not easy to do it because we're we are talking about things that have very different characteristics, even though they the way that humans use them, they're very they're very overlapping.

Um, but you know, streets, it's public right-of-way, it holds utilities, uh it's it's it they're they're they're they're different in a lot of ways, but we also need to think about them together.

And so we're we're trying to get better at it, um, but it's not the easiest thing to do.

Um question about nexus and proportionality findings.

So if you have a new property developed and uh you put a sidewalk there because it's a requirement, and it's also requirement that you put a tree between the sidewalk and the curb.

What happens in 10, 15 years time when the roots of that tree stop cracking the sidewalk and raising it and making a trip hazard?

Who's liable?

You know, if somebody trips.

The adjoining property owner is required to maintain the sidewalk and the planter strip.

What about the tree?

Is the tree that's causing the damage?

And it was a requirement that the city made you put that tree there.

Yeah.

And now it's created triposit.

So it's a little bit of a well, it's not necessarily an easement.

Sometimes there are sidewalks aren't easements, usually they're in the right of way.

So there's actually um, you know, the city has learned over time what trees are better to plant in those locations.

It depends on the width of the planter strip.

Um, the location is in a shady area, is it a sunny area?

But there have actually been updates to the street tree list that have been done by our city arborist that are updated in order to identify tree species that um that won't create the same problems with sidewalks.

It's some of the older neighborhoods I walk in, it's trip hazards left, right, and center.

Um yet trees provide shade, they help manage stormwater, they increase property values.

So it's these kind of like there, there are there are there are there are multiple considerations that we're trying to figure out how to navigate.

Obviously, we need to have safe sidewalks that are navigable for everybody.

Um, and if there are hazards, those need to be dealt with.

Um, but there are also a lot of values to having street trees.

Good.

Um Beaverton newsletter, I brought that up years ago.

They addressed that just as an FYI for when people were reading about it and gave the code like if they gets three inches or two inches, something like that, it can't be higher.

Some it was actually really educational because it would, but a lot of people were very surprised of like that's still your property, you're responsible for it, and you can be held liable.

Yep, all that.

Yeah.

I think I might have had another slide.

I did.

This is just kind of how to get information about proposed development projects.

Um there is the the link at the top, the City of Beaverton proposed development projects.

This is not an exhaustive list.

This is kind of like more major land use applications you can find there.

Um, but really, if there's a specific property that you have questions about, um, emailing um the that planning email box right there is a great is a great way to get information.

Um you can also, if you're in the mood, come in person to the permit counter, which is on the fourth floor of the Beaverton building.

And so there are people there from 8:30 to 4:30 Monday through Thursday.

And I think that's the end.

But click one more time.

There we go, yes.

Uh one question I want to share, and it's just kind of providing feedback, not even a question.

I think uh my experience on the traffic commission over the years, a common um topic that comes up is the development of multifamily um apartments, duplexes, condos, where the number of residents will be a lot greater than the number of parking spots.

So obviously we have a housing crisis, we want to get housing, housing is the priority.

We may not have three cars for every, you know.

Um, so we get a lot of challenges where okay, now where are these cars going to park?

And they're parking on the street, they're narrowing the width of the street if cars are parked on both sides, or they're parking on a fire lane or other places.

So how would we when we experience these type of things?

What would you recommend is a good way for the traffic commission to provide feedback to maybe the planning commission or the you know post-planning division?

Well, what's a good I guess mechanism to kind of share those type of examples we have with you when when they came up in future years?

So parking's tough.

Um I talked a little bit about state law, um, CFEC, which is the climate-friendly equitable communities executive order from former governor Kate Brown.

Um, one of the um parts of that was a pretty muscular intervention into how local jurisdictions can handle required parking.

They basically gave local jurisdictions two choices.

There was a very challenging onerous and circuitous route to be able to still require off-street parking, which would have resulted in us not being able to require off-street parking in very many circumstances and would have been a lot of work.

Um and then there was the option to remove off-street parking spaces, and so staff brought those options to city council, and city council opted to at staff recommendation remove off-street parking requirements.

Primarily because the benefit of the option of being able to retain some off-street parking requirements wouldn't have actually allowed us to require parking in the circumstances that you're talking about.

So it was kind of like a lot of effort or a kind of um somewhat obnoxious outcome that wouldn't have actually addressed the concerns.

Um, so we recommended going for the simpler route that would not waste public resources, and that would be a lot easier for folks to understand.

I don't have a solution to the to the dilemma that you're proposed that you kind of are outlining.

Um, and it's um it's uh it's unfortunate that the state set things up so that individual jurisdictions don't have the autonomy to figure out how to do it better.

I will say that prior to that change in the parking, um the off-street parking requirements that Beaverton had in place for many circumstances were in my opinion too high.

They were often requiring parking spaces that would not necessarily be ever used at a great cost to the environment and and to space.

Um the um the amount of time and effort that staff had to spend, right?

And we're paid by public tax dollars.

Um helping developers navigate our parking rules was really quite significant.

So in spite of the um unfortunate kind of non-choice that was foisted on the city, there is some benefit to making the process of wrestling with parking one where we're not wasting as much time dealing with complex outdated code.

Um and we're not requiring too much parking.

Of course, the downside is that we're not we're not requiring any parking.

I will say that very, very few developments decide to provide zero parking.

Most developments still provide an ample amount of parking.

