Date: March 20, 2018 <br />To: City of Eugene Hearings Official, c/o Nick Gioello, Associate Planner <br />From: CW Murchison, Member, CHPUD Joint Neighborhood Response Committee <br />Re: Capitol Hill PUD Tentative Plan Application (PDT 17-1) <br />Dear Hearings Official: <br />EC 9.8320 Criteria 5 and Criteria 6 <br />This is additional testimony regarding . (Mainly response <br />Criteria 7 <br />to the city's report with additional new testimony and a short challenge about ) <br />In the city's explanation of why they are making an exception to the code requiring secondary <br />emergency access the city says, “EC 9.6815(2)(d) requires secondary access for fire and <br />emergency vehicles. EC 9.6815(2)(g)(1) allows for an exception to these standards if the <br />applicant provides a local street connection study which demonstrates that the proposed <br />street system meets the intent of street connectivity provisions of the land use code as <br />expressed in the purpose and intent statement at EC 9.6815(1), and also shows how <br />undeveloped or partially developed properties within a ¼ mile can be adequately served by <br />alternative street layouts.” (p.26, EC 9.6815 Connectivity for Streets) They specifically state <br />that an exception can only be granted if it meets the purpose and intent of EC 9.6815(1). EC <br />9.6815 (1)(a) specifically states, “Streets are designed to efficiently and safely accommodate <br />emergency fire and medical service vehicles.” This has not been demonstrated and has not <br />been met. The streets cannot safely accommodate emergency vehicles. The Fire Department <br />clearly established their issues and concerns in their 2-20-18 letter in the concern realities. <br />With all of the issues that were laid out here the only accommodation that has been made to <br />mitigate no secondary access and a below code primary access is to add no parking signs on <br />Capital Dr. from Spring Blvd to Cresta de Ruta St. This makes parking a fine-able offense and <br />does not prevent it. Delivery and Work trucks must park there anyway as they already do in <br />no parking areas along the same emergency access route on Spring between Capital Dr and <br />Fairmount (which has been established photographically). An emergency is not timed and an <br />impediment to traffic could still be there at any time. This also does nothing to improve the <br />main choke-point at the 5 way intersection or any of the roads further down such as Spring <br />either way. The Fire Department still left all other concerns in their letter including this from <br />Concern Reality 2, “The impact upon the timely response of additional fire response vehicles <br />on major medical emergencies and fire incidents. Given the severely restricted access to the <br />area, in all likelihood the truck company would not be able to physically drive to the scene. <br />This means the Incident Commander would need to determine whether to have the crew from <br />the truck park at the most out of the way place and walk in on foot or send the truck away and <br />call for another engine company. Either way the truck company crew of 3 would be out of the <br />fire fight.” This acknowledges that the Fire Department believes that in a major emergency the <br />severely restricted access to the area would necessitate firefighters abandoning their vehicle <br />¼ of a mile from the entrance of the proposed CHPUD and running uphill to the emergency. <br />Given that the bigger the emergency the bigger the necessary response and the larger the <br />amount of people fleeing the emergency this necessarily creates a situation that is self- <br />exacerbating, meaning that a larger emergency would have more congestion, more delays to <br />response and a higher casualty rate and loss of property both public and private in the case of <br />fires. Approval of the proposed CHPUD would allow the addition of up to 35 additional <br />households having just one access and egress point from the site, resulting in a significant <br />risk to public health and safety. In fact the main access via Capital Dr is not the required 20ft, <br />but rather is 18ft per city record’s and confirmed by the Fire Department and our own <br /> <br />