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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes - 04/14/99 JEOMINUTES & NOTICE OF BOARD ACT LANE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS This document, upon approval in a public meeting by the Board of County Commissioners, serves as official minutes of such meetings as required under the Open Meetings Law, ORS 192. 650. Pursuant to notice made by mailing agendas to news media, a selected list of jurisdictions and individuals in Lane County, a meeting of the Board of Commissioners was held. Questions should be directed to the Board Office Specialist 3, ext. 4203. April 14, 1999 JOINT ELECTED OFFICIALS MEETING Lane County 5:00 p.m. BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS Fairgrounds EUGENE CITY COUNCIL SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL Commissioner Bobby Green, Sr., presided with Commissioners Anna Morrison, Peter Sorenson and Cindy Weeldreyer present. Bill Dwyer was excused. County Administrator Bill Van Vactor, Assistant County Counsel Stephen Vorhes and Recording Secretary Melissa Zimmer were also present. Mayor Jim Torrey, Scott Meisner, Nancy Nathanson, Betty Taylor, Pat Farr, David Kelly, Gary Rayor, Gary Papd were present for the City of Eugene. 1. INTRODUCTIONS Mayor Jim Torrey, City of Eugene, presiding, called the meeting to order and introduced the Eugene City Council. Commissioner Bobby Green opened the Lane County Board of Commissioners meeting. Green announced that Commissioner Bill Dwyer was excused. Mayor Maureen Maine, City of Springfield, opened the Springfield City Council meeting. Eugene City Councilor Scott Meisner, announced they had an item on their agenda, an appointment to the Board of Directors to the Lane Workforce Partnership. He moved to table that appointment until the April 21 council meeting. Eugene City Councilor Nancy Nathanson SECONDED. The motion carried unanimously. Jim Carlson, Lane Council of Governments, reported that the presentation came out of a request by Councilor Ken Tollenar for local elected officials in the Metro Area. Carlson said it described some of the intergovernmental cooperative programs and what the urban Page 1 -- Joint Elected Officials Meeting -- April 14, 1999 WP bc/m/99039/T transition process was about in the 1980's, still being implemented in the local area. He noted that all administrators were interested in having a discussion about the issues that are coming out in the various service areas. He added the work they did included three background documents, (one written specifically for this event around intergovernmental cooperation and urban transition) a two page report that contained brainstorming ideas and the issues the chief administrative officers had identified as being of concern to elected officials in the local area. He said a third item was an historical piece that was updated in 1992 about the different activities that the three governments were involved with together. He said tonight they will focus on the history of the Metro Plan and the urban transition process in eight service areas. He added that the three administrative officers and himself had been present within the past 20 years and had lived through all the intergovernmental activities. He noted that the first real comprehensive plan for the Eugene-Springfield area was the 1990 Plan that was adopted in 1972. He added it established an urban service area concept, compact urban growth and other key focuses that went into the Metro Plan when it was developed. He noted the Metro Plan in 1982 was the first one that was developed specifically to address the requirements of the statewide Land Use Planning Law. He added the 1990 plan had pre-dated that law and the concepts were incorporated into the state law, but the Metro Plan of 1982 was the first acknowledged as meeting all the goals and guidelines of the state planning program. He said the Urban Transition Project was an attempt to implement the essence of the Metro Plan with a joint resolution of the three bodies in December of 1984. He added that the Metro Plan had not been a stagnant plan, but had undergone periodic review in 1987 where new state requirements had to be addressed. He noted that the key element the Metro Plan is built upon is that it established the urban growth boundary, which separated urban uses from rural uses. He added the Metro Plan was based on a number of fundamental principles: cooperation of all the local agencies, compact urban form, and that Eugene and Springfield were the logical providers of urban services. Carlson reported that the Urban Transition Project was formed by a committee that was made up of two elected officials from Eugene, Springfield and Lane County. He added in 1987, that committee was transformed into the Metropolitan Policy Committee (MPC) and part of the charge of the bylaws of that group was to continue as a forum for analyzing, discussing and resolving issues related to urban transition-type activities. He noted that a key element of the urban transition process was thinking about the urban transition area, not only outside of the city limits, but inside the urban growth boundary. He said that since 1990, there had been 230 annexations in the River Road/Santa Clara area. He said the focus of the urban transition process is to transition services. Carlson noted with Planning and Building Services, the decision through the urban transition project was to have the cities administer land use applications for building permits, and Lane County adopted the City codes to apply to the lands inside the urban transition areas. He added Lane County entered