Employment, Parks, Schools Ordinance (City)- Planning Commission Recommendation (3 of 4)

Eugene Ordinance Exhibit J [Lane County Ordinance Exhibit G] proactive in determining whether there are any significant riparian corridor sites, wetland sites, wildlife habitat sites or impact areas within the UGB expansion areas. The City wishes to be as certain as possible that the expansion area can be developed to serve the industrial employment needs of the City's population for 20 years. Significant resource protections can impact whether land is truly developable. Therefore, although the City could have simply waited to respond to any evidence presenting information about a potential Goal 5 resource in the UGB expansion area, the City hired a professional natural resources consultant, Pacific Habitat Services, Inc. (PHS), to conduct a study of the Clear Lake and Santa Clara UGB expansion areas. That study revealed the location of riparian corridor, wetland, and wildlife habitat resources in the expansion areas. In response, consistent with the Goal 5 rules at OAR 660-023 addressed below, the City has applied Goal 5 within the UGB expansion areas. OAR 660-023-0250 does not constitute an exception to the rule at 660-024-0020(1)(c), which provides that Goal 5 and related rules under OAR chapter 660, division 23, apply only in areas added to the UGB. OAR 660-023-0060 - Notice and Land Owner Involvement. Local governments shall provide timely notice to landowners and opportunities for citizen involvement during the inventory and ESEE process. Notification and involvement of landowners, citizens, and public agencies should occur at the earliest possible opportunity whenever a Goal 5 task is undertaken in the periodic review or plan amendment process. A local government shall comply with its acknowledged citizen involvement program, with statewide goal requirements for citizen involvement and coordination, and with other applicable procedures in statutes, rules, or local ordinances. See findings under Statewide Planning Goal 1. Prior to beginning the inventory field work, selected landowners in the proposed UGB expansion areas (i.e. those suspected of having wetlands or stream on their property) were mailed notices by the City describing the project and asking permission to enter their property. Right of access was granted to PHS by landowner permission only. The properties of those not responding were not accessed. Information regarding right of access was collected by the City and provided to PHS for incorporation into project field maps. Following the field work and preparation of the draft reports, the City held public meetings on May 23, 2012 and June 25, 2014 for property owners in the Clear Lake expansion area to discuss details of the Goal 5 inventory and to provide comments. Staff from the Division of State Lands attended the second meeting. Additional community meetings with expansion area property owners, nearby property owners, and other interested parties of the Clear Lake expansion area were held June 24, 2015 and September 15, 2016. The purpose of these latter two meetings was to provide an update on the expansion proposal, including the formal adoption process, wetlands, zoning, and land use code proposals. Letters were also sent to property owners in the expansion area on October 10, 2014 and December 1, 2015 to provide updates on the expansion proposal. City staff were also on hand to discuss wetlands and related topics at other more general project meetings throughout 2015 and 2016. The City it no longer has a significant resource to protect, the City has urged the mining company to apply to the County for a formal review and possible removal from the County's Goal 5 program. To date, Eugene Sand and Gravel has not submitted such an application and the land remains as a protected Goal 5 resource. This is addressed in the UGB expansion Analysis for Employment land at Appendix B to these Findings. May 2017