CCMinutes - 02/11/04 WS - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

B. ACTION: An Ordinance Concerning the Citizen Involvement Committee and Amending Sections 2.013 and 2.350 of the Eugene Code, 1971 Ms. Bettman, seconded by Mr. Poling, moved that the City Council adopt Council Bill 4856, an ordinance concerning the Citizen Involvement Committee. Mr. Taylor explained that this item was an administrative clean-up item for work done during the budget review. Mr. Kelly agreed this was administrative clean-up. He reiterated his disappointment that the Citizen Involvement Committee (CIC) had been defunded. He declared the CIC to be a focal point for public participation. Ms. Taylor opined the action was a %urial" and not a clean-up. Ms. Bettman opposed the dissolution of the CIC. She underscored that the intention of the CIC was to increase citizen involvement in a multitude of projects. Regarding the land use issue mandated by the State, Ms. Bettman asserted the Planning Commission had not reviewed a citizen involvement plan for minor land use code amendments. She asked how the Planning Commission was going to approach it at this point. Planning and Development Executive Director Tom Coyle responded that for the minor code amendment process, Planning Division staff would notify the community and home builders and would hold a work session. He stressed that the 12- to 18-month process had not started at this point. He explained that the citizen involvement component of the land use process would begin subsequent to the City Council approval of the prioritization of the Planning Division work plan. Ms. Nathanson asked if the City provided advice to various departments on how to create an ad or a handout to solicit citizen involvement. Mr. Taylor replied that, since 1976, the ideas and expertise that the CIC articulated were well-embedded in City practices. He felt many of the ideas were incorporated into how the City conducted business on a regular basis. In response to a question from Ms. Nathanson, Mr. Taylor said staff would encourage that any inadequate notices be brought to their attention. Mr. Pap~ reiterated that continuing the CIC with a limited budget would continue the diminishing results from it. He felt the City intemet was a tremendous resource for citizen involvement in City processes. He was also pleased with the complaint response process at City Hall. He could not agree with the contention that the dissolution of the CIC meant the death of citizen involvement, and added obviously such involve- ment had not ceased. Mr. Pap~, seconded by Ms. Taylor, moved to extend time for this discussion by five minutes. The motion passed unanimously, 8:0. Ms. Taylor asked how home builders were notified. Mr. Coyle responded that they were notified via e-mail. Ms. Taylor averred that a more equitable system of noticing would require the Lane County Homebuilders MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 11, 2004 Page 6 Work Session