September 16, 1998
JOINT ELECTED OFFICIALS MEETING
Willamalane Senior Center Springfield - 7:30 p.m.

CALL TO ORDER

Mayor Morrisette of Springfield, called the meeting to order.

ROLL CALL

Mayor Morrisette, Councilors Ballew, Beyer, Dahlquist, Leiken, Maine and Shaver were present from the City of Springfield.

Mayor Torrey, Councilors Laue, Taylor, Lee, Swanson-Gribskov, Tollenaar, Farr, Meisner, Nathanson (arrived late) were present from the City of Eugene.

Commissioner Cornacchia (absent), Dumdi, Green, Sorenson, Weeldreyer were present from Lane County.

Mayor Torrey indicated he had a potential conflict of interest relating to this issue and therefore recused himself from the discussion. He said he would remove himself from the debate at the table, but will sit in the audience and not participate in any voting around this issue. He said City of Eugene, City Council President, Pat Farr, will take his place.

1. Consider Initiation of Metropolitan Area General Plan Text Amendment - Transfer Jurisdiction of Glenwood from Eugene to Springfield.

a. History and Background of Glenwood Jurisdictional Issue

Susan Daluddung, City of Springfield, said she had led the council subcommittee the last four years in Springfield, examining these issues. She said the reason Glenwood is facing the dilemma is because of geography that has been both an asset and liability. She said the neighborhood lies between Eugene and Springfield with I-5 serving as the western boundary and the Willamette River serving as the eastern boundary. She said historically Glenwood was once known as West Springfield. She said in its earlier years its location brought opportunity for river and tourist travel. She said because Glenwood is located in the lowlands, every winter brought floods which slowed progress and growth. She said for nearly a century little development took place on a significant basis because of the floods. She added Glenwood has always been central for all kinds of transportation including buses, trains and ferries. She said unless someone lived in Glenwood, it was often a place to travel through. She said Glenwood was originally named Springfield Junction, the junction of two major lines of the Southern Pacific Railroad. She said growth began to occur in the early 1900's when residences, schools and parks were built. She said in 1928 the steel frame bridge that crossed the river between Springfield and Glenwood was replaced by a two lane concrete and steel bridge. She said Springfield businesses shared in the cost of the bridge and it is the same bridge that exists today. She added most of the development that occurred was in the mid-century time frame. She said in the 1960's, the construction of the I-5 freeway isolated Glenwood and brought a decline in motorists traveling though the area. She said as a result, non-freeway oriented businesses declined and travel and tourism were replaced with commercial, light industrial and manufacturing uses. She said in the 1970's, Oregon's land use laws were adopted and there was no need at that time for Glenwood to associate with any city because they already received services from all three jurisdictions, Springfield, Eugene and Lane County. She said they were included in the Metro Plan Amendment as part of the urban growth boundary. She added not until the 1980's did the two cities, County and Glenwood face the perplexing question, "Where does Glenwood, the area known as in between the cities fit in? Who will provide urban services?" She said in 1984 for fiscal reasons, the decision was made to include the area with Eugene. She said the Springfield economy had been disrupted by loss of investment and jobs in the wood products industry, the population was declining and revenues were not enough to produce adequate urban services for Glenwood residences and businesses at that time. She said in 1990 the Glenwood Refinement Plan was adopted which laid out how the area would be developed as the future part of the city of Eugene. She said the question of jurisdiction did not disappear. She said tonight the councils and commissioners are again struggling with the same question. She said early in 1994, Glenwood residences and some businesses petitioned Springfield, Eugene and Lane County requesting a transfer of Glenwood jurisdiction to Springfield. She said a series of studies and discussions ensued, during which time Springfield assessed whether it could afford to be financially responsible for providing services to Glenwood. She said the analysis was derailed by two ballot measures that completely changed the state's tax structure and required a whole new fiscal analysis by staff and City Council. She said in 1997 the study was begun again and both city councils expressed an interest in whether people still wanted a change to the Metro Plan. She added residents and business owners both inside Glenwood and inside the City of Springfield were polled several times. She said the survey showed that the majority of the residents and business owners prefer to align themselves to the community of Springfield. She said if the amendment is initiated, the land uses and urban service issues would be discussed in subsequent public hearings.

