CC Minutes - 09/13/00 JEO - Laserfiche WebLink

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Ms. Childs noted staff support for the use of the word "require" in the introductory text preceding the characteristics of nodal development. Mr. Kelly indicated his concurrence with the remarks of Ms. Taylor. He asked if Springfield could accept any size limit, pointing out that Springfield land use patterns would affect Eugene. Mr. Hatfield did not see that the Friends' definition represented an improvement over the 1999 TransPlan definition, which had already gone through an extensive public process. He suggested that Eugene could implement less flexible measures if it chose to do so. He did not perceive any benefit to Springfield from the Friends' recommendations. Ms. Nathanson said that while she thought the Friends' 1999 definition was somewhat better than the TransPlan definition, it was not so much better that she was willing to have a fight over it. She pointed out to Ms. Taylor that no one was saying there should not be a definition or characteristics. The issue before the elected officials was how much to include in the definition. She did not think that the 1999 TransPlan definition, if adopted, meant it would be "business as usual" for the community. Responding to a question from Mr. Lee, Ms. Childs said that the only significant difference between the Friends' 1999 definition and the TransPlan 1999 definition was that the Friends' definition did not include the minimum 12 units per acre residential density. Mr. Rayor recommended that the phrase "core commercial area" be removed from the definition. There was general concurrence. Mr. Simmons observed that the two jurisdictions could overcome the objections voiced by Mr. Kelly and Ms. Taylor in their implementation strategies. Mayor Weathers agreed. Ms. Childs summarized the majority position of the elected officials, which was to replace the word "include" with the word "require," and to delete the reference to "core commercial area in the third bullet of the 1999 TransPlan definition. Issue #5: Delete Definition of Employment and Commercial Centers Mr. Hatfield agreed with Mr. Kelly's earlier suggestion that the three paragraphs following the glossary definition of nodal development that defined neighborhood, commercial, and employment centers be deleted and included elsewhere in the plan as examples. He anticipated that in Springfield there would be some areas with nodal characteristics that did not include residential uses. He wanted TransPlan to be flexible enough to ensure that Springfield could establish employment centers with services that meant that employees did not have to leave the site to, for example, drive to a restaurant. Mayor Weathers agreed. She added that Springfield wanted the concept to work in as many places as possible and wanted to be able to require that services be included in proposals for employment centers. Mr. Rayor said that he agreed that services should be included in employment centers to lower VMT during the day but he did not believe that such an approach did anything to lower VMT during the morning or evening commuting hours. He did not agree with the statement in the paragraph defining employment centers that residential uses may not be appropriate for inclusion in the node, and suggested that each jurisdiction could determine the appropriate percentage of housing. MINUTES--Eugene City Council/Springfield City Council September 13, 2000 Page 4 Joint Work Session