This story has been updated from its original version.
Questions about how to build community trust, when to address the oft-maligned tree code and the future of economic development in the city, among many others, came to the fore during the Lake Oswego City Council’s goal setting session Saturday, Jan. 21.
In that time, the City Council tentatively agreed on a list of priorities that will dictate the city’s work plan for 2023. Though the city will not finalize goals and initiatives until a February meeting, some of the proposed initiatives include: developing relationships with culturally-specific community-based organizations and inclusive-engagement practices, implementing climate action policies into city projects, investing in a wastewater treatment plant, updating the Urban Forest Plan, participating actively in regional planning, completing the Lake Oswego Recreation and Aquatic Center, developing a funding strategy for Rassekh Park, continuing to build sidewalks and pathways, ensuring the North Anchor development stays on track, continuing housing initiatives, assessing urban renewal possibilities and reviewing city financing, among others.
Perceptions of community distrust
Despite high marks given to the city on recent community surveys, Lake Oswego City Councilor Aaron Rapf said he has perceived an increasing lack of trust in the local government from the community and said engagement the city receives is regularly unhealthy.
“While we’ve done a lot of projects that are good for the city, I don’t think any of it matters if the people who elect us don’t trust us,” he said.
Rapf felt that an overriding goal should be to rebuild community trust. Fellow Councilor Massene Mboup disagreed that this was an issue, stating that it was healthy for the community to approach the council and express feelings on topics like where pickleball courts should be located and whether or not trees should be cut down.
“I’m very happy to live in a community where people come and give us a hard time,” Mboup said.
Rapf felt that the city needed to improve its communication. Mayor Joe Buck and others commented that it is difficult to combat misinformation perpetuated online, while City Manager Martha Bennett said she noticed that feedback from the community had taken a more negative turn during the pandemic.
The city is unlikely to add a goal regarding community trust into its list of initiatives, but Bennett said city staff will continue to hone communication.
Tree code
Altering the tree code was a hot topic during the Lake Oswego City Council race last November. While the city’s tree canopy remains relatively strong, many in the community feel that the development code takes priority over the tree code and that developers can cut down more trees than they should be able to. Mboup is especially strong-minded on this point, and reiterated his belief that the killing of a tree is akin to killing a person.
At the same time, the council and Community Development Director Scot Siegel noted a major challenge with updating the tree code to the community’s liking: recent state laws designed to encourage housing production and ensure that housing isn’t limited arbitrarily.
“We can’t weaponize our tree code in a way that is anti-housing,” Buck said.
While acknowledging that the code should be reexamined, the council agreed to complete an update of the Urban Forest Report first and thus did not include updating the tree code as an initiative for 2023.
The council also debated at length whether to add a goal to hire a hearings officer to oversee community appeals of tree removal permits. The council at times has to vote on whether to reject or accept tree removal appeals and Rapf felt this process was not an efficient use of council time.
“I think we need to build a different type of work capacity for City Council. Unfortunately we have other work that’s a higher priority to do sometimes. Our time is not infinite,” he said.
Mboup felt that handing off tree permit votes to a hearings officer was disrespectful to the community, while Councilor Trudy Corrigan said that it could lead to the perception that the council is shirking responsibility on the issue. Buck felt that there weren’t enough appeals being filed to warrant bringing on a hearings officer.
In the end, the council chose not to pursue the hearings officer idea as a goal.
Other issues
Though the council is unlikely to add the issue of homeless support as a priority, Bennett noted that the city will need to work to comply with state law surrounding public camping. The law says that a city must allow such camping if there aren’t available shelters nearby. Buck said that while homelessness is not usually visible, it’s an issue in the community.
The city also did not seem inclined to add the lowering of speed limits in residential areas as an initiative, although the council received many comments on speeding in preparation for the meeting. City Engineer Erica Rooney said that increased enforcement often has a greater effect at changing behavior than reducing speed limits.
City staff also brought up establishing a visioning process for a new Lake Oswego Public Library facility as a possible goal, and the draft list of goals and initiatives states that the city will "lead the community vision process for the Lake Oswego Public Library" and "implement a strategic plan based on the recommendations of the visioning process."
Rapf felt that building a new library was not something the city should be investing in right now considering other projects that have yet to be completed.
Regarding the recreation and aquatic center, Bennett noted that the city will need to establish a strategy for fully funding it this year. The city also needs to make investments in ADA infrastructure to comply with federal regulations.
Overall, Bennett noted that costs are rising faster than revenues.
“Folks think we are a really wealthy community and can solve every problem, but we have hundreds of millions of dollars of projects that are unfunded,” she said.
On a related note, urban renewal will likely be a discussion point for the council this year. The council is poised to examine whether to continue districts in Lake Grove and downtown, start new districts (such as in Foothills) or let districts expire and no longer use the redevelopment mechanism. Urban renewal takes the taxes associated with increases in property values and uses it for public infrastructure projects.
“I do think it’s important to do urban renewal this year. The time is right,” Buck said.
A couple other work plan items the council endorsed included educational efforts to improve e-bike safety and improving the working relationship with the Lake Oswego School District. New Councilor Ali Afghan did not attend the session.