b. Council Subcommittee Update

Springfield City Councilor Maureen Maine reported the last time they had met as a body was April 28, 1998 at a joint elected officials meeting on a variety of topics and Glenwood was one of the topics discussed. She said after that meeting Springfield officials met with Eugene and started scoping out the issues and concerns and then a sub-committee was formed. She said in May, the subcommittee began to start presenting the findings of the Springfield councilors to the Eugene councilors, seeking to see if Eugene was in favor of going forward with initiating this amendment. She said Eugene councilors, Tim Laue and Ken Tollenaar were on the committee for Eugene and Greg Shaver and herself for Springfield. She said they started to answer questions, identify the issues and see what resolutions could be found, and then decided to move the process forward, by the end of the summer. She said they met four times over June and July and the issues that were researched were primarily the reimbursement of sunk costs (the costs that were already put in primarily to the sewer system), what the costs were, what they amounted to and how they would be repaid. She added they identified planning costs to be reimbursed for the planning studies that the Eugene council had undertaken and completed and the timing of that repayment. She said Eugene councilors had discussions and identified potential tax revenue loses to Eugene. She said their was a huge concern over the sentiment of the public. She said Springfield had sessions to gather public input but felt they had a vested interest in that, so they embarked on a joint survey where everyone would have input into the questions of the Glenwood Refinement Plan. She said by the end of July, they had decided to go ahead with the survey. She said the recommendation at the end of July was to proceed with a study and to present those results to the councils.

Ken Tollenaar gave results of the survey of the people of Glenwood. He said the report is in a thick book and available to anyone. He said the basic finding was out of 315 completed interviews by telephone, 249 were actually Glenwood residents. He said of the Glenwood residents, 47% favored transferring the planning jurisdiction to Springfield; 27% favored leaving the planning jurisdiction with Eugene; 13% didn't answer the question and 13% leave as is. He said in presenting those results to the Eugene City Council, some councilors pointed out that people contacted were only those with telephones and some people that did not have telephones should be contacted. He said it was determined that there were 84 Glenwood addresses with no phone listings and those people were sent a mail survey. He said 30 mail surveys were returned by the post office as undeliverable, leaving 54 and of the 54, 20 returned the mail survey. He said the people that participated in that small survey favored Eugene by 45% and Springfield by 25%, 10% didn't know and 20%, leave as is. He said the two surveys were different, but the fact that only 20 were involved in the survey of residents without telephones and 249 were in the phone survey, the finding that almost half of the people that were contacted in the survey favored transferring jurisdiction to Springfield. He said an advisory vote was discussed by the electors of Glenwood. He said the survey itself was so thorough and included such a large proportion of total residents of Glenwood that the committee concluded it wouldn't change the results that they already had from the survey. He said the committee did not recommend holding an advisory vote. He said there could be an election involved because in addition to the transfer of the planning jurisdiction, there will also have to be a further proceeding before the boundary commission on the question of whether the territory that has already been annexed to Eugene (but is in Glenwood), should be transferred to the City of Springfield. He said it is a separate question that will be decided by the Boundary Commission. He added there are opportunities in that procedure as set forth by state statutes for holding an election if either city council objects to that transfer, or if 10% of the electors who reside in the areas already annexed to Eugene object. He said an election would be held in the jurisdiction that objected to the transfer. He said the councilors' committee favors the transfer of jurisdiction to the City of Springfield. He added after the meetings and public hearings before the planning commissions and elected bodies, having Springfield reimburse Eugene for their sunk costs in infrastructure and planning activities. He said Springfield would be required to adopt the refinement plan and they would pick up maintenance on a sewer line that has already been installed by Wildish Company. He said there would be some issues regarding EWEB and SUB as to who would provide the electric service and that would have to be worked out between the two agencies. He said the rationale for their recommendations was that Glenwood residents and business owners favor this transfer to the extent of 50%. He said there were various opinions and petitions. He said Springfield conducted its own mail survey of Springfield residents. He said there was a focus group and an open house on March 30, a phone survey, and public opinion. He said the substantial trend of opinion is to favor the transfer. He said the other part of the rationale for the recommendation would be some financial impact on the Cities of Eugene and Springfield. He said Eugene would lose property tax revenue it is now collecting in the Glenwood area, and also lose the expense of providing services that go along with the revenue collection. He said conversely Springfield would gain some property tax revenue but would incur the costs of providing those services. He said since there is no real fiscal windfall either way, the councilors' committee concluded that the decision should be made on the basis of social and political considerations.

