Ordinance No. 20201 - Laserfiche WebLink

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B. WEWP Goals The West Eugene Wetlands Plan contains the following applicable Goals (related findings follow each Goal). These broad goals apply to the plan as a whole. The Plan says that goals are "broad statements of philosophy and are adopted by the City Council and Lane County Board of Commissioners. They may never be completely attainable, but they describe the hopes of the people and help establish direction (preface, page x)." Goal 3.1 "Protect and enhance water quality, wildlife habitat, flood storage sediment and toxicant removal and other wetland functions and values." The wetlands within the southwest field and the southeast field provide water quality benefits, wildlife habitat, flood storage and other values already described above. Designation of these wetlands for Protection and Restoration will retain these current values and eventually facilitate increasing those values if further mitigation takes place. Protection and Restoration of these areas ensures that the areas contributing most to the water quality, wildlife habitat and rare plant habitat values are protected. These areas would be preserved, while wetlands in the "north area" would be allowed to be developed. Therefore, the wetland designations for the Hyundai site are consistent with Goal 3.1. Goal 3.2 "Minimize economic hardship on private property owners due to protection of wetlands and other valuable environmental resources." Where wetlands occur on privately owned land, economic hardship of wetland protection can be reduced or minimized in several ways. One way is to allow the least valuable wetlands to be developed while ensuring that the quality of the remaining wetlands is not compromised. Another way is public acquisition of the protected wetlands, with subsequent public maintenance and management. Economic hardship is generally held to be loss of potential or actual profit. If defined this way, such hardship cannot be completely avoided if valuable wetlands are to be protected. The designation of the least valuable wetlands for Development is an attempt to minimize the economic hardship of wetland protection on the property owner. The wetlands designated for Protection and Restoration would be eligible for acquisition under the West Eugene Wetlands Acquisition program administered by the Bureau of Land Management. Such acquisition would also help to minimize economic hardship. Although we acknowledge that economic hardship would be further minimized if Hyundai was allowed to develop more of the site, we conclude that the designation of the site as a whole, including both wetlands to be protected or restored and wetlands to be developed, reflects an effort to reduce the economic hardship on the property owner. Therefore, these amendments are consistent with Goal 3.2. Goal 3.3 "Minimize adverse impacts to protected wetlands from adjacent development." Hyundai Site Ordinance, Exhibit C (Refinement Plan Amendment Findings) Page 22