1 PLANNING COMMISSION Agenda 520 E. Cascade Avenue - PO Box 39 - Sisters, Or 97759 | ph.: (541) 549-6022 | www.ci.sisters.or.us THURSDAY, MAY 6, 2021 REGULAR MEETING AGENDA – 5:30 PM The Planning Commission meeting will be open to the public via Zoom. Using Zoom is free of charge. The public is invited to join the meeting with your computer or telephone by going to the following link: https://zoom.us/j/93471932061 5:30 PM REGULAR MEETING/PUBLIC HEARING I. CALL TO ORDER / DETERMINATION OF QUORUM / ADOPTION OF AGENDA II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: February 18, 2021 (Exhibit A) III. VISITOR COMMUNICATION: Members of the public are invited to share comments not associated with the public hearings at this time. IV. PUBLIC HEARINGS: FILE NUMBER(S): MOD 20-02/SUB 20-01 - TO BE CONTINUED TO MAY 20, 2021 APPLICANT: Sisters Habitat for Humanity (Exhibit B) LOCATION: 302,312, 332, 342, 352 N Desert Rose Loop, Sisters OR 97759; Map and Taxlot: # 151005, taxlots 2000, 2100, 2200, 2300, 2400, 2500. REQUEST: Type III Review of a Master Plan modification and replat to modify the Village Meadows Master Plan (MP 05-02/MOD 15-01) and replat 6 lots in the Village Meadows subdivision (Lots 3-8) into 10 lots to accommodate attached single- family homes. FILE NUMBER(S): TA 21-01 APPLICANT: City of Sisters (Exhibit C) REQUEST: Text Amendment to Sisters Development Code to remove Chapter 3.2.700 Urban Forestry and replace in the Sisters Municipal Code. V. COMPREHENSIVE PLAN UPDATE DISCUSSION VI. STAFF AND COMMISSIONER UPDATES VII. ADJOURN This agenda is also available via the Internet at www.ci.sisters.or.us. The meeting location is accessible to persons with disabilities. Requests for an interpreter for the hearing impaired or for other disability accommodations should be made at least 48 hours before the meeting by contacting Kerry Prosser, City Recorder at [email protected] 1 2 Exhibit A Joint Planning Commission and City Council Minutes Thursday, February 18, 2021 – 4:00 P.M. City Hall Council Chambers, 520 E. Cascade Avenue, Sisters, OR 97759 Chairman: Jeff Seymour Commissioners: Cris Converse, Scot Davidson, Mark Hamilton, Jack Nagel, Tom Ries City Councilors: Michael Preedin, Nancy Connolly, Andrea Blum, Gary Ross, Jennifer Letz Absent: Art Blumenkron City Staff: Scott Woodford, Community Development Director, Nicole Mardell, Principal Planner City Attorney’s: Garrett Chrostek, Alan Dale, Jeremy Green Visitors: Matt Hastie (AGP), Jerry Johnson (Johnson Economics) Recording Secretary: Kerry Prosser 1. CALL TO ORDER / ROLL CALL / DETERMINATION OF QUORUM Chairman Seymour called the Planning Commission meeting to order at 4:01 pm and roll call was taken. A quorum of the Planning Commission was established. Mayor Preedin called the City Council meeting to order and roll call was taken. A quorum of the City Council was established. Director Woodford stated that it has been our goal in the past to do an ethics training for the committees every year. It has been a while since this has been done, and in 2017 was the year that we did this as a group. We felt it was time and with the new members coming on board that this training would be beneficial. We are going to talk about ethics training as public officials and hear about the rules for the Planning Commission, City Council, and Land Use one-on-one which will be helpful for both bodies. II. ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES A. General Rules, Public Meeting and Records Law and Ethics. Bryant, Lovlien, and Jarvis, P.C. provide legal representation for individuals, businesses, and public sector clients throughout Central and Eastern Oregon. They have legal experience in a broad range of practice areas, including without limitation, municipal law, business and corporate law, real estate law, taxation, and employment law. Attorney Green and Attorney Dale reviewed a PowerPoint presentation that covered the Council and Commission roles, public meetings, public records law, and ethics. 2 3 Exhibit A The 2003 Sisters Charter establishes, among other things, the Council-Manager form of government and the powers and duties of the City Manager. Most Oregon cities with populations over 2,500 have the Council-Manager form of government. Council appoints a professional administrator, the City Manager, to act as Chief Executive Officer of the City. The relationship rests on the balance of the roles. City Manager Functions: Attorney Green stated that the City Manager has the authority to hire/fire, organize, set administrative policy, and implement ordinances, policies, and goals of the City in accordance with Charter Section 24. (Council Rules). The City Manager prepares the budget for the Council’s consideration, recruits, hires, and supervises City staff, serves as the Council’s Chief Adviser, and carries out the Council’s policies. General Role of Council: Attorney Dale stated that Council is the City’s legislative body elected to the council not an independent seat, all powers and authority to set policy rest with the Council, develops the policies that will direct