Item 2A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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knew something that was perhaps not considered by the ICS task team. He believed the alternative motion protected the neighbors, but the WUN area was predominantly composed of student-related housing. Councilor Brown averred that the ICS task team did represent a broad spectrum of people with a good deal of knowledge. He also did not believe the Planning Commission discussed the item for very long. He thought they should not disregard the work of the task team because it would send a terrible message to people in the City about how much their participation was valued. Councilor Solomon understood that the staff motion applied to the SUNA area only. She ascertained that it would still be possible, with the staff motion, to construct buildings in the WUN area up to a height of 90 feet on lots larger than 10,000 square feet. She thought this was reasonable; they had worked with the SUNA neighbors to address their issues regarding density and height. She wanted to acknowledge that the University was continuing to grow and there was an increasing need for housing for the students. She averred that they should want the students to live as close to campus as possible. The closer students were in proximity to the campus, the less likely they were to bring a car. Additionally, she thought the chance of a developer finding a lot that was greater than 10,000 square feet was slim. She also thought it unlikely that a developer would choose to build to that height because of the cost. Councilor Clark stated that the motion provided by staff would protect the SUNA area, in compatibility with the ICS recommendation. He was amenable to that as a compromise position because he understood the importance of the quality of life in that neighborhood. He was concerned that the motion on the table would have unintended consequence. He said people built buildings to suit the marketplace and he predicted that there would be many more six-bedroom buildings with a “whole lot of cars” and what would be built would be “boxes after boxes.” He averred that what they would get if they allowed the opportunity for greater height would be the opportunity to achieve a similar density and with height where height made sense. Councilor Pryor commented that the possibility that a 90-foot high building could be built did not mean it would happen. He thought that the compromise that accommodated the SUNA area interests was reasonable and the question was whether that was also reasonable for the WUN. He was concerned that they might be treating one neighborhood differently because they were more involved. He was challenged to make a decision on this, but was likely inclined to support the staff’s recommendation for a motion. Mayor Piercy wanted to emphasize that the ICS task team had worked on this for two years and reached consensus on many things. She believed that the make-up of the ICS group had been broad. She had understood that the WUN area had not been involved in the conversation that had brought about the compromise. Councilor Zelenka remarked that the University area was the only one in the town where R-4, Residential, zoning butted up against R-1. He felt that the WUN had quality-of-life issues and it did not make sense to him to treat them differently from people who lived one block away. He listed several examples of development that furthered the goals of density at a lower height. Roll call vote; the vote on the amendment was a tie, 4:4; councilors Ortiz, Taylor, Zelenka, and Brown voting in favor and councilors Pryor, Clark, Solomon, and Poling voting in opposition. Mayor Piercy voted for the amendment and the amendment passed. Councilor Brown, seconded by Councilor Clark, moved to delete Section 4 from Council Bill 5015 and renumber the sections accordingly so that the ordinance would take effect according to Section 30 of the Eugene Charter. Roll call vote; the amendment passed, 7:1; Councilor Solomon voting in opposition. MINUTES—Eugene City Council December 14, 2009 Page 9 Regular Meeting