Item 2A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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suggested that such developments were “disasters waiting to happen,” while another speaker thought they were working out. Her question was about City liability, and what it owed to its citizens even if they made mistakes about where they bought their houses. Ms. Taylor said there were sites mentioned in the session where the streets had collapsed and residents lost egress and ingress. Swimming pools became hazards. She asked if the City was liable, or only the homeowners’ associations. She received calls from Eugene residents complaining about conditions in their housing development and asking if the City was responsible. She said if the City was not responsible, perhaps it needed to be more careful about how it permitted such developments. An example of her concern was Whitbeck Boulevard, where residents paid to upgrade the street and then the City approved the construction of three more houses and refused to take responsibility for the damage done to the road during the construction of the houses and maintenance afterwards. Ms. Taylor suggested there was no point in further council discussion until it had more information from staff. Ms. Ortiz asked how many gated communities there were in Eugene. Mr. Corey did not know; he was personally aware of four. He said that more often than not, streets within gated communities were private but that was not always the case. He did not know what percentage of the 34 miles of private streets that were now in Eugene was in gated communities, but some certainly were. Ms. Ortiz suggested that gated communities were in opposition to the City’s density goals as she believed that such development had larger lot sizes and were not as “infilled as they could be.” She believed that such communities were attempts to create a community, which was good in one sense, but in another sense, it was “keeping out regular folks who maybe don’t have any business there.” She said if the City was paying for the streets, it did not make sense to her that it would encourage “this kind of growth.” Mr. Zelenka was also surprised by how quickly the work session was scheduled and the content of the AIS, which was not congruent with the interest expressed by Ms. Taylor. Mr. Zelenka asked how many miles of private streets were built before the Land Use Code update. Mr. Corey believed most were built before the update. Mr. Zelenka asked what City standard existed currently, and if it included sidewalks. Mr. Corey said that the pavement on private streets must meet the City’s structural design standards for public streets but the street did not necessarily have to include amenities such as curbs, gutters, and sidewalks, which were included in the City standard. He added that the design standards were current criteria for private streets, so a developer could not avoid City grade standards or sight distance requirements, for example, by making a street private rather than public. Mr. Corey reiterated the primary difference between public and private streets was the connectivity standard. Responding to a follow-up question from Mr. Zelenka, Mr. Corey concurred that if private streets built under current standards were “to revert back” to the City, they would not require much in improvements in terms of their structural integrity. However, Mr. Corey pointed out, City assumption of responsibility for such streets would require a right-of-way transfer, installation of curbs and gutters, and the installation of sidewalks, and there might also be drainage issues to address. He believed that those private streets built to current standards did not create an additional liability for those purchasing property in such developments. Mr. Zelenka raised the issue of the potential conversion of mobile home parks to subdivisions, and asked what would happen to the streets when that occurred and the low-income residents had no money to bring the private streets up to standard. Mr. Corey said there would be a cost associated with that and suggested it could involve the creation of a local improvement district. He thought the design standards would be fairly nominal and low-cost. He noted that the City had a low-income grant assistance program for MINUTES—Eugene City Council February 28, 2007 Page 7 Work Session