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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes - 11/09/98 Meeting MINUTES Eugene City Council Council Chamber--City Hall November 9, 1998 7:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Pat Fart, Tim Laue, Bobby Lee, Laurie Swanson Gribskov, Betty Taylor, Ken Tollenaar. COUNCILORS ABSENT: Scott Meisner, Nancy Nathanson. Mayor James Torrey called the November 9, 1998, meeting of the Eugene City Council to order at 7:35 p.m. 1. CEREMONIAL MATTERS Mayor Torrey read a proclamation recognizing the work of health care professionals who specialize in the use of medical radiation and imaging technology and declaring November 8-14, 1998, to be Radiologic Technology Week in Eugene. Mayor Torrey announced that the Metropolitan Wastewater Management Division had received an award from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Wastewater Treatment Division Technical Services Manager James Ollerenshaw described the pretreatment program regulating industrial and commercial discharges into the wastewater collection system. He explained how it protected water quality in the Willamette River and ensured that residual sewage sludge met requirements for use as a soil amendment. Mr. Ollerenshaw said that the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality had nominated the pretreatment program of the Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission for the Environmental Protection Agency's Excellence Award for two consecutive years and that it had won second place in 1998. He said prime factors in receiving the award were protection of the river and development of protocols for notifying program violators. He presented a plaque commemorating the award to Mayor Torrey. 2. PUBLIC FORUM Mayor Torrey explained guidelines for speaking in the Public Forum. Hobbie Rubin, 2650 Edison Street, stated that he was a student at the University of Oregon. He said he was concerned about the negative potential of City actions in relation to what he termed recent "riots" of university students. He suggested that what he said was a custom of one Native American tribe to allow members to engage in uncharacteristic and normally unacceptable behavior one night each year be followed in Eugene. He also suggested that certain areas of the MINUTES--Eugene City Council November 9, 1998 Page 1 7:30 p.m. City near the university be designated as "party zones" in which raucous would be tolerated. He concluded by recommending that homeless persons be given a place in which they would be allowed to live in their vehicles. Misha Seymour, 1313 Lincoln Street, #306, stated that he had been sprayed with oleoresin capsicum by a Downtown Guide during the Eugene Celebration. He said he did not believe guides should have authority to use such spray and hoped the new City Council would deal with the issue. He also expressed concern that classical music was being "piped" into the Downtown Mall. He said he believed it was an attempt to drive young people away from the area and would result in the formation of gangs. Nick Antone, Jr., 512 Honeysuckle Lane, stated that he was a life-long resident of Eugene. He said he was dissatisfied with a decision of a City Hearings Official which had resulted in his family being charged a civil penalty of $360. He said his family could not pay the penalty and over $20,000 of other obligations it owes to the City and would be evicted from its home. He said he believed the process being used by the City was not working and that it should take better care of mentally ill citizens. Karl Gaines, 3145 Portland Street, expressed concern regarding issues related to a proposed vacation of City property on which his home was located. He said he would not be able to afford a survey to re-align the property line between his and a neighbor's land which would be required in the vacation process. Martha Wiley, 3145 Portland Street, reviewed the contents of a letter she said she had sent to councilors regarding the vacation process described by Mr. Gaines. She explained that the platting error which was discovered during the application for a permit to build a house addition had not been reported in four transfers of title to the property. She asked that the council correct the problem by providing the required survey and realignment of property lines. Mayor Torrey determined that there were no other persons wishing to speak in the Public Forum. Mr. Fart announced that the council was scheduled to act on a recommendation later in the meeting to schedule a public hearing on the issue raised by Mr. Gaines and Ms. Wiley. 3. CONSENT CALENDAR A. Approval of Council Minutes: September 28, 1998, Council Work Session October 12, 1998, Council Meeting October 14, 1998, Council Work Session Mr. Fart moved, seconded by Mr. Tollenaar, that the items on the City Council Consent Calendar be approved. The motion was adopted unanimously, 6:0. 4. INITIATE AND CALL FOR PUBLIC HEARING: STREET VACATION FOR PORTLAND STREET CUL-DE-SAC (SV-98-5) MINUTES--Eugene City Council November 9, 1998 Page 2 7:30 p.m. Planning Division Senior Planner Steven Nystrom stated that the council was asked to approve a motion that the City initiate a street vacation for the easterly portion of a cul-de-sac on the east side of the 3100 block on Portland Street and set a public hearing date for its consideration. He reviewed background information included in the Agenda Item Summary regarding the recent discovery of the extension of the house at 3145 Portland Street into the unimproved street right- of-way. He explained the options available to the council of initiating the vacation request with its required public hearing and directing the property owners to initiate the request. Mr. Laue encouraged the council to approve the suggestion that the City initiate the vacation request to rectify the unfortunate platting error. He commended staff for its work on the issue. Mr. Fart also commended staff for its work and asked what would be the cost of the civil engineer's work need to correct property line problems related to the issue. Mr. Nystrom estimated that such a survey would cost several hundred dollars. He noted that the proposed vacation was one of three issues being addressed regarding the property. He said the neighbor involved was willing to accept property line adjustments and that issues related to a utility easement could be dealt with through administrative action. In response to another question from Mr. Fart, Mr. Nystrom said it was impossible to accurately assess responsibility for the platting error. Mr. Fart stated that he ask the council to consider underwriting the cost of a survey for the property because the current owners were not responsible for the error. Mr. Fart moved, seconded by Mr. Tollenaar, that the City of Eugene initiate a street vacation request and set December 7, 1998, as the public hearing date to consider the vacation of a portion of the Portland Street cul-de-sac right-of-way. Mr. Lee asked if other properties would be affected by the proposed vacation. Mr. Nystrom replied that the adjacent neighbor would be affected and would also benefit from the proposed vacation. Ms. Taylor expressed concern that provisions for the planned addition to the house at 3145 Portland Street be accommodated by the proposed vacation and property line change. Mr. Nystrom stated that the tentative plans for the house addition would be accommodated by the proposed vacation and property line change. The motion was adopted unanimously, 6:0. 