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Mayor Piercy closed the Public Forum. She thanked everyone for coming and speaking. She wished to thank the <br />School Board for School District 4J in particular. She understood that the Planning and Development Department <br />(PDD) had decided not to enforce the chicken ordinance pending council discussion and possible revision of it. <br /> <br />Councilor Pryor thanked everyone for their testimony, calling them an interesting and thoughtful group of people. He <br />asked for further information on the authority of the HRC to dismiss commissioners. Regarding the chicken issue, he <br />appreciated that PDD had ceased enforcement until the council could consider the issue. As for mountain bike <br />access, he said the council hesitated to get into specific issues of operation, but there were policy issues to consider <br />with regard to runner/pedestrian/bicycle interface. He acknowledged the request to extend the Envision Eugene <br />timeline and asked if there were obstacles to doing so. <br /> <br />Continuing, Councilor Pryor stated that he served on the West EmX Extension Corridor Committee and he had <br />walked the canal and the 13th Avenue section. He felt there were a lot of problems with that particular route. <br />Another issue that was important to him was the impacts that a West 11th Avenue route would have on businesses <br />along that route. He said the committee planned to meet on June 2 at 5 p.m., downtown, and at this point there were <br />58 different permutations of what the route could be and they were trying to "weed through all of them." He felt they <br />were being careful and deliberate in their actions. He underscored that this issue encompassed the larger <br />transportation issue in West Eugene and EmX was simply the beginning part of it. <br /> <br />Councilor Ortiz echoed everything Councilor Pryor said about the West 11th Avenue corridor. She had also spent a <br />lot of time walking the bike path along the Amazon Canal. She also wished to underscore that homelessness was <br />always a part of the work that they were doing. She said part of the Envision Eugene process included the triple <br />bottom line analysis, one aspect of which was social equity. Her interpretation of this was that everything they were <br />doing would be tested with that analysis in mind. <br /> <br />Councilor Clark thanked everyone for their testimony. He thought the young people did a fantastic job of presenting <br />the arguments for increasing the limit on backyard chickens. He also echoed Councilor Pryor's comments. He <br />related that five years earlier he had taken a Rototiller to his backyard and he and his family ate from their garden <br />from March until December. He had asked his wife about chickens and she had vetoed the idea. He supported the <br />idea of expanding what was possible on a local basis. <br /> <br />Councilor Zelenka thanked School District 4J. He said the West 11th corridor was a citywide problem that needed to <br />be fixed. He stated that part of the solution was more transit. He agreed that LTD was not perfect, but he pointed <br />out that it was one of the best run transit districts with one of the highest per capita riderships in the country. He <br />averred that the Franklin Boulevard EmX corridor had demonstrated that with better and more frequent and <br />convenient service, ridership increased. He related that the Franklin corridor had exceeded its 20-year projection for <br />ridership in its first year. He pointed out that the EmX used hybrid buses. He said telling him that the City did not <br />need more transit or "bashing LTD" would not get him to listen; the people testifying regarding EmX routes would be <br />better served by explaining why another route would serve the area better. <br /> <br />Mayor Piercy thanked Drix and agreed that the City had a lot to celebrate. <br /> <br />2. CONSENT CALENDAR <br /> <br />A. Approval of City Council Minutes <br /> <br />- October 12, 2009, Work Session <br />- January 11, 2010, Meeting <br />- January 25, 2010, Work Session/Urban Renewal Agency Meeting <br />- March 10, 2010, Work Session <br />- April 21, 2010, Work Session <br />- April 26, 2010, Work Session <br />MINUTES—Eugene City Council May 24, 2010 Page 9 <br /> Regular Meeting <br /> <br />