Beaverton Office of the Mayor interprets internal planning meetings and public meetings to be equivalent, forcing public to attend meetings to get equal justice.
According to a released PDF from the City of Beaverton, it appears an interpretation has been made by the city that public hearings are to be treated to the equivalent of internal meetings, and that the public meetings will be held according to the pre-COVID-19 schedule. This document appears after I sent an email to the Beaverton City Council (see below). It is not clear if this document from the city was released because of the previous phone meeting with the City Planners or from the email.
If you review the information I received and attributed to Assistant City Attorney Peter Livingston, there is no interpretation under Oregon law but one based on a Washington State website, and a weak argument at that. There is no denying that government can function using virtual meeting methodologies. The private sector has done this for decades. However, the neighbors content that this is not equitable for a public hearing in which ad hoc speakers are given an opportunity to speak and add new information, addressing public employees in a face to face setting that isn't subject to the vagaries of setting up complex video conferences and other methodologies. I have detailed this in the letter to Mayor Doyle and the City Council below.
Talk Back to the City
You too can reach out to Mayor Denny Doyle and the Beaverton City Council using the following email address:
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As the meeting is scheduled for April 8, 2020, and this was only confirmed this week to South Beaverton NAC representatives, any feedback on this is appreciated by your neighbors that, much like Americans, do not want to have to risk their lives to participate equally and equitably
What the Appeal is About
The appeal is a step taken by the South Beaverton NAC as neighbors believe there are significant problems with building nine homes on a small lot, with a street with a complex and potentially dangerous intersection right next to a park playground. See details here.
Email to Beaverton City Council Subject: Please allow delay of April 8, 2020 Appeal
Dear Mayor Doyle and City Council Members:
You are probably aware of the unhappiness of neighbors of the Meadow Waye neighborhood within the South Beaverton NAC in regards to the denial of delay of APP2020-002 Appeal of the Planning Director's Decision to Approve the Southridge Park Subdivision.
Although land use planning is a declared 'essential service', this is still a public hearing, which was incidentally paid for by the South Beaverton NAC. The neighbors do not deny that land use planning is an essential service. However this portion is a public meeting. Although the City Planning Department argues that using email, remote log in and adjusting for social distancing is equivalent, it is not the position of the affected parties that it is equivalent. If that were so, then all appeals could be exclusively held this way.
The city cannot guarantee safety for actual presence at such a meeting, even with accommodations made, which I have been told could handle up to a dozen visitors. We had several times that number show up to an event held at the Beaverton Community Center with the developer, and organized by the NAC. We the affected neighbors do not agree that this is equivalent, and that being forced to choose is inequitable, especially as many that would attend are exactly within the most vulnerable group to COVID-19.
Unfortunately, we were informed only a few days ago that the meeting would proceed, and after there were several delays of communication between the planning office and the NAC.
The land use permanently changes the character of our neighborhood. The neighbors are not denying the right of the developer to build, but that the plans of the developer and the approval by the City Planning Department will have detrimental effect on the area, including the creation of a dangerous intersection.
I urge you to act to move this appeal meeting to after the COVID-19 crisis has passed. Time is very short. However if neighbors do not feel there is an equitable process and it moves forward, it will have an egregious and long lasting result of public opinion.
Thank you for your time and consideration, and best wishes of good health and safety.
Best regards,
Lynn Fredricks