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should one change go through and the other not. Mayor Torrey called for the vote. Roll call vote; the motion passed, 6:2; councilors Bettman and Taylor voting in oppo- sition. 4. PUBLIC HEARING: An Ordinance Amending Chapter 9 of the Eugene Code Regarding Hospital and Related Medical Uses; and Adopting a Severability Clause City Manager Taylor called for Planning and Development Department Director Tom Coyle to introduce the subject. Mr. Coyle explained that the item had come before the council subsequent to council initiation of a code amendment in April of this year to reconsider the zone districts that provide for hospital uses in the City of Eugene. He stated that the Planning Commission had discussed the proposed code amendment extensively and had come up with an option to propose (Attachment A). He noted the Planning Commission would limit the area in which a hospital could be constructed in to an area within a two-mile radius of the downtown core and would not include residential zones. He related that the second option had been generated by members of the public and would allow much discretion as it would require City approval (or denial) of development of a hospital on a site-by-site basis. The third option listed in the agenda item summary (ALS) was the staff recommendation, which would be to review the existing districts in which hospitals had been allowed. He said there was a comparison in the staff packet of the impacts of a hospital to a high school in terms of traffic, parking, and other things one would traditionally think of as impacts. He encouraged the council to fairly assess the different options that were presented, but noted that the draft ordinance included in the packet had been drafted from the staff recommendation. Mr. Coyle indicated that Planning Commission President Charles Rusch was present to respond to questions. Mayor Torrey opened the public hearing. Charles Rusch, President of the Eugene Planning Commission, 99 West 10th Avenue, explained that the commission had found the staff recommendation to be minimal and somewhat lacking and had agreed to provide a recommendation of greater depth. He asserted that the staff recommendation encouraged development of a hospital at the edges of the City where green fields were plentiful but the population of the City was more scarce. He related the Planning Commission's concern that lives would be lost because of the distance traveled to the hospital. Another conclusion reached by the commission was that, should the hospital be located north of the river and should a disaster such as an earthquake compromise the system of bridges, the safety of those citizens residing to the south of the river would be jeopardized. He said changing the zoning code would make it easier to locate a hospital but would not make it more likely. He averred that a hospital would only locate in the City of Eugene when City representatives could sit down with a hospital board. To that end, he related the commission's recommendation to form and empower a negotiating committee and to set up geographic constraints to encourage location of the hospital ;;where the people are," e.g. within a two-mile radius of the population center of Eugene and southwest of the river. MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 8, 2003 Page 6 Regular Meeting