A number of the new initiatives added this year relate to sustainability and protecting the natural environment
The Lake Oswego City Council ironed out the projects it wants to prioritize for the next year during a goal setting retreat Saturday, Feb. 12.
The results are yet-to-be finalized. But some of the new initiatives the city agreed to include included: improving the city’s emergency management capabilities, adopting a natural resource plan for city-owned properties, increasing the availability and use of green energy, updating the Urban and Community Forest Plan, beginning a process to address long-term needs of the Lake Oswego Public Library, adopting a new intergovernmental agreement with the Lake Oswego School District for fields and facilities, creating a holistic approach to health and well-being, beginning the process to create a concept plan for the Stafford/McVey area and preparing to update plans for the Foothills District.
Some of the initiatives the city carried over from the previous year included implementing a sustainable business model for the Lake Oswego Fire Department, supporting the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisory Board’s work to remove barriers in town, adopting a funding strategy for pedestrian safety capital projects, guiding the delivery of capital projects like the new Lake Oswego Recreation and Aquatic Center and golf course construction, as well as guiding the action plan for the 2021 Community Dialogue on Policing that may include increased reporting and conversations surrounding policing, among other goals.
Beyond simply voting on goals, the council also had robust discussions on a variety of topics during the meeting.
Council tables revisiting of charter to 2023
The City Council showed relatively low support for convening a community discussion this year on the impacts of a 2021 voter-approved charter amendment that restricted development on many natural areas throughout the community. The council discussed the possibility of tweaking the charter amendment at a January meeting but backtracked after hearing strong pushback from the community. Council President John Wendland said the city should wait a year and have staff see how it goes before pursuing this. Councilor Massene Mboup felt that the city should revisit the charter at some point because its impacts could be significant. Some possible repercussions Parks and Recreation Director Ivan Anderholm mentioned during a previous meeting included the inability for the city to replace telecommunication and utility infrastructure at those natural areas.
Improving community messaging
The council also discussed the idea of improving communications with the community regarding controversial projects.
City Manager Martha Bennett said the city does a great job of routine communications, but sometimes struggles when it comes to issues that elicit a strong emotional reaction — such as the controversy over a proposed communications tower at Cooks Butte Park. Councilor Aaron Rapf suggested that the city hire a consultant to help out with messaging efforts.
“We have a (PR) team, but sometimes the issues we’re dealing with may need more hands on deck,” he said.
Wendland felt that this didn’t need to be a council goal but was something that Bennett and city staff should work on independently.
Sustainability
The council hopes a goal focused on green energy will make it easier for individuals to adopt more sustainable practices. This could include assisting with the use of wind and solar power as a resource and making electrical vehicle charging access more accessible.
“We do hear a lot in town from people who live in multifamily (housing), there’s a lack around sustainability in general — no ability to compost, no ability around EVs,” Mayor Joe Buck said.
Emergency preparedness
The city staff relayed to the council that the municipal government can respond aptly to standard emergencies, but that recent events like the 2021 ice storm and 2020 wildfires underscored a need for more centralized coordination. A staff member said that, in particular, the city needs one person who is in charge of emergency response across all departments. Councilor Rachel Verdick hoped the community would also be involved in this process.
“I think that needs to be a community discussion. This is going to happen more and more and more, so we can’t just ignore it,” she said.
Reviewing all city departments?
Wendland suggested the City Council conduct a review of all city departments — one per year. The city has already reviewed the police department and is going to conduct a review of the fire department. His reasoning behind this idea sparked in part from conversations with community members who had discussed with him some of the encumbering elements of the code and procedures.
“I’ve heard tons of comments about that and it’s nice to go through a review of each department every once in a while to say ‘How can we be better and improve our processes?'” Wendland said.
Councilor Jackie Manz expressed some reservations about such a process,saying that to some degree you have to have trust in city employees.
Councilor Aaron Rapf liked the idea — in part because he felt it would give councilors greater knowledge on how the city operates so they can better explain it to the community. The city may begin this effort in the fall.
“I do think having some kind of community dialogue and a demonstration of the council’s engagement at the policy level is good for the city,” Bennett said.
Revisiting demolitions?
Verdick, for her part, proposed the idea of reassessing demolitions in town. She noted that excessive demolitions introduce carbon dioxide into the environment and felt the preservation of existing buildings was important toward the goal of improving sustainability.
“The more we can do to help preserve our existing built infrastructure, the better we’re going to be for our environment,” Verdick said.
Verdick mentioned that, under current city code, you can tear down much of a house without it being considered a demolition. The city already implemented a demolition tax in recent years, but staff said that has not deterred such redevelopments.
The city is planning a meeting to address the definition of a demolition and land use policies surrounding the practice for March. And the council may revisit the demolition tax after that meeting, but that decision has yet to be made.
Developing plan for urban forest
During a discussion about the city’s goal regarding the urban forest — where the council will create a plan based on data and studies the city has already conducted — Rapf expressed some reservations based on comments that community members had made that he said were anti-development. Though he said he valued the protection of the environment, he didn’t want the city to inhibit private property rights for the sake of protecting the natural environment.
“There’s a balance to be made but what I’m unwilling to do is tell people more and more what they are allowed to do with their personal property,” he said.
Mboup felt that creating the plan was not about being against development.
“What makes Lake Oswego a great place to live is the urban forest. How can we manage that, protect that? That’s the reason we’re working on this,” he said.
Buck said the City Council received extensive community feedback on this issue and he supported its inclusion as a goal.
The council’s 2022 goals will be finalized at a later date.
You count on us to stay informed and we depend on you to fund our efforts. Quality local journalism takes time and money. Please support us to protect the future of community journalism.
from WordPress https://ift.tt/UTn2fF0
via IFTTT
No comments:
Post a Comment