Meetin Minutes from March 8, 2011

RNA Minutes
March 8, 2011
48 Present

7:05 President Thomas Boes called meeting to order
Secretary Nema was not present. The previous months minutes were not available.
Treasurer Robert was not present. Treasure report was not available (should be the same as the previous month).
Announcements: The 1st week of April will be the city’s “free curbside pick-up” day, on your regular trash pick-up day.
The FORS will be having another garage sale fundraiser, so if you have “good” things to donate bring them to the station
instead of putting them out on the curb. All items not sold at the sale will be donated to Goodwill.
Cedaroak Park Primary will be having its annual Talent Show at the school on Thursday March 17th at 6:00 p.m.
Also on Thursday there will be a Rainwater Conservation presentation at the West Linn Library at 6:30 p.m.
Guest Presentations: West Linn City Park's director Ken Worcester presented the Transportation Assistance Plan which
is available for viewing at westlinntrailsplan.org. Also the Robinwood Park pedestrian bridge is too costly for now, but a
smaller version is going to be taken on as an Eagle Scout project, by the local group.
Lake Oswego Fresh Water Treatment Plant Representative Carrie Duncan and Plant Manager Libby Bard presented the
newly revised Good Neighbor Plan. They also left free postage comment cards so everyone can comment on it.
Updates: Les Schwab pulled out, likely due to the city’s high system development costs for the property.
City Review: Utility Board will be a priority at their next several meetings.
Committee Reports:
Planning: Infill development task force is writing new code for the North end of the city (Upper Midhill) so that lots less
than 3 acres are not part of the PUD process.
Station: Still awaiting “Fire Hydrant Flow Test” before final inspection can occur. FORS is putting out a call for anyone
who would like to donate native plants (ferns, rhodies), materials (ground cloth, wood/bark chips), and volunteers for
the station landscaping projects. The new projector/movie screen has been installed. The fluorescent lights in the front
meeting room are having the old toxic ballasts replaced with new ones. Thomas clarified that in the new L.O. Good
Neighbor Plan, they would only be fixing the street entrances to the parking lot, not the building.
River: Army Corps of Engineers will be requesting private property owners for permission to clean along river banks.
Riverwatch.org is the organization who is questioning the validity of L.O. drawing more water off the Clackamas River.
Parks: Boundary stakes for marking park perimeters have been used up, but more are on order. Markers for streams
also needed but missed Metro grant deadline. Algae covered sidewalks in Midhill Park brought to attention of Ken and
will be investigated and remedied. The question of the new blue marker lines in Midhill Park will be sent to Ken also.
Streets: More complaints were made that the side streets are in need of repairs and means to slow traffic through them.
Old Business: Equipment expenditures for the Robinwood Station. Kevin made motion to purchase 8 Samsonite Banquet
tables at $140 each. Michael seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. Mary made a motion to purchase new
blank vinyl signs at $1 each for a total of no more than $40 to replace the old signs. Mary Grace seconded it. The motion
also passed unanimously.
New Business: V.P. Tony requested the RNA purchase a projector for the station if one cannot be found to be donated.
Chuck Landscroner made a motion “that the RNA oppose the expansion of the water treatment plant if the required
number of waivers are not obtained.” A request was made that a special discussion meeting could be held in 3 weeks
on Tuesday evening, before the next regular RNA meeting, so that the discussion on this topic would not overwhelm yet
another of the regular RNA meetings. It was agreed that an informal discussion meeting would be held, and requests for
all the parties involved would be invited.
Meeting adjourned at 10:35

Where Do I Stand....

... on The Lake Oswego-Tigard Water Partnership?

That is roughly the first question I get these days from reporters inquiring about planned expansion at Lake Oswego's, West Linn fresh water treatment facility and the growing vocal objections by the Maplegrove Home Owners' Association. 

I just got off of the phone with yet another media interview regarding the Lake Oswego Water Partnership's proposed plant expansion and the Maplegrove Homeowners' Association's objections.   To date, and quite unvoluntarily, I have been included regularly as a contributor on this issue, and thought it about time I make my position clear to everyone in this Neighborhood. So here it is...

First of all let me say that I understand the concerns of affected homeowners along Kenthorpe Way and Mapleton Drive.  I can both sympathized and empathize with them for reasons that will be made apparent.  That being said,  I do not share the same suspicions as to the nature of the players involved; be they me, the Robinwood Neighborhood Association, our City officials or Lake Oswego and Tigard.  Passions can feed frustration and frustration fuels anger to the poiint that regretful things are said and inferred and discourse becomes impossible.  I'd hope we can all try to keep our discussion civil and productive and would urge everyone involved to try curb their more negative emotions, as they have no place in this discussion.  As Neighborhood Association President, I have tried to remain objective and detached in order to help facilitate a meaningful discussion of the issue as it exists.  This is how I see it.

