CC Minutes - 09/22/03 Mtg - Laserfiche WebLink

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Additionally, Councilor Kelly related that he continued to be uncomfortable with the staff recommendation on the hospital ordinance. He questioned the permissiveness in the code that was specific to the hospital, noting that a high school or major manufacturer was subject to more stringent land use requirements. He asked staff to respond to this concern. He also requested that staff review language that specified that the certificate of need should be issued after October 1, 2003, and clarify whether this would exempt the existing Hilyard campus of PeaceHealth Hospital. He asked staff to respond to whether said campus, now proposed to house 70 beds, would still fall under the definition of hospital in the proposed ordinance. Councilor Bettman stated that it was a known fact that there were two hospital entities, McKenzie- Willamette/Triad and PeaceHealth, and that PeaceHealth was building a major hospital facility at its new site. She reiterated that the City was endeavoring to site a full-service hospital in the City of Eugene. Councilor Meisner commented that he did not have a fixed position on either recommendation at this point as he had concerns about both. He felt that the resolution left enough room for a successful negotiation. He added that it would be specious and presumptuous to assume that the City would always only have two providers of hospital care. Councilor Nathanson, acknowledging concerns about the staff zoning change proposals, suggested that a proposal could be made that was less broad. Tom Coyle, Executive Director of the Planning and Development Department, responded that the changes in the code with which some had taken issue were related to the industrial changes to the code. He said there had been very little opposition on that from an interface issue. He related that staff had excluded the C-1 zoning in light of the last discussion. He stated that the changes in this code had been distilled down to whether the City would allow the hospital land use in an R-1 or R-2 zone under a conditional use permit (CUP). He commented that a random survey would find that roughly between 40 to 60 percent of cities allowed it one way and the rest allowed it the other way. Mr. Coyle reiterated the staff belief that this could be a compatible use with the development standards in R-1 and R-2 zones. He said the question was how to fix the code in order to constrain it and, to that end, the council could take the two provisions out of the code and make that change at the work session on September 24. He added that the other comment regarding the hospital development site would have to be looked into in greater depth and that staff would have a response at the work session. Mr. Carlson stated that the other significant change proposed was to change hospital uses from being conditional. He stressed that, at the present, any hospital was required to apply for a conditional use permit. Mayor Torrey asked legal counsel if certain thresholds would have to be met if more than one option was available and if there would be a problem should the potential hospital ask the City to acquire land through condemnation. Mr. Klein replied that, should the City Council make the determination that the site was appropriate for such action, the council could legally do so. Councilor Bettman suggested that there was a third option in the packet, an option to direct staff to amend the code to allow hospitals with the provision to allow City approval on a site by site basis. She opined that this was the most expedient and advantageous choice. She said that opening up the zones would force the City to do the ~footwork" afterwards. She noted that she supported the removal of the MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 22, 2003 Page 10 Regular Meeting