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

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Nena Lovenger, 49983 Little Fall Creek Road, Fall Creek, asked the elected officials to protect citizens from those who want to exploit the land in the tradition of late Governor Tom McCall. She said she continued to hope for leadership in the protection of valuable environmental assets. Ms. Lovenger asked the elected officials to accept the recommendations of the planning commissions and the directives of the relevant regulatory agencies. She asked that the plan not be weakened by further incursions into the wetlands. Ms. Lovenger asked the elected officials to reject Mr. Cornacchia's proposal to change the wetland rules to accommodate Hyundai. David Hauser, 1401 Willamette Street, represented the Chamber of Commerce. He maintained that the plan amendments were inconsistent with Statewide Goal 9 related to economic development. He said that the staff assertion that the industrial land supply was sufficient did not appear to have taken into account loss of industrial land in West Eugene. Mr. Hauser noted the impact of wetlands on five of the three campus industrial sites in the plan area, and stressed the importance of campus industrial zoning to the economic health of the community. He said that such zoning was needed to attract high technology firms that paid family wage jobs. Mr. Hauser said that the Chamber of Commerce and business community supported WEWP as a attempt to balance environmental and development needs. He said the proposed amendments lost sight of the balance. While the Growth Management Study policies supported retention of the existing urban growth boundary, that could not occur if the criteria were skewed against development and marginal wetlands given higher priority than sound urban development. Mr. Hauser endorsed Mr. Cornacchia's recommendations as providing needed balance. Judith Henshal, 2622 Osson Street, identified herself as a botanist and wetland consultant. She said that the criteria recommended by the planning commissions were valuable and should be retained. She was opposed to Mr. Cornacchia's recommendations. Ms. Henshal referred to Mr. Cornacchia's recommendation to narrow the number of potentially impacted plant and animal species by eliminating the use of the Oregon Natural Heritage Program lists 1 and 2 and relying on the Federal and State list, and said that few endangered species in Oregon had been through the political process of getting listed. The listing process was far behind what was actually occurring in terms of habitat loss and the loss of species. Ms. Henshal said that the Oregon Natural Heritage Program lists were instituted when the Native Plant Society of Oregon realized that the Federal listing process was too slow and cumbersome to protect the plant species on Oregon's rare and endangered list. She said that List 1 contained species that were threatened with extinction or presumed to be extinct throughout their range. Mr. Cornacchia's proposal would allow for further loss of Kincaid's lupine and the insect that depended upon it, Fenders Blue Butterfly. Ms. Henshal said that three other plant species, two of which were endemic to the area, would not be considered for protection under Mr. Cornacchia's recommendations. Continuing, Ms. Henshal said that List 2 contained species that were threatened with extirpation or were presumed to be extirpated from Oregon. Those plants could be significant when protecting the genetic diversity of a taxon. For example, Cicendia quadrangularis was found in only 19 places in Oregon. Ms. Henshal said that much work and thought had gone into the creation of the lists. The species on the list were rare and required protection, and should be considered through a separate criterion for protection. Regarding Mr. Cornacchia's proposal that a site shall not be designated for restoration if it had high or moderate values for three development criteria, Ms. Henshal said that many sites meet development criteria 2, 3, 4, and 5. They are restorable wetlands by roads and adjacent to development, disconnected from other wetlands. Ms. Henshal said that such fragmented MINUTES--Joint Elected Officials-- February 18, 1998 Page 5 Eugene City Council/Lane County Board of Commissioners