into intergovernmental agreements with both cities for them to Page 2 -- Joint Elected Officials Meeting -- April 14, 1999 WP bc/m/99039/T administer the codes in the urban transition areas. He said the County is still the government that represents residents living in those areas, but they have gone through the process of adopting a code and contracting through an intergovernmental agreement. He added on the Springfield side, the agreement went further in that the Springfield Planning Commission is designated as the Lane County Planning Commission for legislative planning activities on the Springfield side of the urban transition area. He said on the Eugene side, the Lane County Planning Commission still provides the review. He noted that historic preservation in the urban transition area is not currently part of the transition agreement, so Lane County is still responsible for that and nuisance abatement in the urban transition area. He added another issue is the idea of establishing a fee in the Metro Area on land use related permits and applications to help pay for the cost of doing metropolitan level planning. Carlson reported that with police patrol and corrections, the Public Safety Coordinating Council did not come out of the urban transition. He said it is a mechanism that is available to address issues of metropolitan significance with regard to safety issues. He said what came out of the urban transition issue was the recognition that Lane County should be the sole provider of correction services. He added as a result of that, Springfield closed the jail they were operating and Lane County now has responsibility for various corrections programs. He said the cities do contract for jail services for their municipal prisoners, and the issues are still the ones that were present in 1986: an inadequate level of police patrol in the urban transition area. He added the County does not have the resources available to provide an urban level of service in the urban areas of River Road, Santa Clara, North Springfield and Glenwood, and there had been no resolution of that issue. He said the resolution is annexation and as that occurs, the cities will be responsible for providing police protection in those areas. He added there needs to be stable funding for countywide community safety services. Carlson noted the County had a small role in fire protection and emergency medical services and the urban transition emphasized that the cities are the appropriate providers for fire protection and ambulance emergency medical. He added that Lane County did adopt the Countywide Ambulance Service Area Plan as was required by state law. He said there are still two rural fire protection districts that provide volunteer fire protection, Santa Clara Fire and Lane Rural Fire. He added transition agreements with them are in place and have been recently revised. He said the issue that remains is the fire/water district consolidation, as the Metro Plan calls for the dissolution of those special districts. Carlson said with regard to parks, the agreement in the urban transition was a major one as it resulted in the separation of functions between Lane County Parks, the City of Eugene and Willamalane Parks. He said the outcome was the County should be responsible for some of the large regional parks, including Fern Ridge, Mt. Pisgah, and the Howard Buford Recreation Area. He said under a separate agreement, Lane County took over the management of Armitage State Park. He added the smaller parks were transferred to Eugene, Springfield or Willamelane and the park districts are taking care of them. He said that Eugene Page 3 -- Joint Elected Officials Meeting -- April 14, 1999 WP bc/m/99039/T and Willamelane have instituted a parks system development charge that is designed to pay for neighborhood and community parks, but not regional parks. He said an issue that exists is acquiring regional open space to be preserved. He added there had been talk about the formulation of a larger park district that would be created with a permanent tax rate. Carlson reported that roads is the biggest subject because some roadway jurisdiction had changed. He said the history prior to urban transition, was as annexation occurred, the roads didn't necessary transfer. He added there were County jurisdictional roads inside the cities of Eugene and Springfield that were unimproved. He said the urban transition required for efficiency of service to transfer the jurisdiction of the roadways inside the cities' limit. He added the County would transfer road fund money to pay for maintenance and preservation activities. He said there had been an agreement that had been updated over time but the issue on the agreement is that Lane County timber receipts are declining and the outlook for the fund after 2003 is in question. He added assessment practices on unimproved streets, collectors and arterials that are on the edge in the urban transition area have become an issue. Carlson said with regard to storm drainage, the Endangered Species Act will have a major effect, but the urban transition process showed that no agency had taken responsibility for storm water management outside of the road right-of-way in the urban transition area. He noted the County uses road fund money to manage storm water related to the roads, but doesn't have resources to manage storm water outside of that. He said Eugene and Springfield have developed a comprehensive funding mechanism through monthly sewer fees and systems development charge for capacity increasing projects, for stormwater. He said the issues they had identified were continuation of stormwater management