to the March 9th, 2026 city council meeting. Thank you for joining us this evening in this hybrid meeting format. For anyone wishing to access this meeting, they can remotely they can do so by watching the live stream available on our website, the broadcast on Comcast channel 21 or by following the access instructions listed on the city's public webcast and meetings materials page. Tonight's meeting will include a public comment period. And if you wish to speak and have not already done so, please fill out a request to speak form on our public webcast and meetings materials page or at the entrance to this room. We will accept request to speak forms until 7:35 p.m. And these forms will be used to generate the random order of speakers and correctly enter speakers names into the public record. The public comment period will be limited to 90 minutes or conclude by just before 10 p.m. whichever occurs first. I will note we have additional items on the agenda after public comment. If the number of speakers exceeds the time that we have allotted, we encourage speakers to con consider abbreviating their remarks so the maximum number of speakers can be heard. And for those joining the meeting remotely for the public comment period, you are welcome to email your comments to council and that's true of anyone giving public comment this evening. As a reminder, council's meeting rules of conduct apply to all attendees both in the chambers and in the lobby. And these include no flags, signs, loud, or disruptive language, noise, or conduct that obstructs the business of the council. Only the speaker at the podium should be speaking. Please keep the room quiet and respectful of all speakers, and you are welcome to wave your hands in silent support. Additionally, we encourage all those that are ill or have had close contact with others who are ill to join our meeting remotely rather than in person. And we have masks available in the lobby if you need one. In case of a medical emergency, an automated external defibrill and AED is located on the counter behind staff at the west side of this room. And the emergency exits are through the double doors located at the back of the room

14:19 – 16:18•0

and the double doors located near the front of the room. The doors to the patio can also be used as needed. And with that, I now call the March 9th, 2026 meeting of the Eugene City Council to order. And we'll begin with a land acknowledgement. Since time in memorial, the Calipua people have been the indigenous stewards to our region, building dynamic communities, maintaining balance with wildlife, and enacting sustainable land practices. This acknowledgement is a way of resisting the erasure of indigenous histories, and to honor native communities by inviting truth and reconciliation. Following treaties between 1851 and 1855, Calipua people were dispossessed of their indigenous homeland by the United States government and forcibly removed to the coast reservation in western Oregon. As we consider the impacts of colonization, we acknowledge the strength and resiliency of displaced indigenous people. The city of Eugene is built within the traditional homelands known as Calipula Illehi and Calapouya descendants are citizens of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ron community of Oregon and the Confederated Tribes of Seleletes Indians of Oregon. They continue to make contributions in our communities here and across the lands. We express our respect for the inherent political sovereignty of all federally recognized tribal nations and indigenous people who live in the state of Oregon and across the nation. Our first item on tonight's agenda is ceremonial matters. And this month, I have requested that six marital proclamations be prepared both for this month of March 2026 and also for the end of February. Proclamations are ceremonial documents requested and signed by the mayor and you can find them cached on the city of Eugene website if you're curious to learn about all of the proclamations from my tenure as mayor, but proclamations also into history. In March, we recognized Women's History Month, which included International

16:16 – 18:15•0

Women's Day on March 8th, as well as Women in Construction Week during the first week of this month. And we are celebrating the contributions of all women, acknowledging all of their work, and honoring the generations of effort towards gender equality by women, by girls, and by allies. We also recognize multiple scerosis awareness week this week, March 8th through 14th, which is an opportunity to raise awareness about MS to amplify the voices of those living with MS and to recognize their resilience and their strength. And during this week, the National MS Society and local partners will be hosting educational opportunities and activities. And I would encourage all Eugeneians to seek out these moments and these opportunities to learn more. We'll close the month of March by celebrating Transgender Day of Visibility on March 31st, which is an opportunity to lift up the progress that is being made to support our transgender neighbors. actions like the first permanent LGBTQIA plus community center in Lane County opening at the Lavender Network just a few weeks ago along Wamtt Street while also recognizing that we have much more work to do to protect our transgender neighbors and to ensure that transgender people have the same access, rights, and safety that others enjoy much more freely. Lastly, I want to share a little bit of an extended description of two other proclamations because I delivered copies of them in person to community partners and international leaders in Catmandu, Nepal and Darlama, India over this past several days. Last week, I completed a sister city delegation trip to Catmandeue, which um is our oldest sister city relationship in the city of Eugene. And we celebrated the 50th anniversary of this Eugene Catmandeue sister city association. and it was first established in 1975. During this trip, I met with Catmandu's mayor, Senita Dangle, and toured multiple UNESCO sites and city facilities with the city of Catmandu's finance, international relations, and administrative staff. And during this trip, I also had the opportunity to meet

18:14 – 20:13•0

with local NGO leaders who are working to support education reform at the elementary and high school levels in Catmandeue and Nepal. They also care a lot about early literacy in Catmandu and Nepal. and I had the opportunity to meet with Nepali citizens who have volunteered as part of our Eugene catmenu sister city association here in Eugene. Much more to share and there will be other opportunities to share more about uh this trip but as a final note I want to offer that before departing I had the good fortune of meeting with some of our UO scientists um and our community at the Zebrafish International Resource Facility Zerk right here in Eugene. And at that meeting and before, I learned about the critical role that zebra fish have in understanding fundamental biological processes and genetic research and how important this area of work is to international genetics research and life sciences research. So what do these tiny fish have to do with catmen do? Uh well, as was explained to me by one of our local brilliant biology professors, about 70% of protein coding in human genes have counterparts in the zebra fish genome and 84% of human disease association gene human disease associated genes have a corresponding gene in the zebra fish. This makes these little tiny fish incredibly useful as a vertebrae model for studying all sorts of questions that we have in the 21st century about ourselves and about science. And I want to especially thank um our local community here for reaching out and sharing that incredible connection with me before departing on this trip. Eugene and the University of Oregon are the scientific home of the zebra fish thanks to Dr. L George Stryisinger who found this little fish and its connections to our genetic code um several decades ago. But Nepal is one of the few places on earth where these fish live in the wild. And so I look forward to future engagements and continuing to nurture relationships that support meaningful cultural exchange and

20:10 – 22:04•0

learning and that also can nurture such a remarkable connection between nature and science in our two cities. Lastly, I want to offer the other um background and the other proclamation related to this trip is that in the days before we traveled to Catmandeue, I was honored to have an audience with his holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama in Darlama, India, where the Tibetan government is in exile. Recognizing the many decades that his holiness has dedicated to the work of human rights and non-violence, he is now 91 years old, 92 if you're using the Tibetan calendar, I presented a proclamation honoring his holiness with an international leadership of human rights award. And I was truly honored to have the opportunity to share our community's appreciation for one of the great moral leaders of this past 100 years, particularly at a time and a very pointed moment in time when leadership in human rights, nonviolence, compassion, and global global peace is so clearly and importantly the place for us to put our attention. I want to thank especially our sister city program um which is dedicated to promoting peace, fostering friendship and encouraging cultural understanding and international cooperation through people-to-people diplomacy and thank our local Eugene Catmandu sister city association volunteers and the volunteers who support our sister city relationships with Jingu, South Korea and Kakagawa, Japan which are active as well. Thank you. And that concludes our first agenda item this evening. Our second agenda item tonight is committee reports and items of interest. And I now open the floor for committee reports and items of interest from council. Councelor Groves.

22:01 – 23:59•0

Thank you, Mayor. Um, I am the uh council's uh chair on the intergovernmental relations committee and I have a short report to provide uh and read into the record. Uh council, you should have received a longer version of this in your email. The 2026 Oregon legislative short session ended on Friday, March 6th. A summary report was included in an email from the IGR manager to mayor and counselors earlier today. Please refer to that email for more information as well as links to summary reporting from Oregon media outlets. Some Eugene specific highlights for the session include the Clear Lake Road industrial site readiness project was allocated an additional $5 million in lottery bond funding. I want to extend our thank you and gratitude to Senator James Manning for his request and leadership and advocating to his legislative colleagues for this important investment in the southern WamiT Valley's economic future. Additionally, Speaker of the House Representative Julie Fehee requested and secured a $1 million allocation to support the expansion of the Eugene airport. Again, I want to extend our gratitude and appreciation to Speaker Fehee as well as the entire Eugene area legislative delegation, including Representative Nancy Nathansson, Representative Lisa Fragula, Representative Darren Herbick, Senator Floyd Pzanski, and Senator Cedric Hayden for supporting Eugene's funding requests. Lastly, the Eugene priority bills that ended up passing include allowing voluntary annexations of non-ontiguous property within Eugene's existing UGB, which is urban growth boundary, regulations related to automated license plate readers, revision to the use of transient lodging taxes by a local government, changes to public meetings laws, a ban on entertainment ticket speculative practices, a new producer responsibility bill for battery recycling, and clarity

23:57 – 24:41•0

on electric bicycle definitions and laws. The IGR committee will be meeting in the first week of April and the annual United Front Partners of Lane County delegation to Washington DC is scheduled for the week of April 20th. IGR staff is scheduled to provide a more in-depth overview of the legislative session and the United Front trip to council in late May. Please let your IGR committee members which include myself, councilors Evans and Yay and uh Mayor Kudson the city manager prom or IGR manager know if you have any input or questions in followup. Thank you mayor councelor Keading.

