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Tom Watson, 1963 7th Street, Springfield, spoke in regard to the ICMA/PERF Report on the problems in <br />the Eugene Police Department (EPD). He thought it seemed clear that the department had prior knowledge <br />of its problems. He asserted that though eight years earlier such a report had been requested, the City <br />Council had paid $108,000 to "hear it all over again." He felt the City officials had failed its citizenry by <br />declining to act on the earlier report. He averred the present report pointed to a lack of supervision, training, <br />and accountability. He called the report a "smoking gun of liability" for the City of Eugene. He stated that <br />the City needed leadership and needed to get the "bad cops off the streets." He quoted Gail Fisher-Stewart, <br />who asked what kind of culture would allow these activities to go unnoticed and unaddressed. He asserted <br />that Eugene still wanted to believe that the EPD was not in crisis. He alleged that the City would not be in <br />this position today had it responded appropriately to the study eight years earlier. He felt the human <br />resources division was pushing diversity over public good and sweeping changes in the EPD were necessary. <br /> <br />Paul Cont,, 1461 West 10th Avenue, member of the Chambers Area Families for Healthy Neighborhoods <br />(CAFHN), provided copies of the research done by the group on the R-2 zoned lots that were east of <br />Chambers Street in the Chambers Node Revisited (CNR) project area. He said the research presented a <br />clear picture that in this area the infill policy of Eugene had failed to produce substantial benefit in reducing <br />pressure for sprawl and instead had done substantial harm to healthy functioning parts of this pedestrian- <br />friendly neighborhood with close-in lots. He recounted that for many years the R-2 zoning had allowed <br />roughly two dwellings per lot and this resulted in the development of smaller scale dense dwellings such as <br />duplexes and small attached and detached units. He felt this had little impact on the stability of the <br />neighborhood. Since then, the allowance for density had been substantially increased in an attempt to relieve <br />the pressure of urban sprawl. He said 27 lots with three or more dwelling units had been developed, of <br />which 19 caused severe negative impacts on adjacent properties and five caused substantial negative <br />impacts. He felt this was the sort of hard data that the Planning and Development Department (PDD) <br />should be gathering. He said CAFHN would present proposals for development standards to the Planning <br />Commission and the City Council that would allow density that exceeded levels set by the City and regional <br />policies. He added that those proposals would also start to implement City and regional policies to protect <br />and stabilize established neighborhoods. He underscored that the proposals would be grounded in thorough <br />research. <br /> <br />Carol DeFazio, 1437 West l0th Avenue, also represented CAFHN. She noted that CAFHN had presented <br />its interim Neighbors' Report to the council in February, which included a comprehensive description of the <br />character of their neighborhood. She commented that the basic patterns of the neighborhood were simple, <br />elegant, intuitive, and effective. She asserted that they had stood the test of time and had made the <br />neighborhood the "wonderful, friendly, diverse, and successful urban community" it had been for over 75 <br />years. She averred that developers and planners were now designing large-scale neo-traditional <br />developments all over the country, including on the fringes of Eugene. She alleged that existing <br />neighborhoods were under a constant threat of destabilization. She thought current R-2 zoning standards <br />left older neighborhoods vulnerable to exploitation as developers would come in and attempt to build as <br />many units as possible on a lot without thinking of the impacts on neighbors. She called it "tragic," as this <br />infill did not save farmland and only destroyed the character of existing neighborhoods. She asked what <br />sense there was to land use planning that tossed out the "genuine article" for a reproduction. <br /> <br />Kate Perle, 4740 Wendover Street, noted that the council had been provided copies of a document produced <br />by the Santa Clara Community Organization entitled An Alternative Proposal for Community Parl~ <br />Facilities in Santa Clara. She read the preamble into the record, which laid the groundwork for a proposal <br />to find a number of smaller parcels to use for parks rather than expanding the urban growth boundary <br /> <br />MINUTES--Eugene City Council April 11, 2005 Page 3 <br /> Regular Session <br /> <br /> <br />