City Council Newsletter - 04/26/07

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fall, the one-mile-long street will include two vehicle travel lanes and a center turn lane, curbs and gutters, sidewalks along the full length of the north side of the street, bike lanes on the west end of the street and a 12-foot-wide multi-use path on the east end, stormwater bioswales for water quality treatment, a parking bay at the east end and street trees. Funding for the $3.3 million project is coming from assessments to abutting property owners and from a mix of transportation, stormwater and wastewater system development charges. During construction, at least one lane will be open at all times. Traffic will be controlled by flaggers during the contractor’s work hours. Signage, web and hotline updates, and direct communications with residents and businesses on River Avenue and other interested parties will be used throughout the project to provide project information. For more information, visit the project web site at www.eugene- or.gov/pwprojects (from the list of projects on the left, click on the River Avenue link) or contact Project Manager Joe Ramirez at 682-5228. United Way Honors Youth Volunteers For the second straight year, United Way of Lane County selected two volunteers from Eugene Recreation’s Teen Court as finalists for its “Youth Volunteer of the Year” award. High school students Brett Anderson and Sarah Simonton were recognized for their contributions to the community at a United Way luncheon held on April 18 at the Valley River Inn. The two West Eugene Teen Court participants saw their pictures projected up before a large crowd while their contributions to the community were described. Staff members who would like to nominate volunteers of any age may contact Elizabeth Runté at 741-6000 ext. 104, or erunte@unitedwaylane.org. For more information about Teen Court, contact Recreation Services Teen Court Coordinator Bruce Steinmetz at 682-6376. 2008 Firemed Ambulance Membership Program Campaign Underway The 2008 FireMed campaign season has officially started. The first in a series of advertising mailers and radio spots have hit the post office and the general media. The biggest change this year is that Eugene Fire & EMS, Springfield Fire & Life Safety and Lane Rural Fire/Rescue have joined forces to run a joint program. The cost to join FireMed is $52.00 per year, which covers FireMed members through June 30, 2008. For air transportation services, Eugene, Springfield and Lane Rural have also partnered with Reach Air Ambulance. An additional $35.00 gets members the premium membership package called FireMed Plus, which includes emergency ground and air transportation services. The cost of an ambulance can be more than $1,000.00 for a single, local ground transport. FireMed membership covers the cost of transport, so members do not have to worry about receiving an ambulance bill. FireMed membership includes billing insurance companies, and any out-of- pocket expenses. For more information please contact the FireMed office at 726-3636 or visit the website at www.firemed.org. Planning and Development Web Page Improves Access to Services Citizens and Planning and Development customers can access a wealth of information through the Internet. The department’s plan is to continue to enhance its web resources and increase access for the variety of citizens served. Citizens can look up building permit applications, estimated timelines, get information about the plan review process, and check the status of inspections if under construction. They can also look up information on pending land use applications, staff reports and findings and access interactive zoning maps. Online complaint forms make it easier for citizens to file zoning and nuisance complaints and online directories provide easy access to staff for questions and assistance. Low-income loan requirements and low-income housing locations are online. In addition, information on neighborhood groups, association contacts, meeting schedules, and asset maps are also easily available. Planning and Development staff work on a variety of specific projects that are also featured, such as the downtown redevelopment project and the South Ridgeline Habitat study. Many additional resources are available at www.eugene-or.gov/PDD. For more information on Planning and Development’s web resources, contact Nancy Young, PDD web portal manager, 682-6849 or nancy.a.young@ci.eugene.or.us. EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 3 April 26, 2007