Item 2A: Approval of Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Tom Watson, 1963 7th Street, Springfield, spoke in regard to the ICMA/PERF Report on the problems in the Eugene Police Department (EPD). He thought it seemed clear that the department had prior knowledge of its problems. He asserted that though eight years earlier such a report had been requested, the City Council had paid $108,000 to "hear it all over again." He felt the City officials had failed its citizenry by declining to act on the earlier report. He averred the present report pointed to a lack of supervision, training, and accountability. He called the report a "smoking gun of liability" for the City of Eugene. He stated that the City needed leadership and needed to get the "bad cops offthe streets." He quoted Gall Fisher-Stewart, who asked what kind of culture would allow these activities to go unnoticed and unaddressed. He asserted that Eugene still wanted to believe that the EPD was not in crisis. He alleged that the City would not be in this position today had it responded appropriately to the study eight years earlier. He felt the human resources division was pushing diversity over public good and sweeping changes in the EPD were necessary. Paul Cont& 1461 West 10th Avenue, member of the Chambers Area Families for Healthy Neighborhoods (CAFHN), provided copies of the research done by the group on the R-2 zoned lots that were east of Chambers Street in the Chambers Node Revisited (CNR) project area. He said the research presented a clear picture that in this area the infill policy of Eugene had failed to produce substantial benefit in reducing pressure for sprawl and instead had done substantial harm to healthy functioning parts of this pedestrian-friendly neighborhood with close-in lots. He recounted that for many years the R-2 zoning had allowed roughly two dwellings per lot and this resulted in the development of smaller scale dense dwellings such as duplexes and small attached and detached units. He felt this had little impact on the stability of the neighborhood. Since then, the allowance for density had been substantially increased in an attempt to relieve the pressure of urban sprawl. He said 27 lots with three or more dwelling units had been developed, of which 19 caused severe negative impacts on adjacent properties and five caused substantial negative impacts. He felt this was the sort of hard data that the Planning and Development Department (PDD) should be gathering. He said CAFHN would present proposals for development standards to the Planning Commission and the City Council that would allow density that exceeded levels set by the City and regional policies. He added that those proposals would also start to implement City and regional policies to protect and stabilize established neighborhoods. He underscored that the proposals would be grounded in thorough research. Carol DeFazio, 1437 West l0th Avenue, also represented CAFHN. She noted that CAFHN had presented its interim Neighbors' Report to the council in February, which included a comprehensive description of the character of their neighborhood. She commented that the basic patterns of the neighborhood were simple, elegant, intuitive, and effective. She asserted that they had stood the test of time and had made the neighborhood the "wonderful, friendly, diverse, and successful urban community" it had been for over 75 years. She averred that developers and planners were now designing large-scale neo-traditional developments all over the country, including on the fringes of Eugene. She alleged that existing neighborhoods were under a constant threat of destabilization. She thought current R-2 zoning standards left older neighborhoods vulnerable to exploitation as developers would come in and attempt to build as many units as possible on a lot without thinking of the impacts on neighbors. She called it "tragic," as this infill did not save farmland and only destroyed the character of existing neighborhoods. She asked what sense there was to land use planning that tossed out the "genuine article" for a reproduction. Kate Perle, 4740 Wendover Street, noted that the council had been provided copies of a document produced by the Santa Clara Community Organization entitled An Alternative Proposal for Community Park Facilities in Santa Clara. She read the preamble into the record, which laid the groundwork for a proposal to find a number of smaller parcels to use for parks rather than expanding the urban growth MINUTES--Eugene City Council April 11, 2005 Page 3 Regular Session