24:39 – 26:39•0

Thank you mayor. Thank you to the the entire IGR team and to Ethan Nelson IGR director in particular. Um it's wild to to absorb that report counselor of having lived it for the last 5 months. Um and yet even though session ended on Friday, here I was late to our work session today as if as as if I was in Salem. Um but it what a fast and furious session and um thrilled that uh there were some big ticket items that benefit our community right here in Eugene. Last sa Saturday, councelor Groves, senators James Manning and Floyd Pzansski and I met with leaders of Eugene Emergency Physicians, EP. As you may be aware, our emergency department docks at Riverbend and at Cottage Grove, uh 41 members of our community are being told essentially to reapply for their jobs. Um why? because a new outofstate corporation is moving in. Eugene has already lost one hospital, the University District, and now 41 of the most skilled, well-trained, professional docs are potentially sidelined um for emergency room doctors or emergency department docs coming from uh out of state or certainly outside our community. I for one and I expect that I am not alone uh am appalled and I recognize and thank our Eugene emergency physician uh doctors uh for their solidarity, for their commitment to community and for their dogged determination. I would request of council leadership um and or the mayor whether it's in the form of a proclamation or a resolution uh for an actionable item when we come back from council break and um I'm happy to I see

26:36 – 27:44•0

councelor Groves nodding his head uh so I'll happily volunteer you counselor but I will happily uh contribute to uh some sort of actionable statement that we could stand behind our our 41 uh emergency room physicians in this time of crisis in our our community. And uh if I got 46 seconds left, uh I want to thank councelor Kosinsky. Uh she and I attended the kickoff uh for the uh Eugene Library levy that will be on the ballot this May. Um it was a well attended event and um an exciting, energetic kickoff for a most critical uh component uh of the library success. And if I could editorialize in the last 20 seconds, um the levy represents around 25% of the libraryies, um operating costs. Um so whether it's public or private, uh between now and May 19th, you're going to hear me ad nauseium uh champion our public library. Thank you.

27:46 – 27:58•0

Thank you, council. And that concludes our clerk has joined the queue. Sorry, I just real quick thank you mayor. I just wanted to say real quickly that

27:56 – 29:44•0

I [clears throat] join councelor Keading and councelor Groves and what I suspect is most of my colleagues in their support of Eugene emergency physicians who've been doing the job for quite a long time and some of them many decades of caring for people in our community. I suspect that many of those docs are probably constituents of mine in North Eugene that don't live too far from the new hospital. [clears throat] Um, the only thing that I would say is that I I would urge caution in our actions and words. I agree that we want to be in support and and stand in support of emergency docks in our community. Absolutely. It certainly has an effect on our fire department and the the ambulance care that we provide amongst a a number of other reasons why it's important. But it's my opinion that that I know councelor Groves watched as an employee of the city and certainly before councelor Zelena and my time on this council when we had more we had at least a couple of hospitals in Eugene. Um, but it was the council's strong opinions and I it's my opinion that it was the council's strong opinions and u strong words that led to the decision to build their new hospitals in a different community. So I I just want to urge caution with the strength of the and the and the tenor of the things that we produce to to communicate with peace. Thank you. Thank you, council. Councelor Gropes.

29:43 – 31:40•0

Thank you, Mayor. I I just wanted to give uh councelor Kading a chance to go first on the um ED docs, and I appreciate the words you said. It's something I'm greatly concerned with. Um I have uh had many years of service working with that physicians group and they're top-notch. Um, I think most of the ones I worked with are long since retired, but it's a it's been a great group. It's been a stable group. And, uh, one of those doctors is Eugene Springfield Fire's uh, supervising physician, which is very important. Uh, par our paramedics operate under the license of that doctor and, uh, it was very important to our continuous quality improvement program uh, back when I was in fire. So, it's it's something that I think we need to track very closely since our meeting last Saturday. Um, I set up a meeting between the doctor's group and uh lane professional firefighters and I attended that meeting myself and we talked about that earlier this week. And then yesterday, I met with uh one of the top representatives from the uh Oregon Nursing Association to find out what they're doing and and what they knew. So, part of this is just collecting information at this point. I think it is important that any positions we take that we do so with our our eyes wide open. But uh again, I certainly support our this physician group and I worry about the the larger corporate uh medicine taking over our primary care. It it's something that we need to to be plugged into and stay involved with and make sure we have the best information possible. So, thank you very much. Thank you councel. I will just add a a additional note to this discussion that while there um are some actions and certainly paying attention over time is important that this issue is an

31:38 – 33:32•0

incredibly urgent one and a time dependent circumstance. Um I of course share the observations from other counselors. Peace Peace Health is a very important partner in our community and equally important is um us as a community having local invested highquality emergency room doctors um serving our community and as a part of this community and that has been the circumstance with um uh Eugene's EP group for a number of years and my hope is that we are able to find a solution that keeps um that access to those local doctors here and working in our community and serving our community in a reliable way um and with healthcare outcomes for community members as the primary um motivation. This is a certainly a challenging circumstance but it is one that I am very engaged with. I spoke with our governor yesterday about this situation and for those looking to be a part of this conversation or plug in locally um OA the Oregon Nurse Nurses Association um there are some community events that are planned that will offer more information and certainly allow for people to be more directly engaged. So very much appreciate council raising this issue and just want to highlight for the public that this is not a um two six 10 month conversation we're having. days, days and weeks in terms of the importance of this issue in our community. And thank you, council. That now cons concludes our second agenda item this evening. Our third agenda item um on tonight's agenda is consent calendar one, an interim appointment to the Human Rights Commission, the adoption of a resolution amending Eugene City Council operating agreements and repealing resolution number 5387, approval of city council minutes and approval of city council tenative agenda. If there are no questions from council, I'll turn to the council vice president to put a motion forward.

33:30 – 34:13•0

I move to approve the items on consent calendar one. Second. Any discussion from council? Seeing none, I will now take a vote for this motion. Please lock in your votes on the tablet in front of you. And I see councelor Yay and counselor Leech voting in the affirmative. And the motion passes with a vote of 8 to zero. Thank you, council. That concludes our third agenda item. Now turn to the city manager to introduce our fourth agenda item, which is an action on an ordinance amending the Will Kenzie area plan text reszoning the property from C1 neighborhood commercial to C2 community commercial and providing an effective date.

34:11 – 34:58•0

Thank you, mayor. This is an opportunity to deliberate on and potentially take action on two concurrent land use applications. The first application of zone change proposes changing the base zone from C1 neighborhood commercial to C2 community commercial for three identified properties on the east side of Cobberg Road south of Kenny Loop and north of Crescent Avenue. The second application or refinement plan amendment is necessary to facilitate the requested zone change for the three properties. The proposal would amend and clarify the text of a policy within the Wackenzie area plan to specify the land use designation for the properties to align with the zone change requested. The city council had a public hearing for these applications on February 17th of 2026.

34:56 – 35:18•0

Thank you, city manager. If there are no questions from council, I'll turn to the council vice president to put a motion forward. I move to approve the refinement plan amendment and zone change applications and adopt the proposed amendment to the refinement plan as shown in the ordinance included in attachment A to this agenda item summary. Second.

35:15 – 35:55•0

Any discussion from council? Seeing none, I will now take a vote for this motion. Councilors, please lock in your votes on the tablets in front of you. Councelor Yay and councelor Leech, I see you voting in the affirmative. And the motion passes with a vote of 8 to zero. Thank you, council. That concludes our fourth agenda item and I will now turn back to the city manager to introduce our fifth agenda item which is an action on an ordinance amending the Fairmont University of Oregon special area study text and diagram reszoning the property to remove the east campus overlay zone and providing an effective date.

35:52 – 37:00•0

Thank you, Mayor. On January 20th, the council held a public hearing on this package of land use applications, which was submitted by the University of Oregon for the east campus area. After the hearing, the city council held the record open so interested parties could submit additional written testimony with the last seven days reserved for only the applicant as required by state law. During the time the record was open only to the applicant, the university proposed to modify its application by removing several of the refinement plan and code amendments that were included in its original application. Even though the university's proposed changes appear to have been intended to address concerns raised by opponents, the city attorney's office is advised that the city should reopen the record to allow interested parties to submit evidence and argument regarding the revised application. This afternoon, you were provided with a new motion that would immediately reopen the record to accept additional written evidence and arguments from all parties and would direct the city manager to schedule another public hearing on April 20th, 2026 to consider an updated ordinance that reflects the changes requested by the applicant.

