CC Minutes - 08/10/09 Work Session

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M I N U T E S Eugene City Council McNutt Room—City Hall—777 Pearl Street Eugene, Oregon August 10, 2009 5:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Alan Zelenka, Mike Clark, Andrea Ortiz, Jennifer Solomon, Chris Pryor, George Poling, George Brown, Betty Taylor. Her Honor Mayor Kitty Piercy called the work session of the Eugene City Council to order. A. WORK SESSION: Eugene Comprehensive Lands Assessment Jason Dedrick of the Planning and Development Department provided responses to questions raised by the council at its July 22, 2009, meeting. He said the Infill Compatibility Siting (ICS) study was on a slightly different timeline than the Eugene Comprehensive Lands Assessment (ECLA), with ECLA concluding by the end of 2009, and ICS continuing into 2010. He said the ICS process was addressing how infill could occur instead of whether it would occur. He felt the amendments that emerged from that process would not have a large impact at the aggregate, citywide level, which was where ECLA functioned, although any amendment affecting the housing supply would include documentation of how that would be addressed. The ECLA process would incorporate any new amendments that occurred prior to its conclusion. He said it was also possible that the Opportunity Siting (OS) process could result in impacts that balanced those of ICS. He said employment growth rate was projected at 1.4 percent over the next twenty years, based on the State forecast and implicit in that rate was an assumption that there might be years when the rate was higher or lower. Mr. Clark asked if the employment growth rate was a policy issue or intended to demonstrate that Eugene was following the appropriate formula with its model. Mr. Dedrick said it was both; if the City chose that rate the State considered it “safe harbor” because it was based on the State forecast. The City could use a different figure, but did not currently have data that suggested one. That policy question could be addressed by the council during its September review of the ECLA process. Ms. Taylor expressed concern with the assumptions as they did not appear to consider the City’s adopted sustainabil- ity principles, which would affect things like the amount of infill that was allowed. Mr. Dedrick said the baseline numbers being used were based either on historical data from the last several years or a published forecast. Staff could prepare variations on those numbers if the council wished to look at higher or lower development rates and impacts on the land supply. Ms. Taylor preferred to see assumptions that considered sustainability instead of just being based on historical data. She asked why the ECLA community advisory committee was no longer meeting. Mr. Dedrick replied that the committee’s work had been concluded, but the ECLA process would move forward through 2009. He said committee members would continue to be involved as interested parties and kept apprised of the process. Ms. Taylor asked for a minority report from the committee. She noted that the employment projections were higher than the population growth rate. Mr. Dedrick said the difference in numbers was due in part to Eugene’s role as the MINUTES—Eugene City Council August 10, 2009 Page 1 Work Session