CC Minutes - 01/23/06 Work Session

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as reflected in the study came from the Stormwater Department Advisory Committee (DAC) as part of a long-term stormwater capital improvement plan, which included an allocation for stream corridor acquisition at the level of $150,000 per year. She said the DAC felt that level of funding was inadequate and recommended a study to identify high-priority, high-risk sites and a rate increase of $0.50 per medium density residential user and a commensurate increase for other user fee categories to fund acquisition. She related that the council approved the DAC recommendation, refined it during a series of work sessions, and directed staff to proceed with an enhanced acquisition program and rate increase with a three-year sunset provision to fund it. Ms. Walch noted that at the time of the council’s action, the open waterways ordinance had been legally challenged and remanded to the City and was no longer in effect and Goal 5 protection measures were not in effect. She said that a projected budget shortfall beginning in fiscal year (FY) 2005 resulted in the council rescinding its support for the rate increase for an enhanced acquisition program and the funding level reverted to $150,000 per year. Ms. Medary used Map 1 to illustrate the status of priority stream corridors acquisition; sites were identified as City-owned parks and public natural areas, completed acquisitions, sale pending, not available and potentially available. She said that purchased acquisitions represented approximately 36.3 acres of stream corridors or two miles of protected waterways; donations where the owner wanted to remain anonymous were not included. She explained that corridors were typically 150 feet wide and that width was used to correlate miles with acres. She said the remaining potentially available sites were the future of the acquisition program and were priorities based on factors such as steep slopes, highly erodible soils, connectivity, significant natural resources, high proportion of corridor undeveloped, potential for water quality and additional benefits and potential for leveraging financial resources. She said that staff would continue to have discussions with property owners as sites became available Ms. Walch reviewed Map 2 which identified the relationship between the 6.7 miles of waterways remaining that were potentially available for acquisition and the Goal 5 protected waterways, as well as waterways being considered by the stormwater program for protection for water quality. She pointed out that nearly all of the remaining stream corridor miles potentially available for acquisition were protected from encroach- ment by Goal 5 provisions with buffer setbacks ranging from 20 to 100 feet, although there were some developments to which Goal 5 protection measures would not apply as applications were submitted prior to November 2005. She said there was a varied level of stream protection in each of those developments. She indicated that the proposed stormwater program waterway protection measures were projected to come before the council in November 2006; the difference between those measures and Goal 5 protections was that the stormwater measures were focused on water quality, not wildlife habitat. Continuing, Ms. Walch raised programmatic and financial issues related to the acquisition program. She said an annual increase to stormwater user fees on the order of two to three percent would be required to maintain current service levels. She said that implementing stormwater development standards and other permit-related items approved by the council last year would equate to approximately a 3.5 percent rate increase and the council would consider in February 2006 shifting a portion of the funding for the street trees program from the Road Fund to the Stormwater Fund to help ensure long-term stability for transporta- tion systems operations and maintenance. She said there were other developments in the stormwater program that might have future financial impacts but the degree was not known: implementation of the River Road/Santa Clara stormwater basin plan and resolution of the issue of ongoing use of dry wells and finalization by the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) of draft Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for the Willamette River watershed. She said options for the council included: MINUTES—Eugene City Council January 23, 2006 Page 3 Work Session