CC Minutes - 09/21/09 Public Hearing

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. PUBLIC HEARING 2 Minor Code Amendment Project (MiCAP) (Remand) Alissa Hansen, Planning and Development Department, explained that the purpose of the hearing was to receive testimony on reinstating land use regulations related to building height transition in the South University area and to parking requirements for apartments in the South and West University neighborhoods. Those regulations had been remanded by the Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA). She encouraged the council to raise questions following public testimony and said that staff would respond to those in writing prior to council action on the item on October 12. Mayor Piercy opened the public hearing and reviewed the procedures for providing testimony. th Lauren Hulse , East 20 Avenue, Ward 3, Eugene, thanked the council for enacting Ordinance 20418 establishing building height transition as an interim measure until permanent Infill Compatibility Standards (ICS) were in place. She said appeal of the ordinance and remand back to the City left the neighborhood without any protection against unreasonable building heights and ICS adoption with a new set of protections was likely a year in the future. She asked that the City Council readopt Ordinance 20418 to reinstate the temporary protections related to maximum building heights and minimum parking requirements in the South University neighborhood until the council acted on ICS task team recommendations for permanent changes to building height and parking requirements. st Janet Heinonen , East 21 Avenue, Ward 3, Eugene, spoke on behalf of the South University Neighborhood Association (SUNA) board. She said by unanimous vote the SUNA board respectfully requested the Eugene City Council readopt the MiCAP building height and parking standards for specific portions of the South and West University neighborhoods as previously adopted in Ordinance 20418 on an interim basis until June 30, 2010. She said adopting the standards on an interim basis allowed time for the ICS teams to recommend standards and the council to take those recommendations under advisement. She also asked that the council provide for an immediate effective date for the ordinance. Jon Mattheisen , Chambers Street, Eugene, spoke in opposition to the MiCAP regulations because property in the South Eugene neighborhood had been under the same zoning for many years. He felt that allowing a neighborhood association to amend that zoning would set a NIMBY (not in my backyard) precedence for the City. He said the area was adjacent to the University of Oregon and high density housing. Student enrollments were increasing and if the City did not build up it would need to build out. He said student housing needs had to be met and urged the council not to regulate zoning and development by neighborhood preference. Laura Potter , Laura Street, Eugene, speaking for the Homebuilders Association of Lane County, said association members had been working with the ICS task team to develop solutions and compromises to the issues of building height and parking near the University of Oregon. She said ICS was scheduled to go to the Planning Commission on October 20 with the first three proposals, including recommendations on building height and parking. She said the parking proposal was supported by the building community and represented a perfect compromise between current code and MiCAP standards. She hoped for a similar compromise on building height. She urged the council not to reinstate MiCAP as it would undermine the work that had been done and have negative consequences for the local economy. She said the land required to meet MiCAP standards would make many lots unfeasible for development. Luke Martindale , Stonegate Street, Eugene, a senior at the University of Oregon, stated that students did not need more parking; they needed more housing. The MiCAP parking requirements would encourage more automobile use and students did not require that much parking. He urged the council to uphold its sustainability goals and let the free market decide how much parking students wanted and needed. The MiCAP parking standards would only make it harder and more expensive for students to live where they wanted to and force them to live further from campus. MINUTES—Eugene City Council September 21, 2009 Page 2 Public Hearing