Item 3A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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proposal to sell water to Veneta in writing. Karen Booth , 3015 Emerald Street, did not want EWEB, as the City’s agent, to act without the City’s consent in selling water to Veneta. She was also concerned that City water rights would be used to facilitate urban sprawl. She said that it was a way of getting around the urban growth boundary, which was established for a good reason. Mayor Piercy closed the public hearing. Councilor Clark recalled that during the recent council work session, he had heard that it would take 120 years to perfect the next McKenzie River water right and that the sale to Veneta went toward furthering that end. He asked what would be required to perfect the water right in its entirety. Intergovernmental Relations Director Brenda Wilson said she did not have exact figures, but believed that the third and final water right on the McKenzie River was divided into 25 percent chunks. EWEB did not believe that current growth projections would allow the community to hit the target that triggered the first 25 percent mark. In order to secure the water right, EWEB would have to certify the water in 25 percent chunks, and the service to Veneta as well as projected growth would give EWEB a better chance of hitting the first 25 percent, which guaranteed the community the use of the water and gave it time to figure out how to secure the next 25 percent allocation. She said that EWEB could certify a smaller amount, but the community would then lose its rights to seek the remaining rights up to 100 percent of the right. In the future, if the community wanted additional water, it got into the “back of the line.” Councilor Brown stated there was no date from the Water Commission for perfecting the rights. Ms. Wilson said the State Legislature passed new laws regarding water right perfections for Oregon municipalities because of water hoarding issues. Currently, the time line was not clear; it was somewhere between five and twenty years. She suggested the State would realize if a community was not moving toward certification of its water rights; if it appeared a municipality was moving toward certification, the State was more likely to issue an extension of time for certification or moving toward the next 25 percent than it would if the municipality was not making a reasonable effort toward certification. Councilor Brown asked if EWEB had an estimate of when Eugene growth would achieve the target without water sales to another community. Ms. Wilson said that those projections would not be realized for more than 50 years, and EWEB did not believe that the State would consider that a reasonable amount of time. Councilor Brown concluded that EWEB did not believe that but he suggested it had not been told that by the State. Ms. Wilson agreed, saying that the new laws passed in 2005 were meant to address long-held, uncertified water rights. At that time, a reasonable time was considered five years. Councilor Brown speculated that EWEB would have to sell more water to more communities to reach the target in a reasonable time. He further speculated that fears about the water rights could spur sales to other communities such as Creswell, Junction City, and Coburg. Councilor Zelenka said that another wholesale water sale beyond the sale to Veneta would be needed to reach the next 25 percent target. He questioned how much more water EWEB would have to sell to reach the next 25 percent. Councilor Zelenka recalled that he had asked who was in line for the McKenzie River water rights now, and the council had learned that the rights were not fully allocated and there was a surplus of 200 million gallons and an additional 18 million gallons that Eugene had the rights to. He asked what would happen if EWEB did not perfect all the future rights and then filed for a water right immediately, and what the impact MINUTES—City Council June 14, 2010 Page 7