CC Minutes - 07/28/08 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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Effective Date Councilor Pryor, seconded by Councilor Bettman, moved that the City Council adopt Council Bill 4971, an ordinance denying the proposal to amend the Eugene-Springfield Metropolitan Area General Plan. Councilor Clark opposed the motion. He had not changed his mind about the sufficiency of the resource contained on the property in question as demonstrated by the applicant’s experts, who he thought made a compelling case in that regard. He said the council had not had a discussion of the findings prepared by staff, and he was not comfortable accepting those findings without more discussion of some of the specifics. Councilor Solomon said that what the council proposed to do to Eugene Sand and Gravel was shameful. She said the firm was a productive company that had contributed family wage jobs and supported its employees in their volunteer efforts. She thought the action contemplated was contrary to the City’s stated goal of sustainability. She pointed out the wear and tear on the roads that would result in the community needing to import its gravel from other communities. She did not know how Lane County could get to “yes” on the application but Eugene could not. She said the council was supposed to be helping local companies grow. Both the public and private sectors needed gravel and the company in question could provide it at a reasonable price in the community’s backyard. Councilor Poling recalled that he also supported the applicant in regard to the question of the sufficiency of resources to be found on the property. He believed the applicant had overwhelmingly proved that. Councilor Poling, seconded by Councilor Solomon, moved to change the findings in regard to noise (page 157) to read “We find that potential noise conflicts from the proposed mining of the expansion area can be minimized as required by Goal 5.” Councilor Poling believed the applicant had addressed the issue of noise mitigation and he disagreed with the staff findings. He could not understand the decision in regard to the applicant’s proposed mitigation. City Attorney Emily Jerome noted that the issue was mentioned throughout the findings as the findings built upon one another. She suggested that instead, Councilor Poling direct staff to return with alternative findings that found that the noise from the site could be mitigated. Councilors Poling and Solomon accepted that as a friendly amendment to the motion on the floor. Councilor Pryor indicated his opposition to the motion and his support for Councilor Poling’s motion. Councilor Bettman would not support the motion as change would reverberate throughout the findings. She thanked the staff for its work in addressing the voluminous testimony and council discussion. Councilor Bettman said the City came to a different conclusion than the Lane Board of County Commis- sioners because of the operation’s impact on City residents. She said that past planning had allowed for residential development up to the buffer of the property but the company had not objected. She agreed it was a good location for gravel mining, but not for the residents living so near. That fact created many conflicts. She asserted that other conflicts were not mentioned because the applicant refused to do a traffic impact analysis. MINUTES—Eugene City Council July 28, 2008 Page 8 Meeting