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<br /> <br /> <br />August 1, 2006 <br /> <br /> <br />Mayor Piercy and Eugene City Council <br />777 Pearl St. <br />Eugene, OR 97401 <br /> <br />Dear Mayor Piercy and City Councilors, <br /> <br />The board of the River Road Community Organization asks the City of Eugene halt the <br />practice of extended street annexations in our River Road neighborhood. <br /> <br />It is the City's stated practice to pursue only voluntary annexations of private property <br />where possible. The Metro Plan also states "In each case, Eugene will make every <br />attempt to provide for annexation only on a voluntary basis…" [Metro Plan page II-F-4, <br />policy 3]. <br /> <br />Yet, City staff have recently adopted a practice of asking the Boundary Commission to <br />approve annexation of street segments that go far beyond the boundaries of properties <br />applying for voluntary annexation. In some cases, these annexations result in <br />immediate creation of small or large "islands" of other unannexed properties. In other <br />cases, annexing long segments of streets sets up the formation of additional "islands" in <br />a next round of street annexations. By current state law, the City can initiate forced <br />annexation of properties in such an island without the consent of individual property <br />owners or a majority vote of the affected residents. <br /> <br />As City staff acknowledge, the practice of extended street annexations is controversial <br />with property owners in River Road and Santa Clara, many of whom believe the City is <br />creating islands in order to involuntarily annex them in coming years. <br /> <br />Staff claim that extended street annexations are needed to improve delivery of certain <br />services, primarily police and fire emergency response and certain road maintenance <br />and water and stormwater functions. We do not find their arguments convincing or <br />compelling, and address the details in a separate attachment. Instead, this practice <br />seems to be a step away from the City's stated practice and Metro Plan policy of <br />voluntary annexations only. <br /> <br />Although the City may be the "logical" and ultimate service provider in our area, other <br />interim or permanent options (retention or consolidation or merger of independent <br />