CCMinutes - 10/25/04 Mtg - Laserfiche WebLink

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look at Ayres Road, which he did not think had been improved by being designated a collector. He said the area residents did not want their neighborhood "destroyed." He related that staff had talked about the collector designation, that it looked good. He thought it would end at 28th Avenue and people would take Jefferson Street from there. He asked if anyone on Jefferson Street had been warned about the possible increase in traffic. He conveyed the neighborhood's willingness to work with the City, should the City align itself with the wish of the neighborhood to maintain the local designation. George Kjaer, 814 Lorane Highway, likened the meetings with the Planning and Development Department (PDD) staff with being sold a roof. He said the salesperson knew he needed a roof, but would not tell him how much it would cost nor what color it would be. He advocated for having all the design elements in place and codified, including the designation of context-sensitive design as well as the local street designation to provide a real choice. Donna Hawley, 3484 Storey Boulevard, said she was speaking on behalf of her daughter, Sheri Hawley, who was unable to attend. She shared that the "long struggle" affected the families and friends of the residents of the neighborhood. She reiterated that the neighbors wanted the beauty of the neighborhood to be preserved. She related that she had worked in the City of Salem as a neighborhood counselor, helping neighbors understand how to work with the City to achieve their goals. She understood the frustration of people who were confronted with City plans that were supposed to be for their own good. She opined that eventually the City had to pay attention to what the neighbors want and need rather than what "looked good on a piece of paper." She urged the council to keep the street designation "local." Stanley D. Kluth, 2830 Friendly Street, shared that he worked for the Army and the Department of Defense. He commented that the people should drive the plan and not the other way around. He related that he had lived in several cities in Germany. He said they had started to run traffic collectors through residential neighborhoods and had determined that it did not work. He stated that the cities had pulled the traffic back out of the neighborhoods by placing traffic calming devices and reducing the speed limit to 30 kilometers per hour. He stressed that residential neighborhoods were not for traffic. Virginia Starling, 3302 Storey Boulevard, asked how the neighborhood could give City staff "carte blanche" to design the area when they had not shown the neighbors any of the ideas that were being considered. She noted that staff had collected a variety of ideas from the neighbors, but there was no indication of the planning that City staff had undertaken. She asserted that senior transportation analyst for the Public Works Department, Gary McNeel, had contradicted himself regarding sidewalk requirements, which added to neighborhood mistrust. She said there were discrepancies in the information provided the neighborhood regarding tree removal as well. Clyde R. Nielson, 3441 Storey Boulevard, urged the City to cooperate with the neighborhood regarding designation and potential street improvements. He supported Option 2 and thought this was the solution the neighborhood would be willing to work with. He was troubled, however, by the meaning of "context- sensitive design." He thought sensitive to be a nebulous word, subject to individual interpretation. He commented that the word "context" in this case referred to the physical surroundings of the traffic. He opined that it should also include the people. He averred that neighborhood sentiments about what was being planned should be an essential part of the equation. He thought that a determination of how design decisions should be made and who shared in the final say should be folded into the term "context sensitive design." He felt that citizen involvement would otherwise be a sham. MINUTES--Eugene City Council October 25, 2004 Page 6 Regular Session