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Mayor Piercy opened the public hearing. <br /> <br />Zachary Vishanoff <br />, Patterson Street, asked if this request for changes in the rules had come from <br />developers Connor and Woolley. <br /> <br />Staff responded that it had not. <br /> <br />Mr. Vishanoff felt the Lincoln School Apartments were being “lost to condos.” He thought a way to <br />mitigate that would be to take the old Condon School and convert it to apartments. He opined that there <br />were “so many of these old schools that [one] could get the chance to live in.” He urged the City to conduct <br />an audit of low-income housing. <br /> <br />John VanLandingham <br />, 335 North Grand Street, said he was an advocate for the ordinance passed in <br />1981. Additionally, he had helped to write the ordinance. He clarified that no one testified before the HPB <br />about the decrease in time to 120 days, but the HPB discussed it extensively. He related that County <br />Commissioner Bobby Green expressed concern with it. He said the majority of the members were <br />comfortable with a 120-day limit as it was 120 days from the issuance of the permit and the process was <br />significantly longer than that. He averred that if the council had an issue with this change, the HPB would <br />be amenable to removing it. He underscored that the limited amount of moving expense money had been <br />their biggest area of concern. <br /> <br />In regard to Councilor Bettman’s question, Mr. VanLandingham said he could not recall why the moving <br />expenses were limited to the city of Eugene. <br /> <br />Mayor Piercy closed the public hearing. <br /> <br />Councilor Kelly indicated his intention to introduce an amendment, included in council packets regarding <br />payment of moving expenses; specifically tying the amount to the Fixed Residential Moving Cost Schedule <br />set forth by the Federal Uniform Relocation Assistance Real Property Acquisition Policies Act. <br /> <br />Councilor Kelly opined, regarding the ordinance, that though policy stipulated that there be a mix of <br />housing types, there were not enough condominiums, particularly given the aging population. <br /> <br />Councilor Bettman said she would introduce language to amend the ordinance to include a broader area in <br />the parameters for the payment of moving expenses. Additionally, she wondered if the change in <br />requirements from an engineering report to that of a reserve specialist would compromise standards. Ms. <br />Dawson responded that such specialists were commonly used across the nation. She offered to get more <br />information on this issue. Councilor Bettman wished to know where the liability would fall. <br /> <br />In response to a question from Councilor Bettman, Ms. Dawson explained that the owner had to give notice <br />to the tenant that the conversion was pending and, no sooner than 30 days and no later than 60 days from <br />that point, the owner was required to apply for the permit. <br /> <br />In response to a question from Councilor Taylor, Ms. Dawson said the original instigation for the <br />ordinance was that it had become impossible to obtain the required certified architect’s report and one <br />could not conduct a conversion without such a report under the current ordinance. Additionally, the <br />moving costs had been set in 1986 and had not been updated. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />MINUTES—Eugene City Council June 26, 2006 Page 7 <br /> Regular Meeting <br /> <br />