Approved Minutes - 2024-06-18 s�
CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING
MINUTES
June 18, 2024
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1. CALL TO ORDER, CITY COUNCIL
Mayor Buck called the regular City Council meeting to order at 3:01 p.m. on Tuesday, June
18, 2024. The meeting was held both virtually via video conferencing and in-person in the
Council Chamber at City Hall 380 A Avenue.
2. ROLL CALL
Present: Mayor Buck, Councilors Corrigan, Afghan, Wendland, Verdick, Mboup,
Rapf.
Staff Present: Martha Bennett, City Manager; Ellen Osoinach, City Attorney; Kari Linder,
City Recorder; Jessica Numanoglu, Community Development Director;
Morgan Holen, City's Contract Arborist; Bill Youngblood, Senior Code
Enforcement Specialist
Others Present: Ryan Allen, Consultant with Dudek
3. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Mayor Buck led the Council in the Pledge of Allegiance.
4. EXECUTIVE SESSION: The Lake Oswego City Council will meet under authority of
ORS 192.660(2)(d) Conduct deliberations with persons designated to carry on
labor negotiations; and (f) Consider records that are exempt by law from public
inspection.
Ellen Osoinach, City Attorney, read the legal parameters for the Executive Session.
The City Council met in Executive Session from 3:06 p.m. to 4:27 p.m.
5. PRESENTATIONS
5.1 Proclamation — Disability Pride Month.
Mayor Buck proclaimed July Disability Pride Month in Lake Oswego, noting the Library and Parks
Department offered special programming to mark the month. More details and the full text of the
proclamation were available on the City's website. Lauren Bruss, co-chair of All Ability Employee
Resource Group, was recognized for authoring the proclamation as well as her dedication and
hard work for the group.
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June 18, 2024
5.2 Proclamation — National Parks and Recreation Month.
Mayor Buck proclaimed July was Parks and Recreation Month and thanked the members of the
Parks and Recreation Department in Lake Oswego for their work. The full text of the proclamation
was available on the City's website.
5.3 Annual Meals on Wheels Donation.
Judith Hathaway, President, Lake Oswego Meals on Wheels, provided an overview of Meals
on Wheels in Lake Oswego, introduced members of the Meals on Wheels Board, provided an
overview of the program's finances, and presented the City Council with a check for $53,687 to
reimburse the City for its costs in running the program.
6. PUBLIC COMMENT
• Scott Symer, President, Lake Oswego Municipal Employees Association, ASME
Local 1546, stated that the City and Union had been in contract negotiations since
February, struggling to reach an agreement on wages. The Union team had made a
proposal to keep city employee wages in line with inflation. Mr. Symer presented a petition
signed by 144 employees, 90 percent of the Union's bargaining unit, supporting the
Union's wage proposal, and urged the City Council to direct its bargaining team to offer a
wage proposal that would meet its employees' needs.
The Council recessed from 4:44 p.m. to 4:46 p.m.
7. CONSENT AGENDA
7.1 WO 320.4, Public Improvement Contract Award for the Construction of the
Lanewood I Douglas Circle Pathway Project.
7.2 Resolution 24-14, A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Lake Oswego
Adjusting the Compensation for Management and Confidential Positions Not
Represented by a Bargaining Unit.
7.3 Resolution 24-25, A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Lake Oswego
Approving a Tax Exemption for the Mercy Greenbrae Affordable Housing
Development Located at 3190 Furman Drive from the City Tax Levy.
7.4 Resolution 24-27, A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Lake Oswego
Authorizing the City Manager to Sign the Intergovernmental Agreement with the
City of West Linn to Continue to Provide Behavioral Health Specialist Services for
Fiscal Years 2024-2027.
7.5 Resolution 24-31, A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Lake Oswego
Authorizing the Mayor to Execute Amendment No. 2 to the Subrecipient
Agreement 24-006 Between the City and Clackamas County Human Services
Department's Social Services Division for Fiscal Years 2024-2027.
END CONSENT
Councilor Wendland moved to adopt the Consent Agenda. Councilor Mboup seconded
the motion.
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A voice vote was held, and the motion passed, with Mayor Buck and Councilors Corrigan,
Afghan, Wendland, Verdick, Mboup, Rapf voting `aye', (7-0).
8. ITEMS REMOVED FROM CONSENT AGENDA
No items were removed from the Consent Agenda.
