CC Minutes - 09/10/01 Work Session

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Mr. Kelly expressed concern about forwarding five or six scenarios to a public hearing and trying to interpret the testimony and deduce trends from it. He questioned whether it might be useful to reduce the number of scenarios, and asked Mr. Croteau for comment. Mr. Kelly suggested boundary adjustments to the neighborhood associations north of the river might be in order in the future. Responding to Mr. Kelly's question, Mr. Croteau anticipated that people would focus on specific aspects of the scenarios rather than on the individual scenarios themselves. He did not think there was a need to reduce the number of scenarios prior to the public hearing. Mayor Torrey indicated opposition to the motion. He said that people should be allowed to comment on all the scenarios. He added that he thought there were three discernible neighborhoods at minimum in the area north of the river with common interests: 1) the area north of Beltline between I-5 and the Willamette River; 2) the area north of the Beltline and east of Coburg Road, and 3) Harlow below the Beltline to the river. Ms. Bettman, seconded by Ms. Taylor, moved to substitute the motion with a motion adding an additional scenario that increased Ward 1 by directing it west as opposed to north, maintained the river crossing in Ward 4, and created contiguity for downtown and the surrounding urban core neighborhoods. The motion to substitute passed, 5:3; Ms. Nathanson, Mr. Rayor, Mr. Fart voting no. The vote on the substitute motion was a 4:4 tie; Mr. Pap~, Mr. Rayor, Ms. Nathanson, and Mr. Fart voting no, Ms. Bettman, Ms. Taylor, Mr. Kelly, and Mr. Meisner voting yes; Mayor Torrey cast a vote in opposition to the motion, and the final vote was 5:4 in opposition. Ms. Taylor, seconded by Ms. Bettman, moved to develop another scenario that moved Ward 1 to the west. Mr. Rayor opposed the motion because it involved his ward, and because he had difficulty with such nonspecific motions. He thought the input should have been provided to staff earlier. Mr. Kelly disagreed with Mr. Rayor, saying that the option would give the public a different scenario to consider in terms of the ward boundaries. He thought it was not a good thing to be too specific in the motion about the boundaries given the council's lack of knowledge about the populations involved, etc. Ms. Taylor said the council was just adding other scenario. The motion failed, 5:3; Ms. Taylor, Ms. Bettman, and Mr. Kelly voting yes. Mr. Fart, seconded by Mr. Pap~, moved to instruct staff to bring back a scenario that reduces the number of wards to six and established two at- large positions. Mr. Rayor did not support the motion, again because of lack of adequate information. MINUTE--Eugene City Council September 10, 2001 Page 8 Work Session