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M I N U T E S <br /> <br /> <br />Eugene City Council <br />McNutt Room—City Hall—777 Pearl Street <br />Eugene, Oregon <br /> <br /> June 18, 2008 <br /> Noon <br /> <br />COUNCILORS PRESENT: Bonny Bettman, Chris Pryor, Betty Taylor, Jennifer Solomon (via <br />telephone), George Poling, Andrea Ortiz, Mike Clark, Alan Zelenka. <br /> <br /> Her Honor Mayor Kitty Piercy called the work session of the Eugene City Council to order. She indicated <br />that Mr. Zelenka wished to make a motion before the action item was considered. <br /> <br />Mr. Zelenka said the council had delayed the public hearing on the alley and street vacation for the arena, <br />but because there was no August public hearing that meant the date would be sometime in September, which <br />was late for the hearing as the council would be making decisions around that time. He felt it would be <br />appropriate to schedule it in July, but to take action more coincident with the conditional use permit (CUP) <br />process which was moving forward. <br /> <br />Mr. Zelenka, seconded by Mr. Poling, moved to set a public hearing date on July <br />21, 2008, for consideration of the right-of-way vacation requests made by the Uni- <br />versity of Oregon. <br /> <br />Ms. Bettman said the original public hearing was scheduled when students were available and they would <br />not be on campus in July. She questioned why the hearing could not be held in September or October when <br />students would be available. She also pointed out that five public hearings were already scheduled for July <br />21. <br /> <br />Mr. Zelenka said the process was moving forward and could potentially be completed by the time students <br />returned, so delaying until late September or October would probably negate construction starting on the <br />arena until the next season. He said the alley vacation was located in the middle of the proposed arena. <br /> <br />Ms. Bettman asked if the alley vacation was a quasi-judicial proceeding and, if so, could the council receive <br />guidance on conversations related to it. City Attorney Emily Jerome said that particular alley vacation, tied <br />closely to a development, would be considered a land use decision and quasi-judicial. She advised the <br />council to be cautious and avoid conversations related to the subject. <br /> <br />Ms. Piercy asked if there was a problem discussing the hearing, but not how councilors might vote on the <br />matter. Ms. Jerome said the issues to be concerned about were related to the criteria and in the case of the <br />alley vacation the single criterion was whether it was in the City and public’s best interests. She said <br />scheduling a hearing and discussing logistics was not problematic as long as councilors did not make <br />statements that reflected how they might view the application. <br /> <br />Mr. Zelenka asked how the council could discuss how to move forward with all the components of the arena <br />project without having ex parté contacts. Ms. Jerome said she would provide written guidelines for the <br />council. She stressed the importance of not acting in a way that indicated a position with respect to whether <br /> <br /> <br />MINUTES—Eugene City Council June 18, 2008 Page 1 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br />