Item 2A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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Ms. Bettman said she would be willing to retain the tool in extenuating circumstances, given the fact that public hearings and council oversight would occur, but not for “housekeeping” annexations that were often controversial in nature. Ms. Taylor thought past City practice regarding annexation had created a problem. She wanted to listen to the residents and was reluctant to oppose bills that allowed residents to vote. She said the council had given direction to staff regarding the annexation of streets but she thought it important that people who annexed to the city wanted to do so for the future of the city. Ms. Taylor liked the bills that phased in property taxes for properties annexing to a municipality. She wanted to support those bills as she thought they might be an incentive for people to annex. She thought the City would regret it if it forced people to annex later. She thought they would recognize the value of annexing to the city over time. Ms. Taylor advocated for discussion of broad principles to guide the Council Committee on Intergovernmen- tal Relations (CCIGR) rather than specific bills. Ms. Bettman, seconded by Ms. Ortiz, moved to have a general policy that Eugene have the ability to use the island annexation process in extenuating circumstance and with the ap- proval of the City Council, including a public hearing. The motion passed unanimously, 8:0. Flexibility should be permitted to allow administrative approvals and/or approvals by a hearings official rather than by an elected body for non-controversial annexations? Ms. Bettman, seconded Ms. Ortiz, moved that flexibility should be permitted to allow ad- ministrative approvals and/or approvals by a hearings official rather than an elected body for simple, non-controversial annexations. The motion passed, 7:1; Ms. Solomon voting no. Support use of streets and waterways as boundaries for island annexations unless UGB and city limits can be used as border for annexations? Speaking to the issue of waterways serving as boundaries, Mr. Clark asked if ditches or street-side culverts qualified as waterways. Mr. Yeiter said those may qualify as waterways, although the legislative definition was not clear. Given that the UGB was largely defined by streets and waterways, particularly in the northern part of the community, staff was concerned about a prohibition on their use as boundaries. In addition, the City had been able annex non-contiguous properties through the boundary commission, and in the absence of the boundary commission, someone wishing to annex would not be able to do so if their property was not contiguous to a piece of the city. He acknowledged the practice of using streets had been abused in other communities through a practice known as “cherry stemming.” Ms. Bettman, seconded by Ms. Ortiz, moved that streets may be used to create contiguous annexations for voluntary annexations in River Road/Santa Clara and within the UGB. Ms. Bettman agreed that if someone wished to annex voluntarily, that desire should be accommodated as long as the property was within the UGB. MINUTES—Eugene City Council April 11, 2007 Page 3 Work Session