Item 3A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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Terry Connolly, 1401 Willamette Street, representing the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce, shared the chamber's observation regarding ESEE findings for Goal 9 Commercial and Industrial lands. He wanted to underscore that the potential impacts on buildable, commercial, and industrial lands findings were being measured against an acknowledged inventory from 1992. He hoped staffs description was accurate and that there would be no provisions in this ordinance that would leave a lot unbuildable. He said if that was not the case, the ordinance would impact 43.4 acres of commercial land and over 44 acres of industrial land. Mr. Connelly referred to a study the Chamber of Commerce conducted which determined that there were only 113 acres of commercial land remaining. He felt any provision that would actually leave some lots unbuildable would create a significant impact to the community. He supported the request to leave the record open for seven days. Chad Ruhoff, 395 Mirror Pond Way, stated that he was a second generation builder in the city of Eugene. He was concerned that his children might not be able to afford to live in the community. He averred the costs had much to do with the available land supply. He felt he was paying more for the lots to build on than he should have to because of the supply. He echoed concerns that this was driving growth out of Eugene and, as a result, defeating council goals. He also questioned the wisdom of using 10-year-old data to determine what land could be used. He stated that affordable housing no longer existed in the Eugene/Springfield area and the middle class was being pushed out. He wanted the land supply to be opened up in order to help stabilize prices. Mike Gansen, 362 Highway 99 North, #2, owner and operator of Gansen Construction Company, said his company built new homes and occasionally developed small parcels of land when he could find them. He reiterated that there was a current shortage of buildable land as evidenced by the huge rise in lot costs and the fact that builders and principals were buying without hesitation. He wished to impress upon the council that the main reason for the area having some of the highest housing prices in the country was an "artificial" shortage of buildable land. He asked that the council take a hard look at the current land supply instead of data from ten years earlier. Mr. Gansen also wished to point out that buildable lands in the hills were located on slopes greater than 15 percent, which increased costs by a minimum of$35,000. He said building on hillsides used more land because density was lower and hillside construction impacted the environment. He pointed out that some areas within the UGB did not have services and had to use wells and septic systems, which required more land per dwelling. Bruce Mulligan, 3056 Hendricks Hill Drive, vice president of the Hendricks Hill Homeowners Association, conveyed the association's support of the overlay on area 38-C and the recommendations. He wanted to bring to the council's attention the area that lay between the City limit and the UGB in that area. He provided pictures of the area to the council, noting that the cattle that usually graze by the headwaters were not in evidence on the day he took pictures. He pointed out that damage and erosion caused by the cattle was evident. He said the association supported the land swap proposal relative to the acquisition of this parcel to connect the Ridgeline Trail to Moon Mountain. He thought that in the event that the city limits were extended or the city acquired this property, it would be appropriate to address Goal 5 issues. He stated that some rehabilitation of the area was needed and he could not find in the regulations whether the grazing was a prohibited or permitted use. Mark Schutz, 4066 Spring Knoll Drive, related that when purchasing his property he thought everything had been researched. He said the Goal 5 measure was a surprise to him. He requested that his property be removed from the inventory for the following reasons: 1) over .4 acres of the 1.26 acre lot was being MINUTES-Eugene City Council Regular Session September 26, 2005 Page 7