We (Robinwood Neighborhood) are extremely early into this process as far as planning is concerned.  No permits have as yet been filed.  There has been time for us to form good relationships.  And there is still time to take necessary opposing action before any permit process even begins.  The fact is, the Lake Oswego-Tigard Water Partnership (L.O.T) could have started this whole process without discussing it with anyone in our Neighborhood.  Our only recourse would have been through the planning process which would have given us one public presentation to the Neighborhood Association, per Chapter 99 of the COWL CDC, and at most 30 days to comment. Beyond that and vocal poitical pressure, we have no power as an NA to stop this. As a Homeowner's Association in defense of its Codes, Covenants and Restrictions, the Maplegrove Homeowner's Association has more power than does the Robinwood Neighborhood Association.  That is, afterall, why the HOA's are organized in the first place to protect and enforce their own CC&R's.  The rest of the Neighborhood residents do not share that luxury and even the City has limited authority in a CC&R dispute.

The Lake Oswego-Tigard Water Partnership (L.O.T.)  came to the Robinwood Neigborhood, through its Neighborhood Association , around 8 months ago and asked for our input regarding their plans to renovate and expand production at their 40 year old water treatment plan, located along Kenthorpe Way, between Mapleton Drive.  We have been talking with them since... Appropriately, I might add, through the public forum of regular Neighborhood Association meetings and various 'Good Neighbor' workshops.  The determination of this Neighborhood Association based upon the attitudes and opinions of the residents, business and property owners who participate and volunteer their time regularly and take an active role in the daily health of this Community, was that sensible two-way communication between the parties in question was the proper way to proceed.  In good faith, we have been doing just that in a very open and public manner.  

At present The Draft Good Neighbor Plan (GNP) has been submitted to the public for comment.  I will make that document available to everyone who wants to see it and will publicize links to it as soon as it has been posted for review.   Comments can be delivered through me directly to LOT.  The GNP is to be discussed at length in the regular April meeting of the Robinwood Neighborhood Association.  The final Plan will be formulated and publicized shortly thereafter by LOT and will ostensibly serve as a model agreement between LOT and the Neighborhood for how to proceed with this project into the actual design phase.

That is the committment we accepted this past Summer on behalf of the Neighborhood.  As President of your Neighborhood Association, I will continue to honor that committment in the best interests of this Community until forced to do otherwise, because I believe it could be deleterious for everyone involved to do otherwise. 

Why do I say such a seemingly hyperbolic thing?  And what would I know about it, given that, " its not in my backyard?"  ... Right?!

Here's my perspective...  Around 2006, The City of Portland dug up every street in my Neighborhood (Woodstock-Arletta) for over 12 months.  It was dirty, noisy, ugly,  inconvenient.  I had 3 flat tires in two weeks from construction debris.  Afterward they patched the road badly, the crews left and the City sent me and some 130 of my Neighbors a bill for $10,000.  At that time, it was an older established neighborhood including homeowners on fixed incomes, many of whom subsequently had to sell their homes to pay for their sudden public obligations. We were never asked to partcipate in a discussion about the City's public works plans.  We were never given an option.  The Oregonian didn't cover our story.  And the Mayor was busy in the bathroom.

That is not what is happening to anyone here in Robinwood.  But, it could be to an extent.  I've kept that experience in mind throughout this process and even mentioned it to the NA a time or two. In my opinion, Lake Oswego is handling this matter with far more deference and respect than Portland ever showed for its own residents. They are asking us how best to proceed with their own project and they are listening... again,  in my opinion.  But if we, by the imprudent action of a vocal minority of persons in the Neighborhood, force LOT into a position from which it is necessary to take costly legal action to proceed with improvements to their public works facility, not only will they stop cooperating with this Neighborhood, any money they spend on legal action will come from their project's limited budget.  And although, affected homeowners will never get billled for a dime on LOT's project, I submit the loss in property value could be very real and quite excessive in the shadow of a poor plant remodel crammed badly onto a restricted site.  In that scenario, not only do adjacent property owners lose, but so does the rest of the Neighborhood and this City.

Again, that is my opinion on this matter as your Robinwood Neighborhood President. And that is, afterall, the only opinion relevant from me in this matter.  Your opinions are more important.  An emergency meeting has been tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, March 29th, 7:00pm at the Robinwood Station Community Center, 3706 Cedaroak Drive to discuss this issue.  I urge everyone to attend and join that discussion.

The regular monthly meeting of the Robinwood Neighborhood Association is to be help on Tuesday, April 12th, 7:00pm at the Robinwood Station Community Center, 3706 Cedaroak Drive.  A Motion will be voted on at that time by all qualified attendees that will establish the Neighborhood's  conditional opposition to the Lake Oswego-Tigard Water Partnership's proposed renovation of its Kenthorpe fresh water treatment facility.  Again, I urge everyone to attend and make your voice on this issue heard.

Thank you for your interest.  Your comments are of course, welcome... as long as they are civil.
 

Thomas Boes, President
Robinwood Neighborhood Association