City Council, September 10th - Plastic Bags

Council meets on Monday, and there's not much of interest here specifically.

Others will have plenty to say about the proposed ban on plastic bags.

So here's an idea for a next step: A phase-out on dirty two-stroke engines in things like leaf blowers, lawn mowers, and toy motorcycles!

via Twitter and the Wall Street Journal

Isn't this a lawn-mower engine bolted onto a bicycle? (May 2017)

There are two Council appointments to the committee for the Comprehensive Plan update. Councilor Lewis is a realtor and even if he has been championing some disagreeable policies of late, it is reasonable to want on the committee a realtor from Council. They will be shaping a new vision for development, after all. His presence alone on a committee projected to meet twice only will not tank the plan, and it could help develop greater assent, even enthusiasm, from a wider range of realtors and developers. We'll see.

The item also has the first public description of the process I have seen:

The Community Development Department is forming a stakeholder advisory committee to provide guidance and advise staff during the Comprehensive Plan update project, called Our Salem, which will help guide future growth and development in the Salem area. The need to develop a “comprehensive, long-term vision for future growth and development” was identified as a priority in the City’s adopted Salem Strategic Plan.

The stakeholder advisory committee will include City Council members, Planning Commission members, Neighborhood Association representatives, elected officials from area jurisdictions and agencies, representatives from the development and business communities, and other stakeholders. It will provide guidance throughout the Our Salem project, which will be completed in phases.

The first phase, Our Salem: Today, encompasses an analysis of the existing conditions of the city and an evaluation of how the Salem area could grow under current policies. It also includes a greenhouse gas inventory that measures the community’s impact on the environment. This first phase is expected to begin this month and take roughly nine months to complete. During that time, the committee is expected to meet two times. All advisory committee meetings will be open and available to the public.

Finally, the City wants to do more for urban forestry and trees.

There's also an information item on approval to convert a house on High Street at the base of Gaiety Hill to a short-term rental. (There might be occasion to revisit this at another time, as it is another point in favor of the thesis that Mission Street is already in transition. Some of the rhetoric against it also expressed the exclusionary sentiment for single-family housing to which we will return, especially as the Comprehensive Plan update cranks up. See here on historic districts and on deed restrictions.)

725 High Street: To be a short-term rental, back in July