CC Minutes - 04/25/11 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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Ms. Hocken noted the league's support for the inclusion of regional strategies related to economic development and natural resources, and the concept of an industrial land trust to facilitate Brownfield redevelopment. She submitted her written testimony. Paul Conte, 1461 West 10' Avenue, Chair of Westside- Jefferson Neighbors, noted the council's receipt of a letter in support of the Envision Eugene "neighborhood livability" pillar and of revitalizing the Infill Compatibility Standards (ICS) and OS processes. The letter was signed by 65 neighborhood leaders and endorsed by 13 neighborhood organizations. Signees included at least one representative from each neighborhood organization, which Mr. Conte attributed to the importance residents attached to safe, pleasant, livable, and stable neighborhoods. He suggested development pressures in neighborhoods like the West University neighborhood were creating monocultures and such areas were in danger of being future ghettos. Neighborhoods such as River Road and Santa Clara would be threatened by additional development pressure for higher density when the economy improved. Mr. Conte asked the council to consider and implement the recommendations of the ICS Task Team. Deborah Healey, 360 East 15"' Avenue, advocated for recognition of the differences between multi- family developments. She pointed out that some multi - family developments housed multiple related individuals, or families, while some multi - family developments housed multiple unrelated adults. She believed that to call both types "multi- family" housing misrepresented what the City was trying to achieve in terms of low- income housing and housing affordability. Ms. Healey said that while students might appear to be low- income, they often were not, as demonstrated by the cost of the housing they occupied. Ms. Healey liked the concept of compact urban development but believed the community could learn from the West University neighborhood. She agreed with Mr. Conte that it was a monoculture in terms of both residents and housing types. She called for measures to protect what was left in the neighborhood, including its historic houses, historic trees, the Millrace, and Amazon Creek. She believed that those measures needed to repair the fabric of the neighborhood and to encourage livability. She asked that Envision Eugene take into account varying neighborhoods and be informed by her neighborhood's experience. Gary Wildish, 2424 Quince Street, expressed support for the manager's recommendations. He agreed with the remarks of Mr. Reed that the recommendation might be on the low end of the need. He said much of the existing industrial acreage was in small parcels and included constraints that had to be mitigated. He recommended that the City have a portfolio of industrial sites of varying sizes to accommodate business expansion and relocation. Anne Marie Mehlum, no address given, concurred with City Manager Ruiz's recommendation for increasing the supply of industrial land. She termed it a balanced and moderate approach worthy of the council's support. She said the recommendation provided an opportunity for the local businesses to grow. Marcia Edwards, 1635 Adkins Road, representing the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce, expressed support for the manager's recommendation to expand the UGB to accommodate more industrial land. If the redevelopment of existing land was a viable strategy, it would have already happened. Brownfield mitigation was costly and could not compete with land in other markets. She suggested the City financially support the mitigation of such sites to make them available in the future. However, it was not currently an option for now, or reasonable or practical to expect companies to use Brownfields inside the UGB as a source of industrial land given the alternatives that were available in other communities. MINUTES— Eugene City Council April 25, 2011 Page 7 Regular Meeting