Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes - 09/16/09 Work Session M I N U T E S Eugene City Council Work Session McNutt Room – City Hall 777 Pearl Street—Eugene, Oregon September 16, 2009 12:00 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Chris Pryor, Mike Clark, George Poling, George Brown, Andrea Ortiz. COUNCILORS ABSENT: Alan Zelenka, Betty Taylor, Jennifer Solomon, Mr. Clark called the work session meeting of the Eugene City Council to order at 12:01 p.m. and noted that Mayor Piercy would be arriving later in the meeting. A. WORK SESSION: Community Climate and Energy Action Plan Informational Update Community Climate and Energy Action Plan (CCEAP) Coordinator Matt McRae briefed the council on the history of and most recent developments surrounding the CCEAP. He noted that staff had assembled an advisory team made up of representatives from the City of Springfield, the University of Oregon Climate Leadership Initiative, the Eugene Chamber of Commerce, the Eugene Water and Electric Board, Friends of Eugene, the Eugene City Human Rights Commission, Lane Transit District, Lane County, the Neighborhood Leaders Council, the Eugene City Planning Commission and the Eugene City Sustainability Commission to advise on various aspects of the CCEAP. Mr. McRae introduced various representatives from the CCEAP advisory team including Jan Wostman from the Neighborhood Leaders Council, and Dave Funk and Howie Bonnet from the City’s Sustainability Commission. Mr. McRae noted that staff and the CCEAP were planning extensive community outreach and discussions and invited the council to attend the CCEAP kickoff event on Saturday, September 26. He further noted a variety of CCEAP community outreach events would be taking place subsequent to the kickoff which were described as part of the agenda item summary materials. Mr. McRae noted the CCEAP planning process had been designed to be highly participatory particularly with respect to local businesses. Mr. McRae noted that staff hoped to have a draft of the CCEAP completed by April of 2010 with subsequent community outreach efforts and a final version to be submitted to the council in August of 2010. Mr. Clark appreciated the scope and volume of work that had gone into the CCEAP planning process so far. MINUTES—Eugene City Council September 16, 2009 Page 1 Work Session Mr. Brown, referring to staff’s background summary from the agenda item summary materials, asked Mr. McRae to elaborate upon the identification of necessary adaptation identified therein. Mr. McRae responded that discussions regarding those adaptations had not yet taken place and that preliminary efforts regarding the CCEAP had focused on making the planning efforts for the CCEAP participatory and effective across a broad range of community interests. He further noted that the Climate Leadership Initiative representatives on the CCEAP had drafted a report on the Upper Willamette Basin released in February of 2009 that outlined a variety of adaptations that might ultimately be incorporated into the CCEAP. Ms. Ortiz asked for clarification regarding how the CCEAP kickoff and subsequent community outreach events would address the role of area social service providers in relation to the CCEAP work plan. Mr. McRae noted that staff and the advisory team had been coordinating with the City’s Human Rights Commission, Lane County Public Health, and other community organizations to ensure that a broad and comprehensive social services strategy would be incorporated into the final version of the CCEAP. Mr. McRae further stated that staff and the advisory team had been setting aside resources in order to conduct a number of smaller, more focused conversations with community and social service groups as the CCEAP was developed. Mr. Pryor appreciated the level of expertise and experience that had been assembled for the CCEAP advisory team. Mr. Pryor recognized a number of parallels between the creation of the CCEAP and various elements of the TransPlan process from several years ago and asked if the overall philosophy of staff and the advisory team would be to use either the “carrot or the stick” with respect to any policy recommendations ultimately developed as part of the CCEAP. Mr. McRae was unable to definitively answer which approach the staff and advisory team would choose to take but hoped that whatever policy recommendations were made would “carry some weight” in helping to achieve the goals of the CCEAP. Mr. Poling asked if staff would be able to distribute to the council in advance, lists of individuals and groups invited to the CCEAP advisory team public outreach meetings so that council members could provide helpful suggestions and feedback. Mr. Poling asked if staff would provide council with summary minutes of the community event meetings in advance of the April and August presentations to the council. Mr. McRae noted that such materials would be made available to the