Item 2A: Approval of Council Minutes

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people. Ms. Thomas believed equity of education was another issue as the current enrollment data provided by School District 4J indicated there were 1,481 students attending Sheldon Eugene High School, compared to 1,027 students at Churchill High School and 1,069 students at North Eugene High School. Jean Kingrey , 2372 Parkrose Drive, said the City had not considered the issues raised by project opponents. The HPB deferred those issues to the council as being beyond the HPB’s mandate so the council needed to consider all the information presented to the HPB before making a decision. Ms. Kingrey disagreed with the City Attorney Glenn Klein’s contention that approval of Bascom Village was not a quasi-judicial decision. She suggested that the fact the Housing Dispersal Policy required the council to balance a variety of interests, investigate the evidence, and draw conclusions from its investigation made the decision a quasi-judicial action subject to court challenge. Ms. Kingrey said City staff represented that the 60-unit restriction in the Housing Dispersal Policy only addressed units with two more bedrooms but the policy included no such language. She suggested the council ask the City Attorney if he found a sound legal basis for that position and if it had ever been asserted before the challenge to Bascom Village. She noted Housing Financial Analyst Becky Wheeler’s response to her on the issue, which she provided to the council. Ms. Kingrey suggested the attorney be consulted on the question of whether the inclusion of a Head Start facility in Bascom Village violated the R-2 zoning for the area. She also questioned whether repeated transfers of City property at no cost or below market value to a religious institution such as St. Vincent de Paul raised First Amendment issues under the third test established by the United States Supreme Court in the case Lemon v. Kurtzman. Virginia Thompson , 2552 Britannia Place, a member of the HPB and former member of the school board for School District 4J, said she did not speak for the district but her comments had been reviewed by district personnel for accuracy. She reported the district indicated that neighborhood schools near the property in question had considerable capacity for the number of students projected to live at Bascom Village. Ms. Thompson said that enrollment in Sheldon region schools were down by more than 500 students over peak enrollment in 2007. The district had proven strategies to shift enrollments, close and consolidate schools, and adjust boundaries while still providing students with a quality education. It was not known how many students would live in Bascom Village and Ms. Thompson suggested some might already live in the area. There was two years to plan for the additional students. She emphasized that stable, quality homes helped level the playing field for low-income students. Stan Smith , 3620 MeadowView Drive, did not support Bascom Village. He owned 23 units on Matt Drive and shared the northern boundary line with Maplewood Meadows, an existing 38-unit low-income development. He said that not all low-income families were undesirable neighbors but it was naïve to believe they were always good neighbors. His low-income neighbors regularly abandoned grocery carts on his property and his tenants experienced low-level crimes. Tenants of the low-income used his complex as a shortcut to reach Coburg Road and tagged fences and buildings. He had encountered young men roaming the area at night and found that intimidating. He had to hire an on-site property manager to safeguard his property. Jordan Papé , 2362 Lakeview Drive, advocated for consistency in the implementation of City policies. He said neighbors’ objections were not based on the income of prospective residents and pointed out there was a trailer park directly to the north of the area. He said while it might be true Sheldon schools could absorb new students from Bascom Village he questioned how the schools could accommodate students from all the other current and planned development. Mr. Papé said development was occurring in the area without adequate infrastructure to support it. Area schools had 50 percent more students than North MINUTES—Eugene City Council November 21, 2011 Page 8 Public Hearing