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<br />employees of their rights through its administrative rules. Ms. Osborn clarified that City had addressed <br />those situation when they arose. <br /> <br />Mr. Pape expressed appreciation for the background information provided to the council, in particular the <br />information from the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers <br />(ASHRAE), which indicated that complete separation and isolation of smoking rooms can control <br />environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure in nonsmoking areas of the same building. He said the City <br />should allow such areas if they were contained and ventilated in such a manner. <br /> <br />Mr. Pape supported allowing existing smoking rooms to be grandfathered, noting that some establishments <br />had spent considerable money on building permits to build outdoor smoking rooms just a short while ago. <br /> <br />Ms. Ortiz commended the background information. She was glad that the original ordinance had been <br />adopted and wished that the council could prohibit smoking everywhere, although she acknowledged that <br />people had the right to smoke. She also did not want to have to force business owners to spend more money <br />and wanted to see if there was a way to honor those owners who complied with the spirit of the law and <br />constructed separate outdoor smoking facilities. <br /> <br />Ms. Solomon echoed the comments ofMr. Pape and expressed concern about attempting to make any <br />changes through the administrative rules. She thought any amendments to the original ordinance should be <br />made through another ordinance so that there was a clear public process that allowed business establish- <br />ments to make comments and offer input. <br /> <br />Mr. Poling asked how many establishments applied for building permits to build a smoking area. Ms. <br />Osborn said about 40 businesses had made such applications. Given the number of businesses in Eugene <br />with liquor licenses, it was likely there were other establishments that probably had outdoor smoking areas <br />that had not required a building permit or for whom business owners had not sought a permit. Mr. Poling <br />asked if there was a way to give a break to businesses that had filed applications for a building permit <br />previously, should the council decide not to grandfather such establishments. Ms. Osborn pointed out that <br />her department was supposed to be 100 percent reliant on fees, and she deferred to the council on that issue. <br /> <br />Mr. Poling suggested that staff needed to be clear at the public hearing that the proposed alternative <br />language for nonconforming situations reflected in Attachment D could be further altered and changed. He <br />said that those establishments that conformed to the original ordinance and spent the money needed to <br />comply with an ordinance that was essentially forced upon them should be grandfathered in. If the smoking <br />area was not used within a period of time or the ownership changed, that could make the business subject to <br />the current code. Mr. Poling looked forward to hearing public testimony on the issue. <br /> <br />Mr. Pryor said his first instinct was to make the changes through ordinance, but he had been persuaded that <br />some of the less scientifically based and more creative changes could be better implemented through <br />administrative rule. He did not want to short-circuit the public input process but thought that issue could be <br />addressed. Regarding the issue of grandfathering, Mr. Pryor was concerned that those establishments who <br />had "played by the rules" did not feel shortchanged or stuck with an additional expense. He suggested that a <br />fee consideration or some sort of assistance be considered for those who complied to get them were they <br />needed to be. He wanted to see some options in that regard. <br /> <br />MINUTES-Eugene City Council <br />Work Session <br /> <br />September 12, 2005 <br /> <br />Page 12 <br />