36:57•0

Thank you, city manager. See councelor's link in the queue. Councelor, is that a question? Yes.

37:04 – 38:09•0

Thank you, counselor. Uh question for the city attorney. [clears throat] So uh city attorney, my question is why are we doing it this way? Um in my nearly 20 years of count being on the council, I've never seen this happen before where an applicant so dramatically revised their proposal so that no longer really looks anything like the original proposal. In this case, the applicant appears to have listened to in part to the objections of the opponents and removed some but not all of the objectional provisions. And there still appears to be some objectionable things to the to the opponents in particular 85 foot tall buildings in the backyard of some properties without any setbacks that start small and build up like we've done in several places like Joe Romania Chevrolet lot budding the the residential neighborhood and east 19th on the south side of the campus did the same thing. So why can't the council just send this back and have the parties negotiate an outcome that's satis satisfactory to all the parties?

38:10 – 40:09•0

A few things. Um the reason that you that the council can't just send it back and tell everybody to work together is that this is a quasi judicial matter. It's not legislative in nature and it means that you're bound to analyze it by certain criteria and that you are bound to act within certain time frames. Um the applicant is entitled to an answer. So you can't just say go out there and get back to work. Um I do I the other reason that we have to do it this way is that um I I don't know if you recall Capstone a few years ago 2012 we've had other situations it's not that uncommon which toward the end of a process where uh everyone sees the writing on the wall there's probably going to be a luba appeal and so you see some consiliatory actions by an applicant We um got a remand from Luba uh during the capstone uh matter because at the at the last, you know, within the last 14 days of the record being open in that case, the applicant pulled pulled out part of what they had proposed. Instead of vacating one street or alley, they decided, okay, we'll take we'll we'll instead of doing two, they said we'll just ask for one. In that case, even though it wasn't new evidence that was submitted by the applicant, Luba held that it had to be remanded back to the city because after the applicant made that change, the interested parties weren't afforded an opportunity to provide both evidence and argument on the the application as revised or the proposal as now made. Um, in this case, I think there's it's obviously this is very controversial. It's very likely this is going to go to Luba regardless of what the city council decides. And so one of the best things that we can do is

40:07 – 40:47•0

not only make a well-founded decision based on criteria, but to make sure there aren't needless procedural errors. And if the city council can avoid one by reopening the record in this way, we recommend that you do so. Um the other point I want to make is before there is much more discussion on this, the record is currently closed. Part of the motion that we prepared for you tonight is to reopen the record immediately. So if you feel the need to talk much more about this, I might ask you to do things in a different order than usual and get that record reopen. My advice is to really just not have a lot of discussion on it tonight.

40:48 – 41:29•0

Motion to first open the record, then motion to act. So again, this is fairly unprecedented in terms of process, not content. Um, and I previously said it's in everybody's interest to try to avoid this having to go to Luba. So, in order for them to have to tr send them back and try again, the council would have to find the proposal inconsistent with criteria at least one and and and vote no on the proposal because of that and then it could go back and start over and come up with a negotiated. No, if if the council finds that any criterion is not met, the council must deny.

41:27 – 42:08•0

The council lacks the authority to just say go work together. I mean, obviously, the parties themselves could choose to do that. Um, I should say the applicant could choose to do that, but it's the applicant's choice. They don't need to do that, right? But let me be clear. So, if the council were to deny the applicant based on a criteria, then the process starts over. Yeah. likely you would see an appeal to Luba. Um, and assuming big time and money. Yeah. Assuming that Luba affirmed a denial. Then the applicant would need to decide what's next and that could include working with the uh neighbors. It could include a different type of application, but they're in control of that.

42:06 – 42:40•0

Right. Right. It's up to the applicant, but if they're interested in getting something done, they might negotiate. Okay. Thank you. I'll now turn to the council vice president to put a motion forward. Move to immediately reopen the record for this matter to accept evidence and argument from all parties and to direct the city manager to provide notice of a public hearing for April 20th, 2026 on an ordinance incorporating the applicant's proposed modifications. Second.

42:37 – 43:13•0

Any discussion from council? Seeing none, I will now take a vote for this motion. Council, please lock in your votes on the tablets in front of you. And councelor Leech and Councelor Yay, I see you voting in the affirmative. And that motion passes with a vote of 820. Thank you. That concludes our fifth agenda item this evening. Now turn back to city manager to introduce the sixth agenda item, which is an action on an ordinance concerning increased public health standards coordination and providing an effective date.

43:11 – 44:24•0

Thank you, mayor. In response to a motion passed at a June 2025 city council meeting, staff developed proposed land use code amendments to increase coordination with the city's public health regulatory partners. The Eugene Planning Commission had extensive discussions and considered public input on multiple iterations of the proposed code amendments, ultimately voting to recommend the city council approve version four of the proposed code. As as proposed, the ordinance would require the city to provide notice to the Environmental Protection Agency, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, and Lane Regional Air Protection Agency prior to the issuance of building permits for new development in the E2 mixeduse employment. I2 light medium industrial and I3 heavy industrial zones. Both versions three and four require the city to perform the agency notifications. The difference is that version three reques a requirement for applicant applicants to submit documentation of an attest attestation form that lists the permits they will need and version 4 does not require applicant applicants to submit an attestation. Sorry about that.

44:21 – 45:03•0

Thank you very much. If there are no questions from council, I will turn to the council vice president to put a motion forward. I move to adopt an ordinance concerning increased public health standards coordination amending sections 9.246 9.2 461 and 94 4165 of the Eugene code 1971 and providing an effective date included as attachment a to this agenda item summary. Okay. Thank you. Any discussion from councel? Councelor Kashinski.

45:00 – 45:34•0

Uh, I am actually have a motion that I'm going to make. So, I'm going to move to substitute for the motion that I just made to move to direct the city manager to draft an ordinance and schedule a public hearing on version three of the public health standards code amendments included in the December 16th, 2025 planning commission agenda packet. The ordinance drafted by the city manager shall modify section three of version three to replace the phrase scope of proposed work with the phrase a description of proposed work. And I can speak to this if I get a second

45:31 – 47:18•0

second. Um so I believe version three uh that was presented to the planning commission better captures the intent of this change which is not just to increase coordination between the city and the regulatory agencies but to increase coordination between the city the regulatory agencies and the applicant. My understanding is that version four makes no changes to the process for the applicant themselves. Um, while version three has the applicant include in their application a short form that indicates what, if any, environmental permits they may eventually need for their project. That doesn't seem like a particularly ownorous request, particularly given that hopefully an applicant who has gotten to that part of their business plan where they are applying for building or land use permits would also be aware of what environmental permits they would eventually need for their project. And if there is any misunderstanding or confusion about what what might be required, it is beneficial for everyone, including the applicant, for that to be caught sooner rather than later. Um, of particular note to me was that uh LARPA's testimony at the public hearing indicating that LARPA, who is one of the parties that's going to have to be involved in this process, uh, felt that option or version three would be a more useful uh, part of more useful process and more lead to better coordination. Um and then just to highlight that where there was the change from version three, uh the request to change the word scope to description in the language was included in version four. Um and recommended by staff to retain uh that word change um since the scope like word scope is specifically connected to building code definitions and description would just be a better word to use there. So thank you.

47:16 – 47:28•0

Thank you councelor Kashinsky. I have councelor Zelinka Gross and Clark in the queue. I want to clarify that you're speaking to the substitution that's been put forward. Thank you so much, Councelor Zelinka.

47:26 – 49:21•0

Yeah, I was confused by some of the arguments put forward that uh option four was burdensome um in that uh it required people in option three that option three was burdensome so therefore they opted for option four. Sorry. In option three, it requires uh people who put in an application for a building permit to say what build what permits environmental permits they're supposed to be getting. Uh and and an att testation to that effect. Um so it's basically asking them to submit something that they should be doing already, which is figuring out what the permits are to be able to do a development. I would suspect that people who were uh doing this kind of thing should have been doing their homework enough. If they hadn't, whoever they're hired to do that should be fired because that's that's negligent work. Um so I I was confused as to how this became burdensome to people having to say what they what they already are going to do. And it came down to what does the requirement of of of option three say? And um maybe you can read that part of it. I know counselor Kazinski has the language, but it's it basically says documentation that of the permits. Doesn't say you have to have the permits. It just says you have to have the list basically. And um and so clarifying that I think would be very helpful so that we understand what the legislative attendant moving this forward is that the documentation seems to be just a list of the things you're supposed to already do which doesn't to me seem to be very burdensome [snorts] uh if you're already going to do them. Maybe you can clarify

49:26•0

We'll have uh Reed Verer come up to speak to that.

