CC Newsletter - 07/29/04 - Laserfiche WebLink

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While the public meetings are intended as a key way to involve the public in the discussion around street classification in the Crest Drive area, staff is working with a local consulting firm, Satre and Associates, to develop other ways people can be involved. A website has been created at www.ci.euqene.or, us/pw/crest, which includes a variety of informational materials and allows members of the public to e-mail Project Manager Gary McNeel with input. A fact sheet with answers to frequently asked questions has been updated, and all materials prepared for the public meetings will also be available on the website. More than 3,600 postcards are being mailed by July 30, inviting neighbors in the Crest Drive area to the public meetings and publicizing the website. Signs are also being placed at half a dozen locations in the area so motorists who may not live in the neighborhood but use area roads are aware of the meetings. A news release and newspaper advertisement will also be utilized to let the broader public know about the meetings and input opportunities. Staff goals in the involvement effort are to ensure that the council receives broad, representative input in the decision- making process and that citizens, particularly those who feel they have the greatest stake in the outcome, receive clear and accurate information on the impacts of street classification decisions. For more information, contact Gary McNeel in Public Works Engineering at 682-8451 or by email at gary.a.mcneel@ci.eugene.or, us. City Buildinq Available to Move The Facility Management Division wants find a new home for a 3,462 square-foot, single story, heavy-timber building with historic character reputed to have been used as a fire department stable in the early 1900s. This building is part of the City's Lincoln Warehouse at the northeast corner of Lincoln and 3rd Avenue, and it is slated for demolition as part of the 3rd - 4th Connector reconstruction project scheduled in 2005. Facility Management staff would like to know of any organizations capable of removing and re-using the building in whole for a viable use and retaining its historic character as a community resource. If serious interest is identified, the City Manager will notify the council of the terms and conditions recommended for the disposal of the building. Then, a formal Request for Proposals can be prepared to solicit detailed proposals including financial, organizational and schedule aspects as well as identification of the legal and buildable land the interested party has available for the building site. If interest is not identified by Friday August 6, 2004, the City will solicit proposals for demolition, incorporating recycling and reuse of the building components as much as possible. A legal advertisement seeking to identify interested parties will be published in The Register-Guard on Sunday, July 31 and Monday, August 1 and in the Daily Journal of Commerce on Monday. Individuals or organizations interested in pursuing this opportunity should send a written expression including information listed in the ad, to Russ Mecredy, City of Eugene Facility Management, 210 Cheshire Avenue, Eugene, 97401. To view the facility, contact Russ at 682-6024. Stream Team Volunteers Help Monitor and Protect Western Pond Turtles at Delta Ponds After attending a training last month led by Kat Beal, an Army Corps of Engineers biologist, seven Eugene Stream Team volunteers applied the skills they learned to look for and identify nests of the western pond turtle. The turtle is a species native to the Pacific Northwest whose population has been declining sharply over the past 30 years. The cadre of volunteers recently spent a week scouting for nests at Delta Ponds, an urban natural area that encompasses over 130 acres. They discovered four western pond turtle nests. Unfortunately, none were intact; all had been dug up and the eggs eaten by predators. However, the volunteers mapped the location of these nests and plan to get started in early June 2005, the beginning of the nesting season, and take proactive measures to monitor and protect nests, as well as study and document the status of the population at Delta Ponds. Stream Team Coordinator Lorna Baldwin is hopeful that these trained volunteers will be able to make a difference for western pond turtles, considered to be a sensitive species by the State of Oregon. "Our main goal for the pilot project this year was to get volunteers involved in this effort. We now have a group of trained volunteers with some experience looking for and identifying nests and a dozen other people who have expressed interest in the project." EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 3 July 29, 2004