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to the Certificate of Need committee, which would then make a recommendation to the Department of Health and Human Services, as per Oregon Administrative Rule 33.590-0040. She believed that the rule severely limited the placing of the hospital. She recommended that a negotiating committee be formed to, among other things, look into this. She provided the council with testimony she had given to the legislature in support of changing the rules regarding the Certificate of Need. She stated that the advisory committee for the process would be holding its next meeting on September 29 in the Straub Room of the Lane County Building. Lauri Segal, 120 West Broadway Street, expressed the support of 1,000 Friends of Oregon for the recommendation on the ordinance regarding hospital zoning made by the Planning Commission. She called the commission's proposal ;;well-thought out," stating that it provided flexibility, incentives, and certainty for health-care facility siting while recognizing the need to consider the livability of existing neighborhoods, availability of existing infrastructure, and the integrity of the downtown core. She commended the commissioners for their diligent and thoughtful work session, stating that the product of the work was a ;;positive forward-thinking recommendation that will benefit future planning for hospitals." She said that 1,000 Friends of Oregon provided its support for the recommendation with exceptions: that the recommen- dation be amended to permit hospitals, clinics, and laboratories as conditional uses in industrial and high- density residential zones and outright in most commercial zones, with redevelopment options as one possible application of conditional use allowances in industrial and high density residential zones. Continuing, she said that the Planning Commission recommendation considering zoning for hospitals, laboratories, and clinics coupled with a focus on siting hospitals near the geographic center of Eugene was consistent with the council's expectations for a hospital zoning proposal that was flexible, easy to implement, and compatible with existing plans. Rob Zako, 1280 B East 20th Avenue, transportation advocate for 1,000 Friends of Oregon, requested the record remain open for a week. He emphasized that everyone present was in agreement that the City needed a hospital and that the point of consideration was how to achieve that goal. He thought that a refinement of the staff recommendation would facilitate this. He called the notion of allowing a hospital to be developed ;;anywhere" n~iive as it was well known that a hospital could not randomly locate. He asserted that the City of Springfield was experiencing difficulties in siting the new Peace Health facility. He stated that it was a complicated process and recommended the adoption of the Planning Commission's flexible approach to hospital zoning. Bill Kloos, PO Box 11906, spoke on behalf of a local medical group that was in the process of siting a new clinic. He thought that several more such clinics would be sited in Eugene in the near future. He noted that he had submitted a letter of testimony to staff, with copies to the council, that concluded with three points: · Clinics should be allowed in the same zones as a hospital, as per the staff recommendation. · Clinics should not be tied to a single hospital development site, and this would let the market work for clinics in the same manner that the market works for hospitals. · Clinics should be allowed to be developed throughout the City as indicated by market de- mand. Seeing that no further testimony, Mayor Torrey closed the public hearing. He opened the floor for questions and comments from councilors. MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 8, 2003 Page 9 Regular Meeting