<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />The applicantÈs house (inside the pink square) is visible because he illegally cut (and was <br />fined for cutting) the trees that screened his house from downtown. The visibility of his <br />house from downtown and the university is an obvious example of what will occur across <br />the ridgeline if the proposed Capital Hill PUD passes and the rest of the trees along the <br />ridgeline are removed to make way for construction. The staff report suggests that trees <br />from neighboring properties lower down on the hillside will screen houses on the <br />ridgeline. But this is not the case with the applicantÈs house at the moment; why would it <br />be true for the houses that will be built next to the applicantÈs house at the same <br />elevation? That argument makes no sense. Also, it does not make sense at this stage of <br />the approval process to use existing trees that are not protected on neighboring properties <br />to exempt the applicant from meeting the design standards for a planned unit <br />development in the South Hills Study refinement zone. <br /> <br />The staff goes on to praise the applicant for preserving a Åmajority of the vegetationÆ on <br />the eastern slope. This statement is a misleading oversimplification. As the foresterÈs <br />report (attached to the Joint Response Committee document) makes clear, not all trees are <br />of equal utility in a forestÄnot all trees have the same habitat value. Larger, more <br />established trees define the ridgeline, shield the view of the PUD, and protect the forest <br />from the intense winds that assault high elevation ridges like the one on Capital Hill. The <br />Proposed Capital Hill PUD proposes to remove 69% of trees 21 inches and over in <br />diameter and 75% of trees 36 inches and over in diameter (see the section on EC 9.8320 4 <br />in the Joint Response Committee document). The issue here is not restricted to the <br />visibility of the houses in the proposed Capital Hill PUD, but also pertains to the Ånatural <br />characteristics of the south hills area.Æ By clear cutting the ridgeline and removing up to <br />75% of the large trees on the site, the proposed Capital Hill PUD would expose the <br />houses on the proposed site (as has already happened with the applicantÈs own house) and <br />completely reshape one of the most visible natural features in the city. Those trees not <br />immediately cut down in the process of construction will likely fall as a result of <br />windthrow (see the foresterÈs report attached to the Joint Response Committee <br />document). <br /> <br />The Eugene Planning Staff states that the preservation area (Tract A) will screen hikers <br />along the Ridgeline trail from seeing the houses in the development. Nothing could be <br />further from the truth. Contrary to what the staff states, houses built on steep slopes along <br />the eastern side of the development can be up to 47 feet in height. Because of the <br />narrowness of the lots and allowable size of the houses, some of these homes may be <br />only ten feet apart. The hiker on the ridgeline trail will look up to see a wall of three-story <br />ÅmansionsÆ towering over what had been a nature trail. Even though some of the trees in <br />the preservation area will actually be preserved, many of them will not be preserved for <br />various reasons. Trees may be destroyed for the construction of storm water and removed <br />for construction or die because their critical root zone has been compromised. Or they <br />may simply blow down because 75% of the large trees will be eliminated in the process <br /> <br />