c. Initiation and Amendment Process

Jan Childs, Planning Director, City of Eugene, reported that the process of tonight's meeting and the action that the two city councils and Board of County Commissioners are being asked to take is not to decide whether or not to transfer jurisdiction of Glenwood from Eugene to Springfield, but to begin the proceedings for an amendment to the Metro Plan that governs the three jurisdictions. She said in order for jurisdiction of Glenwood to transfer from Eugene to Springfield, an amendment to the Metro Plan is necessary. She said in order to start the formal hearing proceedings, it is first required that there be a formal action to initiate the proceedings. She said the discussion that the two city councils and the Board of County Commissioners have at the conclusion of the public comment, will not be the merits of the transfer of jurisdiction or retaining jurisdiction, but rather whether or not the two city councils and the Board of County Commissioners want to continue moving forward in this process that was set in motion five years ago by property owners and residents in the Glenwood area. She said assuming that there is an action to initiate the Metro Plan Amendment Proceedings by any one of the jurisdictions, the process can start with any one of them taking action. She said there are dates tentatively scheduled for two additional public hearings that will be required to consider the merits of the transfer. She said if the Metro plan Amendment is initiated, there will be a joint hearing of the three planning commissions that is scheduled for October 13. She said the three planning commissions will receive evidence at that time from people both in support and opposition of the transfer of jurisdiction and will make their recommendations to their respective elected officials. She said there is time reserved on November 16 for a joint hearing of the three elected bodies. She said it would be after that public hearing in November that the two city councils and the Board of County Commissioners would act to determine whether or not the jurisdiction of Glenwood would stay with Eugene or transfer to Springfield.

2. PUBLIC COMMENT

Dave Jewett, 644 N. "A", Springfield, stated he lives in Eugene and works in Springfield. He added he is a member of the Springfield Chamber Board of Directors, a Springfield attorney, and a member of the Chamber of Commerce Future Committee. He said through the chamber and the future committee there has been interest in Glenwood. He said 15 businessmen of the chamber have businesses in the Glenwood area. He said a couple of years ago they began looking at Glenwood. He said they began having more discussions in November. He said early in 1997 he approached the University of Oregon School of Architecture about the potential for taking a look at a visionary basis about Glenwood, what it status was, what it could be. This is a partnership between the Chamber and the School of Architecture. He said the school used Glenwood as a terminal project for their graduating architectural students. He said there were three receptions of the work the students did. He added a book was put together of the composite of the work done by the students. He said they had also produced models, charts and presented their ideas about what a future Glenwood could have. He said that Glenwood gives a first impression of Springfield and the Springfield's chamber would like to see the transfer of jurisdiction to Springfield. He added that they would like to help and provide direction and input over the next several years with respect to how Glenwood's future can be developed. He said they intend to commit the resources from the chamber and appreciate the opportunity to let everyone know how they feel.

Shannon Wilson, 3920 E. 17th Avenue, Glenwood, said earlier in the day he had made a call to the Eugene City Manager's Officer and asked them whether this was a public hearing where public testimony was going to be taken. He said he was told "no it was not." He said subsequently he called again and then was told it was a public hearing where public testimony could be given. He said he didn't know how many Glenwood residents knew that this was the case, that comment was going to be received here. He said he questioned whether the outreach was done properly to the residents of Glenwood. He said he submitted an E-Mail letter to both City Councils and County Commissioners on the issue. He said that looking at the survey results, 130 residents that responded to the survey were in favor of the jurisdiction change to Springfield. He added looking at the population of Glenwood in 1990, there were 1362 residents in Glenwood. He said the 130 residents do not truly represent what everyone really wants in Glenwood. He said there was a mention of a petition that was circulated, that petition was taken to local businesses in Glenwood; 65 of those businesses signed a petition that opposed the jurisdiction change to Springfield. He wanted to know how many of these meetings have been held, where there was public comment and testimony solicited. He said that he has no complaints about current services in Glenwood. He said he did not know any of his neighbors who had complaints about the current services or law enforcement. He said the community does an extensive community watch program and has cleaned up the neighborhood from what it was four years ago. He added it is a very safe neighbor with Glenwood having one of the lowest crime rates in the metropolitan area. He said he urges local governments to open up this process to all the residents and businesses of Glenwood. He said this should be serving Glenwood residents, not other interests who may have a vested interest in the area. He said he would like to see when the process comes near completion, an election where all of the electors in Glenwood could vote on this matter whether they want jurisdictional change or not and at that point everyone would be happy with the result because it would have been a complete process. He said he doesn't think that process is open and completely honest.

