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M I N U T E S Eugene City Council City Council Meeting Council Chamber—Eugene City Hall July 24, 2006 7:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Jennifer Solomon, Bonny Bettman, David Kelly, Andrea Ortiz, Gary Papé, George Poling, Betty Taylor. COUNCILORS ABSENT: Chris Pryor. Her Honor Mayor Kitty Piercy called the meeting of the Eugene City Council to order and welcomed everyone to the meeting. 1. PUBLIC FORUM Mayor Piercy reviewed the rules of the Public Forum. Jim Hale, 1715 Linnea Avenue, Eugene, stated that he supported fixing streets and funding of that by a user fee. He said that $6.26 million could be generated by simply raising the gas tax by nine cents and phasing it in at one cent per month over the next nine months. He suggested that a legal challenge to an ordinance could be blocked by adopting nine separate ordinances with one for each cent of increase. He was opposed to the transportation system maintenance fee (TSMF) because it would raise more funds than was needed and the additional funds would be used for a bureaucratic collection system when raising the gas tax would cost nothing to administer. He was opposed to a TSMF because those who did not use the system still had to pay the fee; it was regressive and based on the illogical premise that buildings triggered vehicle trips when people generated trips. He said the gas tax was a user fee and forced people to confront the need to limit the use of highways and pay for them as they were used. Dean Rea, 1220 Clinton Drive, Eugene, said that four-block long Clinton Drive was recently paved as part of a pavement preservation project. He presented the council with a document signed by more than 30 people that thanked the Public Works Department and the City of Eugene for repaving their street. Zachary Vishanoff , Patterson Street, Eugene, invited councilors to view a video he was developing about a number of planning issues. He asked the council to weigh in on whether it would support the use of eminent domain in the Fairmount neighborhood. He was concerned about its potential use by the University of Oregon and hoped for a level of support for long-term business owners in the area. Jerry Oltion , 750 Brookside Drive, Eugene, asked the council to consider revisions to the City’s noise ordinance that would take into account new technologies that imposed new noise levels, such as leaf blowers, weed whackers, pressure washers, and mulch-blowing trucks. He said the noise generated by mulch-blowing trucks was phenomenal and more appropriate to industrial zones than a residential MINUTES—Eugene City Council July 24, 2006 Page 1 Regular Meeting