49:31 – 50:21•0

All right, print out version three or sorry, Reed Verer, I'm the land use supervisor with the building and permit services division. Um so version three, it does differ in that it does define air, land, and water permits. So that's a one slight difference um to note there. But then when it comes to the um requirement for an applicant um the applicant shall submit documentation identifying all air, land and water permits required for the proposed development. The documentation shall include an attestation by the applicant that the listed air, land, and water permits are the only air, land, and water permits required for the proposed development or documentation attesting that no air, land, and water permits are required for the proposed development. So, it's basically a requirement to show your homework that you're supposed to be doing.

50:20 – 50:40•0

Yeah. Either a list provided by the applicant or um staff would develop a form and if we do pivot to to um version three and come back for public hearing, we have been working on some draft versions of what that form would look like. So, we would be able to present that at that point. Right. So, it's it's basically saying the permit applicant needs to say these are the things that I will need to get.

50:39 – 51:44•0

That's correct. and it doesn't require them to get those permits because that could take a year or longer if there's public hearing or controversy. So, it's just the the whole intent behind this was to prevent another backster and and by having people go through and make sure that they understood the environmental, air, land, and water permits that are required for any development. And so that that before they start development and just say I understand that these air land and water permits are required and uh and it doesn't even say that you have to do it. You just have to say that they're require that they're required. So I I I I think option three is pretty darn clear and is not a burdensome thing to to uh to to the applicants because they're already doing it. If they're not doing it, this will probably save them a heck of a lot of time, effort, and money because it's making them do something that they would end up doing later that would cost them time, effort, and money.

51:44•0

Councelor Grubs.

51:45 – 52:33•0

Thank you, Mayor. Shouldn't we as a city, we're the professionals in our plans review. Shouldn't we be the ones that help them determine when when a employer applies for permits, shouldn't we be helping them understand what all they need to accomplish in order to get their permits approved? Well, as staff, we are responsible for what's in the Eugene code. So those are the standards we enforce um without any sort of codified language or authority to have a requirement that they provide information about what permits are required by other regulatory agencies. There's not really any mechanism or um language that would require that the staff um providing information about what those other regulations would be.

52:31 – 53:43•0

My experience with working with our staff in the PIC center in the past is that they're pretty darn knowledgeable about these things. Isn't that something that we can help with when we're trying to encourage employers here? And again, it's not that this one point is over-the-top ownorous. But as I said in the work session about another issue, it just feels like sometimes in the city it's death by a thousand cuts. And you know, at some point we need to help people get to yes rather than, you know, playing battleship and they keep submitting stuff and we say no, it doesn't quite meet the requirements. I I I just think we should be make doing everything we can to make the whole process as easy as possible while also upholding the standards. And so I I I guess I'm a little confused by this. And also I'll add that uh the fourth option is the one that came recommended to us by our planning commission, a group that we use to advise us on how we should operate as a as a city. So anyway, I'd appreciate your response to that

53:40 – 54:18•0

to is don't we have an obligation to try and help people work through the process? Yeah, our obligation is based on what's in the Eugene code and and that's what we typically follow. And so that's why my understanding of what this code amendment was was to take a look at our code and figure out if there was a better way to coordinate with public um health regulatory partners and applicants. And then that's why we came back with some different versions of the code amendments. Version three, as we've established, has the applicant being involved in filling out that form, attesting to the permits that are required, and version four just has the city provide the notice. So those are the the choices. Um I

54:16 – 55:01•0

I guess I I guess I apologize. I'm not being clear. Don't our staff, don't our plans review folks know what is required even though it's another agency? No, we don't. We don't really. No. H okay. Um that seems curious to me. I mean, you know, thinking back to my fire department experience, we knew what was required in other agencies that we applied. And it it's not just the city part we do. We also were enforcing as staff does state regulations through the building code. Um there's a lot of things that transcend just city code.

55:00•0

Hi Jeff.

55:01 – 55:51•0

Hi uh Jeff Ger, principal planner for the planning division. Um thank you for the comments and I just want to say that uh the discussion that's going on is very reflective of the deliber deliberations that the planning commission had um precisely on this topic. uh and so I just want to say that uh it is very worthwhile discussion and just to remind everyone that these are regulations and a regulatory framework that is outside the scope of the city of Eugene's jurisdiction. So those regulations employed by DEEQ EPA uh and alapa are their rules to apply. We are in charge of applying our our legal framework which is the Eugene code. So while our staff is tends to be knowledgeable, um we don't have the role or responsibility for enforcing it. Well,

55:50 – 56:15•0

I understand on the enforcement piece, but it just seems like we should be able to help with some guidance. We we always do our best. Our staff is extremely knowledgeable and collaborative, but it's impossible for us to know everything. Well, some of us up here think we do. So, thank you very much. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Councelor Clark.

56:12 – 57:10•0

Thank you, Mayor. We'd stay right there. Uh, first of all, I just want to say a big thank you to the members of our planning commission who spend hours and hours and hours and hours going through these very same conversations because they understand the detail that that's the reason they exist. I can see at least one former planning commission member in the audience and I want them to know that I appreciate all the volunteer time they spend. So if they already had this discussion and they said okay so we see the potential at least you know the reason to reasonably suggest we should send an application for a DEEQ permit EPA permit and we send them but those agencies don't respond here's my question what do we do when those agencies don't respond

57:08 – 57:41•0

the requirement in the ordinance ordinance or version three of the code which would come back for an ordinance if if that vote passes um would just require that identification of the permits and an attestation that those are the permits needed. There's not any sort of evidentiary requirement. So if the applicant contacts the agencies and don't get an answer and they fill out that form and submit it, they've already met their obligations under So what's the difference with version four to version three? because you just said version three they don't have to

57:39 – 57:55•0

well they have to fill out a form which would provide the contact informations for all the permitting offices for those regulatory agencies but the concern that was brought up um at the planning commission that I think you're getting at here is what if those agencies don't respond what does that happen to the permits

57:53 – 58:37•0

and I'm asking you what do we do with the permit application if there's no response for a period of time let's say for example hypothetically we wait a month and meanwhile the applicant's paying interest on the money that they've borrowed to do this project, whatever it is, and and is incurring costs along the way while they wait for a for a federal or a state uh permit agency that doesn't respond. What do we do? What's our staff response? So once they submit that form, they like I said, they will have the contact information. They'll say, "Okay, this is when I contacted that agency and I haven't heard back." They will submit that form and they will still satisfy their code requirements for identifying

58:37•0

under version four. Under version three under version three.

58:40 – 59:38•0

Yeah. Under version three. It's just that all they have to do is document what is required. If they don't know what's required, then they answer that to that effect and then we'll be taking that information and sending it back to the agencies creating that feedback loop. So if the agencies aren't responsive, then they're not going to do anything with the information. But what it will do is it'll trigger those initial contacts from the applicant to check with the agencies and and we have received response from our partners at Elapa and the DEEQ that they have permitting agents that are responsive to questions from applicants pre-application questions about what that scoping is. The EPA is a more challenging one, but the permits that the EPA would grant it are very narrow to hazardous materials. So, it's one of those situations where applicants would would typically know if they're going to need that EPA permit or not. But but our assurances with our regulatory partners is this would be useful in the peritting process and it would capture that at the early stages not later on when they don't have any knowledge of actually what's happening at the local level.

59:36 – 59:54•0

So version four does what's the difference then if you can between what the planning commission recommended in four and what you're suggesting is is what we're discussing in version three. What's the difference? And I I appreciate Reed's answer on that. Cool.

59:52 – 1:00:31•0

So, yeah. So, the difference between the two is they both have that noticing requirement. So, regardless of whether we go to version three or version four, when applications come in for development in those subject zones, the city is going to send information about those development proposals to the three regulatory agencies. The difference is with version three, there's a requirement that the applicant do their due diligence, check with the agencies to see what permits are required, fill out that form identifying those permits that are required, and then submit it with their building permit applications, and then I thought there was a documentation need there that Yeah. So, so that's the form. The form is the documentation.

1:00:29 – 1:00:52•0

So, they can just fill out the form and doesn't matter whether it's true or not. There's there's no additional enforcement standards or anything other than just um filling out that information, attesting to and identifying what permits are required. Is there an is there a waiting period before someone could fill out such a thing? I mean, is it a cost of time?