9. CONSENT AGENDA— Councilors Only
9.1 Resolution 24-15, A Resolution of the City Councilors of the City of Lake Oswego
Approving Appointments to the 50+ Advisory Board, Budget Committee,
Development Review Commission, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisory Board,
Historic Resources Advisory Board, Library Advisory Board, Parks, Recreation and
Natural Resources Advisory Board, Planning Commission, Sustainability Advisory
Board, and Transportation Advisory Board.
Councilor Verdick moved to adopt Resolution 24-15. Councilor Corrigan seconded the
motion.
A voice vote was held, and the motion passed, with Mayor Buck and Councilors Corrigan,
Afghan, Wendland, Verdick, Mboup, Rapf voting `aye', (6-0-1).
10. PUBLIC HEARING
10.1 Resolution 24-24, A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Lake Oswego
Adopting an Updated Urban and Community Forestry Plan (PP 21-0008).
Ellen Osoinach, City Attorney, reviewed the hearing parameters and asked if any Councilor
wished to declare a financial conflict of interest. None were heard.
Jessica Numanoglu, Community Development Director, provided a brief overview of the
Urban and Community Forestry Plan (CFP) and introduced members of the project team.
Ryan Allen, Dudek, presented the Council report via PowerPoint, providing background on the
CFP, a long-term document guiding how the City would manage trees into the future, the process
used to develop the report, community and stakeholder engagement, main components of the
report, and edits made to incorporate Council feedback and recommendations.
Director Numanoglu, resumed the presentation, summarizing additions made to the document
to address Council questions regarding which action items may require additional funding. A
column was added noting which implementation items may need additional funding, which could
be accomplished with existing Staff and resources, and notes on how Staff came to the
conclusion. The high-level summary was not a thorough budget study but meant as a reference
guide to assist with planning and budgeting.
• The presentation concluded with the benefits of adopting the plan, which complemented
existing planning documents, increased efficiency and effectiveness of the City's tree
management, and included forward-thinking strategies to guide urban forest planning into the
future with actionable implementation items and a monitoring plan to measure future success.
Staff recommended adoption of Resolution 24-24.
Clarifying questions and comments from Councilors were addressed by Staff as noted:
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• There were items in the plan the City was already doing and would continue to do. The
immediate next step would be to update the Tree Code, which Staff would begin working on
next week with the goal of having a consultant on board by the fall. The upcoming budget
cycle was an opportunity for the City to prioritize items and determine what funding was
available to implement other aspects of the plan.
• The items needing to be funded could include outside funding opportunities such as grants.
The City had not identified additional funding in the past budget cycle. There was already a
work plan in place, so there was not much capacity to take on new items, but in the coming
year the Staff would be able to figure out the work plan and available budget and determine
where to work in implementation items in the upcoming budget cycle. For example, the Tree
Inventory was an important item for which the Staff hoped to find grant funding, but dedicated
Staff resources would be needed as well so the Tree Inventory would need to be prioritized in
the Department's work plan during the next Council goal setting.
• The Planning Department updated the State of the Urban Forest Report roughly every five
years and had been able to fund that work through its General Planning Budget, but the priority
of other items would depend on Council priorities happening at the time. The Tree Inventory
was not something the City had done on a consistent basis, and it would require additional
resources, but Staff could look for grant funding or other sources. There was also the
possibility the Tree Inventory could be funded through Planning Department Funds depending
on what the Council's priorities were.
• Clarifying allowable uses for the City's Tree Fund was an action item. It was not clear how the
approximately $300,000 in the Fund could be used. Once allowable uses were established,
priorities could be set for the funds, which had to be used for tree-related activities such as
planting on private property, especially in riparian areas. While the sum was substantial, it
was not clear how much could be expected annually.
Mayor Buck opened the public hearing, confirmed there was no public testimony, and closed the
public hearing.
Mayor Buck commented that there had been a lot of good engagement from the community on
the topic and thanked the Staff and consultants for keeping the Council up to date and allowing
for Council participation in the process. A good Urban and Community Forest plan required a
responsive policy, accurate and thorough data to support the strategy, and strong, active
participation by the community. The Plan had brought all those elements to the table however the
Plan would only be brought to life by prioritization of City resources to accomplish the work and a
commitment on the part of the community.
