CC Minutes - 04/10/00 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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Margaret (Peg)Waite, 34152 Del Monte, submitted written material. Betty Hemmingsen, 1860 Riverview, spoke as the co-chair of the Laurel Hill Valley Citizen's Association. She said that her neighborhood executive committee had passed a motion in support of the protection of open waterways. She said that the open waterways ordinance was a step in the right direction toward addressing the problems of the Endangered Species Act. She specifically responded to Exemption 2 in Section 6.660. She opined that a land use application must have final approval priorto the effective date of the ordinance to receive an exception to the ordinance. She said that a land use application that had been accepted as complete did not guarantee the protection of any affected waterways. Terry Connolly, Eugene Chamber of Commerce, supported waterway protection, but not at the expense of buildable land. He raised concern over loss of land to buffer zones. He said that property owners needed to know how they are being affected in total (buffers) and how long the process would take. He raised concern that the city could waste time considering interim buffers when Goal 5 information could call for very different measures. Tom Slocum, 1950 Graham Drive, supported Mr. Connolly's comments and said that there would be a significant impact on buildable land when you consider buffering. Tom Bowerman, 33707, McKenzie View, raised concern that the wording of the proposed ordinance was too weak and suggested stronger wording. He said that decisions regarding mitigation of waterways needed to be made with a clear reference to scientifically based reasoning. He also called for a clear reference to buffering in the ordinance language. Jan Spencer, 1266 West 5th Street, displayed a chart showing the remaining percentage of original open waterways in the city. He said that business-as-usual practices would no longer work and that an effort needed to be made toward restoration. He also called for no retroactive permits for parties who filled or piped waterways. He opined that they should be fined instead and be required to restore what they had damaged. Bob O'Brien, 3575 Gilham, spoke in support of open waterway protection and interim buffers. He raised concern over the ability of the City Manager to grant exemptions and called for an appeal process for City Manager decisions. He also called for stronger ordinance language on compliance and suggested language that would require restoration of waterways for those found not in compliance. Roxie Cuellar, 1255 Pearl Street, supported protection of open waterways but spoke against interim buffers. She urged the council to direct the Storm Water Department Advisory Committee to address the issue of proposed buffers. She raised concern that the city would not make its periodic review threshold of available land if buffers are imposed and would have to expand the urban growth boundary. Jim Reed, PO Box 2077, Eugene, showed a map of city boundaries in 1905 and showed all of the streams that had been impacted since then. He stressed the importance of keeping the waterways that remained in the city open and let their natural filtering work on the water. MINUTES--Eugene City Council April 10, 2000 Page 5 Regular Meeting