Stanley Lynch, 853 Centennial, Springfield, stated some people have been running home repair shops out of Glenwood. He said these business would have to be relocated, placing these people in unemployment lines. He said since they were self-employed they would not be eligible for unemployment, possibly making them homeless. He said a large number of people are not landowners and are renting in Glenwood. He said he fixes properties up and gets citations for cleaning up messes. He said a large number of people in Glenwood would not meet the criteria in Springfield in these situations. He said renters shouldn't be allowed to vote, the homeowner should because they ultimately pay the sacrifice.

Sandra Rennie, 6222 Thurston Road, Springfield, stated she is speaking as a member of the Historic Museum Board in Springfield. She mentioned a historic precedent that exists between Glenwood and Springfield. She said there is a river between both of them but both were closer and have been closer to each other than to Eugene. She said Springfield Junction was the spot where roads came together going east, west and south and because there was a ferry across the river, they could go east. She said later, a bridge was built which made the connection between the two communities even stronger. She said there is a cemetery in Glenwood that is the resting place of many of Springfield's founders and early pioneers. She said 54 years ago the Willamalane Park District formed. She said Glenwood was one-third of that original district and today the people in Glenwood are still able to participate in the same program. She said since 1948 Springfield had been providing fire protection and medical and emergency services to Glenwood. She said as a member of the museum board, she would be pleased and proud along with the entire board to have Glenwood under the jurisdiction of Springfield.

Ann Ware, 1561 Mississippi, Glenwood, she said she recently decided to put her house on the market. She said in the process she requested a market value analysis from two different realtors in the area. She said when her property was compared with Springfield properties, the value of her home dropped $30,000 to $40,000 compared with Eugene properties. She said when she writes her address, it is Eugene, not Springfield and she doesn't write Glenwood. She said she didn't elect the councils of Springfield and Eugene, she just elected the County Commissioners. She asked the commissioners to consider the fact that her property value is the only thing she has and said it wasn't fair to take that away.

Mark Branson, 3698 Franklin Blvd., Eugene, said he supports the jurisdictional change from Eugene to Springfield.

Shelly Lynch, 835 Centennial, Springfield, said he didn't have anything against going with Springfield. He said he thought home values will go up because Jackie Murdoch will be there making the people straighten the places up to look better because they are dumps. He said she will go after the landlords. He said they will get a quicker response to police.

Rob Adams, 200 S. Mill St., Springfield, Chairman, Willamalane Board of Directors, said they are meeting in the next room and they were in a middle of a work session on needs assessment. He said he is devising their plans for needs assessment for neighborhood parks in the future. He said Glenwood is part of their planning area. He said tonight the Willamalane Board of Directors passed a resolution, number 9899-8, regarding the jurisdictional change. He read into the record a letter, dated September 16, 1998 to the Joint Elected Officials from the Willamalane Park and Recreation District Board of Directors. He said they support the proposed transfer of Glenwood from Eugene's jurisdiction to Springfield.

Marjorie Tomseth, 1625 Henderson Avenue in Midway Manor, Eugene, said she was representing the senior citizens and they are hoping the shift goes to Springfield because the park district is so close as is police and ambulance service. She added she was one of the people who took a petition around to get signed to go to Springfield. She said she hopes the vote will be to go with Springfield.

Fred Collier, 4005 E. 17th, Glenwood, responded to the survey as not being very thorough. He said that over 50% of the residents are not in favor of the change. He said the demographics of Glenwood are changing and most of the elderly are in favor of the change, but most of the younger people are not. He said a lot of younger people are moving in and in a couple of years the demographics could be completely different. He said maybe this should be put on hold. He said he purchased his home in Glenwood because he really liked the neighborhood the way it is and is worried about the kind of development that Springfield wants to move towards. He said with regard to the connection between Glenwood and Springfield, he doesn't think it is there at all. He said he has more ties with Eugene and none with Springfield. He said he would prefer to have Eugene services from parks, libraries and the Hult Center. He said he opposes the change.

