CC Minutes - 05/26/09 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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Bill Eddie , 830 Crest Drive, Ward 2, stated that 86 citizens had signed the petition remonstrating the Crest Drive project. He said the vast majority of the neighbors favored improving the road and understood the need to pay for them, but they believed the existing assessment policy to be unfair and unaffordable. He related that they were collectively asking the council to find a better way to fund the project and future projects in Eugene. He felt that if it took six months and the construction was delayed until the 2010 construction season, then the council should take the time to craft a more affordable policy. He said everyone felt the $10,000 to $20,000 assessment was onerous “even in the best of times.” He averred that no one should ever have to take a loan out on their house “to pay a tax.” He alleged that many of the people in the area would not qualify for a bank loan and would be forced to take a loan from the City at eight percent. He opined that this could be considered “predatory lending.” He believed that forcing someone into an unwanted loan raised both moral and legal questions. He declared that a small assessment shared among many made more sense than the current policy of “gouging the few to pay for the benefit of all.” He urged the council to accept the challenge to create a better assessment policy for all of Eugene. Marion Eddie , 830 Crest Drive, Ward 2, encouraged the council to work together to rethink the current means of assessment not only for the Crest Drive/Friendly Street/Storey Boulevard area but for all of Eugene. She said the council had heard “many heart-felt stories” about why the present assessment policy was alarming. She asked the council to please listen to the neighbors and citizens. She averred that if they continued with the present policy, it would cause an undue and unfair financial burden. She had hope that the council could come up with a more fair assessment and still complete the road repairs. Sue Kelly , 97405, recalled that when she had been a letter carrier in Springfield 27 years ago, some road repairs had been done and the people she brought mail to had been assessed for them. She related that it had caused terrible hardships and some people had lost their homes. She believed they could come up with something better than the current mode of assessment. She had spent two days gathering signatures and everyone she had spoken with liked the project and appreciated the work the City had done to arrive at a design they approved of, but all of them were against the means of assessment. She agreed with Mr. Eddie; this was a City and not a group of neighborhoods “loosely strung together.” She said if all of the street projects were covered under one umbrella that everyone paid for, the City could have all of the streets that it needed. She quoted comments by the Mayor, Councilor Taylor, Councilor Clark, City Engineer Mark Schoening and Councilor Poling at the previous meeting that were in support of working on the assessment policy or were against causing hardship for people. Rick Robertson , 839 Crest Drive, stated that he had purchased his home in the Crest Drive area one year earlier. He had known that the assessments were coming up because the sellers had been forthright about it. He felt that the assessment process was not entirely fair. He wanted the City to work to find a more equitable way to pay for the improvements. Marlene Varady , 420 Crest Drive, Ward 2, agreed with everyone who spoke about the street assessments. She believed the area residents were asking the council to take on a “daunting task;” it would be a lot of work to change the law. She was sure several of the area residents would be glad to help with the process, if they could. She said they had worked hard to get the amount of signatures necessary for the remonstrance. She noted that the residents in the Elmira Road/Maple Street area had not “been so fortunate” and had not been able to get the number of signatures needed. She related that she had been asked at a Crest Association meeting whether she would be willing to pay for the Elmira Road area streets, too, and she had replied that “of course” she would. She wondered if it would be possible to reverse the ruling regarding the Elmira Road residents. She underscored that it was a difficult time to refinance or get loans. She also wondered if the City might consider lowering the interest rate it was offering to those people who had difficulty getting financing for the assessments. MINUTES—Eugene City Council May 26, 2009 Page 3 Regular Meeting