Um and in fact, the state required us to establish parking maximums, which some developers are bumping up against sometimes.

Oh, yeah, and I I think that's a great explanation.

I'm not expecting you to solve that.

I think what what we hear a lot too is not the tenants or the property owners that are purchasing know at the time I'm not purchasing a parking spot, I'm using the street, but then as that unit fills up, that apartment complex fills up, then you get into those situations.

So sometimes it's addressed to us as like, well, you know, now when people are parking on the streets, two cars can't pass at the same time because of the width of the street, or they're parking illegally, and so now we're it's more of an enforcement, not really a traffic issue.

But I just want to use that as a example that I think we've had a lot over the years, yeah.

And it does really highlight the importance of parking on the street, right?

So um, along with lots of other things like Uber and Lyft and Amazon deliveries and all kinds of things, that that public space that we all use in different ways.

There are a lot of demands on it, and um, you know, we we have a lot of we have a lot more thinking to do to figure out what the best way is to manage that space so that it's really providing as much value as it can.

Um and um all I know is that um we're not there yet.

I don't know exactly where we're headed with it, but we we have a lot, there's a lot that we haven't figured out yet.

We went from one extreme to the other though, too.

I I would agree with that.

And I do think and we try to educate the public and tell them that it's like our hand, our hands are handcuffed, it's not us.

And uh we do save you guys and tell them also it's not really even the city, they really can't do anything about that.

But it is really difficult when all our tools have been taken away and we are left with nothing, and we can solve our own city problems.

I I feel it every day of my professional life.

Yeah, yeah.

There is a way of hacking change and the people that there are people meet or know is unfortunately the reality, you have nothing, no power to change it, but they can go to their state legislators and tell them how it's impacting them.

Yeah.

And that's what I wanted to follow up on.

Um Commissioner McLean's question.

I heard that you had no solutions, and I I get it.

But what I what part of what he asked is what is the appropriate protocol when these things occur?

Should we just be making a list and we're all going to our legislature?

Or are we uh do you want an email from us every time it happens, or what would be appropriate in explaining?

Um I don't know if any of you have had the um experience of being involved in the legislative process.

You know, it's called sausage making.

I feel like that's too polite, maybe.

Um it's um because I I you know we had the city has um uh uh uh uh a government relations person who really does an amazing job helping connect the city to the process of getting bills drafted and revised and passed and all of the uh you know crazy politics of that and relationships and all of that stuff.

Um and as part of that, I personally, you know, I use like do track changes and redline, you know, proposed legislation.

Sometimes we get we can influence it, and sometimes we are ignored.

Um and the process is often very, very, very fast.

So it's like, you know, like when Jocelyn calls, like I answer no matter what, right?

Because I don't know if she's gonna say, I'm going into a committee meeting in two hours.

I need you to take a look at this draft and tell me how it can be fixed.

Um so it is really difficult actually to mobilize around really specific things, and so general messages are actually really important.

Um just having those conversations, even just to can convey those basic concerns is actually really uh is really helpful.

Um when it comes to the nuts and bolts and the and the those details, unfortunately it happens so fast that it's not realistic to be able to kind of um marshal the troops, I'll say, um, because it just it's it's very fast.

Thank you.

Appreciate your time.

Um thank you.

We'll have some uh yeah, I have some other thoughts and questions later, but I think I think one way to do it would be to present some of the themes that we've come across and then ask how that works through the process.

So I think that's what I'm gonna head for.

All right, thank you.

With that in mind, then next up is um is there any um old business?

Or sorry, uh any new business.

I just want to comment about the visitor comment section when we started the meeting today.

Uh second street was improved as part of the Beaverton High School redevelopment.

So they improved the street and the parking signs were part of that plan.

The minute we accept the improvements, there is a process through traffic commission if we're gonna take that parking restrictions out or not.

I just want to clarify that part so you won't think or it was just done by staff or without approval.

Okay, thank you.

Um, so that went with that.

Uh is there any um new business to bring up though?

I think one thing it'd be interesting to follow up though with uh the presentation this evening because we've had a different discussion in um BCCI and a couple other places, especially with the NACS as well.

Um where and how do you instigate change?

And right now we're being told to go to a different commission and different board, and so um I think one of the things to look at as we go forward is take some examples and ask how the process would work, and that's kind of where I was going with that.

So it'll be it'd be interesting to follow up because a lot of discussions right now about how do you instigate and initiate change.

And I think as uh Vice Sheriff Obadia said, we'd have we have no ability to change the bylaws.

Everything we do is a referral to city council, everything is a recommendation.

Um and it kind of limits how we problem solve, which is kind of challenging.

So I think just that's to me one of the things I'd like to figure out a way to bring up.

So if anybody has some ideas and how we take those examples and take them forward and ask for input and advice on how to change and initiate change.

So thank you tonight.

Appreciate that on it.

Um that being said, is there any other final news there meeting next month, sir?

Uh so far.

We're planning to have a meeting next month, yeah.

Okay, very good.

Uh all right.

With can I just slide on this?

Yes.

On the second, not the fourth, because it uh the meeting laws are you can't we don't meet on the third, and we don't meet on the third or the fifth, correct?

If that fell on a regular meeting date, but a second does count.

Okay.

All right, then we'll see everybody next month.

Uh final thing.

All right, then we're adjourned.

Thank you.

Recording stopped.