02/22/1988 Meeting (2) - Laserfiche WebLink

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e permit such input. The Planning Commission also had recommended that the Citizen Involvement Committee review the appeal process in about one year to see if it was working well. Mayor Obie opened the public hearing. e Kevin Jones, 1678 West 7th Avenue, representing Jones Signs Systems, spoke in opposition to the amendment. Mr. Jones said he had not intended to speak tonight, because several other people had spoken against the amendment at the Planning Commission, but the commission had referred the issue to the council as if no one had spoken at all. He said the Sign Code Board of Appeals had voted to maintain itself, contrary to information being presented by a staff member to another group across town at the same time. He said everyone against this change felt that some form of review by a group of peers that represented the interests of the citizens of Eugene should be maintained. He said the change would not benefit citizens, save money, or speed up the hearings process. He said the process being used previously had worked well when the City had maintained the board as it was supposed to. He said the City, not the Sign Code Board, had failed in its duties. He said the change would give the City complete control of the process from application to appeal, it would eliminate citizen involvement in the deCiSion-making process for the sake of convenience and consolidation with the process currently being used for land use issues. Mr. Jones said signs were a unique medium, and he did not understand how better decisions would be made by one person rather than by several people, as was done with juries. He said he hoped the council would consider the impact of the amendment on the business people and industries that would be affected by the regulations. He said he wished the City would have requested input from the sign industry and had chosen to work with them, rather than alienating them from the process. He said he was willing to work on a compromise solution, and he felt the council should consider that option. Mayor Obie closed the public hearing. Ms. Wooten referred to statements in staff notes and asked whether they implied that special privileges were being exhibited by the Sign Code Board of Appeals or other appeal bodies such as the Construction Code Board of Appeals. Mr. Reed said that a few years ago, the City Council had given staff greater authority to grant variances, and the number of variances had not decreased, but they now could be granted by staff, rather than by the board. He said criteria for variances had been established, and staff findings would be reviewed against those criteria in the Hearings Official process. He said staff felt that review was better performed by a professional who was trained in law to review the ordinance and to apply the facts to the criteria than for a lay body to weigh those facts against the criteria in the ordinance. The process also would save staff time for writing the findings, he added. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 22, 1988 Page 16