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ANNEXATION AND ZONING FLASH: Well, there's a new Planning Commission in town, as well as new faces at City Hall. The old guard that made copies, shrugged their shoulders, and did whatever the developers asked them to do may be quietly changing. A case in point is the recent public hearing before the Planning Commission regarding the rezoning of the property on Brophy, unlawfully obtained from the City by Flywater. For the first time in some time, written testimony from the public unable to attend the hearing was read into the record, intelligent and thoughtful questions were asked by Commissioners, and reasonable and important data was requested to be provided to the Commission prior to their deliberations and vote.
However, there were some unfortunate slip-ups with regard to this hearing as well. First of all and mysteriously, an important legally-required notice to ODOT by the City was never received by ODOT. We at Truth for (A) Change contacted ODOT only days before the hearing and advised them about the hearing. ODOT quickly put together a well-reasoned response to the rezone request, and as a result, the hearing was continued to May 27th to give the applicant a chance to respond to ODOT's concerns and provide a scope of work to the City for the kind of traffic study both ODOT and the City feel is needed. We got the distinct feeling that the Commission wants more verifiable traffic data estimates for the proposed medium density zoning before they deliberate and vote on the merits of the application.
Then, at the hearing itself, we were told that testimony submitted by DLCD regarding the riparian corridor and traffic issues was "lost." What apparently happened was the letter was dropped in the mail the day of the hearing and not received at City Hall until five days later.
During the hearing one of the commissioners asked about the legal issues of the land sale and if they really had the authority to hear the zone change application. The Interim City Administrator voiced the official position of the City, which is that the land sale was legal. As we have demonstrated time and time again, the land sale was not legal. The only thing we haven't done is bring suit to allow the court system to validate that fact. Although we notified the City last year that we were making claim against it for damages and/or remedy for the illegal sale of the property, we have held off on the suit, hoping the City would do the right thing and save the taxpayers the cost of defending the City against a lawsuit. With the official public declaration we heard in the Flywater hearing, it is probably time for us to take the next step.
As for our part, we submitted testimony at the hearing also. In our conversations with ODOT about this zone change, ODOT explained that they are required to use worst case scenarios when they look at these kinds of zoning amendments because once the zoning is fixed in place, there are many different ways the ultimate development of the land can end up. Nothing, in other words, is set in stone except the zoning itself. All the intentions, assurances, etc. in the world, made by the developer, can change and ODOT needs to take that potential into account.
Why we are bringing this up is that the same thing goes on when we analyze a land-use application. When we talk about water, we talk about the tangibles: the water rights that are already in place, the pipes that are in the ground, the permits that are on file, and the water that is actually flowing to customers. When we talk about sewers, we talk about lines currently in the ground, connections currently in use, connections available for new dwellings, and buildable land already within the city limits. When we do this, we get the feeling people think we don't trust owners or builders or bankers, etc. The reality is that circumstances change, and for a governing body to make important land-use decisions based on dreams, schemes or promises from developers, well-meaning or otherwise, is dangerous.
As always, we will continue to bring you updates on this land-use action over the coming months.
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