City Council Meeting Notes 08/17/22
I made title cards for the notes! Do you love it? You love it. Colors will be rotated each meeting to add spice. Have I made City Council Meetings cool yet? These title cards are part of a broader effort on my part to DISTRACT MYSELF FROM SCHOOL STARTING AGAIN IN A MONTH OHMYGOD build a cohesive set of assets I can use to make my content appear more professional on a surface level. You'll probably see me use these assets around, like in my drunken shitpost last week advocating for Compass Corner. So professional. Also, I have a Facebook and Instagram now. Yay? Follow me there if you find my stream of consciousness schtick on Twitter insufferable.
We've got a very short agenda tonight. In the Work Session, we'll be seeing more progress on the Unsanctioned Camping Code and an update on two key bike/pedestrian routes in the City. After that? Literally nothing. Well there is public comment, which has a moderate chance of being spicy given the public push-back Council saw during the open house on Tuesday from folks opposing the camping code over equity concerns. Other than that, we've got nada but the consent agenda and second readings.
Work Session
And here we go! Barb, Perkins and Mayor Goodman-Campbell are calling in remote.
Unsanctioned Camping Code
Staff hopes to have the draft code available for comment and revision in September. To recap, the city is drafting a code to regulate where people can and cannot camp on public rights-of-way, and property owned or controlled by the city. The enforcement would comply with federal court rulings, and only be enforceable if there is a shelter bed available for the specific person that is being cited.
Councilor Perkins wants to clarify that a citation is not an arrest. When somebody violates the civil code, it is not a crime. People would not be arrested for violations, they would only be cited or fined. Councilor Mitchell confirms that this means that we are fining people in extreme poverty then? Staff says yes, but this would not be the city's first recourse, and also there would likely be alternative ways to "pay" for the citation, like community service hours. Staff will come back and there will be discussion of enforcement.
Councilor Broadman reemphasizes that the goal is to shepherd people towards services to help them out of houselessness.
A citation would only be issued as a last resort, after refusing to move from the area, or go to the available shelter bed, etc, before issuing a citation. Councilor Kebler doesn't view this code as a tool to help homeless people, this is a tool to set expectations and regulate behavior. Councilor Broadman's expectation is that first contact with people violating code will not be the police, it would be the joint taskforce. Councilor Mitchell has a lot of thoughts about this, but there isn't enough time in this hour presentation for them to really get into it. The next council meeting will have an involved discussion about enforcement.
Tonight we are talking about the "How" / manner people camp. Staff think that the following should be prohibited:
digging / excavation
building of structures (pallets, etc), tents would be allowed
unsanitary stuff and garbage
obstructing fire hydrants and other utility infrastructure
unauthorized tapping into electrical or other utilities
obstructing pedestrian or car access to properties
fires
nothing larger than a 10 or 12 ft square (has to be large enough for people to live / sleep, small enough not to block right of way, built in explicit discretion for families, disabilities, etc.)
Councilor Kebler wants to know about the garbage bags the city distributes to people? If the city asks people to pick up trash and put it in bags, we do not want to penalize that. Staff agrees.
Councilor Mitchell wants to know what capacity the city has for providing trash services. Reach has a contract with the city to provide these services.
Councilor Perkins is concerned about excavation and building structures. Human beings need to be safe and warm, and preventing building structures may prevent people from being safe. The unsanitary stuff, and garbage prohibition sounds like we should have explicit discretionary limitations on them as well (breaking a branch being citable would be dumb). Building structures in the right of way is already illegal. Councilor Broadman says that if there is code restrictions about this already, maybe we don't need it twice. Perkins agrees.
Councilor Kebler says that tapping into electrical or building structures in the right of way isn't allowed for people generally. Saying that these things also apply to people camping would only provide clarity and set expectations. Staff says that these things are also crimes generally, that lead to arrest (eg digging in the right away). Having this also against code would allow a less severe penalty via citation.
