CC Minutes - 10/22/03 WS - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Mr. Kelly felt the ordinance provided hospital uses with a degree of permissiveness no other land use was allowed. He opined it needed scrutiny and asked the council to consider whether a hospital should be allowed to develop in a single-family residential neighborhood. Ms. Bettman asserted the hospital had the ability to site a hospital immediately and nothing in the ordinance would stop it. She felt the ordinance to be extremely permissive in terms of expansion of the PeaceHealth campus and that people at the public hearing had no chance to provide comment on this specific portion of the language. Ms. Bettman said having a hospital north of the river would not fill the City's need for emergency facilities. She opined that it would be more beneficial to have a hospital in Glenwood because of its proximity to the City of Eugene. Ms. Taylor clarified that she did feel it urgent to welcome a hospital but did not feel the ordinance before the council was needed. She stressed the City's responsibility to regulate private businesses, noting the communities of interest were neighborhoods. She felt it important to place the hospital in a location that was better for the community. Mr. Pap6 concurred with the comments of Mayor Torrey and City Manager Taylor. In response to a question from Mr. Pap6, Mr. Klein said the 45-bed limit was intended to ensure that the provider was large enough to be considered a hospital, but small enough to ensure that it worked for both of the providers. Mr. Pap6 favored the ordinance. He opposed forming a facilitation committee. He called the incentives offered for hospital siting "the right thing." Regarding the assertion that the needs of the south hills might not be met, he suggested the community had other options, such as opening a public clinic, should the need be great and unmet. Mr. Meisner commented that zoning had been created to separate and categorize land uses. He opined that strict use of zoning categories did not work well and many jurisdictions had moved away from this paradigm. He said having easy access to shopping, work, and health care was the fundamental element of nodal development, and added that one site suggested for the hospital siting was located in his neighborhood of single-family residences and the neighborhood would welcome it. Mr. Kelly moved, seconded by Ms. Bettman, to remove the use of hospital siting in the R-1 zone, noted on page 6 of the ordinance. Mayor Torrey asked which sites this would remove from the list of possibilities. Mr. Klein said one specific site, Gheen Irrigation, did contain R-1 property. Mr. Kelly asserted his amendment would not take the Gheen Irrigation site out of the running, but it would require a hospital to apply for a zone change. He did not feel this to be an insurmountable barrier to hospital development, adding the Arlie and Company PUD had been moved through the City Council in two or three meetings. MINUTES--Eugene City Council October 22, 2003 Page 7 Work Session