Laserfiche WebLink
The primary road used for access and egress to the expansion area is Division Avenue, a Major <br />Collector, which intersects with the nearest Major Arterial, Beltline, at approximately 200 feet <br />easterly of the driveway. This is within one mile from the entrance. <br /> <br />We find that approval of the application would not result in any conflicts to local roads used for <br />access and egress to the mining site. Approval of the application would not result in any change <br />in the applicant’s current use of local roads used for access to and egress from its facility. The <br />proposed expansion area would merely be an additional area of land, adjacent to the applicant’s <br />existing facility, used by the applicant to provide the resource that it processes on its existing site <br />into a marketable product. No change or modification of the applicant’s existing aggregate <br />processing methodology or facility or ingress/egress onto local roads would be required as a <br />result of the proposed expansion of its resource extraction site. Approval of the application <br />would result only in the applicant’s use of the proposed expansion area as an additional, <br />continual and consistent source of aggregate material needed for the continuation of the <br />applicant’s business, at its current level of operation and production, at its current facility. We <br />find that that use would not result in any increase in the number of vehicles leaving or entering <br />the applicant’s facility for the purpose of delivering its finished product to market. Furthermore, <br />we find that that use would not result in an increase in the number of third party vehicles <br />servicing applicant’s business. No increase in product delivery or service is associated with the <br />applicant’s proposed addition to its source of aggregate material; therefore, no conflicts to local <br />roads would result from approval of the application. <br />(C) Safety conflicts with existing public airports due to bird attractants, i.e., <br />open water impoundments as specified under OAR Chapter 660, Division 013; <br />The Eugene Airport is the only existing public airport in the general metropolitan area and is <br />located several miles from the proposed expansion area and outside the impact area. Due to that <br />distance separating the airport from the proposed expansion area, we find that any bird attraction <br />by open water impoundment on the expansion area will be negligible if at all. Furthermore, this <br />provision is no longer applicable since the December 23, 1996 effective date of adoption of <br />division 13 of OAR Chapter 660, which carries out Chapter 285, Oregon Laws 1985. <br />(D) Conflicts with other Goal 5 resource sites within the impact area that are <br />shown on an acknowledged list of significant resources and for which the <br />requirements of Goal 5 have been completed at the time the PAPA is initiated; <br />No other Goal 5 resources shown on a Metro Plan acknowledged list of significant resources <br />exist within the impact area. Opponents have argued that a meandering scar of the Willamette <br />River (“East Santa Clara Waterway”) is located on a portion of the northwestern boundary of the <br />expansion area and that it constitutes a wetland. The opponents further argue that the existence <br />and operation of the aquaclude (see discussion below regarding the aquaclude) will negatively <br />impact the water levels and, consequently, the functions of the wetland. EGR, in testimony <br />provided during the planning commission joint public hearing and deliberation, testified that the <br />aquaclude would not produce the types of impacts to the wetland argued by the opponents. EGR <br />and the applicant provided further testimony during the elected officials’ joint public hearing that <br />the aquaclude would be constructed in a manner that leaves the top elevation of the clay-filled <br />aquaclude one foot below the measured elevation of the wetland, approximately six to eight feet <br />below ground surface. EGR testified that, even if the opponents were correct in their arguments <br />that the aquaclude would negatively impact surface water that flows through the wetland (which <br />EGR argues they are not), the modification to the aquaclude construction that positions the <br />aquaclude beneath the measured elevation of the wetland will ensure that its existence and <br />operation will not negatively impact the wetland. Based upon the cumulative testimony of EGR <br />we find that, even if the wetland was a Goal 5 resource site, approval of the application will not <br />result in negative impacts on the wetland. <br />(E) Conflicts with agricultural practices; and <br />We find that approval of the application will not conflict with current agricultural practices <br />within the impact area. The only property within the impact area currently committed to <br />Ordinance - 17 <br /> <br />