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Attachment A
<br />Staff Response to Public Testimony and City Council
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<br />awareness efforts targeted at landscape maintenance enterprises, local nurseries, University of Oregon, large corporations with their own grounds
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<br />maintenance staff, property management companies, and local school districts on the proper use of pesticides and herbicides.
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<br />?Place restrictions on methods used in building structures (12)
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<br />The proposed setback widths are at the lower end of a spectrum of recommended widths based on the scientific literature. The ordinance includes allowances for small
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<br />accessory structures in the /WQ Management Area. Beyond that, new structures are limited to certain situations and are subject to specific development standards that
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<br />ensure water quality protection.
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<br />?Apply regulations to future development of raw land, but not
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<br />Proposed regulations protect water quality function where it exists on certain waterways and does not distinguish between vacant and developed properties in terms of
<br />developed properties (12)
<br />applicability. For the “gap” waterways, staff’s opinion is that the water quality function is important enough to apply the protections to, and that uses and activities
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<br />even on developed properties could cause adverse water quality impacts.
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<br />?Reduce contamination at its source (13)
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<br />This proposal is considered a “source control” measure in that it protects a water quality function that exists and that, if not protected, would need to be mitigated
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<br />somehow in the future through downstream treatment measures and stream restoration measures. This proposal also helps to ensure that these waterways do not
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<br />themselves become a source of pollution via erosion of streambanks, loss of vegetation and introduction of sediment and other pollutants into downstream waterways.
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<br />?Clean and treat water at outfalls (21)
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<br />Adopted policy in the form of the Comprehensive Stormwater Management Plan (CSWMP) includes policy direction to integrate the beneficial functions of waterways
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<br />(including water quality) into the City’s stormwater system. Rather than allow water quality degradation through waterway impacts, and then treating the water at its
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<br />outfall, local policy is aimed more at source control measures and protecting and integrating the function of natural systems into the City’s stormwater system.
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<br />?Address homeless camps and related water quality impact (CC)
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<br />The City addresses homeless camps by using City staff and the Sheriff’s Adult Work Crew on a weekly basis to clean up trash, including syringes and human waste,
<br />MC
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<br />from illegal campsites that have been abandoned on public land in the river corridor. City staff responds to reports of illegal camps in the river corridor and along
<br />waterways and cleans up those sites as needed. City staff also works in cooperation with agencies such as ODOT to ensure that trash and other pollutants from illegal
<br />campsites on public lands that are near waterways are cleaned up. This can involve reporting campsites, assisting with site inspections, and even providing some
<br />logistical support.
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<br />C. Expected Benefits/Costs (T, CC); quantifiable benefits vs. Water quality setbacks help to address the parameters of concern (including bacteria, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, temperature),
<br />with the science indicating a range of
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<br />disruption to property owners (22) effectiveness for the various parameters, and a general water quality benefit. Since this is primarily a water quality “protection” proposal (as opposed
<br />to water quality
<br /> “enhancement” proposal), the expected outcome of implementing the /WQ Water Quality Overlay – all other things being equal - is no decline in water quality
<br /> conditions. It is through other efforts including for example waterway enhancement and water quality capital projects, increased efficiencies in operations and
<br />maintenance of the stormwater system, stormwater development standards, tree planting along streams, and stormwater education that we would expect to see
<br />improved water quality conditions over time. The number of variables within a watershed, including the variability in storm events, and the location and intensity of
<br />activities within a watershed, typically preclude a direct measure of impact (i.e. water quality benefit) of one specific program element on receiving water quality.
<br />However, staff will continue to conduct surface water quality monitoring to assess trends in water quality conditions over time. Monitoring is conducted at eleven
<br />locations, including four sites on the Willamette River, one near the Delta Ponds outlet, and six in the Amazon Basin. Staff will also track quantitative surrogate
<br />measures of effectiveness – for example, the number and types of trees planted on publicly controlled parcels including those within the Water Quality Management
<br />Area and the Goal 5 Water Resources Conservation Area, which could be used to determine effectiveness with respect to temperature reduction. As expressed in the
<br />testimony from DEQ (18), it is far easier to protect what you have in place than to reverse the damage once it has occurred. The ordinance is structured to provide
<br />significant flexibility to owners enabling the development of a parcel for its intended use.
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<br />D. Basis for reducing miles of protections from 90 to 15 (CC) The initial (June 2006) WQ Waterways proposal, based upon a review of the scientific literature related to water quality
<br />buffers, and an understanding of the status of
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<br /> Eugene’s waterways with respect to their water quality condition and federal and state water quality regulations, identified nearly 90 miles of waterways for protection.
<br /> The 90 miles of waterways initially identified for protection included all waterways identified as “water quality impaired” pursuant to the Clean Water Act, waterways
<br />that are tributaries to water quality impaired waterways, and sensitive headwater streams that drain to water quality impaired waterways. The initial proposal included
<br />75-foot setbacks along each side of all waterways proposed for protection.
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<br />Significant input was received on the initial proposal from property owners, interested persons, and other city staff including Planning and Development staff involved
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<br /> See Supplemental Information binder, Section XII. Scientific Review.
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<br /> See Supplemental Information binder, Section XII. Scientific Review, Summary of the Science (Document #23) and referenced source documents.
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<br />WQ Protected Waterways Attachment A to June 18, 2008 AIS (page 2 of 6)
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