Next Up at City Council, 12/12 – 12/13, 2007

The most important items I see on the coming week’s Portland City Council Agenda are on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, both Time Certain.

On Wednesday:

1483 TIME CERTAIN: 2:00 PM – Accept the report on Parks System Development Charge Update

Commissioner Dan Saltzman deserves huge credit for his leadership on this issue. The report covers Systems Development Charges for parks – fees assessed on new residential development to help pay for new parks required to provide the increased capacity needed by new residents. See previous post here from June. Commissioner Saltzman is proposing to assess fees on non-residential development, and to increase the assessment for new homes to 75% of the cost of providing service to them. “Evaluation of the current Park SDC rates revealed that since its implementation in July 2005 the current recovery rate had eroded from a projected 37% to 20% in central city and to 26% in the non-central city.” In other words, new development is currently paying only 20 – 26% of the burden of service needs it’s creating.

Key recommendations in the report – which is attached to the Agenda item, yay!:

* Within the Central City Park SDC Boundary, the Task Force recommends that the methodology allocate 50% of urban park acreage to local access parks and 50% of the acreage to citywide access.

* The recommended allocation is for local SDCs to pay 10% of the costs for Washington Park, while citywide assessments put in 90%; for the South Waterfront park, the recommended split is 50:50.

* The Task Force was unable to reach consensus on a recommended level of assessment.

The Task Force considered increasing the fee in a range of proposals from 33% to 100% cost recovery. Commissioner Saltzman earns kudos for proposing 75% – assuming this is still his position at the hearing on Wednesday. He heard significant opposition from development interests, and put the needs of the city and citizens first in going for a relatively high number to charge for the Parks SDC. It’s still less than some neighboring jurisdictions, but I’m pleased to see greater parity in making new development pay its way. An exemption for affordable housing remains, so although the higher fees will indeed increase housing costs, there is some capacity for adjustment to meet other values and needs.

I don’t see that 75% number in the report. Nor do I see reference to charging SDCs on commercial development, which I believe is part of the package. Although it’s nice to have the link on line, it would be even more helpful if the proposal was clearly laid out with specifics.

I’ve seen emails complaining about lack of public outreach and involvement in this process. In my opinion, this issue has had one of the most extensive and diligent community input efforts in recent Portland Parks & Recreation history. The report notes:

“The Park System Development Charges Methodology Update Report was published for public comment on October 12, 2007 and posted on Park’s website. Since late September Parks has met with over 40 different organizations, individuals, interest groups and neighborhood associations; held five community open houses, sent out hundreds of emails, issued two public notices, five press releases, and provided ONI notification.”

That’s in addition to including citizen representatives on the Task Force guiding the report, with delegates from the Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Portland, League of Women Voters, Coalition for a Livable Future, Portland Development Commission, Portland Business Alliance, BOMA Portland, Commercial Real Estate Economic Coalition, Portland Parks Board, Urban Greenspace Institute, Port of Portland, and Columbia Corridor Association. There will always be some folks who were working on other issues (such as life, as well as different advocacy interests) and missed even the most extensive public outreach process. I’ve been critical of other community involvement token-efforts, including some by Portland Parks and Recreation, but on this one I started deleting emails and tossing paper mail on the subject weeks ago, I’ve seen so much.

OK, enough on that. Wednesday afternoon is the time to show up and advocate, if you care either way.

Thursday afternoon features the Spirit of Portland Awards.

THURSDAY, 2:00 PM, DECEMBER 13, 2007

1485 TIME CERTAIN: 2:00 PM – Honor recipients of the 2007 Spirit of Portland Awards (Presentation introduced by Mayor Potter)

The list of recipients is also linked, but doesn’t tell the full stories of the amazing things the winners have achieved.

I wrote in September about the thrill of seeing City Hall filled with people of diverse backgrounds and interests, at the hearing accepting VisionPDX. The Spirit of Portland awards always pack the halls. They are the one time each year when citizens passionate about helping others in Portland are recognized. It’s unfortunate the Council always schedules the award ceremony for Thursday afternoon, when most folks have to take time off work and pull their kids out of school to attend. Would it hurt to put this particular agenda item on a Wednesday evening, like VisionPDX, City Council? Didn’t you learn from that process that the timing of city events is a barrier to participation?

The Council should even consider holding the ceremony in a larger facility, as every year it’s standing room only. Get there very early, if you want a seat. And try to catch it on cable, if you can’t attend personally. The Spirit of Portland awards ceremony always makes me happy we chose to be Portlanders.