Councilor Mitchell thinks that we are coming at this wrong. This is not a framework that is supportive. If you want to elevate people out of poverty, you don't punish them, you support them. We should help people store their stuff. Manager King says that these additional conversations can absolutely be had. Mayor Goodman-Campbell says that these conversations about support need to be done with the County collaborative office. Councilor Campbell says that she's really nervous to intentionally be creating something that we know we are not going to be able to enforce. It will generate an intense pressure to "just enforce the code". She thinks that you can look at this as a way to offer better protection to vulnerable people. It takes away the idea that it needs to be "neat or tidy". That kind of discretion makes her nervous, it is too close to not liking the human than not liking the behavior. Specifying the specific behavior that is not appropriate explicitly, will help people stay in one place if they are in compliance. We need to help people move if we are telling them to move. Councilor Perkins says that we cannot do this alone, this is why we have a collaborative office, but this is a city of Bend camping code. This is not the county's code. We need a parallel process of support for how we are going to address basic needs. Attorney says that the city isn't just applying a camping code, before even talking about this, we added the shelter code. These two things are designed to work together. Neither work on their own. The shelter code was months and months of work, don't devalue that. There is more work that we have to do, including storage. Councilor Broadman says that in the last 18 months this city has pulled the rest of the county into a collaborative discussion about how to address this, it is the only thing that gives him faith that there is a place on the other side of this problem. All of the work the city has been doing is to support the vulnerable members of the community. Councilor Mitchell says that talking about this at all is causing harm. Mayor Goodman-Campbell says that we need to have this conversation carefully, because it is a conversation we have been avoiding.
Councilor Perkins does not know how much space campers actually need. We should ask actual houseless people. Staff says that the right of way is a finite resource. Mayor Goodman-Campbell says that asking people how much space they need is important. This isn't just important for campers sharing the right of way with non-campers, they also need to share the right of way with other campers. 12x12 came from the Santa Cruz code, it is a little larger than the average bedroom.
Councilor Campbell thinks that saying that you need to limit your camp to a specific space makes it so you don't have to restrict how much stuff someone has. She is supportive of 12x12 its just a bit bigger than the standard sun shade. Councilor Perkins is not supportive of a spatial limitation. Mayor Goodman-Campbell says we should have a maximum limit on space, but we should talk to homeless people about it. Councilor Mitchell says no limitation. Councilor Sehgal also says probably no. Councilor Kebler says yes. Councilor Broadman would support a spatial footprint after more research. There is a plurality supporting the spatial component existing.
Councilor Mitchell thinks we need to pivot. Councilor Broadman says that if there are 4 people here that think we should change staff direction, we should talk about that. Councilor Kebler doesn't think we need to pause, we need to keep moving forward. Councilor Perkins thinks we should slow down. Mayor Goodman-Campbell says we need to keep making progress, this does not have a predetermined outcome. After we have a draft code there will be extensive discussion. This isn't the time to pause and assess, that decision can be made after a draft code exists. There is not support for halting the process.
Staff is hearing the code should be clear and narrowly focus on the activities that the city is trying to prevent. Do not overdo it. Staff's goal is to have a draft code available for a round table by the end of September.
Discussion of Car Regulation is going to be moved to the next meeting.
Key Bike and Pedestrian Route Update
PDF depicting planned Key Bicycling and Walking Routes in Bend
Cost breakdown of possible projects improving these routes
Staff are here to update council on the Council Goal to build an intersecting East/West and North/South pedestrian and bike route. This presentation is informational. This presentation is a subset of the Transportation System Plan.
Here are some Definitions
Level of Traffic Stress Scale:
The City wants bicycle connections to be connected, separated (LTS 1 or 2), and continuous. Right now we are working on Connected and Separated. The general plan is to set the route, mark the route, and elevate the service.
The City has 20 million dollars allocated to improving portions of these routes. This is not enough to fund all the projects. The North/South Route that the city is focusing on is Route 1, which runs from 15th and Knott down to Juniper Ridge. This route is almost completely funded.
The Key East/West route is more complicated. There is a lot of momentum on Route 12 (Wilson). They think they can get a functional key route East/west piecing together parts of Route 2, 10, and 12. The name of the game right now is constructing the parts that are funded, and finding funding for the missing bits.
Councilor Campbell wants to know about ODOT's need for a parallel bike route along the parkway. Is our bike network coordinating with that? The city is working very closely with them on the north corridor project, there are active discussions with them about wayfinding.
There is going to be a very involved discussion about this at the Community Building Subcommittee Meeting. Drinking a Rainier that has suddenly appeared in front of me as if by magic. Thank you Editor. You are lovely.
Check out the end of the presentation to see pictures going from the South end of town to the North along Route 1. Councilor Kebler says that getting Route 1 completed should be our #1 priority.
