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HomeMy WebLinkAbout180228 WSMINUTES Eugene City Council Harris Hall, 125 East 8 th Avenue Eugene, Oregon 97401 February 28, 2018 12:00 p.m. Councilors Present: Emily Semple, Betty Taylor, Alan Zelenka, Jennifer Yeh, Mike Clark, Greg Evans, Claire Syrett, Chris Pryor Mayor Vinis opened the February 28, 2018, Work Session of the Eugene City Council. 1. WORK SESSION: Rats and Urban Wildilfe Planning and Development Director Denny Braud and Planning and Development Communications Analyst Lindsay Selser discussed the educational outreach and enforcement work happening pertaining to rats in the community and provided an update on wild turkeys. Christopher Yee, District Biologist with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, provided information on what other communities have done to deal with wild turkeys. Council Discussion • • • • • • • • • • • • • The ordinance language used in other municipalities doesn't represent a complete ban on feeding turkeys, but says that if feeding leads to property damage for neighbors, ODFW could get involved. Humans are responsible for creating the conditions that attract rats . Consider the creation of a nuisance code provision that would allow action and involvement of partners if violations were noted. Concern that turkeys carry disease. Consider possibility of arranging a controlled kill for hunters at some point. Would like staff to look at a multi-pronged strategy including a controlled hunt. Support a restrictive ordinance banning feeding of wildfire, with some exceptions - would like to include turkeys, deer, and possibly feral cats. More information needed about best practices and proactive strategies in other metropolitan areas,. Regarding ODFW's ability to look and destroy for wild turkey eggs, too difficult because access to private property would be needed. Look at ways to harass turkeys to keep them away from certain areas. This can be an effective tool combined with a no-feeding law. Baiting of the sewer lines only includes sanitary sewers, not stormwater sewers, in order to protect the river. Public Works only baits underground on public property, not aboveground or on private property. Consider permits or licenses and periodic inspections to keep chickens . Consider banning open compost bins and making cheaper, proper composting bins more widely available. Encourage restaurants to give scraps to pig farmers and ensure dumpsters are closed, people are picking up dog feces in yards and in public, and vegetable gardens are fenced. The City should have a role in providing rat traps. Education campaign and feeding ban is a good first step; poisoning rats should be a last resort. • More information needed about what enforcement of feeding ban would look like, given current staff resources. • Moving turkeys is not a viable solution; they simply become someone else's problem. • Consider using supplemental budget money to fund citywide trapping of rats. • Most effective strategy is to eliminate conditions that support rat habitat. • Prefer pursuing a complete ban rather than action conditioned on damage to a neighbor's property; "damage" can be defined widely. • Acknowledge that human behavior is influencing these wildlife habitats. MOTION: Councilor Clark, seconded by Councilor Taylor, moved to direct the City Manager to prepare for Council consideration an ordinance that prohibits feeding wildlife if the feeding causes damage to neighboring property or attracts rats. Council Discussion • The ordinance should cover the creation of intentional and unintentional nuisances. • The motion doesn't address feral cats, just wildlife and rats. Would like to address that concern as well. MOTION TO AMEND: Councilor Taylor, seconded by Councilor Semple, moved to eliminate the part about "if the feeing causes damage to neighboring property or attract rats." Council Discussion • Oppose this motion because it would eliminate birdfeeders, squirrel feeders, etc. • Too difficult to prove that a certain neighbor is causing damage. • Important to frame issue around the nuisance code so the City has the ability to enforce. • Concerned that proposal represents another layer of work to determine if someone is being bothered, who will take complaints and enforce, how much a citation will be and whether it will actually deter people from feeding wildlife. MOTION TO AMEND WITH FRIENDLY AND VOTE: Councilor Taylor, seconded by Councilor Semple, moved to direct the City Manager to bring back an ordinance for Council discussion that bans feeding wildlife with the exception of domestic birdfeeders. FAILED 4:5, Councilors Clark, Zelenka, Evans, and Syrett opposed; Mayor Vinis broke tie in opposition. MOTION TO AMEND: Councilor Clark, seconded by Councilor moved to amend his motion to read "moved to direct the City Manager to prepare for Council consideration an ordinance that prohibits feeding wildlife if the feeding causes damage to neighboring property or attracts rats. These words are intended to capture the discussion and staff can bring back to us the appropriate opportunity to discuss the specifics at a later work session.'' PASSED 7:1, Councilor Taylor opposed. The City Manager clarified that the direction being given is that Council is interested in addressing the issues in a proactive way. There are a number of different options to consider so staff will bring this information back to Council at a work session for deliberation before a final ordinance is crafted. 2. WORK SESSION: Modifications to the Transportation System Development Charge M e thodology Dan Kal er from Public Works Engineering, Erin Brown with Planning and Developm ent, and Deb Gal ard i, a consu ltant who helped formulate the SOC meth odology, summarized the s t atus of transportation SD Cs and raised for consider ation the question of whether current methods shou ld be recons idered and updated. MOTION: Councilor Pryor, seconded by Counci lo r Clark, moved to extend 10 minutes . PASSED 8:0. Council Di scussion • Look at Springfield's rece nt decision t o discount SDCs. They have offered waivers fo r all local SDCs for SD Us and they had the opportunity to r a ise their SDCs, but chose not to. • Consider redesigning roadways to increase capacity through efficiencies rathe r than creating new infrastructure. • Rai s ing SDCs makes housing less affordable a nd people probably expect new roadways when expected to pay for new in frastruc ture. • More info r mation needed about why Eugene has one of the lowest SOC rates in the state. • Consider using SDCs to implement Counc il direction to pursue CRO goa ls in the TSP action plan. SDCs can be u sed on capacity-increasing improvements or enha ncing performance of existing facilities. • The S OC methodology has not been changed s ince 2004, but there is an annual inflation adjustment. • Concerned that City wou ld be ince ntiv izi ng development by reducing SDCs and development would be built without proper infrastructure to s upport it. • SD Cs go in to a ge n e r al pot of funds and don't a lways go directly to the area where new development was bui lt. The meeting adjourned a t 1:43 p .m. Respectfu ll y submitted, ~ Elena Domingo Deputy City Recorder