06/23/1980 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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high level-of citizen attendance at all land-use forums is equivalent to citizen involvement in the formation of land-use policy, or does the council intend for the committee to review citizen participation and land-use policy evolution . without an assumed positive 1 inkage between meeting attendance and involvement in policy formation?" The City of Eugene adopted the Citizen Involvement Program in August 1975 as respo.nse to a requirement by the State Land Conservation and Development Com- mission which requires each city and county in Oregon to develop and maintain a program for citizen involvement in the planning process. Since then, the program has been reviewed and revised twice by the Eugene City Council, most recently in February 1979. Recommendations from the Eugene Citizen Involvement Committee were distributed to the council. The revisions contained in the draft generally reflect the following changes: modifications made to the Citizen Involvement Program by the City Council in February 1979; recent changes to the Metropolitan Area Planning Advisory Committee bylaws; recommended expansion of Citizen Involvement Committee memberShip from seven to nine members; and clari- fication of neighborhood functions as related to refinement plans. They would 1 ike to expand the committee to incl ude one representative from the Eugene neighborhood leaders and one more citizen-at-large. She called the council's attention to a letter submitted by Steve Wood. chairman of MAPAC. The Plannin~ Commission reviewed the annual report and the Citizen Involvement Program at t eir meeting today. Two citizen-at-large members, Dan Anderson and Darcy Marentette, are present at the council meeting tonight, Ms. Vanderpool said. , Ms. Schue stated this has been a good year for the committee. They have made a lot of progress. The committee wants the council to resolve to the question on page 4 as to what their charge is--the meaning of citizen involvement. She noted there has been disagreement among the committee as to what the committee's tit charge is. They have tried to determine whether the physical presence of large numbers of people who seem to be interested is enough or whether there should be an effect on the outcome of the issue under discussion and whether they should try to determine if it makes a difference if the citizens are there. . Mr. Lieuallen noted he is still not clear what the question is and asked Dan Anderson for clarification. Dan Anderson, 2522 Van Ness, stated there are two ways of looking at the issue of citizen involvement. The first is to assume that large numbers of people attending land-use forums is evidence of citizen involvement. The second is to not assume that there is a direct linkage between public attendance and policy decisions, which calls into question whether people attending really have any input into the policy decisions. He questioned whether the public attending a land-use forum are spectators watching policy development or are players. Mr. tieuallen stated that one would generally assume that large numbers of people in attendance would be a good thing. He views the committee as moni- toring the process and seeing that the issues are brought to the people. He was in favor of expanding the ~umber of committee members. Ms. Schue noted ~. -- 6/23/80--8 .