E.C. Burkett, 4446 Franklin, Glenwood, stated he has been a resident of Glenwood since 1943. He said he owned Burkett Trailer Sales and has been in business since 1946. He said he wants to and always has wanted to go to Springfield. He said 90% of the people in Glenwood would say so too.

Steve Moe, P. O. Box 847, Springfield, said he is a life-long Glenwood resident. He said as a result of the Glenwood petition, people are present. He said there are 750 registered voters. He said less than 200 voted in the March, 1994 election. He said if they would get 200 signatures on the petition, they would be doing good. He said the petition was mailed to all 485 Glenwood residences and then asked that it be mailed back or collected by someone that lived close by. He said they had to take a positive action to return the petition and the response was completely voluntary. He said he was amazed how the petition took off. He said they had collected 504 names to give to Commissioner Frazier. He said he hoped that she would carry the ball for them, but she didn't. He said after submitting the copies to both Springfield and Eugene Councils, it has taken four years to get to the hearing tonight. He said within the past four years, some minds have changed, but most of the people that signed the original petition still live there. He said he does hear comments that people do not want to be part of Springfield, but none of the numbers he has backs that up. He said in May, after Springfield had done a survey and open house, he did the following: he sent out a postage paid return polling post card to 483 Glenwood residences. He said he got the addresses off the water and electric services. He said he had 204 cards returned, which is 42%. He said what became clear was there is an enormous number of people in the mobile home parks who do not participate in any Glenwood activities. He said in the petition of four years ago the survey showed going with Springfield and this survey shows the same. He said he is a County Planning Commissioner and all services in downtown Springfield are less than two minutes from most points in Glenwood. He said for a community to participate in city government, being close always helps. He said Glenwood would have a much greater advantage if it were part of Springfield. He said people are trying to change this into a Springfield/Eugene issue but it is a Glenwood issue. He said he lives in, owns property and has a business in Glenwood. He said whenever he has to leave his residence or business, he goes to Springfield for recreation, parks, groceries, shopping, banking, doctor, dentist, hospital or post office because everything is closer and easier. He said that Springfield is the logical answer for all of the above. He said 85% of Glenwood residents agree with him. He urged the Springfield and Eugene City Councils and Lane County Board of Commissioners to support the majority of the Glenwood residents and send forward a resolution supporting the jurisdictional change of Glenwood to Springfield.

Kate Reinken, 3975 E. 18th Ave., Glenwood, stated there is no point in initiating the process to amend the Metro Plan to move the jurisdiction to annex Glenwood into Springfield. She said everyone was wasting time and money, because people don't want it. She said to leave the jurisdiction with Eugene, which is her opinion. She asked the audience, of the people who live in Glenwood to raise their hands if they are interested to moving to Springfield (the majority of the people in the audience raised their hands). She then asked how many people who live in Glenwood were interested in keeping the jurisdiction with Eugene (not many people held up their hands). She added the word did not get out well about the meeting.

Willie Combs, 334 Scotts Glenn Drive, Springfield, said he became interested in Springfield because he was told "don't go to Springfield, you are going to smell all of the stuff from the mill." He said he decided he was going to move there because he talked with people who worked there and they were getting along fine. He said the areas of Springfield and Eugene work together constantly. He said Springfield now has a high class ambiance. He said people are working together and they are doing it to everyone's benefit. He said he is a Springfield person and he is going to stay there because there is strength, thrill and fun to belong in the area, become a part of it and he is proud of it.

Owen Reid, 2540 Tyler St., Eugene, stated he and his son own a business and have operated in Glenwood for about 18 years. He said he was raised in Glenwood in the 40's and 50's. He said the Metro Plan was forced upon Glenwood and it was given to Eugene. He said there have been changes since that time. He said it is his opinion that Eugene is not really losing much because they were forced into accepting what they had. He said he agreed with the majority, that meetings with the County were not successful. He said he hopes that at these meetings the majority are being listened to. He said he was in favor of jurisdiction to be given to Springfield.

