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infill standards exceeded “every metro, city, and local density benchmark.” He felt the group kept its promise to aid in the work and expressed hope that the work would be of value to the council and the Planning Commission in discussions of Multi-Use Centers. He thanked the council for its efforts to work toward the well-being of the entire community. Bruce Blonigen , 1039 Taylor Street, spoke in tandem with Mr. Conte. Regarding neighborhood design standards, he underscored that as a professor of economics at the University of Oregon, he believed in the power of market forces. He said the compelling argument based on the power of the market was the notion that the way to encourage compact residential neighborhoods in the core of the cities was to make them attractive places to live. He asserted that no amount of “hand-wringing” would stop pressure on the urban growth boundary (UGB) should those neighborhoods not be attractive relative to dwellings on the periphery. He observed that in his neighborhood, the current zoning standards were allowing the degradation of core neighborhoods, making them less attractive. He pointed out that some residents of his neighborhood left because of just such elements, noting that an ugly multi-unit dwelling had been constructed next to his house. He remarked that the housing market was not so simple as to equate one unit of infill with one less unit of sprawl. He averred that in order to make the infill unit preferential, it needed to have a greater appeal. He suggested that the design standards developed by CAFHN went a long way to ensure new development would be compatible with core neighborhoods. Mr. Blonigen lauded his experience with CAFHN. He shared that he and his wife participated in many meetings and the group dedicated many hours to come up with detailed analyses and solutions, much based on decades of residence in the neighborhood. He asked the City Council to consider the recommendations of CAFHN as it considered the Chambers Multi-Use Center. Phillip Carroll , 1054 Van Buren Street, spoke as a resident of the Jefferson/Westside Neighborhood and a representative of the Eugene Tree Foundation. He said that during the Chambers Neighborhood Revisited (CNR) process, the urban forest was frequently referred to citizens because they recognized the value of the landscape. He underscored that one goal of the CNR process was to promote density and infill that was compatible with existing neighborhood character. He averred that the urban forest was a component of said character and the successful function of the neighborhood. He stated that the landscape was due to the health and diversity of the area, which depended on sufficiently large areas of contiguous plantable soil, especially those formed by neighboring back yards. He said such yards provided area residents with the opportunity to participate in the creation of the urban forest and the stewardship of the neighborhood. He felt that the construction of infill that was out of scale with the rest of the neighborhood would chop up planting areas and create challenges to the landscape. He commented that a healthy urban forest was not the enemy of density. He cited an experience he had living in a row house in San Francisco in which his backyard supported a variety of plantings, as did all of the backyards in that neighborhood. He asked the council to think about these factors and to look closely at the proposals from CAFHN. He averred that contributing to the desirability and quality of downtown living would increase residency. Ruth Phelps , 5445 Donald Street, wished to bring to the attention of the City Council and residents of the South Hills area that Station 5 no longer had an ambulance and that the Fire and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Department expected Station 1 to provide coverage. She maintained that this would impact the four-minute response time the department aspired to because the other stations were too far away. She noted that the other ambulance that was to cover the area was located at the fire station on Bailey Hill Road. She clarified that the ambulance itself was still located at Station 5, but the crew was no longer there. MINUTES—Eugene City Council July 18, 2005 Page 6 Regular Session