council members as requested in addition to any other materials from those meetings (i.e. transcriptions, audio recordings, presentation materials, etc.) they might need. Ms. Medary commented that it was staff's intent to present information regarding the CCEAP process as early as possible so as to keep council members adequately informed about the development of the process as it progressed. B. WORK SESSION: Leaf Program Informational Update Ms. Medary stated that numerous emails had recently been circulating regarding the City's leaf collection strategies for the fall of 2009 and introduced Surface Operations Manager Eric Johnson to provide an update to the council. MINUTES—Eugene City Council September 16, 2009 Page 2 Work Session Mr. Johnson updated the council on the history of, and most recent developments surrounding, the City's leaf collection program with particular emphasis on how the program had related to the adoption of the City's Comprehensive Stormwater Management Plan (CSWMP) in 1993. Mr. Johnson provided a brief overview of the City's leaf collection schedule and noted that enhancements to the program in 2009, would include greater public awareness strategies as well as increased resources for on-street bicycle lane maintenance. Mr. Johnson commented that the City's leaf program utilized staff and equipment from both the surface and stormwater maintenance teams, as well as certain additional resources from the Public Works Department's Parks and Open Space Division. Mr. Johnson reported the leaf program divided the City of Eugene into five separate collection areas with two rounds of collection on more than 470 center-line miles of improved streets and one round of collection on approximately 50 miles of unimproved streets. He further reported that the program maintained approximately 80 center-line miles of on-street bike lanes. Mr. Johnson briefly reported on the City's leaf collection program from the previous year and noted that City crews working under the program had collected more than 16,000 cubic yards of leaves with approximately 54% of that amount being delivered to private properties, 32% being delivered to community gardens and parks and the remaining 14% delivered to commercial recyclers such as Rexius and Lane Forest Products. He noted that no leaves collected under the program had been deposited in local landfills. Mr. Johnson briefly described how leaf collection programs satisfied the requirements of the City's National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit and further described elements listed in an agenda item summary memorandum related to 1) the public guidelines for leaf collection; 2) the program's public awareness media strategies; and 3) various leaf disposal alternative strategies for members of the community. Mr. Johnson noted that the total amount of on-street leaves collected in the past decade had remained at a fairly constant level of approximately 16,000 cubic yards per year which he further noted represented roughly 2,000 truckloads of leaves collected each year. Mr. Johnson briefly described three identified trends that were likely to significantly affect the collection strategies of the leaf program in the near future: 1) an overall increase in leaf volumes due in part to the City's various street tree-planting efforts and the maturation of the urban forest leaf canopy; 2) an increase in the regulatory processes applied to the City's Stormwater infrastructure; and 3) an increase in the number of cyclists and local on-street cycling facilities. Mayor Kitty Piercy arrived to the meeting at 12:21 p.m. Mr. Johnson commented that the trend of increased cyclists in the community and the efforts to maintain safety for those persons with respect to the amount of leaves for on-street collection would represent a significant challenge to the City's leaf program. MINUTES—Eugene City Council September 16, 2009 Page 3 Work Session Mr. Johnson reported on various operational enhancements to the City's leaf program being proposed to improve public safety in the upcoming leaf collection season for cyclists including: 1) maintaining bike lanes during night-shift sweeping operations; 2) the reassignment of a lead maintenance worker to the day shift with a major focus on bike lane maintenance and right-of-way debris management; 3) enhanced prioritization of leaf collection efforts based on input from local bicycle riders/groups; 4) the development of a "leaf season priority bike lane map" designed to identify main corridors on which to concentrate leaf collection efforts; 5) the purchase of an additional leaf vacuum to help concentrate collection efforts on priority routes; 6) increased community outreach efforts designed to help educate the public about the dangers of piling leaves into bike lanes; and 7) improved strategies for allowing members of the public to report bike lanes obstructed by leaves; and 8) the creation of a website to