1:00:49 – 1:01:21•0

No, I mean it would be a part of um permitting process when you're doing a big industrial development is a pretty substantial requirement. So, this would be a requirement at the time of submitt of the application. If an application comes in without this form, our intake staff would be checking a checklist to make sure that that form was included in the application. If it's not, it would be flagged to the applicant and then if the form was included, then they would check that box and then we would send the notice as would be required under e either version of the of the um

1:01:17 – 1:02:25•0

Thank you. I appreciate it. I this presents an interesting reality for me because two things. Number one, I absolutely want to protect the people that live in West Eugene. Well, all of Eugene really, but West Eugene specifically who have had to endure the nightmare of JH Baxter and they were a very bad actor. I think that that failure was a regulatory failure. I don't believe that was a land use planning failure. I believe it was a regulatory failure. So, I'm I'm I'm hesitant to change land use code in a way that makes our growing our economy more expensive and cost more money and less effective if we can be doing something to enhance and fix the actual regulatory problem. So, I'm going to ask that if this passes, can we please get the members of the planning commission to come and get give testimony so that we can understand their thinking about their recommendation. Thank you,

1:02:23•0

Councelor Zelena.

1:02:25 – 1:03:59•0

Yeah, I'll just point out that the uh planning commission was split on this. It was a 4 to3 vote. Uh, and they took the nearly unprecedented uh, step of sending the council a memo explaining the vote. That hasn't happened in my 20 years very often. I can't remember if it ever has. So, I think the bottom line for me is that it's not our it's not our job to be responsible to tell a business all the things they need to do to do a development outside of the things that we require. Again, that should be and is the responsibility of the developer to do their homework, figure out what air, land, water, and permits they need. Then they they don't need a permit. They don't need to hear back from anybody or even an application doesn't they just need to have this attestation. They just need to say what airline water permits are required of of that development. Take 10 minutes if you know it. Um, the difference between the two options to me is who's responsible for letting the people know. Could that be the city of Eugene's responsibility to figure all this out or should it be the responsibility of the developer? I think it should be the de responsibility of the developer. If they don't know the answer to this question, this will make them figure that out and that will save everybody a lot of heartache down the road. But I think this is very unbburdensome. It'll take just a couple of minutes if you know the answer and you should know the answer. You shouldn't be developing.

1:04:00•0

Councelor Evans, I think I've got some of my question. Thank you, Councelor. Councelor Kosinsky.

1:04:09 – 1:06:07•0

Yes. I I've [sighs] heard this topic framed a lot as a response to JH Baxter as a bad actor. And I think that JH Baxter as a as a bad actor was what made us start talking about this a lot more. But I actually see the problem that we're trying to solve is that in 1959 Eugene participated in drawing a comprehensive land use map which put heavy industrial next to lowdensity residential. Um, and we have been that has produced a lot of problems in a lot of different ways because part of the whole purpose of land use is not to put uses that are going to be incompatible right next to each other. And that's not an easy problem to solve because the people in the residential areas are justifiably saying, "Hey, we don't want heavy industrial next to our homes." And the people in the heavy industrial areas are saying, "Hey, this is where you told us you could we could put heavy industrial." And so this is not I see this as trying to correct a in my opinion poor decision that was made 60 years ago, 70 years ago, 60 years ago. Um and it's not an easy solution. It's going to take a lot of work and a lot of compromise between different parties to figure out how to navigate this. And I see this as a very small piece of how do we navigate that very difficult problem that is in front of us because of those decisions that were made before any of us were at this table or involved in these. I feel I feel safe to say you know that that at this point. So, um, so that's that's a little bit why I see this is because I do think that if we're going to tackle this land use problem that was created a long time ago, we do need to look at some land use solutions. And this seems to be a pretty small step

1:06:04 – 1:06:42•0

to try and figure out how to navigate that situation will actually hopefully help. Thank you, council. I will now take a vote on this substitute motion read by councelor Kosinsky and seconded by councelor Zelena. Point of pro. Yes, councelor Clark. Clarify this motion is to bring it back with with option three. Wow. One at a time apparently a new sound. [laughter] Haven't heard that one yet today.

1:06:39 – 1:07:09•0

Okay. Uh the motion is to schedule a public hearing on a new ordinance because uh the city attorney advised me that version three is different enough that we want to have another public hearing. Okay. Just to be clear, this vote is on whether or not you want to accept that as a substitute motion. If it passes, you'll still need to vote on it. If it doesn't, we're back to the main motion. Got it.

1:07:06 – 1:08:26•0

And thank you, councilors. Um, back to taking a vote on this motion to substitute. Council, would you please lock in your votes on the tablets in front of you? Councelor Yay and Council Leech, I see you voting in the affirmative. The vote passes uh with a vote of 820. And now um returning to this substitute motion um to move forward. Council, any additional discussion? Seeing none, take a vote on this motion. Councelor Leech and Councelor Yay. I see you voting in the affirmative and the motion passes with a vote of 8 to zero. Thank you, council. That concludes our sixth agenda item. And thank you, staff, for your clarifications. The next item on tonight's agenda is the public comment period. Public comment period is an opportunity for individuals to speak to the city council on any city related issues except for those items which have already been heard by a hearings official. Staff, can you please share a list and the number of speakers that signed up to speak by 7:35 p.m. and announce the first speakers?

1:08:24 – 1:10:24•0

Thank you, mayor. We have 15 speakers signed up. I will announce two speakers names at a time. When you are called to speak, please state your name and your ward or neighborhood if known before beginning your comments. When you are announced as the next speaker, please move to the seat in the front row designated for the next speaker. When it is your turn, you may come to the podium. Please leave any bags you may have with you at your seat. If you have documents to give counsel, please place them in the basket near the podium. You will have 2 and 1/2 minutes to speak. The timer will flash red when you have 15 seconds remaining to speak. Your microphone will be muted at the 2 and 1/2 minute mark. Please note that use of profanity is not permitted. Our first speakers this evening are Lynn Woodri followed by Charmaine Landing. My name is Lynn Woodrich. I'm the co-chair of the active BETHL community and a Bethl resident for over 30 years. I live in W 8. I'm speaking today on behalf of the active BETHL community board. Everyone's invited to our hybrid ABC general meeting on Saturday, March 14th from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. at the Clear Lake Community Center, 4646 Barger Drive. We'll be discussing the Amazon distribution center and we'll bring all questions to the Amazon representative. Go to our website, activebal community.org, for more information and the online link. The following may sound familiar, but as I say, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. At the state of the city address, Mayor Kudson said, "I think we need to begin thinking differently about Highway 99, its future as a safer, greener, multimodal boulevard. It needs to be reimagined. And as with so many other examples, we can bring a new spirit of collaboration to this work. For Bethl, this vision would be a dream come true. Today, Highway 99 is an eyesore and a dangerous corridor, particularly for residents navigating heavy traffic and frequent crossings near concentrated homeless

1:10:22 – 1:11:17•0

services. We're eager to begin this reimagining and collaboration. I was told [clears throat] it's coming soon. As part of that effort, Bethl needs a police substation on Highway 99. It doesn't need to be fancy. The city created a downtown incident commander to improve safety, cleanliness, and rapid response downtown. Bethl deserves the same level of commitment and coordination. Public health standards must be incorporated into our comprehensive plan. So land use decisions genuinely protect people in neighborhoods, not just meet minimum technical requirements. We're thinking that the delay in the USD clean fuels distribution center luba response may be waiting for our new city manager to be in place on April 15th. We hope it will be prioritized. Eugene can grow while still protecting its people. Together, we can ensure development that's both responsible and resilient and worthy of the communities we serve. Thank you.

1:11:16•0

Thank you, Lynn. Our next speakers are Charmaine Landing, followed by Stan Taylor.

1:11:23 – 1:13:22•0

Good evening. I'm Charmaine Landing, Lane County. As city councilors, you may think you have no say about whether or not an Amazon distribution center should be built in Eugene. that if they meet all the zoning rules and codes, they pass. However, I'd like to remind you of the Clear Lake Overlay, which is indeed a city code authored by Eugene citizens to quote, "guide and protect this light industrial zone. It ensures any development fulfills Eugene's desire for economic prosperity and increased employment opportunities along with other values such as climate protection and sustainability. It envisions industries such as clean tech, biosciences, and food processing. The Eugene planning division states this green employment center would ensure a 20-year supply of employment and increase the average wage. You've heard the many concerns about the appropriateness of an Amazon center, no long-term employment which could allow workers to buy homes, the loss of existing union delivery jobs, the danger of allowing well over 2,000 daily vehicle trips onto a road that already has the highest vehicle crash rate in Eugene, and that it gathers and shares information with ICE upon demand. What Amazon offers is low wages which will be automated by 2030 and will pay under $300,000 annually in city taxes. Oregon very recently granted Eugene 6 million and I understand an additional 5 million to this Clear Lake area specifically to encourage light industrial development. Even though the site currently sits vacant, this added infrastructure may now encourage wells suited community-minded industries to apply. I urge you to use your power as representatives of the people to stand behind the overlay. It's not too late to require a study to further evaluate the many impacts of an Amazon distribution center. My request is not meant to favor

1:13:20 – 1:13:47•0

one business over another, but to evaluate how well any proposed business measures up to the requirements Eugeneians have set forth. Please slow this process down so thoughtful consideration can be given to our future. Once Amazon Center is built, there's no going back. Thank you for your consideration. Thank you, Charmaine. Our next speakers are Stan Taylor, followed by Francis Star Oir.

