05/31/1989 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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e election. River Road residents would be informed that sewer construction will begin in 1990 and they would be presented with a choice of annexation and a full range of urban services or sewers without annexation. This option offers a package of incentives to ease the burden of sewer costs and annexation on property owners and would be consistent with existing Metropolitan Plan policies and would permit sewers and other urban services to be extended to the River Road area in the most cost-efficient manner possible. The second alternative discussed by Ms. Decker would involve the council's initiation of changes to the Metropolitan Plan and the County Service District Agreement and boundaries to allow connection to the sanitary sewer system prior to annexation. In this option, property owners would be assessed for 100 percent of the costs associated with sewer construction, street repair, and financing. New development would continue to require annexation in order to assure provision of a full range of urban services as increased levels of development occur. Mr. Smith commented that under the first option, staff would recommend enhancement of a tax differential proposal allowing River Road residents to continue paying their current tax rate for a period of five years following annexation. This option would provide additional benefit to residents in that it can be shown that sewers are less expensive with annexation than without. The second option would involve the City's operation of River Road/ Santa Clara sewers as a separate utility that would be entirely ~ self-supporting. Mr. Smith reviewed the background of the City's discussions with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and DEQ. He stressed that a ground- water study conducted in 1980 found a significant ground-water contamination problem in River Road/Santa Clara only, with the western boundary of that contamination extending to the Southern Pacific railroad. Mr. Smith said ground-water contamination can confound Oregon land use planning when it does not constitute a health hazard. The Environmental Quality Commission has found that a health hazard does exist in River Road/Santa Clara, but it is of a different type than that found in the statute governing the Department of Health's health hazard declaration. e Mr. Smith reviewed the conditions imposed by the River Road/Santa Clara Sewer Facilities Plan. He said that document contemplated that annexations would be the preferred option (required) for achieving connections and that requirement would continue through 1990 and would not be waived until after that time. Communications regarding discussions with EPA have overly emphasized grant condition 10 (the connection schedule) which is only one part of what a city must comply with in order to be found substantially in compliance with the conditions of the grant. Mr. Smith called councilors' attention to a letter sent from the Oregon Operations Office in Portland to the Seattle Regional EPA Office with recommendations that included a new connection schedule requiring 15 percent MINUTES--Eugene City Council May 31, 1989 Page 7