CC Minutes - 01/23/08 WS and Mtg of URA

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M I N U T E S Eugene City Council Work Session and Meeting of the Eugene Urban Renewal Agency McNutt Room – City Hall 777 Pearl Street—Eugene, Oregon January 23, 2008 Noon COUNCILORS PRESENT: Andrea Ortiz, Chris Pryor, Betty Taylor, Bonny Bettman, George Poling, Mike Clark, Jennifer Solomon. COUNCILORS ABSENT: Alan Zelenka. In the absence of Her Honor Mayor Kitty Piercy, Council President Chris Pryor called the meeting of the Eugene City Council to order. A. WORK SESSION: Extra-Territorial Extensions Planner Steve Nystrom of the Planning and Development Department stated that the City’s recently adopted ordinance regarding annexation also included procedures for extra-territorial extensions. He said the purpose of the work session was to further discuss issues related to extra-territorial extensions, which were extensions of water or sewer service inside the City limits to serve properties outside the City limits but within the urban growth boundary (UGB). Mr. Nystrom said a fundamental premise was the City's existing policies around the provision of urban services and the strong position limiting those services to City residents, while recognizing there could be extreme or unique circumstances where extension of services to property that was not within the City limits was in the best interests of the City. He referred to the criteria under which those circumstances would be considered and stressed that it must be demonstrated that a property could not otherwise be annexed and that the property was not vacant. He said that emphasized that the extension requests were intended to accommodate existing situations and not further development. Mr. Nystrom provided several examples to illustrate when extra-territorial extensions might be requested. He pointed out that requests were rare, with three going to the Lane County Local Government Boundary Commission during the past ten years. Mr. Clark expressed concern that an owner of undeveloped property outside of the City limits but inside the UGB would have no ability to functionally use that property because of the system that was being created. He hoped that the issue could be raised during the council's joint meeting with the Lane Board of County Commissioners, along with a discussion of whether the County would assume responsibility for permitting. He wanted to clarify what options would be available to that property owner and who would have authority for services. He asked for an estimate of the amount of property that would fall into the category of undeveloped, outside of the City limits and inside the UGB and was not contiguous. Mr. Nystrom responded that there were two different elements: annexation provisions and extension of urban services. He said Mr. Clark's question arose from the annexation provisions and changes to State law that would MINUTES—Eugene City Council January 23, 2008 Page 1 Work Session