Item 2A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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population, with 3,000 of the 5,500 residents in the 20-24 year old range. Six or seven of the nine WUNA Board members were renters because less than two percent of the residents were owner-occupiers. Most of the residents in the 20-24 age group were not families with children, but individuals, each of whom could have a car. Parking was not needed for every person in the apartments, but it was time to make a change. th Rene Kane , 254 West 14 Avenue, recently attended a City sponsored conference on Smart Growth. The expert speakers talked about how cities could be responsive to environmental, social, and economic issues when considering where and how to grow. She noted the conference had been attended by local elected officials and staff, building and design professionals, and neighborhood representatives. Qualities being incorporated into Smart Growth communities already existed in her neighborhood and other close-in neighborhoods such as Whiteaker, SUN and WUN. The neighborhoods were walkable, dense and diverse, with a good balance of open space and structures, both private and public, residential and commercial uses. There were eyes on the street and ample street tree canopies, the neighborhoods were pedestrian in scale while accommodating cars and bicycles. MICAP had been an involved community dialogue. She encouraged the Council to adopt the proposed twelve code amendments. th Steve Baker, 360 East 15 Avenue, Ward 3, said lack of onsite parking had been a serious problem in WUN since the 1970’s. Based upon the latest Harris Poll, 72 percent of students at the University had vehicles at college, most of which were covered by the Residential Parking Program due to the parking shortage. In 2007, 860 residential parking permits and 50 commuter parking permits were issued. WUNA proposed code amendments in 2006 that were fully supported by MICAP to deal with a few new projects being built with three to six bedrooms and minimal parking. The proposal was approved unanimously by ICS. The staff proposal submitted to the Planning Commission was more restrictive than the WUNA proposal, and the Commission decided against changing the code amendments. WUNA strongly urged the City Council approve the amendment originally submitted to the Planning Commission. He recently completed a detailed analysis of the 26 of the most recent multi-family infill projects. Over 80 percent of the projects met or exceeded the parking proposals submitted to the Council and contrary to some testimony tonight, the projects with adequate parking had a greater density, of 55 units per acre, compared to the projects with a density of 38 units per acres, which had inadequate parking. Additionally, the two highest density projects in the R-4 zone in the neighborhood exceeded the WUNA code proposal by 18 to 42 percent, and were close to the maximum allowable density in the R-4 zone, or above 100 units per acre. He asserted that the WUNA parking proposals did not affect the allowable density. Residents spent a lot of time looking for parking which was not sustainable. th Charles Snyder, 990 West 12 Avenue, Ward 1, said the MICAP process had resulted in a set of proposed code amendments that would help reverse the erosion of Eugene’s residential neighborhoods. The amendments, unanimously endorsed by the NLC, reflected the input of many people in Eugene who represented civic, professional, industry and neighborhood organizations. As a community, Eugene had decided to limit urban sprawl and determined to accommodate growth within the UGB, although how to do that had not been accomplished. The Opportunity Siting program was a joint effort between the City and the neighborhoods which applied an urban strategy to accommodate growth while preserving the livability of existing neighborhoods. It was not necessary to destroy neighborhoods to contain sprawl. The types of homes built should be initiated by the people who would live there. It was unfair and unwise to suggest that compassionate treatment of the disadvantaged was in conflict with people’s desire for livable neighborhoods. Eugene’s neighborhoods were home to people who generously donated time and resources to the City’s helping organizations. The leaders of those organizations were ill-served by disparaging their supporters’ desire to be comfortable in their homes. He urged the City Council to approve proposed MICAP Amendments 3-12, 14, and 17. MINUTES—Eugene City Council June 16, 2008 Page 12 Work Session