09-26-16 Work Session - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

To: Mayor, City Council,CityManager,andPlanningStaff From: Joyce Eaton Date: 09/20/2016 Re: Based on my City Council forum testimony on10/12/2015,being againstSouth Willamette Special Area Zone (SW-SAZ), and lack of adequate public engagement I am talking for two different family houses in and near the SW-SAZ. Both houses are owned and occupied by family members. One house is a 1000 square foot house on Willamette Street at the south end of SW-SAZin FriendlyArea Neighbors (the non-college hill sideofWillamette Street). The other house is a 600 square foot house a block off SW-SAZin Southeast Neighbors (the non-Cascade Manor side of Willamette Street). Both houses were purchased new in the late 40s, the first house occupied continuously by family since purchased, and the second house for 28 years of its lifespan. Bothaddresses arerepresented by Betty Taylor from Ward 2. Both places received notice of the Open House before the Planning Commission hearing (because mail is not delivered to one of the houses, we onlyreceived the notification that was sent to our post office box). In August 2013, I also attendedone of the “Stakeholdermeetings”.Itwas the “Long Term th Vision for South WillametteStreet” meeting onAugust 12, 2013. Why did I attend? I attended the meeting because we received a postcardthatwassent to the2311 Willamette Street house as a property owners along Willamette. \[The meeting focused exclusively on Willamette Street current commercial area, going over the new setbacks, and giving examples of businessmakeoversusing new design features. In the new mixed use area, it showed examples with the upper floors with large residential areas, although there is no required rd residential units for mixed use. At one point, I asked specifically about the block between23 and 24 th Avenues,and I was told that it would beapartment/condos. Since the 2311 Willamette Street house is currently zoned R-3 andwe have house to apartment conversions on either side of us, this wasn’t a surprise. However, the devil is in the details, and we didn’t see thesedetails until thenotification Open House.\] My mainpoint is, however, that businessowners and other people directly on Willamette Street had special mailings,meetings,andsurveys withdoor-to-doorcanvasing. Why was this same courtesy not done for the non-WillametteStreetresidents that arein the Special Area zone, some of whom you are rezoning their houses to apartment/condominiums up to 7 stories? So, thecity hasgottensome Willamette Streetbusiness owners\[through SouthtowneBusiness Association\] and certainly Cascade Manorinvolved intheproject early on. You have also done a great job getting the community activists involved (mostof whichlive on the other side of College Hill or other places nowhere neartheaffectedarea). Butyou did NOT get the actual residentsinvolved, which is why there are somanypeople – the actual residents – upset. BillRandall ofthe Planning Commission at the 2015 September 18 th Page 1 of 3 09/19/2016