Councilor Mboup moved to adopt Resolution 24-24. Councilor Corrigan seconded the
motion.
A voice vote was held, and the motion passed, with Mayor Buck and Councilors Corrigan,
Afghan, Wendland, Verdick, Mboup, Rapf voting `aye', (7-0).
11. STUDY SESSION
11.1 Civil Violation Code Enforcement Update.
City Manager Bennett stated she had asked Staff to organize the work session due to public
inquiries about short-term rental (STR) enforcement and the Sign Code. The City's focus was on
code compliance, not enforcement. Staff would address community experiences and equity in
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outcomes. The work session would cover Civil Code enforcement, with a separate session
planned for encroachments. Staff sought Council feedback on Code priorities and potential
changes to the Code for efficiency and community expectation management.
Director Numanoglu, introduced the Department's two Code Enforcement Specialists, noting
two specialists were necessary due to the breadth and depth of codes dealt with. The presentation
would focus on the Community Development Code process, but representatives from other City
departments were present and available to answer Councilor questions regarding Code
enforcement processes in their departments. The presentation would not cover violations
involving encroachments into the public right-of-way or encroachments into park properties,which
were complicated and sensitive issues. Staff would hold a study session on those issues later this
year.
• She presented the Council report via PowerPoint, noting the decentralized approach to civil
violations across multiple departments, with enforcement involving Police, Fire, Parks and
Recreation, Community Development, and Engineering, and featuring inter-departmental
collaboration. The City employed both systematic and complaint-based approaches,
prioritizing voluntary compliance and excellent customer service, while equity considerations
aimed for fair treatment regardless of socio-economic status, race, or background. This dual
approach helped address potential equity issues associated with purely complaint-based
systems.
• A brief analysis of Community Development enforcement cases over two years, while not a
true equity analysis, showed relatively distributed enforcement across neighborhoods, with
colors representing average land values. The Palisades Neighborhood had the highest
number of cases at 19, which was natural since it was the largest neighborhood association.
A slight concentration of cases around City Hall was expected due to increased Staff presence
in the area. The City prioritized voluntary compliance to avoid inequitable outcomes from
punitive actions and fees. Of 235 total violation cases, 73 percent were resolved without fees,
with most charged fees applied to professionals rather than residents.
Bill Youngblood, Senior Code Enforcement Specialist, resumed the presentation, providing
an overview of complaint prioritization, process, investigation timelines, and violation letter
process, Staff duties and time allocation beyond enforcement, and the compliance process
process for different types of violations, including citation issuance and court procedures. The
presentation summarized Code enforcement challenges with impractical standards for STRs,
home occupations, and spreading vegetation. Staff requested Council direction to amend STR
and home occupation standards to be clear and objective and remove the spreading vegetation
standard as a public nuisance.
Director Numanoglu concluded the presentation, reiterating Staff was seeking Council feedback
on the current approach to prioritization and enforcement, ways to improve communication with
the community, and proposed Code amendments for STRs, home occupations, and spreading
vegetation.
Clarifying questions and comments from Councilors were addressed by Staff as noted:
• Staff responded to complaints via phone call or message within a day or two, as well as visit
the site to collect more detail in order to make an informed decision about whether there was
a City Code violation. Typically, three to four complaints came in per day and there were
approximately 50 to 60 confirmed violations on the list at one time.
• The current STR Code allowed homeowners to rent their entire home for up to six months
minus one day per year, but verifying compliance was a challenge for Staff. A homeowner
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could vacate their home for rental up to six months a year. A month-long rental was considered
an STR, and the homeowner could rent the residence to more than one part during that time.
Rental of longer than one month to one party was considered a long-term rental.
• The STR enforcement process was not proactive. The Staff used to periodically check STR
sites but stopped when the STR ordinance was put in place. It was easy to confirm whether a
residence was in compliance in terms of a business license and transient lodging tax, but
difficult to proactively find residences that were not in compliance. Currently, the City used
Property Guard software to track STR listings, however there were limitations in accessing
historical rental data. Because enforcement was a challenge, Staff suggested further research
on various rental platforms and enforcement strategies used in other cities.
• Some STR operators opted not to continue using the residence as an STR and were asked
by the City to sign a statement to that effect.