in the urban transition area, natural drainageways, and establishing an user fee. Carlson reported that with regard to sanitary sewers, the County Service District was created in 1978 and consisted of the incorporated cities of Eugene and Springfield, and as annexations occurred, there were automatic annexations to the County Service District. He added it was formed to allow for the bonding of the local share of the sewage treatment plant construction site. He said there is a Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission that oversees the operation of the plant and the treatment facilities. He noted that in the 1980's as a result of the groundwater pollution issues, sanitary sewers were extended into the River Road/Santa Clara area. He said sanitary services are provided everywhere in the River Road/Santa Clara area. He added that sewers had not been extended in a similar matter to North and South Springfield or Glenwood. He said the original bonds will be paid off in September 2002 and the County Service District needs to exist until the bonds are paid off. Carlson stated that Eugene and Springfield have city tax supported libraries. He said the unincorporated areas had tax supported library service until 1988 until when a levy (that would have continued the program) failed. He noted that non-city residents have to pay an out of city fee to obtain certain services provided in the city libraries. He said the issue is a Page 4 -- Joint Elected Officials Meeting -- April 14, 1999 WP bc/m/99039/T lack of tax-supported library services in unincorporated areas, but there is planning that needs to be coordinated. Carlson noted that regarding intergovernmental coordination, the Metro Plan is a unique document that actually covers two cities. He added there are existing structures in place to deal with intergovernmental issues. He said for the most part, the result of the urban transition project and the language in the Metro Plan indicates that annexation is the ultimate solution to many of the urban transition issues, and the cities are the logical providers of those types of urban services. He said the County is the logical choice for many other types of services including elections, assessment and taxation and corrections. Nathanson said regarding page 4 of the handout, on the building services, that Springfield handles legislative issues and Eugene doesn't. She wanted an example ora recent legislative issue that Lane County handled for Eugene. Carlson responded that the West Eugene Wetlands would be an example of a legislative-type activity where the Lane County Planning Commission was involved. He noted that the Land Use Code Update was another example where the Eugene Planning Commission had done most of the work, but it would be going to the Lane County Planning Commission, and action by the Lane County Board of Commissioners. Nathanson noted that on page 7, the issue of an equalization charge was absent. Kelly requested a history of the transition process where Springfield made one choice and Eugene made another choice, or if the decision came down from the County level. Jim Johnson, Eugene City Manager, recalled that the City of Springfield desired to handle it that way in their jurisdiction. He added it wasn't an issue for the City of Eugene or Lane County. Kelly said that Springfield's process seemed more straightforward. Mayor Maine said she appreciated their cooperative agreements and their coordinated efforts and the flexibility to allow them to implement what best suits their jurisdiction. She wanted clarification of a statement with regard to policing services. She said if the ultimate goal in the boundary is annexation for a full compliment of urban services, a statement was made that the County should provide urban level policing until such time as there is annexation. She said they are contradictory statements because there would be no incentives. Carlson responded that if he said the County should provide the service, he misspoke. He said he meant there is inadequate service and the County does not have the resources to provide it. Page 5 -- Joint Elected Officials Meeting -- April 14, 1999 WP bc/m/99039/T Sorenson suggested having more joint elected official meetings more often. He said there have been areas that have been inadequately addressed. He said human services wasn't mentioned and there are a lot of homeless people. He said that stormwater was a big unaddressed issue that is coming up in light of the endangered fish issues that will address urban Oregon. He added that something should be done about a greenbelt around the Eugene and Springfield area and unless a mechanism is in place, funding would be hard to get. He noted that 70% of Oregonian's unserved by a public library live in Lane County. Green commented on Public Safety as it relates to the River Road area. He said there are residents that are located within the city, but there is an expectation that the sheriff will be able to provide protection and enforcement, which is not the case. He said 25% of those dwellings are annexed to the City of Eugene. He said there are inadequate levels of police protection. He favored taking one or two of these issues and assess what can be done under this type of an agreement. He said annexation would be a solution, but he wanted to know where the City of Eugene patrol stops and the sheriff picks up. He wanted to give staff direction to address the inadequate public safety so the citizens in the area of the County can know who will respond to police calls. He agreed annexation may address a lot of the issues, but there still needs to be coordination for the