the City’s operations, and the four general forms of decision-making are Ordinance, Resolution, Quasi-Judicial, and Motions and Consensus. Council obligations and responsibilities include focus on the community’s goals, major projects, and such long-term considerations as community growth, land use development, capital improvements plans, capital financing, and strategic planning, maintain and participate in intergovernmental relations, maintain a balanced budget, and serve as the local contract review board. General Role of Planning Commission: Attorney Dale stated that the Planning Commission acts as an advisory board to the City Council on designated planning matters, reviews development proposals, holds public hearings and makes decisions on certain types of land use actions. The Commission advises the Council and staff on the City’s long- range goals and policies on a variety of issues including transportation, land use, and current planning, and a forum for public input and testimony on land use, development, and planning around the City. Communication with Staff: Attorney Dale stated that the Councilors and Planning Commissioners are to follow these steps when communicating with staff: Respect the separation between policy making (Council function) and administration (City Manager function), observe and respect the chain of command, limit individual contacts with staff members, or department directors. Avoid requesting that staff perform significant work without prior approval from the City Manager, avoid influencing personnel matters, purchasing issues, contract awards, and processing of development application, or the granting of City licenses or permits. Liability: The examples of when a Councilor or Planning Commissioner may be personally liable include budget law violations, government ethics violations, actions outside the scope of official duty, unauthorized expenditure of public funds, malfeasance in office (willful and wanton neglect of duty, public contracting violations, and/or public meetings law and public records law violations. Public Meeting Requirements: Attorney Green stated that the Oregon Public Meeting Laws (also referred to as “open government” or “sunshine” laws were enacted in 1973 to ensure that all meetings of governing bodies covered by the law are open to the public. ORS 192.630(2) prohibits a quorum of a governing body from meeting in private for the purpose of deciding on or deliberating toward a decision on any matter except as provided under law. The laws also impose certain notice and accessibility requirements. The laws guarantee the public a 3 4 Exhibit A right to view government meetings but not necessarily to speak at them. Governing bodies establish their own rules for public comment. All communications with respect to City business, and whether it is on the City’s software equipment, or on your personal devices, it is all a public record subject to certain exceptions. Executive Session: Attorney Green stated that the Oregon’s “open meetings” law means that aside from fourteen narrow exceptions, (staff discipline, litigation, purchasing property), the public gets to observe Council in action “taking care of the people’s business”. Governing bodies may exclude the public (but in most circumstances not the press), from the discussion of certain subjects in executive session. Executive session is not an opportunity to protect the public from unpleasantness. Enforcement: Attorney Green stated that the consequences of not complying with Oregon Public Meeting Laws include Legal Action – any person affected by a governing body’s decision may file a lawsuit in circuit court to require compliance with, or prevent violations of, the law. If a plaintiff is successful in proving a violation of the meetings laws, a court may void the decision if the governing body intentionally, or willfully violated public meeting law, and/or award reasonable legal fees to a plaintiff. Attorney Fees – if members of the governing body may be liable for attorney fees and court costs both as individuals, or as members of a group, if found in willful violation of the Oregon Public Meeting Laws. Negative public perception. Public Records Requirements: Attorney Dale stated that a public record is a document that contains information regarding government business, is prepared, owned, used, or retained by government. It can be in any form – electronic or paper (email, photographs, social media posts, metadata, and databases. Examples of eligible requests include email discussion between two councilors, using their personal email accounts, discussing a potential city budget decision, or text messages regarding a proposed new policy exchanged between planning officials on their work cell phones. All requests should be made on the City’s public records request form in accordance with the City’s public records request policy. Oregon law include numerous “exemptions” from disclosure and reviewed exemptions from disclosure and saving a public body from embarrassment was not a valid exemption under the Oregon public records law.