• Staff would return in a separate session to discuss vegetation in the right-of-way and
encroachment in parks and ask Council about direction for handling things such as bushes
over stop signs and other encroachments into the right-of-way, including those that did not
cause harm. The City employed a complaint-driven system for encroachments.
• The code regulated size, number, and placement of signs, not content. Election signs were
allowed 90 days prior to an election, and because with elections occurred up to four times a
year there were only a few weeks per year where election signs were not permitted. There
was no limit on the number of election signs allowed.
• Under current regulations, advertisement signs less than two square feet on private property
could remain indefinitely. Signs in the public right-of-way could be removed under the Code
Enforcement process.
• Tree permitting was handled through the Acella system, which was used in the same way as
building permits. Citizens could log into Acella to check if someone had a permit, but this was
not common. When tree-related inquiries came in, they were initially handled by the planner
on duty, who would look up the permit status. If a permit was in place and everything appeared
legitimate, the matter would not be escalated to Code Enforcement. However, if no permit
was found, the issue would be passed on to Code Enforcement Staff.
• A-Frame sign enforcement was suspended during the height of the pandemic to help people
locate open businesses. Despite providing a long transition period before restarting
enforcement, there was still some shock in the community when enforcement resumed. The
Police Department assisted Code Enforcement with A-Frame sign enforcement on weekends
which had improved compliance.
• Violations did not frequently go to court. Some individuals wanted to go to court to be heard,
despite the likelihood of being found guilty, but this only happened 5 to 10 times per year. The
current Code Enforcement resources relied heavily on voluntary compliance because regular
issuance of citations and attendance at court hearings would exceed staff capacity.
• The City did undertake compliance education with the Chamber from time to time, but there
was no set plan.
The Council discussed the social model of STRs, the distinction between short-term and long-
term rentals, and the difficulty in enforcing occupancy requirements. Mayor Buck emphasized
the need for fairness, especially considering ADU fees and regulations. The Council requested
research on how other jurisdictions handle similar issues and suggested exploring options
between the current code and an outright ban, as well as balancing STR enforcement with other
code violations. Councilor Afghan noted Lake Oswego attracted visitors and there was not a
surplus of hotel rooms or hotel rooms at various price ranges and STRs allowed visitors to come
to the City.
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Councilors agreed clear and objective standards were needed for STRs and home occupation
and supported Staff's recommendation that spreading vegetation could be removed as a public
nuisance. Mayor Buck commented that the real estate community did not take issue with A-frame
for-sale signage being permitted only on Sundays.
12. INFORMATION FROM COUNCIL
Mayor Buck thanked Councilor Mboup for representing the City at the Juneteenth Celebration.
Councilor Mboup was joined by community member Libra Forde, and the City Staff had done a
great job organizing the well-attended event.
The Mayor attended the Clackamas County Coordinating Committee (C4) retreat over the
weekend where representatives of the County and its cities discussed a unified vision for the
region's priorities in the 2025 State Transportation package. Co-chairs of the Transportation
Committee, Representative Susan McClain and Senator Chris Gorsek, were present to hear
feedback. C4 attendees also discussed a long-term vision for housing, recognizing community
differences within Clackamas, and how housing could be used to support economic development
while meeting County and regional goals for affordable housing and other housing types.
13. REPORTS OF OFFICERS
City Manager Bennett reminded the Council that tomorrow the City would observe Juneteenth
for the first time, so City offices would be closed, as well as the Library. Metro was finalizing its
recommendation for the Supportive Housing tax plan and three recommendations were expected.
First, Metro was expected to recommend expanding uses to include capital construction as well
as services because the Metro Housing Bond was set to expire and there were no other funding
sources for capital construction. Second, Metro was expected to recommend potentially lowering
the tax rate due to higher-than-expected income generation at the current rate. Finally, Metro was
expected to recommend extending the tax beyond 2030, and there were ongoing modifying
income levels for the tax, considering that current high-income thresholds might not be applicable
by the end of 2030. Staff offered to schedule a discussion on July 13 if Council wished to provide
input to Metro Council, noting many Lake Oswego residents paid this tax. The Council agreed a
discussion was necessary.
14. ADJOURNMENT, CITY COUNCIL
Mayor Buck adjourned the City Council meeting at 6:23 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Vaitiqi:14
Kari Lin er, City Recorder
Approved by the City Council on July 30, 2024.
Joseph . Buck, Mayor
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