08/25/1975 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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II -A-7 Dan Brown, 2480 Lawrence Street, thought it ironic to note the political pressures in- volved when he understood adoption of the 1990 General Plan initially would "take the politics out of zoning." He was "horrified" that the Council did not consider the e issue one to be deliberated under quasi-judicial procedures. He considered the Plan amendment a change in zoning for the Island properties involved and that Fasano regulations should apply, especially since none of the Island property owners wanted the residential zoning. He suggested rather that that area be kept for commercial uses that were not compatible with the downtown, those types of uses that were a nuisance to the downtown and were now being located in commercial strips. With the large un- broken ownerships in that area it would give the opportunity to clean up all the com- mercial strip zoning in the city, he said. Mr. Brown continued that residential use would create school problems, that rather than concentrating medium-density housing in one area, it should be scattered throughout the community to take advantage of existing school facilities. He thought another type of commercial zoning for the Goodpasture area would be to the benefit of the entire city. II - B-1 Public hearing was closed, there being no further testimony presented. Councilman Bradley asked for staff response to Mr. Moulton's suggestion for a combina- tion of commercial and residential use. Jim Saul, planner, answered that it had been considered. He pointed to the L&B study which recommended preservation of residential area separate from commercial activities now concentrated in the southern portion and around the K-Mart development. He said the study indicated a number of areas in the community already commercially zoned and suitable for the type of other commercial uses referred to in testimony. He also noted the conflict of trying to locate commercial and residential uses immediately adjacent to each other. Councilman Murray disagreed with the position that this hearing was not a legislative proceeding and for that reason he saw no reason for him to withdraw (referring to the e challenge under quasi-judicial rules). However, he did concur that this amendment was instigated by zone change requests in the Goodpasture Island area and that a very important policy question was involved. He co-mented on the irony of the charge that the Council was moving too quickly when the issue had been dealt with over a period of two and a half years and discussed in public setting many times. He commented also on the participation of other jurisdictio-s. He thought there should be that partici- pation, but he couldn't see where they would have anything to respond to until this Council made a recommendation. At the appropriate time, he said, other bodies would be asked for comment with regard to the amendment if adopted here. With regard to the question before the Council, Mr. Murray said he thought it was not whether there was a need for commercial property, rather it was a question of whether it was wanted in the Goodpasture Island area or what development would be deemed most appropriately located there. Councilman Keller expressed the hope that the magnitude of the issue was understood, that it was not an easy one on which to make a decision. He said efforts had been made to gain input from Springfield and Lane County and it was found that Eugene had to make a decision on which the other agencies could act. He wondered whether the decision on this issue would result in zoning for a third regional center at 1-5 and Belt LIne. He was also concerned that there was no Plan amendment procedure to follow, but he felt the procedure outlined for the first one (Whiteaker area) would suffice. He hoped Council deliberations would result in a de.::ision that would best serve most of the peopl e, Councilman Bradley wondered what harm there would be in a Plan amendment that did not exclud commercial but included residential in the definition of opportunity area, one . that would give wider options for the metropolitan area, be more flexible, and give opportunity to decide later after a detailed refinement study of the area whether resi- dential or commercial use was wanted, or a combination. Me. Saul thought that kind of amendment would not address the bulk of the findings contained in the commercial study that the designation for regional commercial activity on the Island be deleted. He 4-7', 8/25/75 - 7