METRO POLICY ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING RECORD

May 28, 2003 – 5:00 p.m.

Metro Regional Center, Council Chambers

Committee Members Present: Nathalie Darcy, Rob Drake, Eugene Grant, Ed Gronke, John Hartsock, Tom Hughes, Vera Katz, Richard Kidd, Mark Knudson, Doug Neeley, Cheryl Perrin, Martha Schrader

Alternates Present: Jack Hoffman, David Ripma, Larry Sowa

Also Present: Hal Bergsma, City of Beaverton; Beverly Bookin, Columbia Corridor Assoc.; Al Burns, City of Portland; Brian Campbell, Port of Portland; Cindy Catto, Associated General Contractors; Rob DeGraff, Portland Business Alliance; Michael Dennis, TriMet; Kay Durtschi, MCCI; Jim Jacks, City of Tualatin; Hannah Kuhn, City of Portland; Doug McClain, Clackamas County; Karen McKinney, City of Hillsboro; Pat Ribellia, City of Hillsboro; Mike Saba, City of Portland; Amy Scheckla-Cox, City of Cornelius; Crystal Wikes, PSU Student; Ramsey White, MTAC

Metro Elected Officials Present: Liaisons – David Bragdon, Council President; Rod Park, Council District 1. Other: Susan McLain, Council District 4.

Metro Staff Present: Kim Bardes, Richard Brandman, Dan Cooper, Andy Cotugno, Lydia Neill, Gerry Uba

1.  INTRODUCTIONS

Tom Hughes, Mayor of Hillsboro and MPAC Chair, called the meeting to order at 5:07 p.m. Those present introduced themselves.

2.  ANNOUNCEMENTS

There were no announcements.

3.  CITIZEN COMMUNICATIONS

There were none.

8.  ORDINANCE #03-1007 REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION PLAN AMENDMENT FOR SOUTH CORRIDOR

Andy Cotugno introduced material pertaining to Ordinance #03-1007 and then introduced Richard Brandman.

Richard Brandman discussed the process for South Corridor and presented maps and materials. Materials were distributed in the meeting packet and are attached and form part of the record.

Andy Cotugno said that he hoped MPAC would provide a recommendation at the next meeting.

Doug Neeley asked if rapid transit had been included in the study/report.

Richard Brandman replied that he thought it called for improvement to bus rapid transit between Milwaukie and Oregon City.

7.  PERIODIC REVIEW

Andy Cotugno said that as part of the remaining periodic review task Lydia Neill would discuss the issue of encroachment of non-industrial uses on industrial land. He also said that she would be identifying the need for industrial land by different industrial types, and different parcel sizes. He then introduced Lydia Neill.

Lydia Neill reviewed the materials for the MPAC members. All materials were provided in the packet and are attached and form part of the record.

Doug Neeley wanted to know if the discussion today, pertaining to what would be identified as regionally significant industrial areas and commercial areas, would alter what had been completed in the past.

Andy Cotugno said that Title 4 had been adopted which established those definitions. What was not adopted was where they apply – which areas around the region should have those characteristics? He said that the mapping exercise still had to be adopted to define which territory applied to that first category, versus the second category, versus the third category.

Jack Hoffman asked if the staff was adopting intern Amy Rose’s report?

Andy Cotugno said it was a good analysis. It raised the question of where to accept and where to refuse conversion.

Jack Hoffman asked if it raised the question of whether they even needed industrial sanctuaries.

Lydia Neill said that she thought they did need industrial sanctuaries. She said it was important to segregate uses.

Rob Drake said that there was a statewide need to preserve industrial land.

Susan McLain said that the materials/report provided thus far established the foundation on which to build the report and formulate the next steps.

Gene Grant said that he agreed with Jack Hoffman that if you were a landowner stuck in an industrial sanctuary with the industrial market conditions currently so poor and the demand so great for development, you would not be happy. He wondered how fair that was to those particular land owners.

Jack Hoffman gave the example of Providence in Hillsboro – it went through a change from industrial to commercial. This starts people identifying ways the industry had changed and evaluating what communities are all about – jobs, housing, livability.

Doug Neeley said he assumed that decision was being made in terms of the regionally significant lands.

Gene Grant said they should seek input from owners as well.

Vera Katz said she had thought they were wringing their hands for more industrial land. She said that if they were backtracking, then they could not expand the UGB a year later.

Rob Drake said he was not happy with how the discussion was drifting because there was a lot of demand for industrial land.

Chair Hughes said that he had just testified for a 200-acre inclusion in the UGB based on the need for large lot industrial land. He said he wasn’t sure that the commercial market was doing much better than the industrial market. He said he did not think they could make long-range policy decisions based on short-term economic circumstances.

Vera Katz said that the other issue was that they had not addressed town and regional centers yet. They want the centers to succeed and that would be where the commercial and retail use would be significant.

