Meeting for Wednesday, June 18th, 2025.

I will now call the meeting to order and ask Mr.

Vice to call the roll.

All right, Commissioner Evans.

Here.

Commissioner Watten.

Here.

Vice Chair Wolvotney.

Here.

And Chair Metlin.

Here.

And just to note, uh, Commissioner Jones just ran home real quick.

He'll he should be back any moment now.

Thank you.

All right.

Do we have any public comment related items not on the agenda?

We do not.

Okay.

All right.

Then let's move in to one of our two main items for tonight, which is the work session on the proposed CDC cleanup amendments.

Mr.

Weiss.

All right.

Thank you, Chair.

Uh Teresa's gonna pull up a short presentation I've got for this item.

Uh just want to set it up a little bit.

Uh you know, we've the planning planning staff have been collecting uh issues with the code over the years, and we try to do code cleanup projects every couple of years to get the the code into come into uh one compliance with state statute and also just to make it more clear and objective so everyone has an understanding of what the expectations are.

Uh so we were bringing we're planning on bringing these uh uh a couple of these code amendments forward, and then also we've tagged on uh uh uh recent state change in uh legislation around limited land use decisions.

So we're going to uh make the changes with that as we we go through this uh short process.

Uh there's a there's a bigger code cleanup process going on, uh which we'll probably start with the planning commission in the fall, where we're really gonna do a pretty deep dive into the into the code and and do cleanups and again uh make changes where state statute is changed, and we have just been implementing the statute directly and not gotten it into the code yet.

So that that'll come later, but we felt that we needed to attack these uh immediately because we've been having issues with them recently.

All right, so in your in your packet, there was a memo with the four topics, which are minimum maximum density calculations, uh the partition minimum density exemption, uh a newly newly created lots and parcels, which these are all uh currently in the in the code or partially in the code.

We just want to clean up the language, and then the limited land use decisions, which again is recent state legislation that we need to uh implement now.

And then the uh the second component was the proposed code amendment.

So it was uh again I divided the code amendments into the four topics.

Uh there's uh see about six chapters in involved in it.

Uh once we once we bring it forward for the public hearing, it'll all get put into one package, but I thought it'd be easier for you to follow along if it was broken out into the topics as we as we talked about them.

So I'm just gonna go through each topic uh individually, and uh if you have any questions, feel free to interrupt me and and ask them at any time.

So the first one is minimum and maximum density calculations.

So in uh pretty much every city's code, you know, there's there's uh parameters around whatever the zoning is here in the city.

We use lot size.

So for instance, a 10,000 uh R 10 zoning has a 10,000 square foot minimum lot size, and so you can only get however many 10,000 square foot lots you can onto a property.

Uh and then and then there's a minimum density requirement that is was brought forth as part of the uh metro urban growth management functional plan.

Uh it's requirements that the city has to comply with also, just like state standards, and that and that requires uh the city to set a mini minimum density standard, and for the city of West Lynn, that is 70 percent.

So whatever the maximum density is, you have to meet 70 percent.

So the so the issue in our code is there's a there's a lack of clarity.

It's not found in one location how you calculate minimum maximum density.

It's it's sort of an individual criteria in a couple of different chapters.

Uh in most cities uh around the region have a have a uh dedicated uh section in the chapter that clearly outlines how you get to a maximum density and then the minimum density.

Uh that makes it very clear and objective clear and objective.

Right now, our code is not clear and objective on how you get to that calculation, and it's also not clearly defined what what the what the term uh gross developable acre and net developable weight here is.

Uh just want to point out that so there are some exemptions from uh these uh maximum minimum density requirements, uh middle housing projects, they they follow a whole different uh sort of tract.

They they are allowed to you know build up to four or more if you're doing townhomes and cottage clusters on one of those lots that gets created through a subdivision or a partition process.

Uh middle housing land divisions again uh aren't subject to the the maximum density requirements, planned unit developments, uh which we have not done one in a long time here in the city, uh, but they they have a separate way of calculating what the density is allowed on the site in uh response to protecting resources on the site, and then uh partitions uh which we'll talk about in topic two, which is that exemption that we need to clean up.

So for the proposed code amendments to deal with this minimum maximum density, uh we're proposing to uh uh include two new definitions developable gross area and a developable net area, and obviously the gross area is the size of the entire site, and then the net area is what you remove out of that to then calculate your maximum density.

And uh so in chapter five, we're going to create a a measurements section uh, and that's that's gonna outline the process to calculate the developable net area, and that is taking the the developable gross area, removing type one and two lands, parklands, uh public right-of-way, or private streets.

So again, this this was not clearly defined, or is not clearly defined in the code right now.

It only talks about type one and two lands in our code, and then there's an there will be an optional that you could remove heritage trees or significant trees or tree growth from that calculation if you if you chose to.

And then the uh and then it will include the process to calculate that maximum density in the process to calculate the minimum density.

So if you had a chance to look at the the the actual code language we're proposing, it basically takes you step by step through the through the process how you get to those numbers.