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MINUTES <br />Eugene City Council <br />Harris Hall, 125 East 8th Avenue <br />Eugene, Oregon 97401 <br />March 9, 2020 <br />5:30 p.m. <br />Councilors Present: Emily Semple, Alan Zelenka, Jennifer Yeh, Mike Clark, Claire Syrett, Chris Pryor <br />Councilors Absent: Betty Taylor, Greg Evans <br />Mayor Vinis opened the March 9, 2020, work session of the Eugene City Council. <br />1. Work Session: River Road -Santa Clara Neighborhood Plan Project Update <br />Senior Planner Chelsea Hartman, Principal Planner Terri Harding, Chair of the Santa Clara <br />Community Organization Kate Perle, and Co-chair of the River Road Community Organization Jon <br />Belcher gave an update about the River Road -Santa Clara Neighborhood Plan, including project <br />phases, community outreach, and action plan highlights. <br />Discussion: <br />Councilor Clark - thanked staff and the neighborhoods for their hard work; asked about the <br />effects of HB 2001 on their efforts an goals; said he sees preserving the character and livability <br />of the area and increasing density and complying with HB 2001 as being in conflict; said he <br />wants there to be realistic expectations about what is going to happen; said he likes the idea of <br />protecting farmlands within the UGB and asked if that included lands in the buildable <br />inventory; said River Road and Santa Clara neighborhoods are great examples of living <br />sustainably and urban farming and more legal steps to protect the ability to do that should be <br />considered. <br />Councilor Syrett - reported that she went to a recent Santa Clara Community Organization <br />meeting focused on the land use parts of this project; said people generally supported the plan <br />and understood that the City has made a commitment to grow more densely; said many people <br />want to retain the quality of the neighborhood, but also enhance it with community and <br />commercial centers; asked if the quarter mixed -use and quarter residential are proposed zones <br />that the City does not currently have; said the new zones would have a lot of potential to meet <br />the city and state's needs in rethinking commercial and residential mix, that could work in other <br />parts of the city as well. <br />Councilor Pryor - said this work has been groundbreaking and creative and he does not think it <br />will end up conflicting with HB 2001; said he's on the state Department of Land Conservation <br />and Development draft code advisory committee and he wants to bring this forward in Salem <br />because that committee is trying to accommodate density in a reasonable way, without <br />destroying neighborhood livability; encouraged the City to create its own code that reflects this <br />balance. <br />Councilor Zelenka - said he has seen many neighborhood planning efforts and this plan and <br />process has been excellent; said the process has been collaborative, has disseminated accurate <br />information, and was approached with the goal of making the neighborhood more livable; said <br />this is a great model to be applied elsewhere; said the goals in the plan were good and balanced; <br />asked staff how new land use designations would get integrated into the existing zoning <br />framework; asked for a description of corridor residential and residential middle; said he has <br />seen conflicts arise when different zones are abutting without transition and asked how those <br />MINUTES - Eugene City Council March 9, 2020 Page 1 <br />Work Session <br />