Item 2A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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Mayor Piercy praised Ms. Bettman and those who worked hard on the concept so that the City had money and did not “roll over” for every claim that came through. She was not opposed to Eugene being first. However, she had a sense that the idea had not “cooked enough.” Mayor Piercy noted that Governor Ted Kulongoski expressed interest in dealing with the concept, as did Representative Floyd Prozanski. She hoped that a work group could be formed to track the work of the legislature and help to develop a more fully informed way to move forward. Mayor Piercy asked Mr. Klein what “jeopardy” the City would be in terms of regulating infill and other Planning Commission work plan items if the council postponed action for five months. Mr. Klein said it depended on the schedule those items were on. Most of the “jeopardy” arose from existing regulations not in place prior to the establishment of the State land use system. Ms. Muir did not see any pending commission actions that would give rise to additional Ballot Measure 37 claims. Ms. Bettman encouraged the governor and State legislature to do what they could to remedy the effects of Ballot Measure 37. If they took action, her amendment would ensure the ordinance ceased to exist. In the meanwhile, Ballot Measure 37 was the law and the City needed a revenue source to counter its effects. Speaking to Mr. Pryor’s comments, Ms. Bettman said the fee was based on the average real market value so it would underestimate the benefit that accrued to a property after the City took action, which worked to the benefit of the property owner. In a situation where the appraisal may be above the average, those property owners were likely to appeal and do their own appraisal and they would get a reduction in the fee; when an appraisal was below the average, those property owners would not need to appeal. The result would be that the appraisal would be based on the average and below. Ms. Solomon, seconded by Ms. Ortiz, moved that the ordinance be scheduled for a work session following the 2007 legislative session. Ms. Solomon strongly objected to the direction the council was heading. She thought the ordinance needed more work and it would have the same type of unintended consequences as Ballot Measure 37. Ms. Solomon, seconded by Mr. Papé, moved to substitute the motion with a motion to di- rect the City Manager to perform no additional work on the real property value-added charge and the ordinance shall not be scheduled for a future council meeting. Mr. Kelly indicated his opposition to the substitute motion because he interpreted it as precluding the council from discussing the issue again. He thought it would be foolhardy for the council, in the face of existing and potential Ballot Measure 37 claims and what he believed to be the community’s desire to continue to do land use planning, to not continue the discussion. Ms. Bettman was glad that Ms. Solomon offered her substitute motion because she thought it very revealing. She said some people who called for delay did not support Ballot Measure 37 and had good intentions, while others calling for delay supported Ballot Measure 37 and just wanted to kill the ordinance and any jurisdictions’ ability to do anything but waive regulations. She considered the motion “an honest example of what some people’s motivations are.” She intended to vote down the substitute motion and amend the Mayor’s motion. Mr. Papé said that some of the personalities that had slowed progress on the implementation of Ballot Measure 37 were not going to be around for the next legislative session, and he wanted to give the legislature one more chance to address the issues. MINUTES—Eugene City Council December 11, 2006 Page 8 Work Session