Item 2A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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concept that a broad street was necessary was not universally agreed upon. He observed that bicyclists in Europe do not have wide bicycle lanes. He also disagreed with the idea that motorists were not willing to wait to go around bicyclists. He declared that everyone had to share the road. He felt a wider optical width would speed traffic up. Mr. Poling suggested that the traffic engineers work on some practical applications of turning radii with “chalk and string.” He had heard that traffic circles in Meridian, Idaho had to be removed after installation because fire trucks could not get around them and he did not want to construct something unworkable. He asked how many school buses drove on the road per day. He thought there would only be one or two in the morning and in the evening. He also did not believe there would be many garbage trucks driving on the road. He felt the conflicts would resolve themselves. He underscored that the decision before the council was whether or not to have a public hearing on the item. Ms. Bettman averred that research data had indicated that narrower streets caused people to drive more slowly. Mr. Pryor favored moving ahead with the public hearing. Ms. Taylor agreed. She believed there were other advantages to having a narrow street, such as that it reduced the amount of impervious surfaces. Mayor Piercy averred that ambiance was important to neighborhoods. Ms. Ortiz, seconded by Mr. Pryor, moved to direct the City Manager to hold a public hear- ing on street design standards for the Crest Drive Neighborhood. The motion passed unanimously, 8:0. C. WORK SESSION: Rental Housing Program Update Acting Assistant City Manager Luell noted that 49 percent of the residents of Eugene were renters. He said the ordinance the rental housing code program was governed by was slated to sunset in December, 2008. Rachelle Nicholas, Code Enforcement Supervisor for the Planning and Development Department (PDD), provided a power point presentation on the status of the City of Eugene Rental Housing Code. Mr. Clark ascertained from financial statements that expenditures for the first year had been $60,000 but the program still had a net of over $14,000 and that in the second year the program had netted an excess of $76,000. He asked where the excess dollars went. Ms. Nicholas replied that the program had to pay back the loan from the General Fund. In response to a follow-up question, Ms. Nicholas affirmed that the program had some funds in reserve. Mr. Clark commented that he was happy with the program. He noticed that the program had, at current rates, about 25 percent excess over the amount the program cost. He said he would like to cut the fee, but not the late fee, by 20 percent. MINUTES—Eugene City Council October 8, 2007 Page 8 Work Session