1:13:49 – 1:15:49•0

Well, you've you've heard it all over and over again, Greg. It's not going to bring good jobs to our community. It's not going to bring a large property tax bonanza to our community. Less than 1% on a bud a budget of 930 million. I mean, let's get real. It's really hard for us citizens to come to the city council and be told over and over again that you don't have any power, that it's a city manager form of government, that we hire professionals in all our different areas, and that there's a separation between the functions that somehow doesn't get crossed. But the reality is, you've learned the various facts about [snorts] the Amazon proposal. They're not hard to find out. You've also been told that this proposal actually violates both state and city code. And I would like to turn to the attorney and and say this to you. I'm also an attorney. There's something here that you need to take a serious look at so that we get the message down to the permit department so that they can do their job appropriately. We understand you're all professionals. We all understand you all have high integrity, but there are things that need to be addressed that you're not getting addressed either as our counselors or as our professional staff. So, I I'm urging you all to take a step back and figure out how you can get this communication channel to happen so that the permit department actually applies the law correctly so that Amazon has to meet the requirements of the law before it can come into town. Thank you.

1:15:47 – 1:17:33•0

Thank you, Stan. Our next speakers are Francis Star Oir followed by Carol Isacson. Hi there. My message tonight on the council's actions regarding federal im immigration enforcement is similar to the messages I've been delivering on ALPRs, and that is that I'm glad that you've done what you have, and I really mean that. But it just isn't enough. Yes, ICE and their cronies have a political and rhetorical aspect, which you have confronted in those realms, but they also have a phys physical agenda, which needs to be confronted physically. That is to say, what they're doing in the streets is aborant. And what are you doing with the power you wield in the streets to stop them? You have this massive well-funded tool at your disposal, the police department. Of course, I'm not suggesting that the police simply go and arrest all the ICE agents. The federal supremacy clause prevents that. But if this is a humanitarian crisis, as you all have acknowledged, it's a good bet that someone is overstepping their mandate and breaking the law. Now, there's increased police presence in high crime areas. Police are known for trailing suspected criminals while building a case. Police have done house calls to let activists know that they're um that they're building a file on them. Like Al Capone went down for tax evasion. We can't get these guys for going into an employee only area in a business or we can't get them for trading out the license plates on their cars. What I'm advocating for is blind justice. If these thugs were part of any other gang, the police would have a special task force to take them down. Instead, the police are defending the gang clubhouse, and it's time to reassess that arrangement. I'll conclude with a quotation from famous abolitionist and martyr for the cause of freedom, John Brown. These men are all talk. What we need is action. Action. Thank you.

1:17:31 – 1:19:22•0

Thank you, Francis. Our next speakers are Carol Isacson, followed by Jane. Carol Isacson in the room. All right. I will call for Carol Isacson one last one last time after our speaker, Jane. Hello. I am here today to ask that the city not approve any permits to construct fences around the federal building where ICE operates out of. This is a clear attempt to silence protesters and for ICE to continue committing atrocities in greater secrecy. In fact, one of our neighbors, a young woman, was abducted from that very building today. They know what they are doing is wrong. They're kidnapping our neighbors and violating their right to due process. Forcibly entering our neighbors homes without warrants and violating their Fourth Amendment rights in the process. There was an ICE whistleblower, Ryan Schwank, former assistant chief counsel for ICE, who has come out and confirmed that ICE agents are being trained to violate the Fourth Amendment to break the law. It is those very ICE agents that are operating out of the field ICE office here in Eugene, the same ones that kidnapped a young woman. Today, I ask that you do not permit any fence to be built. Denying a permit will allow Eugenians to continue practicing their First Amendment rights at the building that we fund. It will prevent ICE and DHS from hiding behind a fence while committing unconstitutional atrocities. And it will prevent creating accessibility issues for folks with disabilities. We deserve the right to know what's happening in that building. and we deserve the right to speak out against it on the sidewalk, in the plaza, and in the courtyard. Don't approve any permits for offense. Defend the rights of your constituents and get ICE out of Eugene. Thank you.

1:19:20 – 1:19:31•0

Thank you, Jane. One last call for Carol Isacson. Our next speakers are Win Manel, followed by Glenn O.

1:19:32 – 1:21:23•0

Good evening, council, city staff, mayor. Um, I'll just start out by once again asking, uh, have we heard anything back from Flock about the deletion of our data? Have they reached out to us at all? And if they have, what proof have they provided us that the data has been deleted? Um, but kind of accidentally in the vein of what Jane just spoke about, uh, 404 media recently through a foyer request discovered that CPB has been using location data that they have bought from thirdparty data vendors. uh advertisers in order to locate people of vulnerable communities in order, you know, to hunt them down. Uh ICE has been known to have similar data. And while I know legally we in the state have some protection against that, I'm a big proponent of acting when you know how to act. And also someone I deeply respect said to me once that one of the greatest gifts that we can give one another is the gift of knowledge. So I am going to share with you uh one a copy of the story even though this is freely available. 404 media was kind of cool about that on this one. Uh but I made a little guide that I have shared with my community before especially you know being a member of a vulnerable community about how to deactivate your advertiser ID on both your Android and your iPhone. Android user myself but respect to you iPhone users. Uh there should be enough copies for all of you along with links to other resources on other privacy items that you can hand out. Uh this is by no means like going to be blankets like super protection on your privacy, but I figure I share with you, you share with others, you do it for yourself, get some practice, share it out further out, and do a little something to protect the members of our vulnerable communities. Thank you.

1:21:22•0

You think you win? Our next speakers are Glenn O. Followed by Shelley Divine.

1:21:32 – 1:23:32•0

Hi, thank you. So, I'm here to speak today about the the fence that's going to be going around the the federal building recently. Um, I think that there's a really strange contradiction between like what was it a month ago when there was a crisis called and you know funding was going towards the affected communities and then now we're helping them build a fence around their building so that they can do it in secret and it seems contradictory. I think that the fact that we just got I mean we saw a young woman be abducted today and now I'm trying to think about how that would be seen with a fence up and it's a really clear attempt at taking away our first amendment rights to protest that building as well as obstruct any accountability from that building. I think that if um I mean police skinner himself said uh we are building this so that you know um where and when you should be um you should be protesting and that if you cross that line bad things may happen. Um that's a paraphrase but either way like building a fence to articulate when and where we can protest and there's something so fundamentally wrong with that. I think that there's also something wrong with saying that like if you cross this line, bad things are gonna happen. You know, um the inside of that courtyard has been a place for protest for years and years since before I moved here over 15 years ago. The Eugene itself, like we're talking about blocking off places that people have used as free speech plazas for so long. and the fact that they are just so abhorently afraid at all of the just atrocities that they do in that

1:23:30 – 1:23:55•0

building to want to build a fence around it, I think is a joke. And I think that approving any permits and helping them get the materials down there and really just assisting them in any way is a really gross conflict with the crisis that you all voted. So, thank you. Thank you, Glenn. Our next speakers are Shelley Divine followed by FA Ratchford.

1:23:56 – 1:25:56•0

Hi everyone. Shelley Divine, Ward Three. Um, just so everyone knows, Amazon just fired another 16,000 people right after the 14,000 that they fired in October. So, there's that. Um, I'm wondering why the local EPD is showing up wearing face masks alongside CPP. Like that that's a that's a new one. And I'm wondering what in the Cristofascist secret police force is going on here. Since when and how are we normalizing concealed identity for our law enforcement officers? What is their current mission status? And how does adopting the controversial accessory of identity concealment and looking like ICE agents help them conduct their business of protecting and serving this community? In what dystopian hellscape do EPD officers wear and normalize the uniform of a lawless and unaccountable group of known violent domestic terrorists? If you cruise around looking like a fascist collaborator and a pillar of support for the crime syndicate regime, well, something about it walks like a duck. So, we've clocked a serious and disturbing diffusion of responsibility occurring within the ranks of local power players. And the question I have tonight is where does it stop? Where does the buck stop? Who, if anyone, is actually in charge of anything? And if the cities elected cannot manage or outright refuse to prevent ginormous behemoth monstrosities of fascist collaboration from setting up shop here, what are we even doing? We want cahoots back, not Amazon. We want cahoots, not licking boots. We want cahoots, not giant space mirrors, okay? [laughter] not a new and different company for mass

1:25:54 – 1:26:35•0

surveillance. We want people over profits. We want the well-being of everyone in the community and not the privileged few. Tell Amazon we'll take an equal profit share amongst the residents of Eugene. And we'll see how that lead balloon goes over. And more often than not, showing up here and asking for what we need feels like begging for breadcrumbs. And nobody wants crumbs or even just a slice or an entire load loaf to hoard and devour. We want to make bread collaborative collaboratively. And there's enough for everyone. It is possible. Thank you, Shelley. Our next speakers are FA Ratchford followed by Athena Aguar.

