Item 2A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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ATTACHMENT A M I N U T E S Eugene City Council Public Hearing Council Chamber 777 Pearl Street—Eugene, Oregon November 19, 2007 7:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Andrea Ortiz, Chris Pryor, Betty Taylor, Bonny Bettman, George Poling, Mike Clark, Alan Zelenka, Jennifer Solomon. Her Honor Mayor Kitty Piercy called the meeting of the Eugene City Council to order. 1. PUBLIC HEARING: An Ordinance Concerning Annexation and Withdrawal Procedures; Amending Sections 2.212, 9.7055, 9.7205 and 9.8035 of the Eugene Code, 1971; Repealing Ex- isting Sections 9.7800 to 9.7885 of that Code; Adding New Sections 9.7800 Through 9.7835 and Sections 9.8115 Through 9.8121 to that Code; Declaring an Emergency; and Providing for an Effective Date. Steve Nystrom, Principal Planner, provided an overview of the ordinance to establish annexation procedures for the City of Eugene in anticipation of the abolishment of the Lane County Local Government Boundary Commission on January 1, 2008. He said a preponderance of the ordinance addressed procedural requirements and in drafting the ordinance staff took care to assure that the council's established policies and procedures related to annexations remained in place. Mr. Nystrom stated that the Planning Commission held a public hearing on the ordinance and was recommending approval of the ordinance, with some modifications. He said a list of the recommended modifications was included as Attachment C in the agenda packet. He said the most notable recommenda- tion was to increase the public noticing requirements. He drew the council's attention to his memorandum of November 8, 2007, which described staff responses to comments during the council's October 31 work session as well as those sections of the ordinance that the council had discretion to amend. He said staff was proposing a two-track process for annexations, which would give the council full discretion to decide whether to approve annexations through a resolution or to forward them to a public hearing process. He concluded by noting that requests to extend the record had been received. Ms. Piercy opened the public hearing and reviewed the rules for providing testimony. Charles Biggs, 540 Antelope Way, Eugene, noted that the abolishment of the Boundary Commission was perceived as an emergency, but he perceived a greater emergency. He requested that the council direct staff to implement a two- to three-hour free parking in downtown Eugene between Thanksgiving and Christmas to promote a livelier downtown and support downtown businesses. Ron Funke , 2595 Charnelton Street, Eugene, a land use planner focusing primarily on the City of Eugene and Lane County, expressed concern that when the bill abolishing the Boundary Commission passed the MINUTES—Eugene City Council November 19, 2007 Page 1 Public Hearing