01/11/1988 Meeting (3) - Laserfiche WebLink

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e failures. He said installation of a sewer extension along Willow Creek Road would be needed and would occur only if warranted. Ms. Bascom asked about the constitutionality of island annexations. City Attorney Tim Sercombe said he preferred to provide detailed legal background in written form. He said he thought reasons existed to distinguish island annexations from the Court of Appeals decision on triple majority annexations. He said it was his judgment that the council should treat the present statute that had been re-enacted by the 1987 Legislature as constitutional and should not try to conclude or suppose that a court would hold it unconstitutional. e Mr. Sercombe said he did not believe that the Court of Appeals decision, which held that the triple-majority process giving to property owners different procedural rights than it gave to residents in an annexing area violated Article I, Section 20 of the Oregon Constitution, the equal privileges and immunities clause. He said island annexations involved no disparity of rights between property owners and residents. He said the statute clearly gave the City the right to annex an area by order of the Boundary Commission without the ability of property owners to petition for an election. Because island annexations did not have the same constitutional infirmity as identified by the court in triple-majority annexations, Mr. Sercombe said he did not believe the decision applied to island annexations. He added, however, that the issue had not been tested in Oregon courts. He said the case of Thurber v. McMinnville was more than 60 years old, and dicta in the case suggesting a possible right to vote on all annexations had been repudiated by subsequent Court of Appeals decisions. Mayor Obie asked whether a phase-in of a tax differential had been considered. Planning Director Susan Brody said the Planning Commission had felt the council should consider those possibilities. She said the City Finance Division had indicated no major problem with a tax differential. She said a tax differential could establish a precedent for other unincorporated areas and would remove the distinction of special incentives for the River Road/Santa Clara area, but staff had no major objection. Mayor Obie asked whether the island was a justification for a tax differential. Ms. Brody said that was possible, adding that a schedule was available for a five-year differential beginning at 65 percent and gradually increasing to 100 percent. She said a ten-year plan was offered for industrial properties in the Highway 99 area, and a five- or six-year plan was available to residential properties in River Road and Santa Clara. Mr. Miller asked about urban growth boundary. limits, about 1/4 mile urban growth boundary. the location of the current city limits and the Mr. Bjorklund pointed out the current city to the west and south of the property, near the e MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 11, 1988 Page 8