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<br />Mr. Pryor appreciated the work of the Planning Commission and the enormous amount of work it <br />undertook to provide the underpinnings in the form of collection of information and analysis for City <br />Council decisions. The emotional reaction around the City of Springfield and the legislature obscured <br />some of the other conversations that needed to happen. He suggested that the council talk in terms of what <br />was in the best interest of Eugene. He felt that most of the Planning Commission work program was <br />desirable, while recognizing that some elements made some people uncomfortable. He suggested moving <br />forward with as much as possible, and not including those parts around which more extensive <br />conversations were needed. He opined it was important for the City Council to give as much direction as <br />possible to the Planning Commission to enable it to do its work. Mr. Pryor welcomed a more extensive <br />conversation around those elements for the best interests of Eugene for which there was not agreement on <br />the council. Having information was preferred over not having information, whether it was related to the <br />Planning Commission developing recommendations or the City Council making decisions. It was difficult <br />to try to govern a community when information was specifically excluded because the answer was not <br />what the council wanted to hear. He said the City did not know the answer because the council continued <br />to not want to ask the question. Eugene was best served when both the Planning Commission and City <br />Council had all of the necessary information to make effective decisions. <br /> <br />Ms. Solomon concurred with Mr. Pryor’s comments. <br /> <br />Mayor Piercy appreciated the work program elements related to sustainability and working with the <br />Sustainability Commission. She opined it would serve the Planning Commission well to allow the City <br />Council to further consider the work program to enable the council to provide the commission with <br />meaningful feedback. She added it did not serve to characterize the City of Eugene nor the City of <br />Springfield in any particular ways. <br /> <br />Ms. Bettman said she could not understand what pieces of the work program related to FY08 or FY09. It <br />was interesting that the Planning Commission was looking at form based code in that it had not been <br />discussed by the City Council. She asked for more information on the advantages and disadvantages of <br />form based code. Ms. Bettman said the City had the tools to look at capacity, including the GMPs, which <br />enabled the City to use the available commercial and industrial land more efficiently. <br /> <br />Mr. Clark agreed that the State statutes were clear that if there was an insufficient land supply, either the <br />UGB could be expanded or density policies could be adjusted. He was interested in having accurate <br />information to enable the council to have an honest discussion. He was interested in doing the best for the <br />people of Eugene and a part of doing that was to participate in regional planning. He opined the Region <br />2050 planning effort “fell apart” because the Eugene City Council did not do a good job of collaborating <br />with other jurisdiction. <br /> <br />Mr. Clark was concerned that the City of Springfield was interpreting the Eugene City Council’s actions <br />and words as not wanting to work together in a regional way, which would have harmful effects for the <br />people he served in Eugene through HB 3337 due to the nature of Eugene’s relationship with Springfield. <br /> <br />Mr. Clark echoed Mr. Pryor’s comments that it was important for the City Council to have the information. <br />The Planning Commission had good and important work to do, and was telling the City Council it needed <br />more information to plan appropriately, and he wanted to ensure that the Planning Commission got that <br />information. <br /> <br />Ms. Taylor said although no one objected to having more information, she did not know if this was the <br />correct time to spend all of the council’s time and energy gathering particular information. She was also <br />concerned that there were not enough resources to revise all of the refinement plans. She added it would <br /> <br />MINUTES—Eugene City Council October 24, 2007 Page 7 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br />