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the WEWP if they wanted the parkway. He did not think it was the plan's intent to bisect wetlands with roads. He did not think that ODOT would ever get through the environmental process because the project had huge environmental problems. He agreed that a west connector was needed, but it should be near West 11th Avenue. Councilor Pap8 said that the parkway was long-envisioned and the WEWP developed so that wetlands could be mitigated and banked, and commercial and industrial properties in that part of town developed. Those developable properties needed transportation connections. He appreciated the staff research on successful and unsuccessful mitigation, noting that the science was not clear as to the success of the mitigation needed. He was optimistic that ODOT could successfully mitigate the wetlands that would be lost. Councilor Meisner asked Planning Director Jan Childs to discuss the land previously reserved for the WEP in the West Eugene Wetlands Plan. Ms. Childs provided some background, noting that the southern alignment previously designated for development in the plan was found to have natural resource issues. The development designation was subsequently removed from the southern portion and the planned transportation corridor designation was recommended to be applied to the northern alignment. It was not applied earlier because ODOT had not made its final alignment selection at the time the plan amendments were adopted in 2000. Following selection of the alignment as the preferred alternative, the amendment was to have moved forward. Mayor Torrey said he believed the community could produce a road and take care of the wetlands. He said that for the project to proceed, the BLM must be convinced the wetlands to be impacted would be mitigated. Determining the mitigation ratios would be a process involving the local community. He did not think the community would allow mitigation to occur sloppily, or that ODOT would fail to comply with what the BLM and the Army Corps of Engineers asked of it. Mayor Torrey said that BLM indicated some months past that the Eugene Speedway property was the last property it would acquire in west Eugene, and it was concerned about its ability to restore and maintain what property it already had. He said that the road would consume 55 acres of wetlands, but he believed there were well more than 55 acres of wetlands of the same or higher quality that BLM could require ODOT to acquire for mitigation. Mayor Torrey said that there was no better community to make the WEWP work as it was intended to, which was to balance the needs of the environment and the development community. Councilor Rayor asked Ms. Childs for an explanation of the designations shown on Map 3 in the 1992 version of the WEWP. Ms. Childs clarified there were only three wetlands designations in 1992: Protect, Develop, and Restore. The idea of the planned transportation and utility corridors came later, after the adoption of the 1992 plan, and was based on administrative rules adopted by the Division of State Lands in recognition that in some cases roadways and utility corridors were needed in wetlands that would otherwise be protected. The alignment was designated for development in 1992 as that was the only designation that would allow for fill at that time. She pointed out how narrow the area was, and that it followed the contours of the proposed alignment. In both cases, the corridor designation would be applied in very specific situations. Councilor Bettman reiterated that there was no plan in place for mitigation. ODOT was asking the City to amend the plan before knowing the actual impact and the mitigation approach for that impact. She believed the road would affect much beyond the 55-acre footprint, altering the functions and values of the wetlands in a way that could not be mitigated. Councilor Bettman said that the City continued to pull back on wetland protections, so she did not believe the WEWP MINUTES--Eugene City Council July 8, 2002 Page 14 Regular Meeting