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original PROS plan had been created for a project list since “removed” from the plan, but now the plan was <br />“insufficient to stand alone” as the guiding document for Eugene’s parks for the next 20 years. She thought <br />it was made up of a long list of possible park improvements and acquisitions accompanied by a long list of <br />potential funding sources with no real plan for implementation. She did not think the plan should be adopted <br />in its present state. She claimed the plan continued to pay lip service to the idea of creating a balanced, <br />equitable system of parks and recreation services, but did little advance this aim. She referred to Table B-2, <br />which delineated the planning sub-area of River Road and Santa Clara. She underscored that Santa Clara <br />was grossly underserved. She submitted her testimony in writing. <br /> <br />Ellen Hyman <br />, 3863 Dorchester Lane, said there were no major differences between the first draft of the <br />plan and the one that was before the council except that the entire priority list had been eliminated. She <br />opined that this rendered the document useless “except as nicely worded fluff.” She observed that since the <br />1970s there had been public record conversations about the need for parks and opens spaces in Santa Clara. <br />She thought in reading the documents one would think there was a huge commitment to ensure the core <br />values of equitable distribution of parks and open spaces within the community. She did not think the PROS <br />Plan indicated how this equity would be achieved. She reiterated the need for more park area in Santa <br />Clara. She opined that if the PROS Plan was the blueprint for a bond measure, then the 1998 bond measure <br />clearly delineated what funds should be spent on. She stated that according to expenditures, $3 million had <br />not been spent, including spending designated for four planned projects. She said money from the bond <br />measure was used for planning, including $33,000 for signage, nearly $250,000 for the PROS plan <br />($104,000 from SDCs), and almost $500,000 for projects that were not identified or approved in the original <br />bond measure. She averred that this did not include $8 million in SDC money, much of which was collected <br />from Santa Clara. She declared that of the $25 million in the bond measure, only $387,000 had been spent <br />in Santa Clara for the development of two parks. She commented that she would be hard-pressed to support <br />another bond measure for parks given how the money had been spent thus far. <br /> <br />Larry Reed <br />, of JRH Transportation Engineering at 4765 Village Plaza Loop, submitted his testimony in <br />writing. He opined that the PROS Plan was fatally flawed. He based his position on three premises: <br />1. The plan did not take into account the open space owned by the County, State, and Bureau of Land <br />Management (BLM) in the West Eugene Wetlands Plan area nor the Willamette Greenway. It also <br />overlooked the park space located at school sites. He thought this could open the door for lawsuits <br />as these lands were required to be included in the inventory by law. <br />2. The plan was premature and out of balance and was not done in conjunction with other planning <br />elements such as community housing, homelessness, economic development, job growth and <br />transportation. <br />3. If the City adopted this plan, the City Council’s hands would be tied in the future as the City staff <br />would instruct the council that it could not revisit these goals and policies. <br /> <br />Mr. Reed asked the council to send the plan back to the staff with the direction to review, incorporate, and <br />coordinate this “great vision” into the community’s broader land use planning. <br /> <br />Debbie Jeffries <br />, 3800 North Delta Highway, concurred with the remarks of Mr. Reed. She thought the <br />main flaw of the PROS plan was that it lacked a foundation of facts. She said the plan omitted almost 3,000 <br />acres including the McKenzie River and the Willamette River, both of which were within the planning region <br />outside the City and metropolitan planning area. She wished to remind people that her property was not <br />inside the city boundaries and she had not received any notice about the plan, although it included land <br />outside the city. She averred that the process had not defined that it was going outside the city’s boundaries <br /> <br /> <br />MINUTES—Eugene City Council December 12, 2005 Page 6 <br /> Regular Session <br /> <br />