Item 3A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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5. PUBLIC HEARING: An Ordinance Concerning Remanded Provisions of Appendix B to Ordinances Nos. 20325 and 20326; Amending Ordinances Nos. 20235 and 20236 by Adoption of a New Appendix B; Repealing Section 5 of Each Ordinance; and Providing an Immediate Effective Date City Attorney Lidz provided an overview of the remanded ordinance, reminding the council that in July 2004 it adopted two ordinances related to Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission (MWMC) facilities and planning. The first ordinance amended the portions of the Eugene-Springfield Metropolitan Area General Plan (Metro Plan) related to public services and facilities, and the second ordinance amended the Public Facilities and Services Plan (PFSP). He said the textual changes made by both ordinances were the same, which was why it was possible to amend the two ordinances in question with a single new ordinance. Mr. Lidz noted the appeal of the ordinances adopted in July 2004 by the Lane County Home Builders Association to the Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA), which subsequently rejected most of the associa- tion’s argument but remanded the ordinances for a more detailed description of Project 300, described generally as the WPCF treatment project. LUBA also suggested two other projects be reexamined to determine if a more detailed description could be developed. Mr. Lidz said the ordinance before the council addressed the issues raised in the LUBA remand. Mr. Lidz referred the council to pages 141-142, 144-145, which reflected the revised text to be added to the Metro Plan and the PFSP. He emphasized that only the project descriptions, not the projects themselves, were being changed. Because there were no changes to the projects, the changes to the descriptions were based on the 2004 record. No new information or record was needed. The public hearing was not required by the LUBA remand or Oregon land use law; rather, the Eugene City Charter required the council to hold a public hearing before it adopted an ordinance. Mr. Lidz said the proposed ordinance would have an immediate effective date to allow the projects in question to proceed immediately. The projects were needed in order to meet the requirements of the City’s National Permit Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit and other federal requirements. The projects would take years to build and had been delayed by the litigation. The land use amendments approved by the council were not effective because they could not be acknowledged by the State due to the litigation. Staff asked that the council amend the 2004 ordinances to remove the statement that the ordinances would not take effect until they were acknowledged, as the LUBA remand was sufficiently narrow for staff to believe the substance of the planning work had been completed. If the ordinance was appealed, the City would not have to delay the implementation of the projects. Mayor Piercy opened the public hearing. Kevin Matthews , 1192 Lawrence Street, representing the Friends of Eugene, encouraged the council to adopt the ordinances before it. He spent the remainder of his time discussing what he perceived to be the politics behind the appeal. Mr. Matthews maintained that the Lane County Home Builders Association was operating a concerted campaign to “block, delay, wear down, and bully against” anything that cost its members money. The association actively worked against City policies calling for new development to pay the incremental cost of its impact. Mr. Matthews considered the appeal an example of that. He invited the association to engage more constructively with the City. He thought if the City and association could work on something “bigger than the fifth decimal place of the bottom line of the profit of the home building companies,” there could be bigger improvements in the “first and second decimal place of those profits.” Mr. Matthews asked the council to consider the issue when it considers the impacts of the proposed Parks, Recreation, and Open Space Comprehensive Plan on the parks systems development charge. MINUTES—Eugene City Council January 9, 2006 Page 6 Regular Meeting