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MINUTES Eugene City Council Work Session McNutt Room--Eugene City Hall September 29, 2004 Noon COUNCILORS PRESENT: Bonny Bettman, George Poling, Nancy Nathanson, Scott Meisner, David Kelly, Betty Taylor, Gary Papd Jennifer Solomon. Council President Bonny Bettman, presiding in the absence of Mayor James D. Torrey, called the meeting of the Eugene City Council to order. A. WORK SESSION: Discussion of Ballot Measure 37 City Manager Dennis Taylor stated that he asked City Attorney Glenn Klein to address Ballot Measure 37 because the council had postponed action on a recommendation from the Council Committee on Intergov- ernmental Relations until it could have a discussion on the matter. Mr. Klein provided an overview of Measure 37 and the issues with which the City would have to cope if the measure passed. He reminded the council that he and staff would speak from a neutral position and only provide factual information. He drew the council's attention to agenda item summary attachment B that contained a summary of Measure 37. He said that Measure 37 was similar to Measure 7, but different in two primary ways: 1. Measure 37 was a statutory change, not a constitutional amendment, and the types of legal chal- lenges brought against Measure 7 would not apply. If Measure 37 passed it was likely to be in ef- fect for some time. While the Legislature had the authority to change the measure, it was uncertain whether changes more substantive than cleaning up language would occur. 2. Measure 37 explicitly stated that government had the authority to waive the regulation. The meas- ure stated that if property was owned prior to the time a covered regulation went into effect and if the regulation reduced the value of the property, an owner generally was entitled to either just com- pensation or to have the regulation waived. Measure 7 suggested but did not state that waiver was an option. Mr. Klein said that Measure 37 applied to land use regulations and included a number of exemptions such as public nuisance and protection of public health and safety. He noted that stream setbacks were likely to be covered by the measure. He said that the City had 180 days to respond to a claim and options were: pay the claim, waive the regulation, or do nothing and allow the owner to take the matter to court. Continuing, Mr. Klein related that Measure 37 granted jurisdictions the right to adopt processes for filing claims, although it did not require claimants to follow the process in order to file a claim with the court. He said that a list of changes requested of the Legislature to improve Measure 37 would be developed, including the minimum requirements for filing a claim. He said another issue likely to arise under Measure 37 was how to respond to regulation waiver requests from owners of property outside of the City limits and inside of MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 29, 2004 Page 1 Work Session