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<br />Ms. Muir observed that the City had two AICP planners on staff and she was one of them. She said the <br />quality of Eugene’s staff was nonetheless high. She did not think AICP membership guaranteed a better <br />project or proposal. Ms. Taylor was concerned because she believed staff rushed applications to approval, <br />and the expertise of an AICP member could be valuable in slowing down the process. <br /> <br />Ms. Taylor referred to item 80, which would revise the code to clarify that consent to a public utility <br />easement was only required from those directly adjacent to the easement. She thought those not directly <br />adjacent to the easement could also be affected. Mr. Nystrom said that an individual wishing to vacate a <br />public utility easement must seek consent from anyone with direct access to or could benefit from the <br />easement. The current code language required someone living on the other side of the property adjacent to <br />the property in question to grant consent, even if they have no interest in the easement. The proposed code <br />language gave such property owners notice and the ability to comment, but staff questioned if it made sense <br />to ask them for consent when they were not served by or benefited from the easement. <br /> <br />Mr. Poling recognized Ms. Bettman for a motion. <br /> <br />Ms. Bettman recalled that the council adopted a motion directing staff to return with a proposal that allowed <br />the City to capture the value from any City action, such as a rezoning, that added value to a property. That <br />money would go to a fund that allowed the City to acquire property or compensate for reductions in value as <br />opposed to waiving regulations in the case of a Ballot Measure 37 claim. She said the council had yet to <br />address the subject, which she considered an overarching issue that affected the entire city, while in the <br />meanwhile it processed such things as the minor code amendments. She thought the City was putting the <br />cart before the horse in many ways. <br /> <br />Ms. Bettman, seconded by Mr. Kelly, moved to direct the City Manager to postpone council <br />action on code, zoning, and land use changes that would likely result in increased property <br />value, until such time that the council has considered an ordinance that enables the City to <br />recover a portion of the increase in value bestowed on property benefiting from such action. <br />The recaptured value will be dedicated to a fund for the sole purpose of compensating prop- <br />erty owners with a valid Ballot Measure 37 claim in lieu of waiving regulations, and for ac- <br />quisition of high value/priority properties in lieu of waivers due to valid Ballot Measure 37 <br />claims. <br /> <br />Responding to a question from Mr. Pryor, Ms. Muir said that the council would consider at least three and <br />possibly four land use issues before it held a work session on the proposed compensation fund. Those <br />included the Parks and Open Space Plan, the Chambers Reconsidered Project, Goal 5, and the minor code <br />amendments. Mr. Pryor was reluctant to postpone the operations of the City while the council considered <br />the compensation fund. He did not think the City would be doing the job its citizens expected it to do. He <br />did not oppose the concept but was opposed to stopping all work on other land use issues. <br /> <br />Mr. Kelly had the opposite point of view. He believed the motion was a goad to the City for further action <br />rather than a halt to its work. He recalled that the council gave staff unanimous direction to staff to develop <br />the ordinance in question. He suggested that part of citizens’ expectations included their expectation that the <br />City would be able to do land use planning. He thought that, given the impact of Ballot Measure 37 on the <br />City’s ability to do so, the council should address it first. He pointed out that the motion merely called on <br />the council to consider the ordinance; it might find out that for practical reasons the ordinance could not be <br />adopted. <br /> <br /> <br />MINUTES—Eugene City Council October 12, 2005 Page 9 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br />