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Memorandum
Date: October 19, 2015
To: Mayor and City Council
From: Heather O'Donnell
Subject: Response to Recent Testimony
Rest-Haven Files MA 15-1 & Z 15-1
Several pieces of testimony were submitted during the open record period on the Rest-Haven
applications from September 21 to October 12, 2015. This memo responds to two points that were raised
by Mr. Milks in his testimony submitted during this period.
NeighborhoodLpnlicant Meeting and Goal 1
On page 2 of his testimony, Mr. Milks states that the City clearly considers the neighborhood/applicant
meeting to be one of the requirements for satisfying Statewide Planning Goal 1, Citizen Involvement, as
required by Eugene Code Approval Criteria 9.7735 (1), because it is mentioned in the City's findings for
compliance with Goal 1. The City has a Citizen Involvement Plan (CIP) that has been acknowledged as in
compliance with Goal 1 and the application does not propose modification to the CIP. Additionally, the
City has procedures in the land use code that are intended to insure full citizen involvement and
participation; violation of any of those procedures does not automatically mean that Goal 1 is violated,
rather if there was an error the harmed person would have to have been shown to be prejudiced by the
error. Furthermore, the neighborhood/applicant meeting is a relatively recent addition to the land use
code that was not created to fulfill the City's CIP for Goal 1 but rather is an additional step beyond
compliance with Goal 1 to help initiate conversations early in the development process.
Notification to Affected Neighborhood Association
On page 5 of his testimony, Mr. Milks states that the City did not comply with the public hearing notice
requirements because the City did not provide notice of the Planning Commission's July 14 public hearing
to the affected neighborhood association. The Southeast Neighbors were sent a public notice as they
were the affected neighborhood association at the time the application was submitted. As shown in the
testimony submitted during the open record period, Mr. Valle, president of the Southwest Hills
Neighborhood Association (SHiNA) which is now the affected neighborhood association was informed of
the applications on June 22, 2015. After that date, staff included Mr. Valle on emails regarding status
updates of the application. On September 21, Mr. Valle on behalf of SHiNA sent a request to the Mayor and
City Council requesting an extension and postponement to their deliberations and decision.
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