Item B: Delta Sand and Gravel Metro Plan Amendment

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County staff provided a detailed decision tree prior to the public hearings that reflects the state criteria and statutes. That format is provided in this packet of material as Attachment B. It provided a good template for the Planning Commissions’ deliberations, and staff recommends that it be followed for the council’s deliberations as well. There are several important points to consider while deliberating this application: 1. It is the applicant’s responsibility to show that the proposed amendments satisfy the state criteria. 2. If a potential conflict between the proposed use and other uses on the site or in the vicinity has not been “minimized,” the project need not be automatically denied; an Economic, Social, Environmental and Energy (ESEE) analysis could be done to weigh conflicting values. Delta Sand and Gravel has not completed an ESEE to date because they contend that the potential conflicts have been mitigated to a level of insignificance. 3. State rules say that conflicts are adequately “minimized” if the applicant brings the conflict into conformance with applicable local, state, or federal standards. The local decision makers cannot create a new standard if one already exists for a responsible regulatory agency. For example, since the Lane Regional Air Protection Agency (LRAPA) is charged with protecting air quality, its standards must be used as the threshold for “minimizing” a potential air quality conflict. If the proposal conforms to LRAPA standards, then those potential conflicts for air quality are “minimized” to a level of insignificance as defined by State law. 4. Conditions of approval that minimize potential conflicts will be adopted should the project be approved. Draft conditions of approval were provided in the proposed ordinance prepared by County staff (Attachment J to this report). If adopted, the conditions would be implemented through County processes, first by being adopted as conditions of the County zone change and, second, as conditions in the Operations Plan that is approved by the County. 5. If even one area of potential conflict is found to be not minimized to a level of insignificance, the Metro Plan amendments cannot be approved as proposed; either a new project description with additional mitigations or an ESEE analysis would be necessary for approval. Eugene Code criteria for Metro Plan amendments are contained in the attachments to this report. RELATED CITY POLICIES The Metro Plan provides this definition: Sand andGravel This category includes existing and future aggregate processing and extraction areas. Aggregate extraction and processing is allowed in designated areas subject to Metro Plan policies, applicable state and federal regulations, and local regulations. For new extraction areas, reclamation plans required by the State of Oregon and Lane County provide a valuable means of assuring that environmental considerations, such as re-vegetation, are addressed. It is important to monitor the demand for aggregate to ensure an adequate supply of this vital non-renewable resource is available to meet metropolitan needs. The subject property is currently designated by the Metro Plan as Agriculture, not Sand and Gravel. The Metro Plan encourages the use of the Urban Growth Boundary and park lands to separate sand and gravel resources from residential areas. The subject property is separated from urban residential properties on the other side of the UGB only by the East Santa Clara waterway. The Metro Plan offers these policies: • Sand and gravel sites identified as significant by the Metro Plan shall be protected in accordance with the requirements of the Goal 5 Rule. (Metro Plan page III-C-11) L:\CMO\2007 Council Agendas\M070221\S070221B.doc