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Sherwood staff previews Old Town strategic plan, website relaunch, tree code and ethics follow-up
Summary
City staff and the council liaison updated the Planning Commission on a forthcoming Old Town strategic action plan (consultant First 40 Feet), a near-term website relaunch, staffing and communications changes, tree-code timing, canceled summer meetings, and follow-up on ethics training with the Oregon Department of Ethics.
Council liaison Councilor Giles and planning staff briefed the Sherwood Planning Commission on several administrative and project updates, including an Old Town strategic action plan, a planned website relaunch, and timing for a proposed tree code update.
Giles said a new city website is "very close" to launch: "We are going to have a new website maybe within a month or so. It's it's very close. I know they're doing kind of final, prep on it, and that one will have all of that stuff fixed." He urged commissioners to subscribe to the City YouTube channel in the interim to receive meeting postings.
On Old Town, staff said the consultant First 40 Feet has been conducting outreach to property owners and businesses and that a survey and mailed notice are already in circulation. Staff described a schedule in which the planning commission will hold a work session on the draft strategic action plan, followed by a public hearing likely in late August or early September; council will see an interim presentation as well. "The drive was, council goal that was adopted last year looking at what could the city do to help businesses in Old Town," staff said, characterizing the work as oriented toward business retention, potential redevelopment of city-owned lots including Henry Square, and design and zoning policy recommendations.
Staff also told the commission that the June 10 meeting will be canceled and that "currently, both meetings in July are canceled." The commission was told there are no land-use applications pending and that the near-term workload is largely legislative rather than application-driven. The tree code work (referred to as TreeCo) is expected to begin after the annexation policy process and likely come to the commission in late fall or winter; broader code cleanups may follow next year.
On ethics training and recordkeeping, staff said there is an outstanding email from Sebastian and that Sebastian and counsel are coordinating with the Oregon Department of Ethics (ODEC) to reconcile differences between the training guidance commissioners received and the state's interpretation. "My counsel back to him was to, square that up with the Oregon, department of ethics," staff said.
Staff noted one position of anticipated growth in the city workforce: a public communications director, intended to centralize outreach that had previously been handled across departments. The commission was encouraged to request training or work sessions if new commissioners want orientation before substantive applications return to the agenda.
