Planning Commission

SUMMARY MINUTES Eugene Planning Commission Special Meeting Sloat Room—The Atrium Building—99 West 10th Avenue—Eugene, Oregon July 24, 2007 5 p.m. PRESENT: Randy Hledik, Vice President; John Lawless, Jon Belcher, Phillip Carroll, Anthony McCown, Ann Kneeland, members; Alissa Hansen, Kurt Yeiter, Planning Division; Gary McNeel, Public Works Department; Emily Jerome, City Attorney’s Office. ABSENT: Rick Duncan, President. I. PLANNING COMMISSION DELIBERATION: MCKENZIE-WILLAMETTE PLAN AMENDMENTS/ZONE CHANGE MINUTES—Eugene Planning Commission July 24, 2007 Page 1 Special Meeting  MINUTES Eugene Planning Commission Special Meeting Sloat Room—The Atrium Building—99 West 10th Avenue—Eugene, Oregon July 24, 2007 5 p.m. PRESENT: Randy Hledik, Vice President; John Lawless, Jon Belcher, Phillip Carroll, Anthony McCown, Ann Kneeland, members; Alissa Hansen, Kurt Yeiter, Planning Division; Gary McNeel, Public Works Department; Emily Jerome, City Attorney’s Office. ABSENT: Rick Duncan, President. I. PLANNING COMMISSION DELIBERATION: MCKENZIE-WILLAMETTE PLAN AMENDMENTS/ZONE CHANGE Mr. Hledik called the meeting of the Eugene Planning Commission to order. The commission resumed discussion of the remaining items in the staff memo to the Planning Commission, dated July 16, 2007, referred to as the ‘parking lot” memo. Emergency Access Ms. Hansen said staff had not found any Eugene-Springfield Metropolitan Area General Plan policies or statewide planning goals that addressed the issue. Ms. Hansen clarified that the ramp meters would run only during peak hours, not on a 24/7 basis. Mr. Hledik asked how, given Fire Chief Randy Groves’ remarks the previous day, the commission should address the issue. He suggested it be footnoted. Ms. Hansen agreed to revise the findings to include a footnote. Mr. Hledik asked if the commission’s concern was about patient delivery time or potential congestion that could slow an ambulance. Mr. Belcher thought the hardest thing to find in the law would be an answer to the question of what happened when both hospitals were on the same side of the river, with the understanding that sooner or later an earthquake would strike the community. Ms. Hansen noted that the chief had mentioned the alternatives that existed the previous day, when Mr. Belcher was not present. Mr. Carroll said that there may be insufficient information in the record but two areas of concern to him were the performance of Ayres Road relative to vehicles pulling over to make way for emergency vehicles. He had similar concerns about the intersection of North Delta Highway and Ayres Road, which he thought would be quite complex. He asked what emergency vehicle traffic through that area did to automobile, pedestrian, and bicycle traffic. Ms. Hansen indicated that the City’s Opticon system would stop other traffic so emergency vehicles could go through. Mr. Hledik suggested the commission’s feeling of uneasiness was because of the lack of information in the record indicating those intersections had been evaluated to the depth necessary. MINUTES—Eugene Planning Commission July 24, 2007 Page 1 Special Meeting Ms. Hansen reminded the commission that the chief had not said the intersections were perfect, nor had he said they would not work. Ms. Kneeland recalled the chief’s mention of the existing mix of traffic, including gravel trucks, and the fact that at some point a confluence of challenges might make traffic unworkable but the City did not appear to have a handle on when that occurred. She thought the chief had implied that point would be reached. Mr. Carroll suggested that staff discuss in the findings what emergency vehicle traffic through the intersection westbound on Ayres Road would look like depending on how many vehicles were queued, and what the expected queue at Ayers Road would look like at peak traffic hours. He wanted to know what physically would happen to those cars and what that would look like. He suggested more “specific scenario information” about what would happen in those cases. Mr. Lawless suggested the commission was not finding anything specific to deny the application but he believed there was an accumulation of potential small problems that might be encountered to the degree the intersection of Ayres Road would not be a four-way intersection, it would be a two-way intersection. He did not think the commission could deny the application on anything specific in the record related to emergency access, but thought its discussion should be footnoted in the findings for the council. Responding to a question from Mr. Hledik, Ms. Jerome quoted from the Metro Plan about the orderly extension of services and asked if the hospital at that location could be served at that location with an extension of urban services. At the behest of Ms. Kneeland, the commission briefly discussed the interpretation of the orderly extension of urban services. Ms. Jerome said the question was whether the hospital at that location could be served by the orderly extension of key urban services. Mr. Yeiter recalled discussion of dispatching ambulances in an orderly fashion. Mr. Carroll recalled that he had interpreted the policy both in terms of service extension and in terms of whether the hospital itself was part of the services that were being extended; since it was a destination for emergency vehicles, did those routes constitute an extension of services? He was not completely comfortable with