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were to apply for a greenway permit one must satisfy several criteria that were generally intended to <br />apply to property closer to the river. He was unsure how the criteria would be applied if someone applied <br />for a permit for the site in question. He concurred with Mr. Farr that the site was inside the greenway. <br />Mr. Farr asked about regulations related to dumping in the greenway. City Attorney Klein confirmed <br />there were regulations related to dumping in the greenway, but he had not yet had time to research <br />whether there was a regulation that applied to the property in question. <br />Mr. Pryor spoke to the question of what happened when the proposed exemption expired. He said he was <br />willing to be patient if the exemption led to something other than more camping, which he did not <br />consider a desirable outcome. He said drawing attention to a problem was not solving the problem; it was <br />merely a first step. There must be a next step. He suggested the extension gave the community an <br />opportunity to craft an effective, productive, and worthwhile next step. He wanted the City to work with <br />Occupy Eugene on the next step before the exemption expired. <br />Mr. Clark considered the exemption granted to Occupy Eugene a monumentally bad idea. He believed <br />the council had created the potential for what he thought were very real life, health, and safety problems <br />as well as some environmental problems. He noted that photographs of the site showed stacked firewood <br />and asked if it was legal to have open fires in Washington- Jefferson Park. Mr. Clark pointed out it would <br />soon get colder and he questioned if open fires would be allowed or if campers would have heaters in the <br />tents that might cause health or safety issues. <br />Mr. Clark noted the presence of several large signs at the site and asked if Occupy Eugene was also <br />exempted from enforcement of the Sign Code. He observed that the City had gotten "pretty hard core" <br />with some other parties about Sign Code violations. Mr. Clark said the unequal application of the law <br />concerned him a great deal, as did the fact that the encampment created the appearance of a "Hooverville" <br />at an entrance to the community. <br />City Manager Ruiz reminded the council that if chose to pass the motion it would only be exempting <br />Occupy Eugene from the camping ordinance; all other ordinances continued to apply, including violations <br />of the Sign Code and drinking in the parks. <br />Mr. Clark asked City Attorney Klein to confirm that the placement of very large oversized signs in <br />Washington- Jefferson Park created a violation of the Sign Code. City Attorney Klein did not know if <br />those signs constituted a violation and said he would meet soon with staff to discuss a complaint about <br />signs on the site that had already been filed. He anticipated the City would enforce the code for violations <br />caused by Occupy Eugene in the same manner it enforced the code for other entities. Mr. Clark <br />questioned who was responsible for the sign, the individual who placed it or Occupy Eugene. City <br />Attorney Klein was unsure and believed the issue was complicated by the fact the property was owned by <br />the State and leased by the City. <br />Ms. Ortiz supported the motion. She described a recent tour she took of the encampment, noting the <br />presence of portable toilets and fact the encampment had a temporary kitchen permit. She believed that <br />Occupy Eugene was monitoring its own problems. She said that Occupy Eugene was a microcosm of <br />society and contained both those who obeyed the law and those who did not. Ms. Ortiz suggested the <br />encampment would reduce interactions between the police and the homeless. She wished Occupy Eugene <br />well. Ms. Ortiz was glad to hear there would be follow -up regarding the Sign Code. She acknowledged it <br />was illegal to burn inside the city limits and Occupy Eugene needed to follow the rules in that regard. <br />Mr. Brown said the problems that Occupy Eugene was calling attention to had taken years to come to <br />fruition. He considered it unrealistic to think that Occupy Eugene would come up with a solution to all <br />MINUTES— Eugene City Council November 9, 2011 Page 2 <br />Work Session <br />