William Cassara, 4363 E. 20th, Glenwood, stated he owns his home and lives on the street that Mr. Lynch spoke of. He said there is no road maintenance in Glenwood, he said he had to take it upon himself to smooth out the road. He said he favors going into Springfield if they have to go anywhere. He said he is happy now, there are no major crime problems, the sheriff responds very well and he would prefer not to be a part of Springfield or Eugene. He said he does business in Springfield and they would be more caring for the community of Glenwood. He said Eugene would have Glenwood as their poor little orphan child.

Joan Armstead, 4017 E. 16th, Glenwood, she said she was curious as to how many people of the Glenwood residents who voted for Springfield, own their own piece of ground in Glenwood. (Some hands went up) She asked how many people understood the issue when Glenwood became Eugene's jurisdictional charge. She asked how many people really understand the issue now. She said now Springfield wants a change and the people of Glenwood have written a petition saying they did want that change in 1994. She said it took 10-13 years for Springfield to decide to go to Glenwood, but Springfield wants to make the change before the end of this year. She said she is suspicious because anyone who has studied societies, politics, economics or statistics knows that a population's opinions can be presented in a number of ways. She said facts can be presented in certain ways to carry out political agendas. She said people's opinions can be maneuvered. She said politics are no different here than those at work. She said people like to feel powerful and influential. She said money is always a high priority. She said governments must be monitored by the people and this has become a complex task. She said since everyone must get along on this issue in the end, and she doesn't care to stir up feelings one way or the other. She said she wanted to thank the various governing bodies for the lessons she has learned. She said even though she hasn't been able to achieve the watching she wanted to do on the Glenwood jurisdiction issue, she said whatever the outcome, she has learned to watch, monitor and question. She said through this she has learned about processes and the wonderful Glenwood neighbors that she has met. She said Glenwood's residents are straightforward, dedicated, and wonderful people. She said it is an example of who real Americans are. She said everyone has had a reasonable attitude and talked open minded about the issue. She thanked the Glenwood folks for just being them. She said it should stay the way it is.

Marjorie Ralph, 3698 Franklin Blvd., Glenwood, stated she was here to support the jurisdictional change and had a letter written by Effie M. Morgan. She then read the letter into the record. She stated she wanted the Springfield services to continue in Glenwood. She said she lived at her residence since 1971 and did not get a notice of the meeting. She said it came to her father who was deceased 13 years ago.

Otto Poticha, 1820 Kona, Eugene, stated he is an architect and a Professor of Architecture at the University of Oregon. He said he had the privilege of working with the students who did a dream study about Glenwood. He said he personally doesn't care who administers Glenwood, he cares that whomever administers Glenwood makes a commitment to Glenwood. He said it hasn't happened. He said the work that was done by the students was exciting, not terribly practical, but a dream. He said the dream was an incredible dream and Glenwood is an incredible resource. He said his fear is without good planning and good commitment to the Glenwood area, it won't succeed. He believes the people that want to have jurisdiction over Glenwood should be prepared to make the commitment necessary to make Glenwood the incredibly special place that it is. He said there is no other place that is surrounded on three sides by a river and freeway, and having the resources potentially available in Glenwood. He said it is the only place that could actually have an active connection with the river. He said Eugene only has a passive connection to the river. He said the only place to eat dinner and watch the river was at Pietro's in Glenwood. He said it could be the combined resources of Eugene and Springfield, for a train station, a bus station, Emerald Stadium, where high school kids could play football, a lot of housing and a lot of mixed use. He said Glenwood is the only place in the region that has that capability. He said his fear is if you don't care, it will become like Franklin Boulevard, W. 11th, East Main and Gateway, by planning commissions that had no good plan. He said the commitment might be which jurisdiction is prepared to commit the resources to put together a dream and if neither agency is prepared to commit to putting together a physical plan that commits to a dream, neither one should have it.

Karen Johansen, 3889 E. 21st., Upper Glenwood. She said for the 28 years she has lived and owned the property there, it has been that. She said no one has wanted them. She said when the Metro Plan study was done originally, there were a great number to get Springfield to take Glenwood. She said this is not a "just now" process. She said they have worked for years on it. She said she wants to go to Springfield. She said there are more ties, common thoughts and feelings that grow and go with what Springfield has done. She said she wants to see Springfield get them. She said she hears Springfield saying they would like to get Glenwood too, and that is nice to hear after all of these years.

Mayor Morrisette recessed the meeting to return at 9:10 p.m.

