Item 2A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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ATTACHMENT H M I N U T E S City Council Council Chamber—Eugene City Hall 777 Pearl Street—Eugene, Oregon December 13, 2010 7:30 p.m. PRESENT: Alan Zelenka, Mike Clark, Betty Taylor, Jennifer Solomon, Andrea Ortiz, George Poling, Chris Pryor, George Brown, members. Her Honor Mayor Kitty Piercy called the December 13, 2010, regular meeting of the Eugene City Council to order. 1. PUBLIC FORUM Mayor Piercy reviewed the rules of the Public Forum. Pauline Hutson , 1025 Taylor Street, Residents for Responsible Rapid Transit (3RT), said Lane Transit thth District (LTD) did not like the 6/7 Avenue option for the West Eugene EmX extension because it created three routes on one bus rapid transit lane, which was precluded by Federal Transit Administration thth guidelines. She suggested LTD could adopt the 6/7 option and install a transfer station at Garfield and th Chambers streets and avoid sending the future River Road and Highway 99 EmX extensions down 6 Avenue to downtown. Ms. Hutson said a statement was made at the recent meeting of the Joint Locally Preferred Alternatives Committee that feeder routes would only be provided once the Highway 99/River Road corridor west of Highway 99 was constructed. That made no sense as the routes would not be built in 15-20 years. She said the areas that would be served were among the fastest growing in Eugene, and feeder routes would be crucial to the success of LTD service in that part of town. Ms. Hutson suggested that LTD Director of Service Planning, Accessibility, and Marketing Andy Vobora’s remarks to the council regarding LTD’s contacts with businesses did not “tell the full story” because Mr. Vobora did not mention that there were business owners on Franklin Boulevard who, in spite of promises, were not adequately compensated for their losses. She recommended that the council read an article about the issue by Paul Nicholson in the November 24 issue of the Eugene Weekly. Josef Siekiel-Zdzienicki , 1025 Taylor Street, believed the EmX route selection process had grown increasingly complex and lacked a needed link to the Envision Eugene process, through which changes to the urban growth boundary might occur. He said the two issues needed to be worked on together. The Community Resource Group (CRG) included some representation from West Eugene businesses but he did not think that representation was sufficient. The CRG needed more representation from small business owners. Mr. Siekiel-Zdzienicki said a land use plan must involve those who would be affected. He urged the council to slow the route selection process to coordinate it with Envision Eugene. Mark Robinowitz , PO Box 51222, Eugene, discussed a “low build” approach to the Beltline widening project as a means to lower costs and to recognize decreased traffic volumes. He suggested the City’s transportation planning did not take into consideration that Alaska would have no more oil by 2031. He MINUTES—Eugene City Council December 13, 2010 Page 1 Regular Meeting