services. He said to give policy direction around the public safety issue as the PSCC will not solve this issue. Meisner noted that the residents of the non-annexed portions of River Road/Santa Clara want services that the City does not have the resources to pay for. He said the agreement does not provide for the City to pay for it. He added he gets constant complaints from residents who are currently not complaining about taxation without representation, they are demanding representation without taxation. He noted island annexation is creating more problems in the long term. Carlson responded to Meisner's issue. He said it was done by the City of Eugene and was a budget issue. He noted it was not clear whose jurisdiction the area is. Meisner noted that the conclusion in Carlson's report stated that annexation was the ultimate solution and Mayor Maine used the term "goal." He said the two terms are different and wanted to know the essence of the agreement. He added the residents of Santa Clara/River Road wanted to know if it is their goal to annex, or if it was a solution. Carlson responded the assumption of the Metro Plan is that all the territory within the urban growth boundary will ultimately be annexed, but the time and method is unknown. Meisner reported that he was troubled because he couldn't get any information from the County about the consultant and the areas to be studied with regard to the library. He said it will be difficult to find an equitable way for County voters to pay for the capital costs being Page 6 -- Joint Elected Officials Meeting -- April 14, 1999 WP bc/m/99039/T undertaken in Eugene and the additional levy cost. He added it would be hard for Eugene voters to vote for another library levy that would benefit someone in another city. Rayor stated this meeting was a good forum to discuss the overlapping concerns of all the jurisdictions. He said the underlying theme was finding ways to fund. He noted the police issue had the best ingredients because of the County's jail and the city's enforcement and interaction. He said he would like this group to engage in that discussion as it is the best way to show everyone is working together and to sell the voters on funding mechanisms. Pape stated the most important issue is police and public safety in the River Road area and planning and library services. He said it couldn't be the only time and place in the country where there is rural transition intermixing and he is open to any ideas and is getting frustrated. Ballew said people get confused as to who is actually serving them. She added if citizens did not want to be annexed and undergo the urban city government cost, others in the cities would not want to support people who could not help themselves. Simmons stated the habitat issue with the endangered species will be an important part of the area's future with the listings. He said the other issues that needs to be focused on jointly is the issue of disaster planning. He added these types of meetings are productive and there should be more meetings on different subjects. Morrison echoed Simmons with regard to the issue around the endangered species and salmon listings. She added the annexation issue has been present for the past 20 years and people understood and realized that it is inevitable, and they don't want it to happen. Hatfield noted that their goal is annexation of the area and at some point it will become part of Eugene and the planning is a sound investment in the future liveability of Springfield. Taylor asked if, without this system, there was a way the Springfield and Lane County Planning Commissioners could deal with the same things to resolve problems. Carlson said the Lane County Commissioners have ultimate legislative jurisdiction over the territory outside of the City. He said he didn't believe the County could delegate its legislative authority. He added the issue is more of an efficiency standpoint, resolving the issues at the elected official level. Farr noted there were excellent points about Morrison's comments on the annexation and the delivery of service. He said there is a tremendous inefficiency of service delivery north of the Beltline. He said the City does not have the resources to deliver services. He wanted to find a way to get the annexation accomplished. Page 7 -- Joint Elected Officials Meeting -- April 14, 1999 WP bc/m/99039/T Nathanson thought the discussion was more of a beginning than a conclusion of information that was presented. She said a number of topics were raised and it was hard to guess which is the most pressing issue for the staff to work on and bring to them. She said there are at least three issues in every topic area that should be worked on to some degree. She said she is interested in doing something. On annexation, Weeldreyer noted that it is still looked upon as having emotion attached to it and needs to be approached carefully. She said there are historical lessons that can be learned from the Bethel area being annexed to Eugene. She added it took over a decade to get a library levy finally passed because so many citizens thought they were forced into the city to pay higher taxes, without having a say in the matter. She said for the citizens who are County residents in areas that are in urban transition, it would be respectful if they tried a kindlier, gentler approach to annexation. She added it will also be a cost to the current taxpayers to expand the large geographic area and extend the services. She said with regard to library services, there are some rural libraries that have been run by volunteers. She said she would not support creating a new taxing