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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes - 02/16/11 Work SessionMINUTES Eugene City Council McNutt Room —City Hall 777 Pearl Street — Eugene, Oregon February 16, 2011 1 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Betty Taylor, George Brown, Andrea Ortiz, George Poling (via speakerphone), Mike Clark, Chris Pryor, Alan Zelenka (via speakerphone), Pat Farr. COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Heidi Bierle, Chair; Jeffrey Mills, Vice Chair; Richard Duncan, Randy Hledik, Lisa Warnes, William Randall. Her Honor Mayor Kitty Piercy called the February 16, 2011, joint work session of the Eugene City Council and Eugene Planning Commission to order. Also present for the item were City Manager Jon Ruiz, Assistant City Manager /Interim Planning and Development Director Sarah Medary, City Attorney Glenn Klein, Deputy City Attorney Emily Jerome, Planning Director Lisa Gardner, Community Development Director Mike Sullivan, and Terri Harding, Carolyn Weiss, Alissa Hansen, Patricia Thomas, and Robin Hostick of the Planning Division. A. JOINT WORK SESSION WITH PLANNING COMMISSION: Envision Eugene Strategies and Tactics Ms. Harding noted the new draft proposal distributed to those present. She continued the review of strategies associated with the Envision Eugene pillar entitled Protect, repair, and enhance neighborhood livability. Councilors and commissioners asked questions to clarify the details of each strategy and offered comments that are recorded below each strategy. Strategy 3 : Implement the Opportunity Siting goal to facilitate high - density residential development on sites that are compatible with and have the support of nearby residents. Sites can be located in any residential area, as long as sites are identified through a collaborative process. Strategy 4 : Create neighborhood plans to address unique situations and impacts in different neighborhoods. Strategy Recognize the value that historic properties contribute to community character and livability and work to preserve those properties. Continue the work of the Historic Review Board as an informational resource for the community about historic preservation issues, partnerships, and grant funding. • Wonder about the status of the Historic Review Board (HRB) as an informational resource. (Bierle) • Strategy 5 seems to lack action around creation of an aesthetic identity for the community. Curious about the opportunities that existed in that area. (Bierle) • Suggest that Strategy 5 argued for saving Civic Stadium. (Brown) • Would add the Post Office to the list of things to save while they are still there. ( Piercy) MINUTES — Eugene City Council February 16, 2011 Page 1 Work Session The City currently had 19 neighborhood associations and may have more if larger associations break up, so question the idea of planning for one neighborhood every two years as it would take 40 years to complete the area planning process. Have heard from neighborhoods that their plans are already too old. Acknowledge that budget constraints probably limit the City, but would like to see the speed of planning increase and ongoing finding allocated in this area. (Duncan) Heard strong support for the concept from neighborhood associations, particularly the need for the area plans. (Ruiz) Ms. O'Donnell reviewed the strategies associated with the pillar Provide affordable housing for all income levels. Strategy L Plan for a higher proportion of new housing stock to be multi family than the 39 percent of multi family than currently exists. Increasing the proportion of multi family housing increases the amount of housing accessible to all income ranges. Young families with children increasingly find Eugene too expensive, and those families needed to be taken into consideration. (Belcher) Children need places to play, so families living in multi - family housing will need neighborhood parks and open spaces. (Belcher) Oregon demographic studies do not project growth in Oregon's school population for years to come because residents were having fewer or no children. Whether Eugene wanted young families or not, the City needed to consider what it actually needed to plan for. (Piercy) Strategy 2 : Expand housing variety and choice by facilitating the building of smaller, clustered, and attached housing. • In addition to the housing and transportation costs, include utility costs related to green buildings. (Randall) Strategy 3 : Assess the utility of a housing and transportation affordability index. This index rates neighborhoods based on the combined cost of housing and transportation costs that may be a better indicator of affordability than housing costs alone. • Suggest the online "walk score" could be a useful tool when considering the housing and transportation affordability index and variable systems development charges. (Randall) • Rethink 30 percent rule; lenders use more of a 40 to 50 percent rule. Although government might use 30, we should use what lenders were using in today's world. (Duncan) Strategy . Support subsidized affordable housing projects with a goal of providing 500 affordable housing units every five years, consistent with the Eugene- Springfield Consolidated Plan 2010. Emphasize the importance of having mid -level subsidized housing. Recall failure of past funding mechanisms to fund affordable housing, which underscore the challenge of finding such acreage, particularly of sufficient size, to land bank. (Farr) Will never be able to build enough subsidized