A Guide to Citizen Involvement
in Community Planning in Cottage Grove

Hey what are those bulldozers doing? You notice the big machines are moving lots of dirt and wonder what it means. That’s often the first awareness citizens have of an impending development.

That's the question many Friends of Mt. David asked in February 2005 when they heard heavy machinery on Mt. David. It was the first "notification" most of them received about a 250 home development planned for their neighborhood backyard.

As many of us found, the journey to becoming involved, and to having an impact on impending development is anything but a straight path. The learning curve is steep, but a year and a half later, we've learned a lot about the process and how to become involved to influence, change, and improve it. This is roughly how it worked for us:

1. The bulldozers arrive.
2. Neighbors are curious, worried, angry, upset.
3. Neighbors meet and express their concerns.
4. Neighbors call city hall and find out there is a department called Community Development that handles all development and land use-related issues in the city.
5. Neighbors ask what they can do.
6. Neighbors are told to come to a public hearing and provide input.
7. Neighbors learn what a planning commission is, who is on it and when it meets.
8. Neighbors learn what ex-parte contact is and find out it means they cannot speak with planning commission members about their concerns because planning commissioners must remain impartial as they act in a "quasi-judicial" function.
9. Neighbors run to a dictionary to find out what "quasi-judicial" means. They also look up "ex-parte."
10. Neighbors learn what an "application" is, what a "pre-application conference" is, what a "staff report" is, when it's available and how much the planning department charges to photocopy it.
11. Neighbors read the staff report and learn what "conditions of approval" are.
12. Neighbors come to public hearing and say what they think.
13. The planning commission votes approval anyway and neighbors are told there will be more public input at the city council meeting.
14. Neighbors find out that city councilors, even though they are elected officials, are also under ex-parte rules and cannot talk with neighbors about their concerns.
15. Neighbors get a lawyer to help them figure out how to proceed.
16. Neighbors have a garage sale to pay for the lawyer.
17. Neighbors and lawyer come to city council hearing prepared to testify.
18. Developer brings proceedings to a halt by filing a "writ of mandamus" claiming the city failed to act within the 120 day deadline as required by state law.
19. Neighbors learn from lawyer what a "writ of mandamus" is.
20. Case goes to circuit court. Neighbors must file as "interveners" in order to have their concerns considered in the final agreement.
21. The City, the developer and the attorney for the neighbors all meet and hammer out a final agreement.
22. Development proposal is approved. City council approval is not needed because the court gets to decide.
23. Bulldozers return, and development of the land begins.

Keep in mind, the above 23 steps to citizen involvement in this particular development are merely an outline of events. There were many, many twists and turns along the way. There was media interest. We spoke to newspaper reporters, television reporters and on the radio. We wrote letters and op-ed pieces. We handed out flyers. We experienced setbacks and victories along the way.

But in the end the one thing we learned is that victory is not about stopping a development proposal. Landowners have a right to develop their property. Victory is about improving the proposal so it is more compatible with citizen desires than it would have been had we not spoken up, had we not participated in the process.

So what have we learned from this experience?

• Read the public notices. That's where you get the most advanced notice of upcoming public hearings before the planning commission. They're in the classified section of the Cottage Grove Sentinel.
  
  
• Learn the planning commission and city council meeting schedules. The council meets on the 2nd and 4th Monday of each month. The planning commission meets on the 3rd Wednesday of the month
  
  
• Learn when they have their work sessions and attend them. The city council work sessions are at 7:00 a.m. the Friday before their Monday meeting, in City Hall. The planning commission work session is the 2nd Wednesday of the month at 6:30 in City Hall. The public may come to work sessions, but may not speak.
  
  
• Know Chapter 18 of the Cottage Grove Municipal Code. This is the chapter that deals with land use and zoning. http://www.cottagegrove.org/commdev/zoning.html
  
  
• Know your way around the City of Cottage Grove website: http://www.cottagegrove.org
  
  
• Check the Planning Commission and City Council agendas a week before their regular meetings. Don't rely on the Register Guard's descriptions of the agenda – they are often inaccurate!
  
  
• Know that planning department staff reports are available one week before the regular planning commission meetings. Staff reports are detailed accounts of a proposed project and constitute the city's recommendations to the planning commission as to whether or not to approve a project. Sometimes they are posted on the agenda and can be downloaded from the city's website. This is a "must have" item. Get a copy and read it!
  
  
• Read the Friday Update. This is the City of Cottage Grove's electronic newsletter. It contains brief articles about what projects the city and staff are working on.
  
  
• Listen to the Beeper show on KNND 1400 AM. Every 2nd and 4th Monday morning from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. city manager Richard Meyers takes calls and talks about that night's council agenda. On Friday there is Open Forum where you can call in about anything – it's a good place to get your concerns heard.
  
  
• Read the Cottage Grove Sentinel for coverage of council and planning commission actions. Write an op-ed or letters to the editor expressing your concerns.
  
