02/08/1982 Meeting (2) - Laserfiche WebLink

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~ . e I. B. 2. I-I Special Light Industrial District (memo and background information distributed) Mr. Gleason introduced Jim Farah, Planning. Mr. Farah said that at the time of adoption of the Metropolitan Area General Plan, all three governmental jurisdic- tions had agreed on the concept of the speci~ light industri~ site as a means of providing for diversification of the local economy. Mr. Farah explained that the land allocated in the plan for the special light industrial district does not include the projections for industrial activity that are made for the metropolitan labor force for the future. He said that the Planning Commission had begun work on the ordinance in the spring of 1981 and had further developed its recommendation as a result of discussion at the December 14, 1981, joint meeting with the City Council. Mr. Farah said that the draft before the council was the seventh draft of the document. He corrected the following errors in the draft ordinance: page 10, Item 5 represents a list of possible service businesses, not a list of businesses to which services might be provided; page 12, Item 2 should be corrected, on the recommendation of the City Attorney, to provide for a waiver by the City, rather than by the utility or the Public Utilities Commission. Mr. Farah noted that the ordinance proposed for Eugene is similar to that under consideration in Springfield and that this would provide for good consistency. Mr. Farah said that after the ordinance is adopted, the district will be applied to the sites designated in the plan and that this might result in boundary configurations slightly different from those shown in the Metropolitan Plan diagram. Mr. Farah said that Mr. Thwing was present to answer questions on the e Planning Commission recommendation. No ex parte contacts or conflicts of interest were declared by councilors. Staff notes and minutes were entered into the record. Public hearing was opened. There was no testimony in favor of the ordinance and no testimony offered as other comments. Speaking in opposition: Jim Saul, PO Box 1650, Eugene, represented the owners of the Cone-Breeden, Spectra-Physics, and West Terry Street sites. Addressing the issue of the minimum site area requirements contained in Section 9.546-1-d on page 4 of the draft ordinance, Mr. Saul requested modification to permit outright indus- trial uses on sites of five acres or greater, while maintaining requirements of 10 acres for industrial parks and three acres for office use. To support his request, Mr. Saul cited employment figures for a number of the SIC groups that would be permitted as outright uses under the ordinance and noted that the majority of targeted firms traditionally have fewer than 100, and in many cases fewer than 50 employees. He felt that given these figures, the 10-acre minimum was unnecessary and perhaps even prohibitive. Mr. Saul then cited site size figures for a number of jurisdictions surveyed as part of development of - MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 8, 1982 Page 7