Andy Cotugno said that he would have areas to study for possible expansion sometime in the next several months. The list of potential locations was not easy to find. Residential property could be placed in more flexible locations than industrial. It was going to be difficult to find a couple thousand acres for industrial land.

Chair Hughes said that notification would have to be sent to property owners. He thought the report was a good one. He said that he did not see the next steps outlined in the report as necessarily taking steps backwards.

Jack Hoffman said that they should work with the jurisdictions to reach agreement on zoning that would allow changing from industrial to commercial.

Andy Cotugno introduced the discussion on demand for industrial land versus current supply.

Lydia Neill went over the materials provided in the packet, which are attached and form part of the record.

John Hartsock asked if the mill siting legislation had any affect on this.

Lydia Neill said that the only site that might come into play was Boring.

Ed Gronke said that he did not think that there would be an adequate transportation infrastructure for Damascus, yet there was now significant industrial land that had been added to that area. He wanted to know if that industrial land would be utilized in the next 15 years while that infrastructure was being built?

Lydia Neill said that they needed to provide a 20-year land supply that met short and long-term needs. They also needed to look at the land just brought into the UGB and make assessments for them. They should determine what was shovel ready and available for short-term development.

David Ripma asked if the supply numbers was comprised of vacant land. He asked if they would consider redevelopment or upgrading existing properties.

Lydia Neill said there was a redevelopment/refill assumption built into the urban growth report. They had factored in a portion of those industrial uses converting to commercial uses.

Andy Cotugno said that this work and the remaining step in the periodic review was to fill the need that was established in the employment urban growth report. The report accounted for a 35% redevelopment rate for industrial lands and a 50% redevelopment rate for commercial lands. Therefore, this was the balance needed for industrial purposes from vacant land.

David Ripma said that with the need being 11,000 and the supply being 9,000 it had not read like that.

Jack Hoffman asked for clarification on some numbers in the report. He asked if the numbers were predictive and not aspirational.

Andy Cotugno said that UGB decisions should not be based on aspirational goals, but if there were other actions being taken that were pursuing aspirational goals and the UGB was a piece of that, then it could be done.

Dan Cooper agreed.

Chair Hughes said that they would need a recognizable regional strategy to determine those instances.

Jack Hoffman asked Ms. Neill if she had considered down-zoning from residential to industrial, vacant land to residential, or commercial to industrial.

Lydia Neill said that that assumption had not been included in the work done thus far. The next step was to formulate siting criteria, take that criteria and then look at the lands recently added to the UGB and determine what areas might need zoning changes in order to meet local need.

Jack Hoffman said he was thinking about land that was already in the UGB prior to the recent addition.

Dan Cooper said that state law required consideration of other measures to fill need other than UGB amendment. Buried in the last UGB amendments done by Council was a small but significant shift. They took land out of the UGB that was not suitable and added land adjacent to the city to re-designate residential land inside the UGB for industry and then the land that was added to the UGB was replacement land for housing.

4.  CONSENT AGENDA

Meeting Summaries for May 14, 2003 and Consideration of MTAC Appointment.

There was discussion on the process that should be undertaken by MPAC pertaining to legislation endorsement by the committee. Doug Neeley said he felt that any requests for official endorsement of bills by MPAC should be put on the agenda and voted on.

5.  COUNCIL UPDATE

Council President Bragdon said that the Council had approved ITA with the Tualatin Basin Group and now had a schedule for moving forward with that. The Metro Transportation Improvement Plan 100% list had been released the previous day. There would be a hearing for that on June 5^th at Council. The Centers work group met for the first time on May 16^th. The Alternatives Analysis was slated to come before Council in June with a decision slated for July 10^th. That would then be brought to MPAC by mid-June where the committee would look at criteria and the map.

6.  ORDINANCE #03-1005 TITLE 7 AFFORDABLE HOUSING CHANGES

Andy Cotguno gave a brief overview of the material and then introduced Gerry Uba.

Gerry Uba addressed comments made by some MPAC members at the previous meeting and then reviewed the materials that had been provided in the meeting packet. Those materials are attached and form part of the record.

Doug Neeley started a discussion on making minor edits to the report.

Mr. Ramsey White, member of MTAC, said he voted in favor of the changes. He said he thought it was an aspirational op-ed piece. He mentioned that it was a voluntary process. He said that he supported the document and language in it, he urged them to consider that consideration in itself was a benchmark for ways to assess the response. He indicated that jurisdictions wanted to do something but don’t know how to accomplish their goals. He suggested that Metro should shore up those jurisdictions and provide a contact person or system that would allow the jurisdictions attain their goals. He also suggested policy direction was needed on new resource questions.

Jack Hoffman asked them to summarize the amendments.

Chair Hughes and Gerry Uba summarized them.

There being no further business, Chair Hughes adjourned the meeting at 7:00 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Kim Bardes

MPAC Coordinator

ATTACHMENTS TO THE RECORD FOR MAY 28, 2003

The following have been included as part of the official public record: