Item 3A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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Councilor Papé said while he appreciated Councilor Bettman’s concerns, he thought the council needed to trust staff and delegate. He indicated he would oppose the motion. Roll call vote; the motion to amend failed, 5:3; councilors Bettman, Taylor, and Kelly voting in favor. Councilor Bettman, seconded by Councilor Taylor, moved that Council Bill 4910, Section 14, be amended to remove any proposed revisions to the current code entry for subsection (6) of EC 9.2761. Councilor Bettman explained that this motion accompanied the first amendment she proposed and the council had passed. Mr. Nystrom concurred. He said it was a companion piece to this and in essence was a narrative explaining the same intent. Roll call vote; the motion to amend passed unanimously, 8:0. Councilor Taylor moved that Council Bill 4910, Section 15, be amended to remove any proposed revisions to subsection (1) “Purpose of EC 9.2775.” The motion died for lack of a second. Councilor Bettman said she would vote to oppose the motion. She thought the process had been constrained by the number of code revisions the council had to review and the time allotted to review them. She felt there was a trend toward decreasing densities in wealthier neighborhoods, allowing a code that made it easier to have larger lot sizes and less density in new development. She asserted that this differed from what the City was doing in existing neighborhoods, which was cramming in infill without design standards. She opined that the direction the code changes were headed in was toward a fundamental inequity. Councilor Bettman also requested that fewer code amendments be submitted at a time for council review. She felt most of the councilors did not even know what was in the code amendments and the impact they would have on the ground and the neighborhoods in their wards. She asked that the next batch of code amendments contain less land use amendments to consider. Councilor Kelly asked that staff let him know what the public process would be for the second round of land use code amendments as constituents had been asking him this. He agreed with Councilor Bettman’s suggestion to bundle amendments in smaller amounts. He thought the amendments should be bundled by category. Councilor Taylor agreed with Councilor Bettman’s assertion that having over 80 minor code amendments was too much. She also thought the amendments should be submitted in smaller amounts. Mayor Piercy said she was impressed by how staff walked the council through some of the amendments. Roll call vote; the main motion as amended passed, 7:1; Councilor Bettman voting in opposition. MINUTES—Eugene City Council November 28, 2005 Page 8 Regular Session