Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout07/06/1999 Work Session . MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION MEETING OF THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD TUESDAY, JULY 6,1999 The city of Springfield council met in work session in the Jesse Maine Room, 225 Fifth Street, Springfield, Oregon, on Tuesday, July 6, 1999, at 6:25 p.m., with Mayor Maine presiding. ATTENDANCE Present were Mayor Maine, Councilors Ballew, Fitch, Hatfield, Leiken, Lundberg (6:45 p.m.) and Simmons. Also present were City Manager Michael Kelly, City Attorney Joe Leahy, City Attorney Tim Harold, Senior Management Analyst Rosie Pryor, City Recorder Julie Wilson and members of the staff. 1. Proposed Resolution Supporting L-COG Solicitation of Grant Funding to Develop a Coordinated Growth Management Strategy for the Southern Willamette Valley. Planning Manager Greg Mott introduced LCOG Planners Carol Heinkel and Peter Watt. They presented the staff report on this issue. Population and employment growth in Eugene- Springfield and surrounding small cities has outpaced local projections and statewide averages for these activities. New jobs have created a demand for new housing, but much of this housing is being provided in the small cities. If this trend continues, the small cities, as provided in state law, may turn to the metro area for solutions to services demands. . The popularity of the Southern Willamette Valley as a place to work and live becomes more evident each yeaL New businesses locate and' existing businesses expand in this area at a rate that exceeds the statewide average. Housing starts are up in response, but so too are housing costs and assessed value. A number of developers are looking to the small cities as an immediate solution to land and development costs, but this may backfire later through increased traffic congestion and system failures of the storm, sanitary and water facilities. These problems, if allowed to occur, won't be left to the small cities to solve on their own. Lane Council of Governments is requesting a grant for approximately $300,000 to prepare a regional strategy for growth management. The duration of the project would be two, years or less. The cities would be asked to participate at the policy level (1-2 elected officials meeting about 6-8 times);'and at the technicallevel(I-2 mid-level staff participating at monthly meetings). This equates to. about .02 FTE annually. Staff concurs with the conclusion of Lane Council of Governments staff and supports the course of action contained in the proposal. Ms. Heinkel answered questions regarding a grant and said that the grant would pay for actual work of whoever did the work, production of products, etc. What they are asking for is for the city to match staffing (management and council level) support. Questions were asked about source and criteria that would guide the end result and if it was advisory or prescriptive in nature. Mr. Watt discussed the new pilot program recently established and how that related to criteria (land use patterns, support of transportation patterns, etc.). .' Mr. Watt said they just received a grant from that funding source. He thought the IGA would be one tl)at would continue discussion on growth and principles of growth management, Work Session Minutes July 6, 1999 Page 2 . transit use and population growth. If you go beyond that advisory framework, it will be up to participants of how far they want to go with this. Councilor Simmons said the McKenzie and Willamette Watersheds have their operative groups. He said it is important that you acknowledge those groups and that they are active, dynamic and involved in corridor studies and improvement to the groups they represent. Ms. Heinkel said this was a good point and was well taken. Councilor Hatfield said many communities are constrained by their geography. He said as long as Eugene is a cultural, economic and political center, it will have a major impact. He thought it was a good idea to look at what those impacts will be and mitigate them. City Attorney Joe Leahy asked about Section 3 of the draft resolution. It was recommended that the language be modified as follows: [Changes are in bold and underlined. Deletions are in strikool:lt format.] Page 2 of the resolution, Section 2, would read, Strategy development will include formation of a technical advisory committee (TAC) comprised of staff2. from the organizations with authority2. to implement the strategy and, if possible, .. . all relevant organizations on the T AC. Page 2 of the resolution, Section 3, would read, The Strategy is intended to wiU result in an intergovernmental.. .as defined by inter-city commute trends. . In summary; council was supportive but have a few concerns about outcome and how binding they mayor may not be. Councilors Hatfield, Simmons and Ballew would volunteer to serve on a steering committee related to this issue. 2. Lane County System Benefit Fee. Senior .Management Analyst Len Goodwin presented the staff report on this issue. Ken Sandusky, Lane County Public Works and John Hire, Sanipac, were also available to answer questions. Council would discuss the System Benefit Fee, which Lane County is imposing, and provide direction to staff. During the regular meeting this evening the proposed ordinance relating to implementation of the System Benefit Fee is scheduled for a first reading and a public hearing. . The Lane County Board of Commissioners has passed Ordinance 1-99, authorizing collection ofa System Benefit Fee. This fee is designed to recover, from haulers who dispose of waste at sites other than the County Landfill, costs associated with recycling, hazardous material handling, and operations ofthe rural transfer station system. The County will continue to recover costs of Landfill operation, including funding of reserves for closure and post-closure expenses, by imposing a disposal (or tipping) fee, on haulers who dispose of material at the Short Mountain site. The sum of these two fees will equal the current tipping fee of$46 per ton imposed by the County. As a result, haulers who dispose of their waste at that site will see no change in cost, when haulers who dispose of waste elsewhere will see an increase. Staff will review the ordinance and its impact. Staff from the County Waste Management Division and from Sanipac will be available to provide additional information and answer questions. Work Session Minutes July 6, 1999 Page 3 . Mr. Sandusky provided clarification on the definition of hazardous waste and what materials were covered under this definition. He also discussed appropriate disposal of hazardous waste. Councilor Simons asked questions about fees, impacts and the use of alternate dumping sites. He said if a product is not accepted at a particular site, then we should not be charged a fee to dump it at an alternate site. Mr. Sandusky said he was not familiar with what rule would make particular products not acceptable at a particular site. Councilor Simmons said he supported this but wanted to be clear that there are innovations down the road that may cause things to change. Mr. Hire provided clarification regarding the fee structure and the cost of disposing into the landfill. Mr. Sandusky answered questions from council. Council provided consensus to support the proposal. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 7:00p.m. Minutes Recorder- Julie Wilson ~1i~ MaureenM. Maine Mayor . Attest: ~ .L l.. L.- ~ ~;Wilson City Recorder .