12/04/1989 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

e Mr. Holmer complimented staff on its efforts to inform the public about the wetlands issue. Public information sessions held by the City have been numerous and well-attended. He suggested that before the council makes any decisions, it should hold another public hearing to obtain more public input. Responding to a question from Mr. Boles, Mr. Gordon said that some of the Federal grant money directed to the City has been received. He noted that the $50,000 in Federal grant money was appropriated for three specific purposes: 1) to evaluate the correlation between water quality problems within the Amazon corridor and associated wetland areas; 2) to create new EPA guidelines for stormwater quality; and 3) to determine the feasibility of creating a wetland experimental station/nature center. Responding to Mr. Green's request for further clarification regarding staff1s Recommendation 3, Ms. Decker said that staff would work with other cities at the state level and with the Division of State Lands to craft a series of statements suggesting a policy solution and offer suggestions for how the Federal agencies might better implement wetland preservation goals. The City would work with representatives in Washington in an attempt to put this revised policy into place through both the Legislative Committee and congressional delegations. Mr. Boles said that he is not opposed to the staff recommendations assuming the $250,000 Federal grant is forthcoming. Ms. Schue also expressed her support of the staff proposal, but emphasized the importance of addressing this issue with a regional approach. e Ms. Ehrman requested a budget outline demonstrating the amount of staff time and effort that would be necessary to come up with a solution to this problem. Ms. Decker responded that solution-finding is so endemic to the work that staff is already performing, it would be difficult to formulate a separate budget which would accurately reflect the added staff responsibility in terms of finding a solution. Mr. Holmer inquired about the impact of this new methodology of wetland determination on industrial lands. Mr. Gordon responded that under the previous definition of wetlands, impact to industrial lands was a problem; under the current wetland definition the problem has increased substantially. Ms. Bascom moved, seconded by Mr. Bennett, to direct staff to 1) work with Federal and State agencies to clarify the status and effect of recent changes in the method for determining which wetlands are subject to regulation; 2) work with these agencies on how they will treat areas covered by the new methodology and what ratios of replacement will be required for restoring wetlands on agricultural lands; and 3) direct staff to work with cities in the state of Oregon, the State Division of State Lands, and the Legislative Committee toward finding a policy solution. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council December 4, 1989 Page 4 Dinner/Work Session