1:26:37 – 1:28:36•0

Good evening. Um, I'm sure you know why I'm here [laughter] because I come here every meeting and um speak to the same issue. We really need to um think about what we're doing here. I am really uh stunned at the lack of response to the public concerns about the proposed uh Amazon warehouse. Um especially since Amazon plans to start constructing it soon. Um, we've shown you where they have violated our laws and I think that it should be taken very seriously as Stan pointed out tonight. Um, we have reason for not wanting them here. So many I mean we keep going over the same things again and again. the pollution from the daily trips. Um just the fact that they support ICE and don't support people in their jobs. They're the tax revenues are not going to be what were originally thought. the um uh employment is not going to be be not 3,000 people which the state keeps giving us money to help with the infrastructure under the guise of 3,000 jobs that were proposed and stated by you all. Um, we're going to be talking 300 until 2030 2032 and then it'll be down to the people that are maintaining the robots that are doing the job which will be 16 to 18 per uh warehouse. You know, how do we find out how each of you feel about this? Any suggestions? I I I'm not sure. Um, I've tried to make an appointment with my ward person to

1:28:34 – 1:28:56•0

find out how she feels about it. I guess there were um there was a meeting Saturday where a couple of council people that are being challenged for their jobs have again said, "Oh, it's the tax revenue. Oh, it's the employment." It's like, God, I wish you guys would get real.

1:28:54 – 1:30:53•0

Thank you, Fay. Our next speakers are Athena Aguar, followed by Khloe Longworth. Hello. I'm speaking on behalf of Josh Easterland, director of equitable access Eugene, asking you to decriminalize psychedelic plants and fungi here in the city. He is currently out on paternity leave for the birth of his firstborn, Lily. He looks forward to speaking you all with you all at his next opportunity. Is it any wonder that laws prohibiting the use of psychoactive drugs have been traditionally ignored? the monstrous ego or stupidity of a person or group or of persons to believe that they or anyone else have the right or the jurisdiction to police the inside of my mind or my body. It is in fact so monstrous a wrong that were it not so sad indeed tragic it might be humorous. All societies must, it seems, have a structure of laws, of orderly rules and regulations. Only the most hardcore fanatical anarchist could argue that point. But I, as a responsible adult human being, will never concede the power to anyone to regulate my choice of what I put in my body or where I go with my mind. From the skin inward is my jurisdiction, is it not? I choose what may or may not cross that border. Here I am the customs agent. I am the Coast Guard. I am the sole legal and spiritual government of this territory and only the laws I choose to enact within myself are applicable. Now were I were I to be guilty of invading or sabotaging that same territory and others then the external law of the nation has every right indeed the responsibility to prosecute me in the agreed upon manner. But what I think, where I focus, my awareness, what biochemical reactions I choose to cause within the territorial boundaries of my own skin are not subject to the beliefs, morals, laws, or preferences of any other person. I am a sovereign state and feel that my borders

1:30:51•0

are far more sacred than the politically drawn boundaries of any country. Thank you all for letting me speak on behalf of Josh.

1:30:58 – 1:32:58•0

Thank you, Athena. Our next speakers are Khloe Longworth, followed by Erica Lion. Hi, I'm Chloe Longworth. I use she they pronouns and I am under uh W seven council le's district. Uh today I want to talk about the old federal building um and how DHS is planning on building a fence around that building. Um, I I bring it up here because um, EHS is either going to or has already asked for for permits um, from the city of Eugene to help them construct the fence. And I would like to say please, city of Eugene, do not give them permits to construct the fence. Um, that is bad for a number of reasons. Um, you know, the first one is that it's, you know, DHS bad. DHS bad. Um, second one that I don't think has been mentioned yet is that the Federal Building is right across the street from Fifth Street Public Market. Um, which is a pretty popular tourist spot here in Eugene. Um, and if you're, you know, looking to have a good time in downtown, do some shopping, have some good food and whatnot, and you're walking around downtown and suddenly you see this fortress across the street with this big giant fence and all that crap around it, like, uh, that's not going to look very good. Um, so I got just on that I'm like, you know, this is not really a good idea for Eugene to allow a fence

1:32:55 – 1:33:34•0

to to even to help uh the construction of a fence like that just cuz it ru ruins um the visual aspect of the city which is pretty strong in Eugene, you know, trees and all that. Um I'm sure that there won't be any trees on that fence. Um, yeah. So, I would really like it if the city of Eugene would would have a bit of a backbone and not obey in advance by um approving permits that the DHS can ask for. Thanks.

1:33:32•0

Thank you, Chloe. Our next speakers are Erica Lion, followed by Misty Strawberry Bowman.

1:33:39 – 1:35:38•0

Erica Lion, Ward 8. I'm sure you can guess why I'm here today. Take a wild guess. Any takers? You got it. I'm here to keep the pressure on keeping the Amazon warehouse out. And like Stan Taylor and so many others have said, we've already expounded the reasons. So, if I did that right now, I'd be beating a dead horse. So, you guys know all the reasons. We've already told you. um you know it's up to you to actually stand up for constituents interests and keep the warehouse from being built and use whatever power you have. Um then the second thing is so I am currently circulating a petition to end at will employment in Oregon. So if any of you have an opportunity afterwards to uh find me um right now I'm collecting signatures. Oregon is an at will state which means he could be fired for any reason with or without cause and with or without notice. Um it's actually a holdover from the slavery era when you know they had to appease the old slave um owners in the wake of abolition um because the slaves could leave their farm now and so they had to give them kind of a you know just a juicy carrot to munch on so that they won't oppose abolition which means they could also fire their farm workers with or without notice and with or without justification. Well, here we are, you know, like over 150 years later, still with the same law in all 50 states. And so, we're trying to make that so that an employer would have to have a just cause reason to terminate an employee. Um, and give them enough notice and severance so that somebody who's working like a, you know, 9 toive job working paycheck to paycheck, um, you know, will have some sort of notice or some sort of severance if they are fired from their job. offer them some sort of cushion instead of just having the rug called out from under them. So anyway, I'll be outside collecting signatures for that if anyone

1:35:36 – 1:35:48•0

wants to uh take the opportunity and find me afterwards. All right, thank you Erica. Our next speakers are Misty Strawberry Bowman followed by David Igel.

1:35:49 – 1:37:47•0

Good evening. My name is Misty Bowman. I live in W 7. I'm a dark sky Oregon advocate and it's my birthday today. I'm the birthday girl. [laughter] Counselor Zelena, happy retirement. I know two things about you. One, you're a serious environmentalist. And two, evidently after I said artificial light at night or Allen is bad for the environment, you got a little ribbing. I hope the jokes weren't too bad. um in your coming retirement year, if you could take like an hour, half hour, 15 minutes, a post-it note even for your predecessor, talk about how dark skylighting would be good for Oregon, I would love that. Um, councelor Keading, I want to thank you. Um, I want to thank all all of the city councilors and anybody especially who sent a protesting comment to the FCC with Reflex orbitals, giant space mirrors. Very fun to say. Um, and I wanted to thank you by getting you this very lovely copy of Vincent Van Go's Letters to His Dear Brother Theo. Don't worry, I got it at Secondhand Pros for $2, so I figured that would be nice. And this adorable little postcard of uh, Star Night just as a thank you for whoever you may have persuaded to protest Reflect orbital. Thank you so much. Um, and thank you to any other city councilors who did as well, of course. Um, is councelor Leech on Zoom? You can just not. Yeah, Councelor Leech, I want to thank you for meeting with me when I was a fresh two-month-old stareyed dark sky Oregon advocate. Now, I've been fighting and trying to understand light pollution for two years, and I would greatly appreciate for a chance to expand on the challenges and excitement of dark skylighting. Um, Councelor Mike Clark, I would like a little bit more time for you. Maybe next time if there's not more giant space mirrors to talk about. Um,

1:37:45 – 1:38:17•0

but I just want to express to you that for the same reason, cold, unshielded lights are a danger and distraction to drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians. They're also a danger and distraction to our first responders. Um, and it's my birthday wish that the city council will revise and enforce the outdoor lighting ordinance with the new ordinance guided by Dark Sky International's five principles of responsible outdoor lighting. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Misty. Our next and final speaker is David Igel.