district that was countywide for a countywide library service district. She said with regard to police services in the Metro Area and the inequity of service levels in unincorporated areas, that issue comes up but there would be a value in looking at a Metropolitan Policing concept. She hoped that the PSCC would support this. She said for the County residents who are being charged because they have property that has a front footage, it is not fair to make them pay a large amount. She added it forces the residents to be in a position of having to subdivide their property and the road project tends to force that amount of growth in the particular area. She said equities need to be looked at and having more of these meetings would help. Kelly noted that earlier in the discussion, someone used the phrase, "perhaps some sort of special status is in order." He said he was leery of any phrase like that and is concerned that it would lead to an inequitable fiscal burden on current city residents. He said he agreed about the sensitivity of annexation and if there is outreach to the citizens in those areas from the County, it needs to be shown as a benefits cost equation. He said he would like to see some innovative ways to bring the services and costs to bear. Mayor Maine recommended that the Springfield Council process this discussion and start thinking about which areas were highest priority and bring those to the MPC meeting. She stated she was reluctant to hold these sessions every month, because they don't always have everyone at the table to get at the policy level. She recommended having a MPC meeting to do some individual processing and continue to speak and hold these meetings occasionally, but not as a way to set countywide policies. Green agreed that the MPC is the body where those issues could be brought for broader policy discussions. He said the citizens want to speak with their direct representatives. He Page 8 -- Joint Elected Officials Meeting -- April 14, 1999 WP bc/m/99039/T said he had been working with some of the citizens in the River Road area. He suggested to get councilors from the City of Eugene that would be interested in related issues around annexation and efficiencies as they relate to public safety. He suggested that the CEO's create some options so the citizens will know exactly what they are. He noted in the River Road area that most people know if they get annexed, they get to become part of the city but what they get with that becomes the issue. He wanted to go out and listen to a smaller group representing the joint elected officials. Mayor Torrey suggested that the executives working with LCOG prepare a set of items for future discussion that are not binding and present them to the three governmental bodies. He added the individual governmental bodies could set up their own process for dealing with them. He added it could be worked through MPC and then brought back to the individual government bodies. Mayor Torrey closed this portion of the meeting to reconvene at 7:00 p.m. 7:00 p.m. 1. PUBLIC HEARING a. SECOND READING AND PUBLIC HEARING/Ordinance PA 1128/In the Matter of Amending the Eugene-Springfield Metro Area General Plan to Adopt a New "Residential Land Use and Housing Element" and Related Changes to the Plan Text and Glossary; and Adopting a Severability Clause. Intergovernmental Cooperation in the Eugene-Springfield Metropolitan Area. Clair Van Bloem, L-COG, noted that the Public Hearing is an opportunity for the public to provide testimony for the residential land and housing study, specifically the recommended Metro Plan amendments that are contained in the Eugene/Springfield/Lane County Planning Commissions' recommendations report. She stated the unanimous recommendations from the three planning commissions upon adoption, will replace the existing Metropolitan Plan Residential Land and Housing elements with a new introduction, findings and policies. She noted that the Metropolitan Residential Land and Housing Studies are part of the Metro Area State Mandated Periodic Review. She said the Eugene/Springfield metro area entered the periodic review in 1993. She said between 1993 and 1995, the metro area community developed a work program to address periodic review of the general plan. She added it was decided at that time by the elected officials that a complete and total revision of the Metro Plan could not be undertaken due to fiscal constraints caused in part by the passage of statewide Ballot Measure 5. She said what was adopted was a minimalist approach and did not contain any activities that were not absolutely required. She said Page 9 -- Joint Elected Officials Meeting -- April 14, 1999 WP bc/m/99039/T the residential land study is an important work task in periodic review and addresses state planning Goal 10, to provide for the housing needs of citizens of the state. She said the study began in 1995 and was guided by citizen advisory committees and approved by the local jurisdictions. She said in January 1998, the citizen advisory committees released their recommendations and forwarded their recommendations to the three planning commissions. She noted that after the release of the report, two open houses were conducted (one in Eugene and one in Springfield) and four Public Hearings occurred. She said the record was left open for four months and in January 1999, with the approval of all three planning commissions, a unified set of policy recommendations was forwarded for hearing and action by the elected officials. She added that since February, each of the three elected official bodies had conducted work sessions to become familiar with the