Minutes of July 7, 2007

OCEANSIDE NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION
(www.oceansidefriends.org )
Regular meeting, July 7, 2007

President Judson Randall called the regular meeting of the Oceanside Neighborhood Association to order at 10:04 a.m. Saturday, July 7, 2007, at the Oceanside Community Center. There were 44 Oceansiders in the audience at 11:30 a.m., and 48 had signed the attendance sheet. A quorum is 42 persons.
The minutes of the June 2 regular meeting were approved without corrections. There was no treasurer’s report; however Jud estimated that there is slightly more that $1,611 in the treasury. New treasurer Mary Flock will contact Chuck Wall for his records and will update the account at the bank.
Land Use Activities Lisa Phipps, coastal planner and liaison with the Department of Community Development (DCD), reported on land use activities affecting Oceanside.

Planner Bill Holmstrom left the department last week. A new assistant planner, Sarah Absher, was hired. Lisa, Sarah, and Brad Sheets, associate planner, are the three planners now on staff.
The Planning Commission considered the Whisper Ridge subdivision at its June 28 meeting. Both the geo hazard report and the tentative plat were approved with some amendments to the conditions. The Planning Commission added a requirement that a 1200-C permit (requiring a plan for erosion and sediment control) be obtained from the Department of Environmental Quality. Site specific geo hazard reports will be required for seven of the lots and for others that have slopes greater than 29 percent.
The county has submitted the record of the Anchor Tavern matter to the petitioners (over a dozen Oceansiders) and the intervenors (Sam Piskorski and Steve Camden) for review. These parties have responded with requests for information that either wasn’t included in the record or that is missing. Lisa mentioned the hearing tapes that were not included in the Table of Contents, while other items were not included in the record. County counsel is reviewing these items now. The record will go to the Land Use Board of Appeals for its consideration of the appeal of the building permit and the minor review as conducted by the county, the respondent in this appeal. Lisa will keep us informed.
Lisa said that while there is not much new activity in terms of geo hazard reports, there is a lot of building going on in The Capes and off Highway 131 near Breezee Way.
Chairs of the Citizen Advisory Committees have met. They are revising Tillamook County’s implementation of Statewide Planning Goal 1, citizen involvement. When drafts are available, they will be provided to ONA.
At the June 14 Planning Commission hearing there was an appeal of the geo hazard report for the lot south of 1285 Pacific Ave. Appellants are neighbors (Steve and Rebecca Camden, Ted and Jan Foster, Susanna Raab and Peter Bauer). There was a request for a continuance; the Planning Commission elected to continue the appeal to the July 12 hearing, which will be at the Courthouse at 7 p.m. The record was left open for seven days for new submittals, then seven more days for rebuttals. The commission will determine if additional public testimony will occur at the July 12 hearing. Issues, including drainage and excavation on the site, have been addressed by adding conditions to the geo hazard report.
Also at the June 14 meeting, the Planning Commission dealt with the Highway 131 refinement plan. Joanne Jene read into the testimony the recommendations letter from ONA Jud compiled after the June ONA meeting.

