CC Minutes - 06/24/08 Joint Elected Officials Public Hearing

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Commissioner Stewart asked if his colleagues had any ex parte contacts or conflicts of interest to disclose. Commissioner Dwyer indicated that he had a conversation with Rep. DeFazio regarding ramps, similar to Mayor Leiken’s conversation. Introduction of Topic and Background Information Councilor Bettman called for the staff report. Heather O’Donnell, Associate Planner for the Eugene Planning and Development Department, provided the report. She stated that the focus of the joint elected officials hearing was on approval of a Metro Plan text amendment and a Willakenzie Refinement Plan text amendment for the Interstate 5 Willamette River bridge project. She indicated that Attachment C delineated the project area. She explained that this was one of the earlier steps in the process, among multiple steps. She said if the amendments were approved the project details would be reviewed during other land use approval processes, such as the City of Eugene’s Willamette Greenway Permit and Water Resources Conservation Overlay Zones and a Standards Review and the City of Springfield’s 75 Foot Riparian Setback Review. She stated that the subject policies would be amended to include an exception for the proposed Interstate 5 Bridge. Ms. O’Donnell reported that Mr. Sonnichsen had submitted an email, copies of which were provided to the Joint Elected Officials. Ms. O’Donnell stated that the Planning Commissions of Eugene, Springfield, and Lane County had held a joint public hearing and deliberations to consider the request and had voted unanimously to forward a recommendation of approval to the Joint Elected Officials. She further stated that the Eugene City Council was scheduled to take action on July 28; Springfield City Council was scheduled to take action on July 21; and the Lane County Board of Commissioners planned to hold the third reading of the proposed amendments on June 25 with a possible fourth reading to be held on July 30. Open Public Hearing Councilor Bettman reviewed the hearing procedure. She stated that the purpose of the hearing was to receive relevant testimony, arguments, and evidence presented regarding the amendments under considera- tion and that testimony must address the approval. She said failure to raise an issue with sufficient specificity to allow the City Councils and Board of Commissioners to respond would preclude the issue from being raised in an appeal to the Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA). Councilor Bettman opened the public hearing and called for testimony from the applicant. Tim Dodson , 3258 Northwest Countryman Circle, Albany, explained that he was the ODOT Project Manager for the bridge project. He pointed out that the project would be constructed entirely in the ODOT right-of-way. He reported that the Environmental Assessment document had been completed, but ODOT needed the plan amendments approved before it could be signed. He said ODOT had hired OBEC Engineering Consultants to begin engineering work and Hamilton Construction had been hired to be the contractor. He related that preliminary design work was underway and they planned to select the type of bridge on August 8. He stated that it was hoped that 60 percent of the design work would be completed by MINUTES—Joint Elected Officials— June 24, 2008 Page 2 Lane Board of County Commissioners and Eugene and Springfield City Councils