CC Minutes - 07/14/08 Regular Meeting

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Councilor Bettman indicated that she had submitted minutes corrections via email. Mayor Piercy deemed the corrections, without objection, approved. Roll call vote; the Consent Calendar with the exception of Items C and D passed unani- mously, 8:0. Councilor Taylor, seconded by Councilor Bettman, moved to hold a public hearing for Item C, Annexation Request for Eugene School District 4J (A 008-1). Councilor Ortiz asked what the purpose of holding a public hearing on the school district’s request would be. Lydia McKinney, Associate Planner for the Planning and Development Department (PDD), responded that the School District 4J request was straight forward and the property was already entirely within city limits. She underscored that the item was coming before the council as a result of the ordinance that had abolished the Boundary Commission in Lane County. Councilor Ortiz asked what would be accomplished by the annexation. Ms. McKinney replied that staff was responding to the applicant’s request to annex and the applicant had no specific plans at this time for development. Councilor Zelenka asked why they would not choose to hold a public hearing. He averred that annexations were a “big deal.” In response to a question from Councilor Bettman, Ms. McKinney confirmed that the annexation had been noticed according to law, but she did not know how many notices had been sent. She indicated she would find out and let Councilor Bettman know. Councilor Bettman remarked that the objective for annexing could be for the purpose of building a school or it could be to bring the property into the City and then sell it. She saw no reason for not holding a public hearing. Roll call vote; the motion passed, 6:2; councilors Clark and Poling voting in opposition. Mayor Piercy called for discussion of Item D. Councilor Taylor opined that neither annexation request was suitable for the Consent Calendar. Councilor Taylor, seconded by Councilor Clark, moved to deny Item D, theAnnexation Request for Westfair Associates (A 08-2). Councilor Bettman declared that a UGB expansion was a land use issue, with a process specific to it. She supported denying the application and then the applicant could undertake the process for a MetroPlan amendment. Ms. McKinney explained that an annexation in cases like this would be the process that would set the UGB. She said one of the reasons staff recommended a public hearing in this instance was that it was not just an annexation, it also included a determination of where the UGB lay. She underscored that they were still trying to determine whether the UGB fell where the neighbors thought it did or where the applicant thought it did. MINUTES—Eugene City Council July 14, 2008 Page 5 Regular Meeting