            After a discussion of the new deck at Steve Camden’s house on Pacific Avenue, which had been started without a permit, Lisa said community members can report to the DCD office construction activity where there is no building permit displayed.
            Ivy Tempe asked about a large pothole on Maxwell Mountain Road that resulted from a construction project on Nor’wester—should the road be restored by the party? Lisa said this is a Public Works question—she believes that at a minimum it should be restored to how it was. She can look into this.
            Lisa referred a question about piles of brush and other debris near the Trillium project to Fire Chief Tim Carpenter. Tim said that a burn permit is required to burn such debris and that he would inspect the material before issuing one for later in the year, if at all. He can’t require them to haul the debris away unless it is a direct hazard.
ONA By-Laws Revisions. Jud explained the by-laws adopted in May of 1995 included items for which a need never arose. The by-laws committee of Jud, Mary Auvil, Nancy Rangila, and Jerzy Rub considered proposed changes mostly via email. Jud then had emailed the proposed revisions to the 200 members on the ONA email list on July 5. Jud pointed out major changes on handout copies and asked members to think about the changes until the August meeting, when we will vote on them. Major changes are: 1) to start the nomination process for officers two months before the annual meeting by appointing a five-member nominations committee; 2) to remove the requirement for an audited annual financial report and do such reports when requested; 3) to change the standing by-laws committee to an “as-needed” committee; 4) to change the word “ballot” to “vote,” which does not imply a secret ballot; 5) to eliminate the $5 registration fee; and 6) to eliminate the requirement for distributing a membership roster.
            On a question from Deb Macartney, Lisa said that from the county’s perspective, the ONA serves primarily as a citizen’s advisory committee for land use planning. As such, we can also address other community issues. Lisa reminded us that land use planning encompasses a broad range of social, economic, and environmental issues. Also, we are indemnified when doing county business under the citizen involvement aspect of land-use planning.
            Richard Powers wondered how those who are members because they own property here, but who cannot attend meetings regularly might be given more opportunities to participate. After some discussion and suggestions, Deb made a motion to form a temporary short-term communications task force to study the issue. Elki seconded the motion and it carried unanimously. Deb, Richard, Ivy and Jud agreed to serve. Jud said he is planning to send a postcard to everyone within the Oceanside community growth boundary requesting their email addresses. Elki suggested asking those who don’t have e-mail to send $5 to cover the cost of mailing minutes to them.
Incorporation Evaluation Committee. Rick Clyne, the chair, could not be present, but Sue Wainwright and Ed Gorzynski distributed an update handout and Steve Macartney gave a report. The committee has been meeting bi-weekly for the past few months and has talked to the mayors of Nehalem (incorporated over 100 years ago) and Damascus (incorporated four years ago).
            Steve said the one service that a city must provide is land use planning. The operating cost of a city will depend on the additional services it provides. Damascus provides comprehensive services including roads, police and parks, but no sewers. Property taxes increased an average of $2,000 with incorporation. Nehalem owns timberland and watershed that provide significant income.
            Damascus relied on professionals within the community who met weekly for two years to complete the incorporation study and implementation processes—we will need similarly dedicated help.
            Joanne Jene recommended that the committee look at the possibility of becoming a village instead of a city. This would be less expensive and might accomplish what is wanted. Lisa said that a hamlet has a “formal” voice in the decision making process, but in the end the county commissioners make the ultimate decision. (Steve provided this link to a village in Clackamas County near Mt. Hood: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clackamas_County,_Oregon. By-laws and other information are on this website: click on “Villages at Mt. Hood.”)[A note of caution: Wikipedia is an “open” emulation of an encyclopedia, and anyone with a web browser can add or delete information from its entries, whether the information is accurate or not. It has monitors who try to validate information, but faulty data can last on the site for up to a couple of months -- Jud.]
            Steve brought up the concern that we are facing a 41 percent increase in property taxes when the $15 million bond passed by the voters to fund the new wastewater treatment plant is spent. He wondered how many would approve having their taxes raised even more. He said that all aspects will be investigated by the incorporation committee and that all work is exploratory at this point. No opinions have been formed, but finances are considered a very important factor.
Community Survey. Next Deb talked briefly about the community survey. Two weeks ago, a mailing was made to about 100 homes that are served by the Netarts Water District and that were inadvertently omitted from the original survey mailing. To date, a total of 60 more surveys have been received since the original deadline, for a total of 360 surveys. Deb hopes to review the rough results at the August ONA meeting; then work can be completed on the subcommittee reports, recommendations for changes to the community plan, and ordinance changes.
Green Crow Update. No additional information has been received by the county from Green Crow Corporation. The county is still waiting for an amended application. It will be October or November before there will be a public hearing. Joanne Jene suggested visiting Siletz Bay where the Mossy Rock Quarry will give an idea of what it is like living near a quarry.
Public Comment: NOSD Ed Gorzynski reiterated the amounts that taxes will be increased to pay for the 30-year Netarts/Oceanside Sanitary District $15 million bond based on property tax assessments. In the Nov. 7, 2006, election, a general obligation bond measure was approved by about 63 percent of the 587 Netarts and Oceanside voters. Since assessed values in Oceanside are higher than in Netarts, Ed predicted that Oceanside will “carry” more than $5 million more than Netarts on this bond issue. Ed said he had urged the NOSD Board to reconsider using user fees as a more equitable means than property tax assessments (the bond issue) to pay for the new plant and other improvements. There was discussion of various aspects of the sewerage district operations, and Ed encouraged everyone to attend the next NOSD Board meeting on July 19.
Study Group. Steve moved “that ONA form a study group to examine the impact to Oceanside of the NOSD costs and issues surrounding the treatment plant and report back to ONA any possible actions by the ONA, and investigate mitigation strategies.” Richard seconded the motion
            In discussion, Richard asked what is the advantage of doing this vs. attending the NOSD meetings and voicing our opinion. Steve said the board has been unresponsive, but there may be other legal remedies that should be explored. After discussion, the motion was approved with one dissenting vote. The time line suggested by Steve for a committee report was 60 to 90 days, or by the October meeting. Volunteers to work on the committee were Ed, Kent Brown, and Sue Wainwright.
Land use information from county. Steve asked about obtaining information about land use issues from the county so that the community can respond. He moved that the ONA send representatives to every Planning Commission meeting. Lisa suggested that this representation might not be effective as these representatives would not be able to speak for the ONA unless it has acted on the application. Tim Carpenter said the Netarts citizen planning committee has a zone review committee that examines every application and refers its recommendations to the full body. The Zone and Plan Review (ZAPR) committee has done this in the past, but is involved now with revising the community plan. Lisa said her office is working on sending application materials by e-mail to the ONA so that Jud can transmit them to the e-mail list. Jud said he would send the postal mail addresses of ZAPR committee members to Lisa so that she can forward materials by postal mail until these mailings are all electronic. Then, the ZAPR committee can examine the issues and report to the ONA. On a question from Elki, she said the Oceanside Community Plan is presented to developers.
            Kathie Kolody pointed out that the partition process was used legally for Whisper Ridge properties without community input.
The next meeting of ONA will be at the Oceanside Community Center at 10 a.m. on August 4. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 11:45 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Mary Auvil
Secretary