recommendations and the background information. She said in addition, attached to tonight's agenda is a briefing memo which covers the key policy recommendations and some of the discussions that occurred at the work sessions. She said the record will be held open until April 26 at 5:00 p.m. Mayor Torrey stated there would not be a decision made this evening, testimony will be taken, and then there will be questions from the elected officials following the testimony. Mayor Maine opened the Public Hearing for the City of Springfield and read into the record the matter of Amending the Eugene-Springfield Metro Area General Plant to Adopt a New Residential Lane Use and Housing Element and Related Changes to the Plan Text and Glossary; and Adopting a Severability Clause and providing an effective date. Commissioner Green opened up the Lane County Board of Commissioners Public Hearing and read the Ordinance PA 1128 into the record. Barbara Cole, stated she was speaking on behalf of the Lane Regional Air Pollution Authority (LRAPA), 1010 Main Street, Springfield. She raised the issue that decisions have a long range impact on air quality in the community. She noted that over the past 25 years, stringent motor vehicle and fuel standards have reduced the emissions from individual cars by 95% and at the same time populations have grown and the number of vehicles and miles driven has grown faster than the population. She said the cost for building more roads to accommodate a growing population is prohibitively expensive. She said transportation demand management needs to be thought about. She added if more people are able to use mass transit, walk or bicycle to get around in the future, there will be cleaner air and a more livable community. She said a way to reduce the dependence on the automobile is to encourage high density mixed use communities that accommodate people's basic needs within a short distance to where they live in close proximity to shopping and jobs. She stated that LRAPA supports the plan that is Page 10 -- Joint Elected Officials Meeting -- April 14, 1999 WP bc/m/99039/T present tonight for recognition of the housing impact having infrastructure decisions on environmental and other resources. She added they specifically endorse policies 15 through 18 and measures 8 to 20 that encourage development of high density and affordable housing in mixed use communities. Eleanor Mulder, 2775 Emerald, Eugene, stated she had attended many of LCOG's Development Committee meetings. She said the study should respond to people's housing dreams and wants and not to what they could afford. She said the theoretical demand should be expanded and the land supply lessened by changing the variety of the components that compute both figures. She said she was enthusiastic about the comments the Department of Land Conservation and Development made to address the draft's shortcoming. She said too much apartment development has not been aimed at the more narrowly affordable market but attached development has targeting the high end of the housing market. She asked to heed de-sale of the recommendations. Randy Prince, P. O. Box 927, stated he was in favor of utilizing market principles wherever possible. He said homeownership is more dependent on policies set at the federal and state level. He said that Eugene has more regulations, the quality of life is higher and that is why people want to move here. He suggested eliminating the pressure of people wanting to own homes from the equation, because the factors of homeownership are wrapped up in Washington, D.C. He suggesting allowing people to have extra bedrooms or parking spaces and leave it to the market. He asked the officials to support the economic growth by non-real estate indicators. Roxy Cuellar, 1255 Pearl St., Eugene, stated she is the Director of Government Affairs for the Lane County Homebuilders Association. She said they are recommending that council members and commissioners adopt and approve the recommendation that the planning commissions did with respect to the inventory on supply and demand. She said one of the reasons they are willing to accept the fact is the study concludes that there is a 20 year supply of buildable lands in the area. She said if the homebuilders think that they can use time most productively for the concept in the report there would be a better monitoring system for how much land is being used as they are developing it. She noted policy number 7 is too vague and asked that the language be clarified. She said they want to encourage all the parties interested to work together before the next periodic review, to arrive at a policy for dealing with the fact that seven years from now they will not have a 20 year buildable land supply. Mark Radabaugh, Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development, 635 Capital St., NE, Salem, stated their department is close to endorsing the work. He went over minor points of a letter dated April 14. He said they endorse the monitoring system. He noted that for the next periodic review, they will be under SB 2709 of 1995 that requires more effort in terms of developing good land use efficiency. He said Page 11 -- Joint Elected Officials Meeting -- April 14, 1999 WP bc/m/99039/T they are suggesting stronger language for the cities dealing with housing supply and needs analysis. He said the plan is an excellent one as it has citizen based involvement throughout, to monitor it closely. He said he will be recommending it. Max Liebreich, 1969 Columbia, Eugene, stated he is against high apartment complex densities and wants to see them spread out farther. He added he is against putting