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Mr. Zelenka suggested that businesses along West 11 Avenue could make eminent domain a self - <br />fulfilling prophecy, or they could negotiate with LTD. <br />Mr. Poling recalled that a previous City Council had viewed schematics of the corridor that included <br />several mixed -use centers identified along the route, none of which had come to fruition. He observed <br />that in his eight years on the council, only one of the identified mixed -use centers had been built. <br />Mr. Poling endorsed the recommendation made by resident Josef Siekiel - Zdzienicki that the decision <br />about the west Eugene EmX route be incorporated into the Envision Eugene process. <br />Mr. Farr suggested that LTD's ridership statistics did not take into account the volunteers that used the <br />bus to reach Food for Lane County. <br />Mr. Farr suggested to Mr. Clark that the WEC vision for West l P Avenue was a long -term picture, and <br />EmX was a long -term solution for travel on the road. <br />Mr. Farr suggested that more people in Bethel would be able to access a system that turned around at <br />Winco. He asked what process LTD went through to select West 11 Avenue, as opposed to Highway <br />99, which had more residential neighborhoods. Mr. Pangborn said the City Council selected West 11 <br />Avenue as the next corridor for LTD to pursue. <br />Mr. Farr referred to the fact that West 11 Avenue was also State Highway 126, and recalled that <br />Highway 126 was to have been relocated to the West Eugene Parkway, a project the council terminated. <br />That meant Highway 126 would continue to be on West 11 Avenue. He understood that the EmX <br />system was intended to complementary to the parkway, and asked how Eugene could change the vision <br />for EmX on West 11 Avenue now that Highway 126 would not be relocated. He asked LTD staff to <br />respond to that a future meeting. <br />Mr. Farr observed he heard many business owners along West 1 lth Avenue complain that they had not <br />been able to provide input earlier in the process. <br />Mr. Brown asked questions clarifying the location of dedicated lanes along the route. Mr. Pangborn <br />indicated that current maps of the route could be found on LTD's Web page and LTD staff would provide <br />paper copies of those maps to the council. Mr. Eyster characterized the route as a moving picture because <br />staff continued to work on revisions with input from the businesses. <br />Mr. Clark posited the route would better serve neighborhoods and manufacturing and employment centers <br />that were less retail- oriented than a corridor dominated by retail uses. He asked if a Highway 99 <br />alignment that reached into Bethel would serve more neighborhoods and employment centers. Mr. <br />Dubick suggested that the council needed to factor in that retail establishments had employees that needed <br />an economical way to reach their employment. Mr. Pangborn did not think that people realized how <br />many people lived in high - density housing within a short distance of West 11 Avenue. He believed that <br />LTD needed to serve both employment centers and residents where they lived, and that such routes <br />needed to have good connections to other parts of the community. <br />Ms. Towery suggested that discussion of the transit - dependent population was missing from the <br />conversation. She said much of the high - density housing mentioned by Mr. Pangborn was low- income <br />housing, and she believed that an EmX route made it possible for those people to be connected to the <br />community more effectively and efficiently, which added to their quality of life. She said that LTD had <br />MINUTES— Eugene City Council January 24, 2010 Page 7 <br />Joint Work Session with Lane Transit District Board of Directors <br />