Item 2G: Res.on LID/West Univ. - Laserfiche WebLink

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University Neighborhood Task Force. The Council has also been extensively involved in both the evaluation of the Task Force Report, and in work sessions considering the Code, and initiation of the project. This public involvement included decisions on which alleys needed attention (all of them not already improved). The property owners were notified of the project, the nature of the proposed improvements, and the estimated assessments. One property owner, the Eugene Garden Club, sent a letter outlining their contributions to the community, and requesting special consideration with regard to the classification of the Garden Club property's use and zoning weighting factors. Property owners were notified of a hearing and opportunity to speak at least ten days before the scheduled hearing. A public hearing was held on April 20, 2005. Members of the Eugene Garden Club and other property owners within the proposed district appeared at the headhg. None of owners expressed objections to the purpose of the proposed project; the improvements to the alleys. Some property owners expressed concerns about the way the directions of the Code provisions regarding alley assessments would apply to their property. More details regarding the public hearing can be found in the minutes of the hearing, attached as Exhibit A to this report. The Eugene Garden Club's request for differential consideration if based on their contribution to the Eugene Community, and their non-profit status. The Eugene Code does not make a distinction between for profit and non-profit organizations. While the contributions of the Eugene Garden Club are well established by the evidence presented, the Eugene Code does not allow such contributions to be weighed in the calculation of weighting factors. The Eugene Code only distinguishes between residential uses and non-residential uses. Within these categories, there is no question that the Eugene Garden Club fits within the non-residential category. The Eugene Code does not allow for the special consideration requested by the Garden Club. Nothing in the Code suggests that the city Engineer has the discretion to alter the basic categorizations specifically enumerated in the Code. The footnote to the open category indicates that it should be used to follow the specific divisions set up, which clearly distinguish between residential and all other types of use. In the same way, the policy question raised by Mr. Anderson has fairly clearly been examined and rejected by the Council. The Council has set a policy concerning street improvements that shares the cost of the improvement among the city as a whole and adjacent property owners. The division that the Council has chosen with regard to streets generally has the City absorbing the special costs of street improvements that account for the larger City use of streets. So for example, the cost of street widths greater than the smallest local street are paid for collectively by the City. As Mr. Anderson noted, the Council has decided that the cost of alley improvements should be borne almost exclusively by the abutting residents. Perhaps the council made this choice because the width of alleys is analogous to the width of local streets. Perhaps the choice was made because alleys are generally less publicly used than streets are. For whatever reason, PROPOSED LOCAL IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT FORMATION FOR 23 VARIOUS ALLEY LOCATIONS IN THE WEST UNIVERSITY NEIGHBORHOOD GENERALLY BOUNDED BY WILLAMETTE STREET, 19TH AVENUE, KINCAID STREET, AND FRANKLIN BOULEVARD Page 3