03/13/1978 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

e could cut as many trees as he wished. The ordinance provides that an owner of an improved lot could cut all trees down in order to plant lawn or do as he wished with his property. He said the Committee had attempted to minimize the work of the Parks Department having to look at every single tree-cutting situation. Also, the ordinance amend- ments would give the individual property owner the right to do as he wishes with his property, and the ordinance would prevent indiscrimi- nate tree cutting. The principal problem was cutting a large number of trees within a subdivsion. He felt the ordinance was adequate and Mr. Bradley's concern was something that probably would not happen. Ray Wiley, 2100 Shields, member of the Tree Preservation Committee, noted that a 20,000 square foot lot was a large lot for the City of Eugene, there being very few that size in subdivisions. He said if an individual owner had a acreage or a 20,000 square-foot lot, he could cut five trees per year. The Committee originally wanted the building permit application to be the key for cutting trees. He noted. the time between the application for a permit and actual starting of construc- tion would allow a developer to clear a building site without a building permit and thus allow him to complete the house three to four days earlier. Before a person applied for a building permit, a set of plans with a site plan must be submitted. The individual then applies for the permit and pays the permit fee. He said in regard to Mr. Bradley's hypothetical situation, it was highly unlikely that a person would apply for 100 permits as it would be too expensive. In response to another question from Mr. Bradley, Mr. Wiley said most builders and developers build a house one at a time. However, he noted two situations in which there was a builder/developer or just a developer. The developer sells the lots to the builder. The builder- developer might take out a permit for two to three houses at one time, and he noted most of the houses in the South Hills area are pre-sold situations. - Mr. Delay reminded the Council that it was dealing with an ordinance specifically addressing a particular kind of problem. The intent of the ordinance is to try to move how the vegetation is to be dealt with to people who will be living on the property. He thought the ordinance addressed that very issue. Mr. Bradley was still concerned about his hypothetical situation in that there was no protection to prevent someone from clear-cutting in those areas. He felt the ordinance was placing a higher priority on certain parts of the city, in this instance on the hillsides. He also felt it was restricting what a person would do with his own property. He noted for the record that he was totally opposed to the provision dealing with 20,000 square-foot lot size. He felt the ordinance was not doing what it should be doing if Council wanted to place a high value on tree preservation as opposed to what a person can do with his own property. . 3/13/78--5 15~