CC Minutes - 02/18/98 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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"three strikes, you're out" approach to companies who violated environmental rules. He endorsed the remarks of others in support of the planning commissions' recommendations. Katherine Macdonald, 821 SE 14th Avenue, Portland, The Nature Conservancy, described The Nature Conservancy's work with the City and landowners in the West Eugene area. She said that The Nature Conservancy had made significant investments in west Eugene and currently owned 300 acres in the Willow Creek area. The conservancy was part of the West Eugene Wetlands Partnership and had brought in many other entities and resources to the partnership, such as technical expertise. Ms. Macdonald said that The Nature Conservancy held the plan up as a model to other communities because of the public process involved. She said that while The Nature Conservancy did not agree with all the amendments, it supported their adoption. She noted her submittal of testimony during the early planning commissions' public input process. Ms. Macdonald asked that the elected officials extend the period of public comment for two weeks. She also asked that the elected officials avoid making further changes to the plan because of their impact on The Nature Conservancy's investments in the plan area and the negative message it would send to those owners who had already complied with the plan. Ginger Gietzman, and daughter Emma, 1540 McKinley Street, represented the Concerned McKinley Streets Neighbors. She said that the neighbors opposed the amendments proposed by Mr. Cornacchia. She said that the neighbors were involved in the protection and maintenance of Amazon Creek and because of their location were directly impacted by plan amendments. She said that the plan had resulted in a balance between development and protection. Ms. Gietzman supported the plan amendments as recommended by the planning commissions. She submitted written testimony in support of her position signed by 24 neighbors. Martin Champion, 1430 Willamette Street, #597, said that laws were intended to apply to all and elected officials were supposed to tailor the laws to the community that they are in. He said that the wetland planning process was a long-term process and an attempt to meet the needs of all. Mr. Champion said that it was the job of those who wished to develop to fit their developments into existing laws, not to try to get the laws changed to fit them. He asked the elected officials to reject Mr. Cornacchia's recommendations. Paul Prensky, 933 East 29th Avenue, urged the elected officials to accept the planning commissions' recommendations. Jackson Frewell, no address given, suggested that the plan was not needed and that people could live elsewhere if the community was no longer habitable because of greed. Barbara Keller, 2570 Onyx Street, reminded the elected officials that the local community did not invent wetlands regulations but had attempted to create certainty for development in west Eugene. She said that to that end, the City worked hard to gain the trust of the regulatory agencies. Ms. Keller termed the plan a contract between the City and the regulatory agencies. Ms. Keller said that the planning commissions had reached a remarkable degree of consensus. She believed that Mr. Comacchia's proposed amendments would undo the balance in the plan and two years of work. She said that his proposal to allow a planned expansion onto a wetland was a guarantee of expansion space for a business no matter the quality of the wetlands involved. She objected to his proposal to remove consideration of pipe ways and underground hydrology as a determinant factor in making a decision to protect a wetland. MINUTES--Joint Elected Officials-- February 18, 1998 Page 13 Eugene City Council/Lane County Board of Commissioners