CC Minutes - 05/14/12 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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Phil Farrington, Ward 1, considered the manager's recommendations to be exceedingly modest and asked the council to support and build on them. He said UGB expansion for job growth was essential. He could envision a need for both land in Eugene and land in Goshen because the land in Goshen was served by rail and was of a different type than that found in Eugene. Clayton Walker, Ward 5, supported the manager's recommendations, particularly as they related to industrial expansion. He believed code flexibility was as important as adding more land to the inventory. Gary Wildish, Santa Clara, supported the City Manager's recommendations. He believed the Seven Pillars had the support of the majority of Community Resource Group members. He also supported the proposed housing mix as reasonable and suggested the council would be wrong no matter what it chose because it could not predict the future. He supported the manager's recommendation for commercial lands and questioned where the land would come from as it would come from industrial and residential lands. He reported that the Industrial Lands Committee examined every parcel of 20 acres or more and found them amazingly constrained. Due to that information he was convinced the City's few parcels were inadequate for the future. Laura Potter, Ward 1, Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce, expressed support for the manager's recommendations. She said job growth was a chamber priority and was the foundation for a healthy growing community. The recommendation addressed job needs both through expansion and by calling for aggressive land redevelopment. It supported the needs of a vibrant and growing community. Rob Bennett, Ward 5, expressed support for the manager's recommendations, particularly those related to industrial expansion. He believed that the community would only attract employers to provide jobs by providing more available land. The community had many small noncontiguous parcels and a handful of parcels larger than 25 acres. Wetlands, some protected, affected every single parcel, and were cost - prohibitive to mitigate. He believed companies would look to other communities that had land that did not require costly mitigation. Mr. Bennett supported the modest three percent expansion proposed. John Lawless, Ward 3, representing the Bennett Family, supported the manager's recommendations related to commercial land and for flexibility in the implementation strategies to allow for the use of small nonindustrial parcels. He recommended that language be added to allow the evaluation of those parcels. Sue Prichard, Ward 3, supported the manager's recommendations. She did not think the community was being visionary enough in its industrial land projections. She believed existing projections were overly modest and would not result in enough choice of land for industries that would bring the highest paid jobs to the community. Businesses needed options to thrive. They needed to be able to select from more than one or two sites. She cited several businesses that left the community due to a lack of sites. The City had 176 acres and was proposing adding 475 acres for a total of 651 acres, which was just more than half of the land the City used in the last 20 years. She considered the manager's recommendation in that regard conservative, although she acknowledged it was a compromise. Ed MaMahon, Ward 7, encouraged the council to support the manager's recommendations and allow staff to move forward with implementation. He believed they recommended a community balance that allowed Eugene to move forward. He believed all Seven Pillars would be honored and stressed the importance of Pillar 7, which spoke to flexible implementation. Steve Goldman, Ward 7, asked the council to direct staff to prepare a recommendation that did not expand the UGB for residential uses. He maintained the current concept was in conflict with several of the Seven Pillars and the 20- minute neighborhood concept. He thought Eugene could do better. He MINUTES— Eugene City Council May 14, 2012 Page 4 Regular Meeting