RESPONSE TO QUESTIONS RAISED DURING BREAK

Mark Metzger, Planner, City of Springfield, said the thing he wants to do as a planner is to hear what people want and what are some objections to the jurisdictional transfer. He said some things he heard need to be corrected or addressed. He said rhetorical questions were raised and some will be answered tonight. He explained the issue of the meeting itself. He said it is a public meeting, but not a public hearing (a technicality). He said regarding noticing the meeting tonight, everyone went through great efforts to bring people into the meeting because they wanted the jurisdictional issue to be a real public discourse. He said they wanted people to tell them what they are thinking about from the beginning. He said with regard to tonight's meeting, there were three ads placed in the Springfield News, two in the Register Guard, news releases were sent out to all of the media over the past two weeks, and orange posters were displayed in Glenwood and Springfield. They also rented LTD buses to transport people safely between Glenwood to the Willamalane center. He said they really are interested in people knowing about this meeting and the next two meetings that will be critical for Glenwood residents in making their wills known about the jurisdictional issue. He said an issue that came up tonight was enforcement. He said there are areas of Glenwood that are part of the city of Eugene. He said those properties receive Eugene services. He added the other area is unincorporated in Glenwood and those areas don't receive services from either the City of Eugene or from the City of Springfield. He said the maintenance of streets occurs within the Springfield City limits. He said maintenance for those streets will be provided in the future if annexation takes place. He said a concern was about nuisances, (old cars, etc.) He said nuisance laws are not enforced from the Municipal Code outside of the city limits of Springfield. He said in the unincorporated area of Glenwood, they have planning jurisdiction but could not rid them of nuisance problems because they are not within the city limits of Springfield. He added an important item that was brought up had to do with planning jurisdiction. He said if the jurisdictional transfer takes place, the jurisdiction for planning would move from Eugene to Springfield. He said Springfield is in favor of good planning for the community of Glenwood. He said the Glenwood Refinement Plan is a special document just for the neighborhoods that was developed in the last few years. He said the City of Springfield with the City of Eugene has indicated that if this transfer takes place, that the City of Springfield will adopt the Refinement Plan and Glenwood's vision as Springfield's vision. He discussed a chart (copy in file) that discussed where the services are coming from now for Glenwood residents. He said they want to make sure people understand and are informed as to what is going on. He said important meetings to remember are the Joint Planning Commission Meeting on October 13, and the Joint Elected Officials Meeting on November 16.

Mayor Morrisette asked for direction from the respective councils.

Greg Shaver thanked everyone for attending the meeting. He said Springfield is taking an active part in Glenwood's future, trying to respond to Glenwood's needs and to a changing legal situation in the state with the property tax initiatives. He said he served on the subcommittee to take a look at this in great detail. He said he was surprised at the minimal financial impact. He said he was pleased because they were able to take a look at it from another angle. He said he is convinced to go to the next step, which would be to initiate a Metro Plan Amendment process. He said it is something that Springfield is willing to take on and they would be able to meet the challenge of providing for Glenwood's jurisdictional needs. He said not everyone will be happy because there is more than one opinion on any issue but he is convinced that what is the best for Springfield is the best for Glenwood. He said he believes that Eugene should also begin the initiation process.

Shaver made a motion to initiate a Metropolitan Area General Plan Text Amendment, transferring jurisdiction of Glenwood from Eugene to Springfield.

Maureen Maine seconded.

Mayor Morrisette said he wasn't directly involved in Springfield City Government in 1984, but was involved enough to understand the thing that was about to happen and did speak against it. He said it was not a unanimous decision by the Springfield City Council to give up Glenwood. He added many people thought it was an economic necessity. He said Eugene was very reluctant to take it and Springfield simply said they couldn't do it, so Eugene ended up with Glenwood. He said it has been an open wound for a long time. He said personally he has a commitment to Glenwood and to fulfill the plan that has been put together with participation from the citizens of Glenwood and adopted by the three jurisdictions. He said Glenwood has great potential and it is a place that is moderate, affordable and doesn't want to see changes. He said he doesn't see a lot of major changes, but a fulfillment of a dream of many people. He said he is personally willing to make a commitment to make Glenwood into a fine place to live. He said he supports the motion.

VOTE: Unanimous (6-0) that the City of Springfield voted to initiate the process.

