CC Minutes - 09/09/09 Work Session

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Brown suggested that such discussions were really in the purview of the Police Commission. Mr. Brown determined from Ms. Gardner that an assessment of mixed use centers was planned and that she anticipated that the project would look at the strategies the City had chosen to implement mixed-use centers. The City had applied for a State transportation growth management grant to underwrite those costs; it failed to receive that grant and she proposed to fund the project using existing resources given how it important it was. She noted that the State Land Conservation and Development Commission (LCDC) would be meeting in Eugene in October to discuss Eugene-Springfield’s success with the mixed-use center approach. Mr. Brown ascertained from City Attorney Emily Jerome that questions regarding the River Ridge Metro Plan amendment proposal were premature at this time. Mr. Clark suggested that dedicating 12 percent of resources to the topic of mixed-use centers seemed like a high number. He asked about the rationale. Ms. Gardner explained that several projects were involved. She reminded the council of the importance of mixed-use centers to the TransPlan goal of reducing vehicle miles traveled and suggested that it was necessary to devote the resources called for given the importance of that link. She briefly reviewed the projects that would occur and conceded that they were time intensive. Mr. Clark determined from Ms. Gardner that the intention of the projects in question was to further the mixed-use center concept. Mr. Clark said he understood the value of mixed-use centers and their connection to TransPlan. He recalled that Eugene-Springfield had suggested the mixed-use center approach to meet the State-mandated goal. Mr. Clark was concerned that the council had adopted regulations through the minor code amendment process that decreased density and increased the amount of cars on site in particular developments. He said the council seemed to be working against the goals it established. He asked Ms. Gardner to comment on how those amendments worked in harmony with the City’s goals with regard to mixed-use centers. Ms. Gardner said that the issue identified by Mr. Clark was the subject of a remand from the Lane Use Board of Appeals. While she could not speak to the legal issues involved, she reminded Mr. Clark that the code amendments in question were developed by residents of the City’s neighborhoods. She thought that conflict between community goals was an issue the council would be wrestling with in the future. Speaking to the remarks of Mr. Clark, Mr. Zelenka said that in the case of the South University Neighbor- hood, the issues for residents was “how dense was dense” and neighborhood compatibility. In the case of the issue of parking, Mr. Zelenka thought the City’s policy was forward thinking but collided with the reality of how many cars people owned today and how many people lived in one apartment. In response to a question from Mr. Zelenka, regarding the degree to which the commission employed the City’s Growth Management Policies in its daily work, Mr. Duncan acknowledged the challenge of doing so given the inherent conflicts that existed, but indicated the commission used them quite a bit. The commis- sion had a formal way of measuring how it used the policies. Mr. Carroll believed the policies became internalized over the course of the commission’s service. He suggested the question might more appropriately be how usable the policies were. He said they were not readily applicable, and he looked forward to the more graphic vision that he mentioned earlier, a more depictive vision, to assist the community to resolve those internal conflicts. Speaking to Mr. Clark’s question about the resources required for mixed-use centers, Mr. Carroll cited the complexity of the planning process for the Walnut Mixed Use Center as one reason for the projection. He also indicated the form based code approach employed language the commission was unfamiliar with and MINUTES—City Council September 9, 2009 Page 2