1:38:19 – 1:40:18•0

David Iel, Ward One. Over a year ago, I documented that Telicia Brown had been soliciting charitable donations to build a monument in Alton Baker Park by making misrepresentations of fact to potential donors. Oregon law specifically criminalizing making misrepresentations of fact when soliciting donations. Miss Brown has been promoting a false narrative. She claims that the residents of the North Bank were living there because they were prohibited from living in Eugene because of their race and that their housing was destroyed because of the racism of the local whites. According to Ms. Brown, in her recent appearance at City Club, Eugene was a sundown town even in the 1950s. She also made numerous other assertions that indicate a detachment from reality, including that God was directing her. The residents of the North Bank, one-third of whom were white, had obtained permission to temporarily reside on the land owned by Lane County that was to be used as a site of the new Ferry Street Bridge. At that time, there was an extremely acute housing shortage locally and across the nation. It was because of this housing shortage and not their race that a racially mixed group of individuals becames residents of the North Bank. They were displaced when the bridge was built. Eugene has had black residents for over 130 years. Never were these residents required to leave their homes at sunset and return after daybreak. In 1957, the Green Book included a listing solisting the business of black travelers by the upscale Eugene Center Motel. Then Mayor Elect Nudson was a participant in the 2024 festival in Alton Baker Park promoting the proposed memorial. The mayor is a recent head of city club. The version of the city club meeting that was recently aired on KCC edited out my question challenging Miss Brown's narrative. The listeners were not informed of any editing. Mayor Nudson,

1:40:16 – 1:40:37•0

what actions will you take regarding this misrepresentation of history? What actions will you take? What have you done? You, as far as I can see, you supported this nonsense. What are you going to do about it? Thank you. Thank you, David. Mayor, that was our final speaker.

1:40:41•0

Thank you. I now close the public comment period. Are there any comments from city council? Councelor Clark.

1:40:49 – 1:41:36•0

Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to say uh thanks for the comment, Misty. I I take you up on that. I have to tell you, you you have in me more of a willing person to hear your pleas with regards to a dark night sky than you know. Um, I spend, as any of my friends can tell you, a great deal of my summertime when it's warm outside at night out on Fern Ridge specifically because you can see the stars at night out there and it's wonderful. It's I I'm in love with that and and so I I am very sympathetic to your cause and I just wanted you to know. Thank you,

1:41:35•0

Councelor Keading.

1:41:36 – 1:43:34•0

Thank you, Mayor. Um, happy birthday, Misty. I thank you for the the thoughtful gestures and the kind words and the dogged determination continued advocacy. It's impressive. And um I might not be floating on Fern Ridge in the summer to enjoy the the night sky, but from my backyard in Eugene, uh we love to stay up late in the summer and and and and stare lovingly, and I trust that uh I'm clearly not alone. So, thank you for uh thank you again for your advocacy and energy and enthusiasm. Um, curiously, and I would editorialize disturbingly, as of March 2024, approximately 75% of Americans were subscribers to Amazon Prime. In a community 177,000 persons strong approximately means a significant portion of our community members are likely prime supporters or pri prime uh subscribers prime subscribers customers. I am no fan of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, or their ICE allies, but I'm not so sure the city of Eugene is in the legal position to pick winners or losers. I will attend the Saturday, March 14th community meeting uh with the active Bethl community. So, I thank Lynn Woodri for her dogged determination and continued uh advocacy. Um, and I look forward to a larger conversation uh about the proposal, though it is not in my ward counselor, if you'll have me,

1:43:29 – 1:43:53•0

I'll I'll happily um happily visit um visit Bethl and learn a little bit more. And I hope uh to see a significant swath of the community turnout for that uh for that community conversation as well. Councelor Groves.

1:43:50 – 1:44:40•0

Thank you, Mayor. Happy birthday, Misty. Uh, I will say that since we've been hearing from you, when I have discussions with city staff about lighting, I ask questions differently than I used to. And I I uh I do understand where you're coming from, and I too am a night sky uh enthusiast when I can get away from the lights. So, I I I get that piece. So, thank you for your voice. Um, for the city attorney, my understanding going back to even when the federal courthouse was built is the federal government doesn't follow any of our codes permitting. They they operate under their own laws and codes. Isn't that correct?

1:44:38 – 1:45:12•0

That's true. If they are staying on their property, they we can't even apply our land use regulations to them. I don't know what they're proposing here. I'm not that wellversed in what's going on. It's possible that they need or are seeking something in the right of way. I just don't know. I assume we could get back to you on that. I I would appreciate knowing that from city manager if if it is in our right of way. My understanding is it's fencing, temporary fencing on federal property of which we don't have a voice.

1:45:10 – 1:45:27•0

Yeah. I believe staff are reviewing their proposal and encouraging them to not use the right of way and trying to make sure that we're keeping our sidewalks and accessways open on the block.

1:45:25 – 1:47:03•0

I I know when they were building the current federal courthouse, um I was still in the fire department at that point and it's very common. We go out and uh would look at buildings when they're under construction because it helps you understand how the construction industry is changing. Plus, we're the ones that have to take walls apart to get it to fires. And so, you want to know what's in the walls and how they're constructed. At that time, there was a whole bunch of hoops we had to jump through just to get permission to come inside the building when it was under construction. But again, that's that's federal jurisdiction. Um, and we never really had a say in it. our fire marshall's office wasn't allowed on site. Uh they had no oversight for that. So most of the people that were raising that issue have left, but uh I I just wanted to share that piece and that's always been my understanding. So thank you very much. And then the last piece, the only time I've ever seen local police wear masks was during the pandemic when we were all wearing masks. Um I I'd be interested in knowing that as well, but I I I haven't seen our officers. I you know, one of the things when you see the federal law enforcement, they have different uniforms because they're from different agencies within the federal government. And I know on several occasions, um Eugene police have been accused of being somewhere where when we looked into it, they weren't. It was the feds. So anyway, there's protective services. There's well each agency has their own uniforms. Thank you, mayor.

1:47:03 – 1:49:03•0

Thank you, councel. I want to briefly add myself to the queue to make a request of Misty Bowman and our birthday in residence. Um, Misty, you and I first met, I don't know if you remember, but it was at a meeting of our astronomy society, and it was before I was the mayor of Eugene, and uh, we were absolutely talking about dark skies and with a group of community leaders who are very concerned about making sure that everyone in our community maintains access to the night sky. And about 10 months ago, um, I noticed a a one-mon offset between some of your testimony and another, uh, notable seasonal temporal event in our community, which is, um, the very significant bird migration that happens in and above our community, uh, every spring and fall. And that dark skies as a component of um supporting migration of birds seasonally is a really important thing that everyone in the community can support um and participate in by by doing simple things like turning off your outdoor lights at night when everyone has gone to sleep. Um or making sure there's not a lot of light pollution casting off of your um of your home or or um property. And so I wanted to make this request that um if we could uh be in touch regarding uh essentially a public awareness campaign related to dark skies and our annual spring migration which is will be underway uh with the next month of proclamations in April. Actually made a note to myself about this 10 months ago um knowing that we would see each other again here. But I think it is an important opportunity to point out some simple actions and then continue to see improvements as we have in very significant ways with um automatic off lights in our new installations in our public open spaces and city retrofit streets with lights that are very well shaded and lots of steps with recent construction to control light pollution and make sure that illumination is

1:49:00 – 1:50:09•0

directed down. But we do have a significant challenge with fixtures that are not designed to do that and to shade and um and send that light towards the surfaces that people are walking along and traveling along. Um and retrofitting those parts of our community are much more challenging. Large commercial parking lots built 30 plus years ago. Um rights of way that haven't had their lights retrofit. We've made a significant effort in our city to retrofit those public rights of way to more efficient energy efficient um light fixtures. But uh it's another point of followup. So we will we'll be in touch about the spring. Thank you com uh thank you councel. And uh public comment is closed. And so we are moving on to our final agenda item for tonight which is consent calendar 2 which concludes a resolution annexing land to the city of Eugene located at 1773 Parnell Drive and a resolution annexing land to the city of Eugene located at 1810 Furland Boulevard. If there are no questions from council, I will now turn to the council vice president to put a motion forward.

1:50:07•0

I move to approve the items on consent calendar two. Second.

1:50:12 – 1:50:56•0

Any discussion from council? Seeing none, I will now take a vote for this motion. Councilors, please lock in your votes on the tablets in front of you. Councelor Leech and Councelor Yay, I see you voting in the affirmative. And the motions pass with a vote of 8 to zero. Thank you. That concludes our agenda for today and I now close the March 9th, 2026 city council meeting and we are adjourned. [music] [music]

1:51:09•0

[music] [music]

This transcript was automatically generated from the official public meeting video and is presented unedited. It reflects remarks made on the public record by elected officials, staff, and public commenters. Transcript accuracy may vary; view the original recording for reference.