CC Minutes - 07/09/08 Work Session

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M I N U T E S Eugene City Council Work Session McNutt Room—City Hall 777 Pearl Street—Eugene, Oregon July 9, 2008 Noon COUNCILORS PRESENT: Chris Pryor, Bonny Bettman, Betty Taylor, Jennifer Solomon, Andrea Ortiz, George Poling, Mike Clark, Alan Zelenka. Her Honor Mayor Kitty Piercy called the work session of the Eugene City Council to order. A. WORK SESSION: MINOR CODE AMENDMENTS Planner Alissa Hansen gave the staff presentation, noting the council’s scheduled adoption of the minor code amendments on July 14, 2008. She recalled that the council held a public hearing regarding the amendments on June 16 and much of the testimony was directed at item 5, building height transitions in the south university area, and item 7, required parking for multi-family developments in the South and West University Neighborhood areas. Testimony was divided on those topics, but testimony on the remaining 16 topics was generally supportive. Ms. Hansen indicated that two ordinances, Ordinance A and Ordinance B, were created; Ordinance A encompassed the Planning Commission’s recommendations for the 16 amend- ments, except items 5 and 7, and Ordinance B included item 5 as revised by the neighborhood (Attachment A), and text directing items 5 and 7 to the Infill Compatibility Standards (ICS) project for further considera- tion. Ms. Hansen introduced ICS Project Manager Terry Harding, who reviewed a timeline for processing items 5 and 7. Mayor Piercy determined from City Attorney Emily Jerome that the reference to the referral to the ICS project as a sunset provision for Ordinance B meant that the council could direct staff to examine those issues through that project and then repeal the provisions adopted before the project was completed. Mayor Piercy called on the council for questions and comments. Mr. Clark observed that Eugene could expect 80,000 more people to arrive before he reached retirement age. That raised the question of how and where Eugene grew and where density should be directed, and he found it a pertinent question. For that reason, he favored referring items 5 and 7 to the ICS project for a broad-scale examination of the ramifications involved. For example, he wanted to know how much land in Eugene was zoned R-4 and what percentage was not yet built or under-used, and where it was. He said he understood the issue raised by the South University area regarding transitions between low-density and high- density residential, he continued to believe that the area surrounding the university was one of the best locations for R-4 because of the market that existed for such densities in the area with the least impact on the rest of the community. He wanted to see recommendations regarding such issues from the ICS project, as well as recommendations on how to mitigate the impact of such zoning. Mr. Clark was unsure he wanted MINUTES—Eugene City Council July 9, 2008 Page 1 Work Session