Pat Farr, Eugene City Council President, stated some of the councilors have reservations about moving forward with a vote and he is refraining from putting a motion on the table and asked the City Manager of Eugene to place the issue on the agenda of the next regularly scheduled City Council Meeting, on September 23.
DISCUSSION AND ORDER 98-9-16-17/In the Matter of Initiating a Type I Amendment to the Eugene-Springfield Metropolitan Area General Plan to Transfer Jurisdiction of Glenwood from the City of Eugene to the City of Springfield. (Kent Howe and Michael Copely)

Commissioner Ellie Dumdi asked the Board of Commissioners to either make a motion this evening or postpone it for further discussion.

Bobby Green stated he is personally prepared to take a vote, but said it would be more appropriate to wait for the Commissioner of the district, Steve Cornacchia, to be present.

Peter Sorenson stated he understood it only took one of the three jurisdictions to initiate a planned amendment.

Jan Childs stated that was correct and the Metro Plan Amendment Process only requires an affirmative vote by one of the elected bodies to initiate. She said the City of Springfield's action to initiate the amendment means it is in fact initiated and the two earlier meetings, the planning commission meeting and the elected officials meeting will take place as scheduled. She said the Planning Commission Meeting is October 13, the Elected Officials Meeting will be on November 16.

Sorenson said there isn't much for the Eugene City Council or the Board of Commissioners to do until after the Planning Commission Meeting and the Joint Elected Officials meeting.

Dumdi said that the Board of Commissioners will postpone their discussion until October 7.

Laurie Swanson-Gribskov regrets that all the people present today will not be able to hear the planning meeting discussion. She added that Metrovision wasn't present when all of the elected officials were working together. She said when she looks at the chart of who would provide services and under what circumstances, there is something missing. She said it is possible now and in the future that if jurisdiction changed to Springfield, Eugene might still provide a particular service because it was found to be more economical or efficient for the residents. She said it might be that Eugene might retain legal jurisdiction, but through the intergovernmental agreement, Willamalane might be providing services. She said those sort of options don't appear to be on the table. She said what is going on now, is showing what works. She said in theory there are more options than simply staying with one jurisdiction or switching to another. She said she would rather have a full open public discussion about how best to provide services. She said she wants to make sure that efficient, economical and appropriate services are provided according to what the residents want. She said nothing is a foregone conclusion until there is a thorough analysis.

Cindy Weeldreyer stated that as the Commissioner for unincorporated Glenwood (and working in the East Lane Commissioner's office since July of 1992), working with the people in Glenwood on a variety of constituent issues, it has become apparent to her that if the state land use laws weren't what they were, 98% of Glenwood residents would say leave them alone, to remain an unincorporated area of Lane County. She said that is what the majority of the Glenwood residents want, but is not an option. She said in listening to the testimony, it is just a reiteration of what she has been hearing for many years, there are very strong and very deep cultural ties that Glenwood has with the City of Springfield. She said she is seeing the split in votes from people who are longtime residents of Glenwood and new people coming into the area that want to remain under the jurisdiction of Eugene. She said she is in support of waiting for the commissioners to deliberate this until the full Board is present, because it does affect the Springfield Commissioner.

Mayor Morrissette stated that Glenwood wants a sewer connection and in order to do that, sewers need to be provided for at least that area in the commercial part. He said that most of Glenwood will be in one jurisdiction or another because of the demand for a sewer hook-up. He said some parts will remain unincorporated forever. He said he sees Glenwood developing as the demand for development occurs by the people who are there and want things to happen.

Weeldreyer stated that many people have asked for a vote to be taken so this issue could be settled by Glenwood residents. She said she was not sure of the logistics on how that vote could be taken. She said many people who live in Glenwood do not own their properties. She said if it would be just the property owners in Glenwood, many of them don't have vested interests in Glenwood because they are absentee landlords. She said many of the residents live in trailer parks, so there is a community within a community. She said it is a logistics problem to get to the real concrete numbers that people are asking for and questioning the legitimacy of surveys reflecting the true feelings of those residents.

Mayor Morrisette adjourned the meeting of the Springfield City Council at 9:45 p.m.

Pat Farr adjourned the meeting of the Eugene City Council at 9:45 p.m.

Ellie Dumdi adjourned the meeting of the Board of Commissioners at 9:45 p.m.

Melissa Zimmer
Recording Secretary

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