(A) Establishment. There is hereby re-established a City Planning Commission for the city.
(B) Membership.
(1) The Planning Commission shall consist of seven members appointed by the Mayor with the approval of the Council. Members of the Commission may not be officials or employees of the city. Not more than two voting members may be nonresidents of the city who shall reside within the urban growth boundary. The Mayor and City Manager or their designees may sit with the Commission and are entitled to take part in discussions but shall not have the right to vote on issues before the Commission.
(2) Not more than two voting members of the Commission may engage principally in the buying, selling or developing of real estate for profit as individuals, or be members of any partnership, or officers or employees of any company or corporation that engages principally in the buying, selling or developing of real estate for profit. Not more than two voting members shall be engaged in the same kind of occupation (including housewife), business, trade or profession.
(C) Terms of office. Planning Commissioner terms shall commence on the first meeting day of the
calendar year of the first year of each term. The term of office of a Planning Commissioner shall be four years or until the incumbent’s successor is appointed and qualified.
(D) Vacancies and removal. A member may be removed by the City Council after a hearing for misconduct or nonperformance of duty. A member who is absent from three consecutive meetings without an excuse as approved by the Planning Commission is presumed to be in nonperformance of duty, and the City Council shall declare the position vacant unless finding otherwise following a hearing. Any vacancy shall be filled by appointment by the Mayor with the approval of the Council for the unexpired portion of the term.
(E) Compensation. Voting members of the Commission shall receive no compensation other than authorized expenses.
(F) Conflict of interest.
(1) A member of the Planning Commission shall not participate in any Commission proceeding or action in which any of the following has a direct or substantial financial interest: the member or his or her spouse, brother, sister, child, parent, father-in-law, mother-in-law; any business in which he or she is then serving or has served within the previous two years; or any business with which he or she is negotiating for or has an arrangement or understanding concerning prospective partnership or employment.
(2) Any actual or potential interest shall be disclosed at the meeting of the Commission where the action is being taken.
(G) Presiding officers. At its first meeting of each calendar year, the Commission shall elect a President and Vice President to serve one-year terms.
(H) Secretary. The City Manager shall provide a Secretary to the Commission and such other staff and consultation services as may be appropriate. The Secretary shall keep an accurate record of all Commission proceedings. A report of all transactions of the Commission for the preceding calendar year shall be made and filed with the City Council by the Commission by February 1 of each year.
(I) Meetings. A majority of the voting members of the Planning Commission shall constitute a quorum. The Commission shall meet at least once a month unless cancelled by the President. Meetings of the Commission shall be open to the public. Meetings other than at regularly scheduled times may be announced at a prior meeting and thereby be made a part of the meeting records. The President, upon his or her own motion may, or at the request of three members of the Commission shall, by giving notice to members of the Commission and those officials designated to sit with it, call a previously unannounced special meeting of the Commission for a time not earlier than 24 hours after notice is given. Notice of a previously unannounced meeting shall comply with public meetings and public record laws.
(J) Powers and duties. The Commission shall have the powers and duties which are now or may hereafter be assigned to it by charter, ordinance, resolution or order of this city and general laws of this state. The duties of the Commission shall include the following:
(1) Recommend and make suggestions to the Council and to other public authorities concerning:
(a) The laying out, widening, extending and locating of public thoroughfares, parking of vehicles, relief of traffic congestion;
(b) Betterment of housing and sanitation conditions;
(c) Establishment of districts for limiting the use, height, area, bulk and other characteristics of buildings and structures related to land development;
(d) Protection and assurance of access to incident solar radiation (solar energy falling upon a given surface area); and
(e) Protection and assurance of access to wind for potential future electrical generation or mechanical application. For the purpose of this section,
WIND means the natural movement of air at an annual average speed measured at a height of ten meters of at least eight mph.
(2) Recommend to the Council and other public authorities plans for regulating the future growth, development and beautification of the city in respect to its public and private buildings and works, streets, parks, grounds and vacant lots, and plans consistent with future growth and development of the city in order to secure to the city and its inhabitants sanitation, proper service of public utilities, including appropriate public incentives for overall energy conservation and harbor, shipping and transportation facilities;
(3) Recommend to the Council and other public authorities plans for promotion, development and regulation of industrial and economic needs of the community in respect to industrial pursuits;
(4) Advertise the industrial advantages and opportunities of the city and availability of real estate within the city for industrial settlement;
(5) Encourage industrial settlement within the city;
(6) Make economic surveys of present and potential industrial needs of the city;
(7) Study needs of local industries with a view to strengthening and developing them and stabilizing employment conditions;
(8) Do and perform all other acts and things necessary or proper to carry out the provisions of ORS 227.010 through 227.170, 227.175 and 227.180;
(9) Study and propose such measures as are advisable for promotion of the public interest, health, morals, safety, comfort, convenience and welfare of the city and of the area within six miles thereof;
(10) Periodically review the city’s capital improvement program and make recommendations to the city administration;
(11) Investigate and make recommendations regarding the implementation of the comprehensive plan as adopted by the City Council;
(12) Prepare and periodically review land development regulations, including, but not limited to, zoning, subdivision and land partitioning and make recommendations to the City Council;
(13) Review public programs that are referred to it for recommendation, such as property acquisition or disposition, public building or other public facility proposals and transportation or right-of-way plans. Report as to the program’s conformity with the comprehensive plan;
(14) Review subdivision and partitioning proposals and approve those meeting city and state standards with such requirements or conditions as are found appropriate under the regulations;
(15) Review and recommend to Council, land use control ordinance change proposals, contested cases and act on discretionary permits as provided by the land use control ordinances;
(16) Perform such other functions as the City Council may request;
(17) The City Planning Commission shall also have all the powers which are or may hereafter be given to it under the general laws of the state;
(18) All recommendations made to the Council by the Commission shall be in writing; and
(19) The City Planning Commission shall have no authority to make any expenditures on behalf of the city or to obligate the city for the payment of any sums of money except as herein provided, and then only after the City Council shall first have authorized such expenditures for said purpose from time to time by appropriate ordinance or resolution, which ordinance or resolution shall provide the administrative method by which said funds shall be drawn and expended.
(K) Rules of procedure. Except as otherwise established by the City Council, the Planning Commission may adopt rules governing the conduct of its business.
(Ord. 1039, passed 8-16-1982; Ord. 1182, passed 11-6-1995)