05/11/1981 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

,j to those with addresses outside Eugene. An open meeting was held in February for the regular WNQP membership and for residents and property owners in the affected area. Turnout at the meeting was good, and discussion on the item lasted almost two hours. Notice that the proposed annexation would be voted on at the March WNQP meeting was included in the newsletter distributed prior to that meeting. The executive board of the neighborhood organization had understood from the Neighborhood Liaisons in the Eugene City Manager's Office that according to the WNQP charter, only residents of the existing neighborhood area could vote on the issue, not residents or property owners of the area proposed for annexation. The vote had been in favor of annexation. e- Mr. Andersen indicated that WNQP had received petitions related to the annexa- tion proposal. A pro petition, containing 39 or 40 signatures, has been sub- mitted to the council with other materials related to the item. A con petition, circulated by Chester Pietka, had inadvertently been misplaced by Mr. Andersen. He thought that it had contained approximately eight or nine signatures. Mr. Andersen noted that the charter revision request presented to the council included a first and a second option of boundaries for the annexation. The area bordered by Washington and Lincoln streets and 7th and 13th avenues contains over 50 dwelling units per block and is thus more densely residential than the additional area bordered by Charnelton and Lincoln and 7th and 13th, which contains approximately 15 to 20 dwelling units per block. WNQP members who had supported the Charnelton boundary over the Lincoln boundary did so because they felt that it made more sense to have the WNQP boundary dovetail with the boundary at Charnelton of the Eugene Renewal Agency (ERA). They had also felt that residents of this smaller area deserve representation just as much as those in the area west of Lincoln. Mr. Andersen explainedthat a portion of the area proposed for annexation was once a part of WNQP but had seceded from the organization and formed its own neighborhood group. This group was later disbanded by the City Council because the group was inactive. Mr. Andersen understood that one reason that the group had seceded from WNQP was that the focus of the area it represented was pri- marily commercial. The focus in the area has since been changed, by application of mixed-use zoning, to include much high-density residential development. Mr. Andersen felt that there was a continuing misconception on the part of owners of businesses in the area that WNQP is anti-business. Mr. Andersen felt that this was not the case, and pointed out that the WNQP charter is one of the few Eugene neighborhood group charters which includes business owners as voting members of the neighborhood organization. He cited specific instances in which WNQP had supported the concerns of neighborhood businesses in the area. He also added that some businesses in the area, specifically Wilson's Music Shop and Diana's Records and Tapes, have gone on record as supporting being annexed by WNQP. Mr. Andersen listed issues of concern to the entire downtown westside area: the future of Lincoln School, the plans of the Eugene Renewal Agency, the Downtown Housing Study, the urban village concept, and the Emerald Canal. He felt that these issues need to be studied and addressed by citizens within the area proposed to addition to WNQP as well as by members of the existing WNQP. . MINUTES--Eugene City Council May llt 1981 Page 11