  
• Find out if the land you are concerned about is in the Cottage Grove city limits. If not, it needs to be annexed into the city. Then you'll need to learn about the Boundary Commission, a State appointed board that approves all land annexations in Lane County. http://www.lcog.org/lgs/bound.html
  
  
• Find out if the land is in the Urban Growth Boundary. If it is, annexation is virtually guaranteed, but there still has to be a public hearing.
  
  
• Get a good land use attorney. The developer has an attorney. The city has an attorney. You should have one too. Start here: http://www.goal1.org
  
  
• Learn the steps to the process – here's a basic outline:
  • Developer buys land
  • Developer has "pre-application conference" with planning department staff. Notes to this meeting are public record, but the public may not attend. This is where the developer tells the city what they are planning to do and the city gives them preliminary advice about what they'll need to do to get approval.
  • Developer submits application to planning department. You won't know when this happens, as no notification is required. The only way you'll find out is to ask the city planner. Email: cityplanner@cottagegrove.org
  • Planning department decides if application is complete. If not, the city will send it back to the developer with a request for more information. Once the city has what it needs, the application is deemed complete.
    • This is important because once an application is deemed complete by the city a 120 day timeline begins. Now the application must be approved or denied within 120 days, or the developer may file a writ of mandamus and take the city to court. Then the court will decide the outcome with input from the developer and city attorneys (and your attorney, if you have one and are granted intervener status by the court). For that you have to have "standing" in the case. To have "standing" you must have testified or provided written input into the process.
  • Planning department staff begins to review the application. A public hearing is scheduled before the planning commission.
    • What is the planning commission?
      • The Cottage Grove planning commission consists of seven volunteers appointed by the city council to serve 4-year terms. They come from different backgrounds, but no 2 may come from the same profession. This keeps us from having a planning commission that consists entirely of real estate developers, or builders. They meet twice a month, once in a work session and once in a public meeting to review all land use applications in the City of Cottage Grove. They are the public's representatives in this process, but they cannot discuss land use decisions, because they must remain impartial. But they don't always ask the questions that need to be asked. That's where citizen input comes in. Sometimes we've done more research, or have a unique perspective on a project that had not been considered by the planning commissioners. At best planning commissioners ask tough questions of city staff to make sure that community interests are being served. At worst they become a rubber stamp for recommendations made by the planning department staff.
  • The planning commission holds a public hearing on the application and you're invited! Holding a public hearing fulfills the city's obligation to involve the public. But you'll likely find it is a perplexing experience that puts citizens at a distinct disadvantage. First, the city, which has expertise and intimidating terminology at its fingertips, will present its findings to the planning commissioners. Remember though, they've already read the staff report and met with the city staff to discuss this application at their work session the week before. That's why you'll need to read the staff report too. You'll want to frame your testimony in terms of the staff report and raise questions that aren't obviously answered in the report. You can bring up things that aren't in the staff report too, but be prepared in either case to have your questions answered in an oblique or vague manner, or to have them dismissed as irrelevant. Not to worry! You are building a record, which is critical if and when the application is appealed.
  • The planning commission votes. They either vote to approve, or deny approval, which sends it back to city staff who deals with the developer to address whatever concerns lead to the denial. If the application is approved, it goes to the city council for a hearing.
  • City council hearing is scheduled. Monitor the Cottage Grove website for when the hearing will be held.
  • City council hearing is held, and again, you're invited! You'll be invited to give your comments, but remember, whatever you said to the planning commission is already in the record, and supposedly the councilors have read it. Try not to repeat yourself. It's okay to refer to your testimony before the planning commission, but try not to belabor it. The point here is to make sure the councilors understand what your concerns are and that they are satisfied your concerns have been addressed. In general, the council defers to planning commission decisions, because the council relies on the planning commissioners to have given a detailed review of the application. That's not always the case though and if for any reason the council has questions or is not satisfied with the planning commission decision (they might have been until they heard your testimony!) then they'll send it back for further review. Otherwise they'll likely approve, and the development, which, if it's large enough has to be passed as an ordinance, may begin within 45 days of council approval.
• Appeals. Appeals are the "fear factor" in the whole process because the major players, the city and the developer hate them. They cost money (meaning attorney fees) and time. The state appeals board in Oregon is called the Land Use Board of Appeals, commonly referred to as LUBA. You'll likely need an attorney if you get to this stage, but most of the activity that takes place in the city approval process we've just described is aimed at either avoiding a LUBA case, or having enough of a record to defend one's actions in a LUBA case. This is why building a record is so important. If an issue is raised, but not addressed adequately it can be appealed. But if it's not raised at all, or is raised after approval is given, the case cannot be appealed.

Exhausted? We certainly were – and still are as we continue in our quest to promote citizen involvement in this process. Is it really any wonder that most citizens think they can't have an impact, or that the process is too daunting, so why bother?

That's why one of our goals is to work to reform this process so it's more citizen-friendly. Citizen involvement is Oregon's number one land use planning goal and without it our communities get planned without us. Instead, others will do it for us. We can't have that. That's why Friends of Mt. David came together in the first place. And that's why we remain committed to promoting citizen involvement in community planning in Cottage Grove.

If you have a land use concern, don't hesitate to contact us. We'll do the best we can to help you or direct you to someone who can.