Planned Next Steps
Continue to deliver on existing projects
Develop further concepts to build out Route 1
Develop further concepts to build out and connect Routes 2/10/12
Develop concepts to connect to the hospital and to 27th street
Wayfinding
Climate Friendly and Equitable Community compliance
Community Building Subcommittee Meeting in late August
Councilor Perkins says that alternatives to Route 8 should be considered. Councilor Broadman wants to vote in support of the routes that staff has presented. Staff wants to go through wayfinding in detail at the subcommittee meeting first.
Councilor Mitchell wants to know if the cool interactive map they were using to show the routes is publicly accessible. Staff says not yet. I tried to manually type in the URL and got a login page so I can confirm this. Staff will work on making this public. Please do! Time for a break. Finallyyyyyyyyy. That was two hours straight typing.
Regular Session
Council expresses their condolences to the family of the firefighter Daniel Harro and his brother who died this week with a moment of silence. The regular meeting began with roll call, the Pledge of Allegiance, and Land Acknowledgment.
Public Comment
Sabrina is from the Humane Society here to support the pet store restriction on the sale of animals that will be fully passed tonight.
Mike is here to be incredibly frustrated about the new camping code in his usual shitty way.
Charlie is complaining about a permit thing on his triplex.
Chris wants to address this differently than you usually see. He is against the camping code and it's terrible. The code can be manageable if there are beds and managed camps and a service to help people move. You can't just push people from one side to another. If you don't you're incompetent or you don't care.
Joni has a business in the old mill. She is here to support bike path improvements.
Allison is here to support the pet store ordinance.
Dorinne is speaking to talk about the airport. She doesn't think the zoning change is against state laws. Also the changes does not align with city goals. Neighbors to the airport are not being considered.
Jen is here to support the pet store ordinance.
Kayla is moving over to work with the City of Redmond. The city will miss Kayla.
Consent Agenda
Notable Items on the Consent Agenda:
The City is extending the contract with Mobile Smart City Corporation to have them continue operating the access control system in the Downtown Centennial Garage. This is notable because the City says that the current system is "Efficient and Responsible". As someone who has been stuck waiting in lines to get out of the garage for tens of minutes while someone tries to figure out how to give the garage money, I respectfully disagree. Issue Summary
Consent agenda passed
Second Readings
For all intents and purposes, Second Readings are procedural confirmations of the actions Council took during the previous City Council Meeting.
Amending the franchise between the City of Bend and Avion Water Company to adjust the water service area Issue Summary
Amendment restricting the sale of animals Issue Summary
Second Readings passed
Council Show and Tell and Surprise Motions Sometimes
Councilor Kebler met with her NAs. They are interested in traffic and keeping speeds low. She did the municipal judge interviews, which will come out later. She checked out BMS Technologies which is a city contractor that is developing in Juniper Ridge. She went to the Bend Central District Business Association and talked to them, they are concerned about safety near the bottle drop area. They are starting up group meetups for businesses in that area.
Councilor Perkins has been working with the Mountain View NA to try and figure out how to get more investment and safer roads in that community.
Councilor Barb Campbell went to Bend MPO, they got an update on the bike/ped components of the north corridor project. It's starting to come into shape! It exceeded her low expectations. She's been recovering from COVID.
Councilor Broadman also participated in municipal judge interviews. He went to the funeral procession of the firefighter who passed away. Went to a Downtown Bend Business Association meeting and a lot of other stuff.
Councilor Mitchell met with the Rural Fire Board. All these boards have a steep learning curve. The level of respect and compassion in the room was palpable. The way they talked about how first responder services could fold mental health into emergency services was done in a very trauma informed way. It was quite beautiful and she felt proud. She went to part of the affordable housing meeting because she had a fight with zoom. One of her hopes that they can go to people with lived experience about the camping code.
Councilor Sehgal has nothing to report. Big thanks to first responders for all you do.
Mayor Goodman-Campbell attended the open house Q/A session for the camping code remotely. She thanks the community for showing up to the meeting with your excellent questions and having this conversation.
Councilor Kebler recommends a municipal Judge appointment. They picked Judge Rocco. She's going to be great. Appointment happened.
Manager King Update
Manager King mourns firefighter Daniel Harro. He was present during his ride along a few weeks ago. There is a second open house on August 29th on the Camping Code happening at the municipal court. They will do a better job explaining things there. The Murphy Road project won a National Award of Excellence. Mt Washington work and many of the other street projects are complete. The Bend Airport will be closed for a short time for runway preservation work.
Meeting Adjourned at 8. I think this is a record.
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