HomeMy WebLinkAbout190624 WSMINUTES – Eugene City Council June 24, 2019 Page 1
Work Session
M I N U T E S
Eugene City Council
Harris Hall, 125 East 8th Avenue
Eugene, Oregon 97401
June 24, 2019
5:30 p.m.
Councilors Present: Emily Semple, Jennifer Yeh, Claire Syrett, Mike Clark. Chris Pryor, Alan Zelenka
Councilors Absent: Betty Taylor, Greg Evans
Councilor Semple opened the June 24, 2019, Work Session of the Eugene City Council in Mayor Vinis’ absence.
1. Committee Reports and Items of Interest Council Discussion
• Councilor Yeh – spoke about the recent Kathmandu Sister City annual picnic and expressed appreciation for the event and upcoming Sister City-related plans.
• Councilor Pryor – reported on an event he attended for National Refugee Day.
• Councilor Semple – announced that she would be bringing a resolution forward from the Human Rights Commission; provided details about a building for potential shelter use.
2. WORK SESSION: Urban Reserves Planning Senior Planner Rebecca Gershow and Metro Community Planning Manager Terri Harding provided City Council with an update on the Urban Reserves planning work to date.
Councilor Zelenka arrived at 5:45.
Council Discussion
• Councilor Clark – expressed appreciation for the report; asked why certain employment forecasts were used over others, and about the nature of information within the presentation; spoke about missing information from forecasts and urged council to consider additional land for urban reserves, asked why staff would consider including land with more than a 20-degree slope and if there is a clear and objective path for those lands.
• Councilor Syrett – expressed appreciation for report; asked how modeling assumptions based on low density residential housing models in the report compare to state conversations about increasing density; inquired about what policies exist that direct assumptions towards low density housing; questioned whether the assumption of low density will work with future planning efforts and spoke to desire to speak about assumption more in the future; spoke about greater density in residential areas.
• Councilor Pryor – mentioned time as a factor in conversation; asked how housing affordability can be included in urban reserves planning; discussed affordability of land and development as well as other considerations; discussed how to bring land together to provide affordable housing and related challenges; spoke to density requirements and livability standards.
• Councilor Clark – reiterated concerns around slope considerations; inquired about effects on R1 UGB analysis if HB 2001 (2019) would pass and how much this would increase capacity in R1 UGB analysis; discussed what could happen if the bill passes; inquired how