CC Minutes - 07/08/02 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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Councilor Nathanson said that she had not changed her previous position. She continued to support the parkway and was prepared to move the project along. The parkway project was a State project intended to address transportation through and in western Lane County, not just in Eugene. It affected communities around the city and was part of the State system. Councilor Nathanson wanted to move forward with ideas to address the aesthetics of West 11th Avenue, which is large, hazardous, and unattractive. She pointed out that the council had recently adopted a motion offered by Councilor Meisner to take steps in that direction. Councilor Taylor agreed with the remarks of Councilor Kelly. She said that approval of the amendments would delay consideration of real transportation improvements and result in the destruction of the wetlands. Councilor Taylor showed those present an artist's rendering of the parkway as it would appear crossing over the wetlands to demonstrate the scale of the project in relationship to the wetlands. Councilor Taylor said she had also reviewed the materials extensively and recently visited the wetlands. At that time she learned that traffic from the parkway will be heard from the Stewart Pond mitigation site. She argued that the illegality of the parkway project was demonstrated by the need to make exceptions to State goals. She said that federal policy would be violated because land bought for natural resource purposes with federal money would be affected. She said that there were many legal and moral arguments against the parkway. Councilor Pap~ said that he had hoped an alternative to the parkway could be found last year, and when none was found, the parkway measure was offered to the voters. He said that the voters asked the council to facilitate the construction of the parkway, and he did not think it was facilitating the parkway to look for a way to reject it. He congratulated staff for the work it had done in creating the findings and said he believed there was a way to build the parkway. He agreed that it might not happen tomorrow. Councilor Pap~ said that the council should abide by the will of the voters. He indicated support for both ordinances. Mayor Torrey said he hoped the council would cast a unanimous vote for first reading. Mayor Torrey said that the parkway was important because he did not know of an alternative to transportation problems in west Eugene. He said that local elected officials spent considerable time trying to get funding for the first phases of the parkway, and ©D©T had declined to support a partial solution. He pointed out that the council had shown no support for new revenues in Eugene that were applied to anything other than road maintenance. If the parkway was rejected by the council, the cost of all transportation improvements east of the Beltline would be the responsibility of local residents. Mayor Torrey thought Eugene could serve as a national leader by building a highway through the wetlands that impacted the wetlands as little as possible. He believed the agencies in charge of the project would work to make it environmentally sensitive. He said that while the parkway was still a road, he thought it could be an entrance to be proud of. Mayor Torrey said that it was time to move the project forward. If the parkway could not meet the legal hurdles that lay ahead, it would be stopped. He suggested that in the absence of the parkway, widening Highway 126 would face many of the same issues. Mayor Torrey called for another round of comments. MINUTES--Eugene City Council July 8, 2002 Page 11 Regular Meeting