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B. WORK SESSION: Ordinance Concerning Goal 5 Natural Resources Study <br /> <br />City Manager Taylor asked Neil Björklund from the Planning and Development Department to provide an <br />update on the follow-up work done in response to testimony on the Goal 5 Natural Resources Study. City <br />Manager Taylor noted that this was a project on which Mr. Björklund had been working for 17 years. <br /> <br />Mr. Björklund opened his presentation by saying that the project was close to being completed. He referred <br />councilors to their meeting packets, which contained all of the written testimony that was entered into the <br />record, a memorandum that responded to all of the written and oral testimony, a revised ordinance that <br />reflected the changes that staff was recommending to the ordinance based on the testimony, and the <br />legislative findings that went with that. He noted that the councilors did not receive all of the exhibits <br />because they had not yet all been revised as staff was waiting for direction from the council. Mr. Björklund <br />said that staff was asking for direction from the council as to which ordinance to bring back for adoption, <br />presumably on November 14 when the item was scheduled for action. <br /> <br />Mr. Björklund referred councilors to two maps on the wall which reflected the recommendations being <br />brought to the council. He said that the recommendations affected only a few sites and therefore were not <br />readily visible on the maps. He said that he would make a PowerPoint presentation of four samples of <br />difficult sites and how they would be addressed and then ask for questions and comments from the council. <br /> <br />The first sample presented by Mr. Björklund was an example of when a street or building isolated a portion <br />of the setback. The example showed an area where the setback was cut off from Amazon Creek by a street. <br />He said that the recommendation was to not apply the provisions to those areas that were isolated by being <br />on the opposite side of a building or a street. In response to a question from Mr. Papé, Mr. Björklund said <br />that an exhaustive analysis had not been done to determine how many sites were like this because such an <br />analysis would be extremely time consuming. He said that he was aware of only a handful of sites like this. <br /> <br />The next slide was a sample of the adjustment to standards with a 33 percent threshold, in which an owner <br />would qualify for some reduction of the protected area if the setback area exclusive of the water feature <br />takes up 33 percent of the site. Mr. Björklund said that the slide illustrated why the water feature was not <br />counted. He said that the reduction would be based on what area was actually made unbuildable as a result <br />of the regulations. Mr. Kelly said that what Mr. Björklund was describing was not what he read in the <br />language. He referred to page 34 of the council packet, Section 9.8030(21)(a)(1): <br /> <br /> More than 33 percent of the development site is occupied by the combined area of the /WR conserva- <br />tion setback and any portion of the Goal 5 Water Resource Site that extends landward beyond the <br />conservation setback; <br /> <br />Mr. Kelly said that he always thought of streams, not ponds, when he pictured this statement. Mr. <br />Björklund acknowledged that most people did the same and that was why he had shown an example of a <br />property with a pond. In response to a question from Mr. Kelly, Mr. Björklund said that the setback was <br />defined in Section 9.4920. He said that the setback, in the case of a site like the one on the slide, would be <br />measured from the ordinary high water line or the top of bank, depending on the situation. He said that the <br />setback was that area from the edge of water or the top of bank out the specified distance. Mr. Björklund <br />explained the difference between the term “conservation area,” which included the resource and the setback <br />and any riparian vegetation that extended beyond the setback and the term “conservation setback,” which <br />was only the area measured from the resource out the specified distance and which did not include the <br /> <br /> <br />MINUTES—Eugene City Council October 24, 2005 Page 4 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br />