CC Minutes - 09/26/11 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES Eugene City Council Council Chamber —City Hall 777 Pearl Street—Eugene, Oregon September 26, 2011 7:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Betty Taylor, George Brown, Andrea Ortiz, George Poling, Mike Clark, Chris Pryor, Alan Zelenka, Pat Farr. Her Honor Mayor Kitty Piercy called the September 26, 2011, regular meeting of the Eugene City Council to order. 1. PUBLIC FORUM Mayor Piercy reviewed the rules of the Public Forum. Kristin Taylor, TGB Architects and Planners, 132 East Broadway, Suite 200, represented Guard Publishing, which owned land on Chad Drive currently zoned I -1, Campus Industrial. She supported council initiation of a land use code amendment to revise the I -1 zone to remove the zone's prohibition on clinics, which was item 2C on the Consent Calendar. Ms. Taylor spoke to the frustration felt by many owners of 1 -1 property who found it very difficult to develop their land due to the limited allowed uses and restrictive development standards in the zone. She suggested those limitations and restrictions were outdated. Guard Publishing had spent thousands of dollars on land use processes, including going through the City's planned unit development (PUD) process voluntarily. Four years had passed since the PUD was approved and Guard Publishing was still unable to find a buyer or tenant for its land. She believed the proposed land use code amendment was an excellent opportunity to open up viable sites to development such as the proposed Veterans Administration Clinic and a first step in updating the zone to reflect the current market. Josef Siekiel - Zdzienicki, 1025 Taylor Street, urged the council to communicate with the public about the potential loss of right -of -way associated with the establishment of transportation corridors. He recommended that the council hold public forums and perhaps even hold a vote. Mr. Siekiel - Zdzienicki said the City had "grand plans" it was not sharing with those most affected. Mr. Siekiel - Zdzienicki recalled the Free Speech Movement and suggested that the council should keep that movement in mind when considering the Sign Code issues raised by opponents of EMX. Cynthia Kokis, 2465 Jefferson Street, expressed concern that many Eugene buses did not operate past 7:45 p.m., making it more challenging for her to attend evening meetings. She also expressed concern about automobile - pedestrian conflicts and the lack of proper signage at many crosswalks. She suggested that Eugene should work more to be like Ashland, where drivers approached pedestrians more slowly. Ms. Kokis believed that automobiles had top priority in Eugene and it was hazardous to be a pedestrian in Eugene. She suggested pedestrian walk lights were much too short. She advocated for a driver education and enforcement campaign to ensure drivers were aware of the laws governing crosswalks and suffered consequences for violating the laws. MINUTES— Eugene City Council September 26, 2011 Page 1 Regular Meeting