CC Minutes - 06/08/11 Work Session

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potential such approaches could be more widely used in the future, Ms. O'Donnell reported that Planning Division staff was working with Public Work on information to share with the TRG. She said the City would need to show the State there was a reason that lands affected by such green infrastructure could not be counted toward the inventory. She suggested it made sense to first consider what the impacts might be, followed by further detailed analysis when the City was aware of all the changes staff anticipated would be made to the stormwater standards associated with the City's National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit. Mr. Clark emphasized the importance of such infrastructure to neighborhood livability. He wanted to ensure the City considered those facilities so it did not create a situation that resulted in overbuilding in those areas. Mr. Clark recalled that ECLA identified a need for 1,800 acres for residential development, and asked if the City was legally bound to that assumption. City Attorney Emily Jerome said the City was not bound to that assumption. The council had accepted ECLA for purposes of further analysis, and had the ability to adjust the assumption in the future. Mr. Clark asked for an example of a phase trigger. Ms. Weiss suggested one example was monitoring the construction of single- family houses over a period of time. Mr. Clark asked if the council would decide the decision metrics related to such triggers. Ms. Weiss anticipated staff would work with the consulting stakeholders on those triggers and would return to the council with a recommendation. Mr. Clark suggested the marketplace, not the City, had control over the housing mix. He asked if the City would monitor the regional effects of its actions, pointing out decisions made by the City of Eugene could affect where growth occurred elsewhere in the region. He believed one could argue the City's actions over the past two decades had increased the percentage level of single- family development in nearby communities. Ms. Weiss believed the City could monitor that impact by providing base information about growth in those communities. Mr. Zelenka also thanked the TRG members for all their work. He believed the phased implementation process made sense because it did not leave the City with irrevocable 20 -year decisions. Mr. Zelenka reported that he was currently attending the Climate Leadership Academy in Washington, DC, and one of the speakers at the event was a real estate consultant who discussed shifts in the housing marketplace. The consultant averred that the marketplace was shifting away from a drivable, suburban context to a walkable, urban context. That shift was being driven by "The Millennials." The consultant had predicted that over the next 20 years the number of households with children would decrease from 25 percent to 9 percent and the percentage of households with singles and couples would rise from 75 to 84 percent. Mr. Zelenka said the market would respond to those demographics with denser urban environments dominated by multi- family housing. Continuing, Mr. Zelenka said the consultant suggested the best way to explain the shift was by pointing to the different programs watched by "The Millennials" as opposed to the "Baby Boomers." The "Baby Boomers" grew up watching programs such as "I Love Lucy," "The Dick Van Dyke Show," and "The Brady Bunch" placed in drivable suburban communities, but "The Millennials" grew up watching "Seinfeld," "Friends," and "Sex in the City," programs which were placed in walkable urban contexts. He said that was not an accident but was based on market research done by the programs' producers. Mr. Zelenka said the example helped him to think about "who's driving this train moving forward" in regard to the question of the housing mix. He suggested that "looking in the rear view mirror of where we were" MINUTES—Eugene City Council June 8, 2011 Page 5 Work Session