The Forest Grove Planning Commission convened on November 17, 2025, at 8:00 AM for a scheduled public meeting. The sole agenda item was a public hearing on proposed development code text amendments. However, only three of the required members were present, preventing a quorum. Following guidance from the city attorney, the commission was unable to proceed with the hearing and opted to continue it to a future date.
Madam Clerk, may we have the roll call? Here, we'll turn to item number two A on the agenda. This is just the public meeting. The public comment period for non-agenda items. This is for anyone wishing to speak on an item not on the agenda tonight. Um you can be heard at this time. In the interest of time, please limit comments to three minutes or less. Is there anyone here who wants to speak on an item that's not on the agenda tonight? Can you hear me? No? Okay. So this part of the meeting we have one item on the agenda tonight, which is a public hearing on um proposed development code text amendments. We're gonna wait on that. But if you're here to speak on something that is not that item, now's your chance to speak. So is there anyone here to speak on something that is not on the agenda tonight? So you're all waiting for the the hearing on the proposed development code amendments? Okay. Well, uh just noting for the record then that um we only have three members of the planning commission. Uh so we do not yet have a quorum, and we're awaiting word from legal counsel for the city whether we are able to go ahead and start the public hearing with less than a quorum. Um it's an issue we haven't dealt with in a very long time on the planning commission, so we don't know the answer, I'm afraid. We just spoke with Chris Kreen, our city attorney, and uh his suggestion was that we open the public meeting, which we have, um, not the hearing. Um there is no possibility of having a public hearing tonight on this matter without the quorum present. Uh what we will have to do is continue this to a time and date certain. Uh that looks like that would probably be um December 15th. December 1st is actually the city council's uh annual retreat. And I won't be here and this room will be taken. Uh so I don't know that we can wait on December 1st. December 8th is the city council meeting. Um so it's looking like we would have to do December. Make sure that I'm getting this right. December 15th. Um at 7 p.m. So if that's what you all want to do, you then you need to just make sure you uh announce that right here so that everybody has a chance to come back. Uh we will not send new notice um to anybody who received it before, uh, as long as you say the time and date certain right now. Are we allowed to confer on this? I take it. I am scheduled to be out of town as well. For work travel, I'm wondering if I could change it, because obviously we need we don't not want this to happen again. So um okay Well, by no means do I want to suggest working on vacation. Um we do have the option to have Zoom attendance if you are able to do that. I could attend up by Zoom. Okay. Does this hearing need to happen before the end of the year due to any um you know pending legal issues? There's nothing pending right now, uh, that would make us out to the meeting first of the year. Uh and if you guys just want to continue it to a time and date in the future, uh, we can do that. We just would have to send a new notice to everybody who received notice the first time of the new time and date. The reason for announcing it tonight would be otherwise we wouldn't have to send all new notice again. And there's there's a cost and time and all it's my concern is for these people who came out here tonight. I don't want to waste their time. And again, at the same time, I don't want them to wait forever to have this issue um discussed, you know, because it's obviously something worth coming out for.