CC Minutes - 07/25/05 Mtg - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Matt Purvis , 1391 West Broadway Street, a member for the steering committee for Chambers Area Families for Healthy Neighborhoods (CAFHN), thanked the council for adopting Councilor Bettman’s motion directing staff to incorporate opportunity siting as the primary strategy for achieving density targets in mixed-use centers. He was pleased that the council unanimously supported an approach to density that would protect the character of an established neighborhood while doing a better job of achieving compact growth. He reiterated that CAFHN distributed its most recent report to the councilors. He said the report was the result of hundreds of hours of work and consolidated the information contained in previously submitted reports. He noted that the Planning Commission was holding hearings on development standards for a Chambers Special Area zone. He shared that CAFHN was pleased that staff presented proposed standards that agree with many of its recommendations. However, he wished to call attention to one issue: in the area of preventing excessively tall or large infill structures adjacent to backyards “staff had presented proposals that [were] rife with error.” He averred that the public was opposed to the proposal, while CAFHN proposals had widespread support. He suggested that the public was watching this issue as a test of legitimate public planning and urged the council not to undercut citizen involvement. Norman Riddle , 1238 Crest Drive, said he read about the St. Vincent DePaul proposal to do outreach to homeless in the parks and it raised his ire. He related that he worked with the homeless population for nearly 17 years and heard “thousands” of stories of “these human beings.” He believed that the problem lay in a shortage of services available. He likened it to missing pieces of the problem. He noted that Congressman DeFazio said the area did not have a homeless problem because it could be solved immediately if the residents had the will. He thought, like the overnight parking program, the proposal would create a gray area that would deny vulnerable homeless people from the consistent and transparent grievance process they were entitled to as the proposed actions were contracted to private faith-based agencies. He averred that public health and safety was the fundamental responsibility of local government. He said to create a “level of obscurity” between the proper authorities and the community’s most vulnerable members was a “terrible idea” and an “admission of failure to accept responsibility.” Mayor Piercy closed the Public Forum and called for questions and comments from the council. Councilor Papé thanked Mr. Herbert for his ongoing testimony and asked him to summarize his presentations in writing for the council. Councilor Taylor thanked everyone for testifying. She expressed interest in hearing more from Mr. Riddle. Councilor Taylor also expressed appreciation for the work Mr. Herbert had done. She shared her admiration for the work of CAFHN. Councilor Bettman thanked Mr. Riddle for “caring about people without homes.” She suggested that she meet with him to give him the “full expository” on the issue. She said the intent of the program was to conduct outreach to homeless people and not to police them. Councilor Bettman was reminded by Mr. Purvis’ testimony on CAFHN that she had a question regarding the assumptions on density. She thought the standards CAFHN based its proposal on were from older policy language and asked that staff clarify this for her. MINUTES—Eugene City Council July 25, 2005 Page 3 Regular Session