Power Grab?

CITY COMMISSIONER Randy Leonard has courted public attention
recently with high-profile deals like Major League Soccer, a 12-lane
bridge across the Columbia River, and even possible condemnation of the
Made in Oregon sign. But many behind the scenes say he’s been quietly
working to take control of the city’s permitting process—a
potential power grab that could have far-reaching consequences for
Portland.

Right now any developer looking to build a project—a new
supermarket, condo tower, or even a soccer stadium—must submit
permit applications to the Bureau of Development Services (BDS), which
Leonard oversees. But BDS doesn’t have complete control of the
permitting process: It forwards all applications to the Bureau of
Environmental Services, the Bureau of Transportation, the city’s parks
and water bureaus, and its fire and emergency services. Permit staff in
each of those bureaus check the applications separately to ensure they
comply with city code.

The purpose is to create adequate checks and balances so that no
city commissioner can force through a development project against the
better interests of Portlanders.

The problem? The existing process can cause delays in permits being
issued, and city council has made numerous attempts to speed it up over
the years. Back in January, Mayor Sam Adams asked Leonard to come up
with a method of consolidating the permitting staff from other bureaus
into BDS as part of his “100-day plan.”

Adams and Leonard even established a 17-person oversight committee
of environmentalists, attorneys, developers, and green space and land
use experts, to ensure that the process incorporated their
concerns.

However, according to sources, this plan wasn’t exactly Adams’ idea.
They say that Leonard has been pushing the consolidation idea since
former Mayor Tom Potter’s administration, and that Adams was the first
to lend a welcoming ear.

This week, council is scheduled to discuss the planned
consolidation, which could involve the transfer of up to 45 permitting
staff from other bureaus over to Leonard’s Bureau of Development
Services.

However, several people familiar with the process, but who do not
wish to be named, have said that Commissioner Leonard is simply staging
a “power grab.” If his changes go through, they’re worried he’ll wield
far too much control over the city’s future. Others say they’re nervous
that the consolidation hasn’t been properly thought through.

“I guess I’m nervous about putting that much power over what happens
to the city in any one elected official’s hand,” says Bonny McKnight,
coordinator of Portland’s citywide land use group, who sat on the
oversight committee. “I don’t know what the motivation for this is, but
I know that whatever the motivation is, it’s wrong— because the
problem hasn’t been identified, and the solution hasn’t been through
any kind of reasonable public process.”

Bob Salinger, director of the urban conservation program at
Portland’s Audubon Society, also sat on the oversight committee. He
suggests its role wasn’t so much to oversee or guide the consolidation
as to rubber stamp it, politically.

“I think [Adams and Leonard] had decided they wanted this to happen,
and they wanted it to happen fast,” says Salinger.

Salinger adds that when the committee began suggesting that
consolidation of permitting staff might not be the best idea, Leonard
and Adams came to the group’s third meeting and “made it explicitly
clear that there was only one option on the table and it was full
consolidation.”

“It’s a disappointment,” says Salinger, “because we really didn’t
have a chance to frame the problem or the solutions very well.”

City Commissioners Amanda Fritz and Dan Saltzman are now fighting
Leonard’s hasty approach. Fritz says council adopted recommendations in
2004 to improve the permitting process, but these have “not been tried
yet.” She adds that the idea of full consolidation under BDS “doesn’t
respect the commission form of government, and the fact that we have
multiple values we have to respect during the permitting process.”

Late last week, Saltzman proposed an alternative resolution to
Leonard’s consolidation idea, which would move just 12 staff to BDS,
instead of up to 45. They would also have to report back to council in
six months.

Council is scheduled to discuss Saltzman’s idea on Wednesday, April
8, the day before Leonard’s plan is up for discussion. If Saltzman’s
resolution passes, however, it would supersede Leonard’s, although both
hearings may be delayed by a last-minute effort launched Tuesday, April
7, by the City of Portland Professional Employees Association to get an
evening hearing so that affected employees can weigh in on both
proposals, simultaneously.

Saltzman’s resolution even implicitly refers to Leonard’s idea as an
“immediate and aggressive action that has not been fully considered by
affected stakeholders,” and “has not been preceded by meaningful and
measured actions.”

“I think Dan’s proposal is a measured response to the problem and
allows measured steps to be taken,” says Dean Marriott, director of the
Bureau of Environmental Services. “We can see whether or not we’ve
solved the problem without necessarily breaking the system.”

Saltzman declined to comment personally. Meanwhile, Leonard
categorically denies any suggestion that he may be staging a power
grab, and Adams is leaping to his defense.

“This is not unlike the billboard debate,” says Leonard, referring
to his recent effort to condemn the Made in Oregon sign in Old Town
[“Made in Ornery-gon,” News, April 2]. “When people find themselves on
the losing end of a discussion, I’ve learned that I get subjected to
name-calling.”

Leonard says BDS staff would blow the whistle if he tried to force a
project through permitting under a consolidated process. He says he was
satisfied with the way BDS was “setting an example” for other bureaus
before Adams became mayor, but that Adams came up with the idea to
consolidate the bureaus.

Leonard says that every other city in Oregon has consolidated
permitting, and that he and Adams consciously picked concerned people
to sit on the oversight committee so their grievances could be
incorporated into the consolidation process—but he’s disappointed
with the committee’s work.

“What we really wanted was for them to use their independence to
ensure that we didn’t overlook something, instead of fighting the move
altogether,” he says. “At the end of the day, the city is here to serve
the public, and defending the status quo is not that.”

Adams also denies that Leonard came to him with the proposal to
consolidate. “I asked Commissioner Leonard if he would lead the effort
to implement consolidation,” he says.

“I’ve been around to see all the half-step, intermediate, ‘let’s try
this first’ solutions to this problem,” says Adams. “And I came to the
decision over the last four years that it was a screwed-up system that
needed to be consolidated.

“A few well-intentioned folks believe that the way you maintain
balance in this process is to maintain dysfunction,” Adams continues.
“Well, I respectfully but forcefully disagree. For the first time we
will hold one official responsible for the city’s achievement of its
policy goals.”

City Commissioner Nick Fish will be the swing vote on both
proposals, but declined comment by press time.