CC Minutes - 07/18/05 WS - Laserfiche WebLink

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Ms. Taylor shared a complaint from neighbors of Cascade Manor about noise from the new fans on the roof of building. When the neighbor called the Permit and Information Center to lodge a complaint, she was told that the City Council had withdrawn any objections to noise at the facility in August 2001. She said staff had not been able to find any record of the discussion. She asked for more information and if there was any thing the council could do about the situation. Mr. Pap6 arrived at the meeting. Ms. Taylor indicated she had a motion to offer the council to ensure that City Manager Dennis Taylor had clear direction to purchase the Nectar-Dillard property. Ms. Taylor, seconded by Mr. Kelly, moved to direct the City Manager to a) attempt to ne- gotiate a purchase price for the Joe Green property on Nectar-Dillard; b) contact the neighborhood as to the willingness of residents in the neighborhood or other groups to con- tribute funds for the purchase and the amount of such contributions; and c) bring the matter back to the council for discussion of sources for the balance of funds necessary for the ac- quisition. Mayor Piercy called for discussion on the motion. Mr. Pap6 determined that the motion included no funding amount. He said if funding was available, there were needs in the northern area of Eugene with regard to open space and parks that needed to be met. He could not support the motion until the City had equivalence in the number of parks and open space areas throughout the community. Mr. Kelly agreed there was an unequal amount of park space between the north and south parts of town. However, he believed that natural open space features should be acquired where they exist, and he had not heard anyone call out a significant natural area for preservation in north Eugene. He thanked Ms. Taylor for the methodical aspects of the motion, which called on the City to work with the neighbors and property owner on the purchase. He said the motion offered residents an opportunity to ;;put their money where their mouth was." Ms. Taylor said that natural open spaces should be purchased where they exist because they could not be recreated. She thought the purchase was urgent. Mr. Pryor indicated a potential conflict of interest as a family member owned property adjacent to Nectar Way. He said the motion seemed out of place when the council had not worked through the remainder of its acquisition priorities. He believed the purchase was worthwhile and noted that staff had been working on the purchase, so he questioned why necessary the motion was. He was concerned about a focus on a single piece of property without any discussion of other properties. He thought the motion was premature. Mr. Pap6 agreed with Mr. Pryor. He said that he was aware of other natural areas in his part of the community in Santa Clara and Gilham that the residents of those areas would probably like to acquire. He did not want to focus on the property in question without examination of other natural resources lands that could prioritized on a citywide basis Speaking to the issue of prioritizing acquisitions, Mr. Kelly suggested the council keep in mind the balance between methodological planning and opportunities that arose. He maintained that the City had an MINUTES--Eugene City Council July 18, 2005 Page 2 Work Session