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Mr. Nystrom stressed that no council action on the matter was required that evening. He said that staff would be requesting action on February 24. Mayor Torrey opened the public hearing. Chuck Rusch, representing the Eugene Planning Commission, read a statement from the Planning Commission into the record. He noted that the largest portions of the land in question had been sold and were planned for subdivision into single-family home sites. He said the commission felt that it would be a very long time before the new homes could be replaced with the higher density development required for an effective node. He said the commission felt that to designate an area not likely to succeed as a node would lead to pressure to abandon nodal development entirely. He said the commission had voted 4:1 to not recommend the Danebo node as a priority site for the overlay designation. He stressed that the commission was not recommending that Danebo be dropped from the list of intended nodes but was recommending that it be dropped from the high-priority list since it could not be made into an effective node that would actualize State planning goals. Jim Spickerman, 975 Oak Street, spoke representing Bi-Mart Corporation, which had a store located on the corner of Danebo and Royal Avenue. He said the shopping center around that store had been fully developed and had been developed pursuant to the long existing Metro Plan and local refinement plan for that area. He said Bi-Mart had located in that spot for the purpose of attracting business from the residential areas that would be developed in the area under the nodal development concept. He acknowledged that the TransPlan nodal concept did not comport with the area. Mr. Spickerman said the analysis of the Planning Commission was correct in that adoption of the node would harm the integrity of the nodal development concept. He said the staff fallback position of applying the designation to the southern 40 acres south of Royal Avenue did not make sense since the concept could not be made to work on a smaller area when it had already failed on a larger one. He opined that the Planning Commission had gotten to the land too late to effect a true nodal development area. He stressed that there were only 22 acres of the area in question left undeveloped and remarked that this was not enough land to make the nodal development concept applicable. Mayor Torrey closed the public hearing and called for questions/comments from the councilors. Councilor Bettman clarified that the Planning Commission did not want to drop the area for nodal development entirely but only wanted to remove the area from the priority list. In response to a comment from Councilor Bettman that she had not heard specifics on how the nodal plan for Bethel/Danebo node was contradicting land use goals or was inconsistent with the Metropolitan Area General Plan, Mr. Nystrom said the Planning Commission had been more focused on whether the area in question should be a priority site for nodal development and what opportunities it offered as opposed to specific findings on Statewide planning goals. He said the decision was more centered on whether the site was suitable and whether it should be on the priority list. In response to a question from Councilor Bettman whether it was relevant to center on whether the site was appropriate for the priority list since there were no inconsistencies with the Metro Plan or with other land use goals, Ms. Childs said it was not. MINUTES-Eugene City Council February 10, 2003 Page 7 Regular Meeting