inform citizens of leaf collection along selected bike routes. Mr. Johnson summarized that the leaf collection program satisfied a number of the City's goals and policies including its Sustainability Initiative, the Eugene Pedestrian and Bicycle Strategic Plan, and the NPDES permit commitment to conduct annual curbside leaf pickup on all City streets. Ms. Piercy thanked Mr. Johnson for the staff presentation regarding the leaf collection program and felt that the program satisfied the City's clearly stated community goal to pick up leaves and keep bicycle lanes clear. She appreciated that the community goal was positively stated to indicate the City's strong commitment to keeping the streets clear and safe for all users. Mr. Johnson noted that City staff was looking forward to continuing community education and public outreach efforts to keep people abreast of the City's strategies to make annual leaf collection as safe and efficient as possible. Ms. Piercy commented she liked the various strategies and enhancements being used by staff to update the public on leaf collection efforts in real-time and believed those strategies would enable users to plan their trips easily. Mr. Johnson responded that the website used to update the public on the specific leaf collection routes would use the automatic vehicle location system used by other Public Works vehicles. Ms. Piercy asked if the leaf program would include a component whereby members of the public could provide feedback on the City's local leaf collection efforts. Mr. Johnson noted that the City would soon be incorporating an online "leaf reporter" to allow citizens to provide comments and feedback. Mr. Clark appreciated the information provided regarding the operational enhancements to the leaf program. He noted that leaf collection was a very important issue in the community. Mr. Clark expressed that while he had recently submitted an ordinance that would make it illegal for citizens to obstruct bike lanes with leaves or similar detritus, the City's leaf program strategies ultimately represented a safer, more reasonable and more efficient approach to the problem. Mr. Pryor appreciated that the strategies of the City's leaf collection program represented a positive and proactive approach to a potentially serious public safety issue. Ms. Ortiz was glad to see the City prioritizing the bike lanes with respect to the leaf collection program and was also glad that the strategies of the leaf program incorporated methods to be highly responsive to requests and feedback from the community. MINUTES—Eugene City Council September 16, 2009 Page 4 Work Session Mr. Brown commented that the City's leaf collection program represented very practical solutions to the concerns of the public. Mr. Johnson, responding to a question from Mr. Brown, noted that the City's leaf program cost approximately $400,000 to operate and provided additional information regarding the various funding, revenues and costs associated with the program. Mr. Johnson further noted that, as part of the leaf program's annual budget, the City paid a nominal recycling fee to Rexius and Lane Forest Products for the leaves that the City recycled there. Mr. Brown noted that the City had at one time operated a compost heap near Skinner Butte Park and suggested that such efforts might be made again. Mr. Johnson responded that the leaf program already distributed on-request leaves for composting purposes directly to local residents, groups and community gardens. Mr. Johnson, responding to comments made by Mr. Brown, noted that the leaf program remained committed to keeping streets and bike lanes clear particularly at night and on arterial roads where leaves piled up for collection are often spread out into the street and other areas. Mr. Johnson, responding to comments from Ms. Piercy regarding the level of community involvement provided by groups such as Greater Eugene Area Riders (GEARS), noted that staff working in the leaf program was committed to proactively engaging with the project on the best ways to maintain and improve the program. He noted that staff was actively engaged in discussions with the City's Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) and that Public Works Director Kurt Corey, Maintenance Director Jeff Lankston, and Eric Jones had recently met with the president of GEARS (Greater Eugene Area Riders) to discuss the enhancements to the leaf program. Ms. Piercy thanked Mr. Johnson for his presentation. Ms. Piercy was pleased with the recent news that Lane Community College was planning to develop the 10th Avenue and Charnelton Street development site across from the Eugene Public Library and looked forward to further positive developments regarding the matter. Ms. Piercy adjourned the meeting at 12:42 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Jon Ruiz City Manager (Recorded by Wade Hicks) MINUTES—Eugene City Council September 16, 2009 Page 5 Work Session