5. POTENTIAL CITY-INITIATION OF WHITEAKER PLAN AMENDMENT AND ZONE CHANGE Planning Department Senior Planner Teresa Bishow reviewed a staff recommendation that the council carefully consider whether to initiate an amendment to the VVhiteaker Plan and a related zone change for property located at 927 West 1st Avenue. She said evaluation of the merits of the amendment and change should not be considered until public hearings had been held. MINUTES--Eugene City Council November 9, 1998 Page 3 7:30 p.m. Ms. Bishow explained options related to preparation of the application and waiver of fees which would need to be considered if a motion to initiate the changes was approved. She stated that staff recommended adoption of Option 2, in which applications for the changes would be prepared by the property owner and application fees would be waived. She said advantages of Option 2 included that staff would retain the responsibility of evaluating the applications without having also prepared them. Mr. Farr asked how much time and expense would be involved in the preparation of plan amendment and zone change applications by an untrained person. Ms. Bishow replied that an untrained person would likely need to hire planning consultants to assist in the process. A planning consultant would require approximately one month to prepare the applications and there would be some expense involved in the preparation, although City staff would provide limited consultation services. In response to another question from Mr. Farr, Ms. Bishow stated that although the property owner had initially expressed interest in preparing the applications, a recent telephone call had indicated that staff preparation of the applications would be preferred. She said that the advantage to the applicant in self-preparation would be that control would be maintained over arguments for the changes. Mr. Farr said that since the need for the plan and zone changes were created by an error of the City, he believed that the property owner should incur no expense in rectifying the error. Mr. Tollenaar asked if an error had actually been made in identifying the property as being developed with two dwellings, instead of a mix of uses. Ms. Bishow replied that the building in question had been inspected when the owner had contacted staff regarding the zoning of the property and that it was obvious that the building, at that time, and for some time previously, was filled with business-related equipment and supplies. Mr. Tollenaar asked if there were other similar situations in the area covered by the Whiteaker Plan. Ms. Bishow replied that it was unknown if other such situations existed because the situation under consideration was the first reported since adoption of the Whiteaker Plan in 1994. Mr. Tollenaar asked if lack of response by the property owner to notifications of pending zone changes at the time of the adoption of the Whiteaker Plan relieved the City of its responsibility to address the error in the land use survey. Ms. Bishow replied that she did not believe it did, but that rather it illustrated the difficulty of engaging property owners in land use issues. She said that Planning staff was aware that some property owners found zone change notices difficult to understand and that their full impact on future development potential was not always understood. She also said that the policy of having made the zone changes brought by adoption of the Whiteaker Plan was not in question, but that some staff believed the City and property owner should jointly bear responsibility for correcting the error currently being considered. Mr. Tollenaar asked if any conflict of interest would be created by having the City prepare applications for a plan and zone change. City Attorney Glenn Klein replied that although staff would prepare and evaluate the applications, it was not a legal conflict because decisions about granting the applications would be made by a Hearings Official, not staff. He pointed out that similar issues were considered on two previous occasions and that no conflict of interest had been determined. MINUTES--Eugene City Council November 9, 1998 Page 4 7:30 p.m. Mr. Tollenaar asked if the City did not initiate the plan and zone changes and the property owner was unable to pay the cost of the applications, would loss of the use of the building on the property with the erroneous zoning classification constitute a "taking" by the City. Mr. Klein replied that he did not believe that the situation described would be such a taking because there was still an ability to economically use the property. Mr. Laue said that he believed the City should initiate the plan amendment and zone change since it did not create a conflict with the Whiteaker Plan and was a compassionate thing to do. Mr. Farr said he believed that since the current situation was the first error that had been discovered in the process which had led to adoption of the Whiteaker Plan, it was indication that staff had done a good job in its implementation. Mr. Farr moved, seconded by Mr. Tollenaar that the City of Eugene initiate a change to the Whiteaker Plan to designate the Clark property at 927 West 1st Avenue as mixed use and to initiate a change in zoning to MU/SR Whiteaker Mixed Use with a site review zoning overlay. The motion was adopted unanimously, 6:0. Mr. Farr moved, seconded by Mr. Tollenaar that Planning Department staff be directed to prepare applications necessary to implement the change to the Whiteaker Plan and zoning change just initiated and to waive all application fees in connection with them. The motion was adopted, 5:1, with Ms. Taylor voting no. The meeting adjourned at 8:25 p.m. Respectfully submitted, James R. Johnson City Manager (Recorded by Dan Lindstrom) MINUTES--Eugene City Council November 9, 1998 Page 5 7:30 p.m.