low income people into bigger projects with smaller areas around them. He said the city needs to be looking at smaller lot sizes with green areas around them for open spaces. Jim Croteau, City of Eugene, reported the public notice that went out advertising this hearing and study indicated to the public that they did have until April 26 to submit written comments. He added they have tentatively set work sessions with all three jurisdictions and made a handout for members of the public. He noted that all Metro Plan Amendments require unanimous approval by all three jurisdictions and if there is disagreement, the dispute resolution process is with the MPC. He said the Eugene City Council has scheduled Work Sessions on May 24 at 5:30 p.m. and May 26 at 5:30 p.m. He said that Springfield City Council will have theirs on June 7 at 6:00 p.m. He said that the Lane County Work Session is tentatively set for June 16, but not an exact time. He noted that staff will provide a listing of all work sessions to anyone that submitted testimony or had testified tonight. Sorenson questioned protecting high quality agricultural soils within the residential land study. Croteau responded that staff wanted to prepare additional material for the Work Sessions. He added at the Work Session the County Commissioners had, they produced a map that showed that everything within the urban growth boundary is high value soils. He said the sites that are vacant and in farm deferral are at the periphery in the North Coburg Road area towards Armitage Park and in Springfield in the Jasper area. He noted they will provide all three groups more information about that and the applicability of state law. He said that once land is put inside the urban growth boundary, the state and local laws claim the land is then considered urbanizable. He added if the elected officials decided to take the land out of the inventory, there would need to be a process to make up the land that had been set aside for residential uses and either increase the density or redesignate other lands within the urban growth boundary or expand the urban growth boundary onto other non-resource lands. He noted that with regard to wetlands, open space and other resource areas, the planning commissions' recommendations take into account that approximately 32% of the land that is designated for residential use will be in other uses. He said in addition, the planning commissions are recommending that certain constrained lands not be assigned to development in the future. He said the recommendations do contain analysis that constrained lands and resource lands should be protected. Page 12 -- Joint Elected Officials Meeting -- April 14, 1999 WP bc/m/99039/T Green requested that when the analysis is done to include the costs for the options. Kelly said with regard to policy 20, he wanted to know what zone it related to and wanted clarification about prescribed standards of manufactured dwelling parks. Simmons wanted to know if they would be receiving an impact analysis prior to adopting of 4D Rules to show that there may be federal impact upon the adoption of the plan. Croteau responded that they will include any information on the Endangered Species Act implications. He noted that one of the constrained areas the planning commissions excluded from the inventory was land within a certain setback of both Class A and Class B streams. Mayor Maine questioned the elected official process and what provisions had been made to either reconvene the joint planning commissions, or have the citizens advisory committee come together for agreement after the work sessions. Croteau stated the staffs and the groups have not talked about the changes going back to either the citizen advisory group or the planning commissions. He said they anticipated with the elected officials, they would get the changes from each planning commission. He said they could go back to the planning commission but the work program is a minimalist approach and they need the budget for other items in their periodic review board. Nathanson said there are not only economic but social considerations that are important when acknowledging rental vs. ownership housing in the community. She favored including a housing ladder concept (emergency housing transition) that was presented to the City of Eugene. Torrey reminded the public that they could submit written testimony until April 26, and it could be submitted to the Cities of Eugene and Springfield and the Lane County Planning Offices or directly to the Lane Council of Governments. He added that the record will be open until April 26. Mayor Maine closed the Public Hearing for the Springfield City Council, adjourned the meeting and noted that the record will remain open until April 26 and reminded council that their Work Session is scheduled for June 7. Page 13 -- Joint Elected Officials Meeting -- April 14, 1999 WP bc/m/99039/T Commissioner Green closed the Public Hearing for Lane County and kept the record open until April 26. He noted that the tentative Work Session for Lane County will be June 16. Mike Copely, Lane County Land Management, recommended that the Board continue the matter to a Third Reading and Deliberation on June 16. Commissioner Green adjourned the meeting for Lane County. Mayor Torrey closed the Public Hearing for the City of Eugene. He complimented the staffs for their efforts at tonight's meeting and thanked everyone in attendance and thought it was an excellent discussion. He adjourned the Eugene City Council meeting at 8:10 p.m. Melissa Zimmer Recording Secretary Page 14 -- Joint Elected Officials Meeting -- April 14, 1999 WP bc/m/99039/T