CC Minutes - 10/28/02 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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Roxie Cuellar, Lane County Homebuilders Association, encouraged the council to avoid treating flag lots as "second class lots." She stressed that much of the available land supply was located behind existing lots. She urged the council to not discourage construction on that land. David Hinkley, 1350 Lawrence Street, commented on Ordinance 1. He said reducing the size of a display sign for pending land use decisions would make it less effective. Regarding Ordinance 2, Mr. Hinkley commented that 8-12 residential units per acre was not dense enough to support frequent transit or walk-in business for local commercial businesses. Regarding Ordinance 3, Mr. Hinkley said there were two solutions to the privacy problem presented by flag lots; setbacks and landscaping. He said there was no need to change the current code unless design standards were worked in as well. Kevin Matthews, PO Box 1588, Eugene, submitted written material for the record. He commended staff and the Planning Commission for their work on the code amendments. He said that the emphasis of the work should be on patching the loopholes made by the code remand by the Land Use Board of Appeals. Mr. Matthews said that height would be more of a factor for privacy than setbacks would. He suggested a limit of 15 feet of any part of a structure within 20 feet of an existing home. Regarding Ordinance 2, Mr. Matthews said two words should be inserted in the last sentence of the ordinance so it read: "at least" twelve units of residential per acre. Mayor Torrey closed the public hearing. In response to a question from Councilor Rayor regarding Ordinance 3 and the definition of a special flag lot setback, Ms. Bishow said the special flag lot setback was a rule that new construction on a flag lot would require a 10-foot building setback. In response to a question from Councilor Nathanson regarding the Planning Commission's views of the relationship between building height and setbacks, Ms. Bishow said the Planning Commission was recommending a standard 10-foot setback regardless of building height. In response to a question from Councilor Nathanson regarding design requirements in landscaping, Ms. Bishow said the commission had decided not to add any more development standards for flag lots beyond the greater setbacks. In response to a question from Councilor Nathanson regarding the potential of flag lots on vacant land in front of existing homes, Ms. Bishow said she did not know the number of those types of lots. Councilor Kelly noted that many of the changes called for in the public hearing were included in the amended motion choices listed in the council packet. In response to a question from Councilor Kelly regarding the 12 units per acre average density, Ms. Bishow said that it was a mandate and not a guideline. MINUTES--Eugene City Council October 28, 2002 Page 7 Regular Meeting