the reading, but when he thought about emergency access, it seemed to have some connection. Mr. Lawless questioned if an orderly extension of services implied some degree of difficulty. He did not think it did. Responding to a question from Mr. Carroll about the information in the record regarding the number of emergency trips, Ms. Hansen said 3,600 emergency trips were attributed to the existing hospital, and those numbers were expected to change based on the new location. Some emergency vehicles might go to Peace Health. Mr. Yeiter recalled that Chief Groves also stated that if the department knew it could not reach the hospital, the emergency responders go to the other hospital, and in some types of trauma cases, the other hospital would be preferable. Mr. Hledik said fire stations were located based on certain response standards, and he wondered if that was a guideline or standard time for the time to get a patient to the hospital. Ms. Jerome said no, as the individual was receiving medical attention during transport. MINUTES—Eugene Planning Commission July 24, 2007 Page 2 Special Meeting Mr. Hledik concluded that the commission would footnote the issue with the concerns mentioned and further note that no policies could be found to address the issue and the fire chief felt comfortable with the City’s response. The commission concurred. Ms. Hansen indicated that staff would find a place to list those concerns. Refinement Plan Issues Ms. Hansen said that she had listed the issues related to the refinement plan before the commission’s discussion of the policies, and given that discussion, during which the commission concluded the policies were directives to the City and would be addressed during site review and through other processes, she was unsure there was a need for more conversation. There was no objection from the commission. Zone Change Issues Ms. Hansen clarified that the applicant was not asking that site review be eliminated and staff was not recommending it be eliminated. There were no further changes suggested to this area. Ayres Road Improvements Ms. Hansen asked for direction in this area. Mr. Belcher indicated his primary concern was about emergency vehicles and the fact that Ayres Road was designed to calm and discourage through traffic and now the City was considering a facility that would encourage through traffic. He acknowledged that sufficient capacity on the road existed for the load anticipated. Potential lack of access in catastrophic event Ms. Hansen indicated she would footnote the findings to mention the commission’s discussion of catastrophic events. Commercial conversion could have impact of residential neighborhood/pressure for future re-designations Ms. Hansen said staff had footnoted this concern under Goal 10 and included a discussion of impacts on housing. Mr. Belcher requested more discussion about the magnitude of the clinical uses around the existing hospital now. His perception was that the hospital would need more commercial space. Ms. Hansen said the applicant provided information about how much commercial existed now at its site and around Peace Health’s River Bend site. Mr. Belcher said the commission did not know how much was around Sacred Heart. He feared that in the absence of sufficient commercial clinical space at the future McKenzieWillamette Hospital site, many medical providers would not be renting from someone else. He was concerned about the future of the area. He believed the estimate for commercial was understated, creating a need for more commercial land and putting the two manufactured home parks at risk. Mr. Lawless was not sure about the ratio of medical office space to the hospital and pointed out the two hospital facilities were different in nature and he could not judge if the proportions were out of max. Mr. Belcher acknowledged his concern was nebulous. MINUTES—Eugene Planning Commission July 24, 2007 Page 3 Special Meeting Mr. Hledik determined that Ms. Hansen would follow up with some text reflecting Mr. Belcher’s concerns. Ms. Hansen determined that Mr. Belcher believed the discussion would fall under the category of affordable housing. Item 17 Ms. Hansen suggested that the issue be addressed through the letter conveying the commission’s recommendation to the council. Mr. Belcher suggested the issue fell into the category of the change of community policies triggering the need for a Eugene-Springfield Metropolitan General Area Plan amendment. The commission briefly discussed the nature of the council resolution and whether it constituted a policy change. Mr. Hledik said the resolution mentioned a hospital to be located anywhere in the city, although he acknowledged the core was preferred. Mr. Lawless suggested the nature of a community policy change be raised with the council so the commission could ask if the resolution truly represented a policy change. He did not think the commission was able to make that determination. Ms. Jerome said the commission needed to decide if there was a policy change, and footnote its discussion to ask the council to confirm that change. There was agreement. Mr. Hledik requested that staff prepare text to that effect. Ms. Hansen reported that the findings would be ready for the commission’s review by August 6 and for final adoption on August 13. The meeting adjourned at 5:50 p.m. (Recorded by Kimberly Young) MINUTES—Eugene Planning Commission July 24, 2007 Page 4 Special Meeting