housing to meet demand. Build as much subsidized housing as possible with the recognition that occupants will transition over time to more expensive housing as their economic status improved. Agree with concept that an MINUTES — Eugene City Council February 16, 2011 Page 2 Work Session increase in multi- family housing would increase the housing available to all income ranges. (Pryor) Eugene's experience was that people were not transitioning out of their entry-level houses, which was an impediment to the normal progression. People who entered affordable housing stayed there, underscoring the importance of a strong economy that precluded the need for transitional housing to be permanent housing. Strategy Support preservation and maintenance of existing affordable housing stock by continuing existing programs that extend the life of existing housing stock such as funds for acquisition of existing rental housing, rental rehabilitation loans, homeowner rehabilitation loans, and emergency home repair loans. • Generally support, but could be in conflict with other plans related to the redevelopment of corridors with multi - family development. (Duncan) Strategy Adopt development guidelines and requirements in residential expansion areas (if needed) that provide affordable housing, reinforce compact urban development and are compatible with adjacent uses. Ms. Gardner reviewed the strategies and tactics under the pillar Protect, restore, and enhance natural resources. Strategy Encourage the protection and voluntary stewardship of valuable resources inside the urban growth boundary. Strategy 2 : Protect, maintain, and restore high - quality oak woodland and oak savannah habitat, high- quality native upland and wetland prairie, the confluence of the Willamette River and McKenzie River, and the tributaries to the Willamette River, such as the East Santa Clara Waterway and Spring Creek in accordance with the intent of the Rivers to Ridges Vision, the Ridgeline Open Space and Action Plan, and the Willamette Valley Open Space Vision and Action Plan. • The community's natural resources and livability attracted people to come to live and work in Eugene, but the economic value of the natural /livability quotient that was not reflected in any of the strategies. Would like to see that deeper economic value reflected in the pillar. (Piercy) • Emphasize importance of Douglas fir forests to carbon storage. (Warner) Strategy 3 : Preserve valuable farmland outside the urban growth boundary. While the City might not control the land outside the urban growth boundary, it could control whether it expanded the boundary to include prime farmlands. Preserving farmland was vital to the community's survival. (Taylor) Suggest could hold land inside the urban growth boundary in temporary agricultural use. (Farr) Identify public lands where local food production could occur. (Farr) Mr. Hostick reviewed the pillar Plan for climate change and energy uncertainty and the strategies and tactics associated with the pillar. MINUTES — Eugene City Council February 16, 2011 Page 3 Work Session Strategy l : Create more 20- minute neighborhoods where residents can meet most of their daily needs within walking, biking, or transit distance from their homes. • The school closures currently being contemplated were detrimental to the City's goal for 20- minute neighborhoods and would increase vehicle miles traveled. The increased traffic would also be a detriment to neighborhoods. (Taylor) Strategy 2 : Complete assessment of implementing variable systems development charges (SDCs) with the purpose of supporting development toward the core of the city. Strategy 3 : Integrate climate change and energy projections into an assessment to understand the risks that climate change and energy volatility pose for the transport of goods and services, housing costs, food and water supplies, energy systems, and the location of emergency services. Strategy . Facilitate urban agriculture by evaluating barriers in the land use code to the development of home -grown food sources, including backyard and community gardens, urban food orchards, and micro- livestock, in accordance with the Food Security Scoping and Resource Plan. Would like to see investigation of Southeast Neighbors' idea for privately funded greenhouses on public lands. (Warnes) Would like to see water catchment facilities required in new development or in redevelopment, including underground storage for rainwater. (Warnes) Consider the tensions between goals that contradict each other, e.g., need for distribution of local food products versus the desire to reduce vehicle miles. Need to recognize and take into consideration consciously. (Piercy) Strategy 5 : Continue City efforts to reduce greenhouse gas impacts from housing and transportation. These include development of a new Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan, collaboration with the Lane Transit District to complete the EmX bus rapid transit system, and efforts to encourage existing and new houses to be energy - efficient, particularly by using solar energy. • Transit was not necessarily EmX. Do not think calling out one particular project was suitable. (Taylor, Clark) • EmX was included in the community's transportation plan as a way to reduce greenhouse gases and vehicle miles traveled. (Piercy) Mayor Piercy adjourned the work session at 2 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Beth Forrest City Recorder (Recorded by Kimberly Young) MINUTES — Eugene City Council February 16, 2011 Page 4 Work Session