Received in Public Hearing <br />Ct,i 0 Eiq-e Planning & Development <br />LETTER IN OPPOSITION TO CAPITAL HILL PUD; PDT 17-01 <br />MAR 07 2918 <br />To: Nick Gioello, Associate Planner File _;r. PPr n- <br />City of Eugene Planning and Development F4r,:! t <br />nick.r.gioello _ci.eugene.or.us <br />99 West 10th Ave., Eugene, OR 97401 <br />From: Katie Dixon and Bill Blix <br />2295 East 29th Avenue <br />Eugene, OR 97403 <br />wbblix@comcast.net <br />Our property is above 700 feet, and we are approximately 100 feet below the Capital <br />Hill PUD. About two decades ago we realized that the fir trees were dying in the fall <br />line. OSU and the U of O assisted in realizing the two landslides on 30TH Avenue, <br />bringing in soil and rock to make a road and recent development on Capital and Essex <br />had impacted the trees. Then beetles moved in. Finally, bulldozers, the laying of pipes, <br />park trails, poison, and homeless camps added to the problem. This had been an <br />Ecosystem of its own that had developed over time with orchards of fruit and nut trees <br />filled with wild life. <br />The City of Eugene emphasizes neighborhood densities based on number of dwellings <br />per acre. These figures are modified by elevation, vehicular trips per given period of <br />time and livability/compatibility and the natural characteristics of that land. The trouble <br />with these analyses is that they only deal with an area circumscribed by the subdivision <br />or PUD, and don't take into account the interdependency of neighborhoods. An <br />example is a hilly area with a view of a remarkable rock outcropping; a new <br />development nearby should only have lots that maintain this view for each individual <br />new dwelling as well as those existing. <br />A situation like this exists for Laurel Hill, South Eugene and Fairmount neighborhoods. <br />Their collective view is the so-called South Hills Ridgeline and their collective asset is <br />the Laurel Hill Valley watershed emptying into the Willamette River and impacting the <br />area water supply and the animals dependent on that ecosystem. Of course a good <br />portion of the Laurel Hill Creek was put in underground pipes to accommodate <br />development before people became aware of the value of this asset greatly diminishing <br />an important part of the Willamette Greenway. <br />The Capital Hill PUD should be charged with respecting the South Hills Ridgeline view <br />both from their vantage and that of the current homes sited in the valley. With the <br />