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

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City Manager Carlson said that the council would consider Council Bill 4795 by number only. Councilor Kelly, seconded by Councilor Pap~, moved that the bill be approved and given final passage. Roll call vote; the motion passed, 5:3; councilors Kelly, Taylor, and Bettman voting no, and the bill became Ordinance No. 20258. City Manager Carlson said that the council would consider Council Bill 4796, an ordinance amending the West Eugene Wetlands Plan to redesignate property within the modified project alignment of the West Eugene Parkway from Protect and Restore to Planned Transportation Corridor; adopting a severability clause; and providing an effective date; and replacement Exhibit B, Findings. Councilor Kelly, seconded by Councilor Pap~, moved that the bill, with the unanimous consent of the council, be read the second time by council bill number only, and that enactment be considered at this time. Mayor Torrey called for comments on the motion. Councilor Kelly spoke against the motion because ©D©T had not identified how much of the wetlands would be mitigated or the area where mitigation would occur. He had no sense of whether it was possible to mitigate the wetlands in question because there was no information provided to the council regarding the issue. He asked what would happen if ©D©T was unable to find enough land to mitigate upon. He also opposed the motion because it would require a waiver of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) policy related to the use of properties purchased with Land and Water Conservation Funds. He believed that would set a national precedent for taking lands purchased for preservation for use as a roadway. Finally, Councilor Kelly believed there was solid biological information in the record that indicated that west of Beltline, the project would do irreparable harm to the largest remaining contiguous wetlands. Councilor Bettman agreed with Councilor Kelly's comments. She spoke of how essential water was to human life, and said that the federal government recognized that fact through the passage of the Clean Water Act. The act was not just for animals and plants, it was for human beings, because the wetlands served the function of filtering water, restoring the aquifer, and controlling flooding. If the WEWP was amended to accommodate the parkway, there was no such thing as protection for wetlands. With enough momentum and money, any environmental protections could be reversed. She said that the amendment was not consistent with applicable plans and policies. Councilor Fart questioned what would happen if every time the voters voted, the council discussed whether or not to uphold the will of the voters. He suggested that chaos would result. He repeated that credibility was an issue; the voters had spoken, and the council should facilitate construction of the parkway. Councilor Rayor believed he had acted to facilitate the parkway by working to push the solutions preferred by the Environmental Protection Agency. Those solutions were rejected. He said that the area that would be affected contained several species of interest, both animal and plant. He cited Bradshaw's Iomatium and Kincaid's lupine as examples of plant species of interest. Councilor Rayor suggested the voters should have voted to overturn the ordinances implementing MINUTES--Eugene City Council July 8, 2002 Page 13 Regular Meeting