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\ EUGENE Public Works Maintenance 1820 Roosevelt Boulevard Eugene, Oregon 97402 July 22, 1992 (503) 687-5220 John Replinger 41 West 35th Ave Eugene, OR 97405 Subject: Morse Ranch Master Plan Process Dear Mr. Replinger, This letter is in reply to your letter of July 1, 1992 which was forwarded to me after it was reviewed by the Citizen Involvement Committee (CIC) during their July meeting. It is my hope that this letter and attachments will answer your questions. I have included a copy of a letter prepared by John Etter which was submitted to the CIC supplyung background information regard- ing the Morse Ranch plan process to date. The CIC was very concerned regard- ing any possible violation of the open meeting law. The committee instructed staff to research the issue and determine what action could be taken and by 'whom if the law was violated. I have included a copy of two responses from the City Attorney's office giving legal opinions regarding this question. The development of a master plan for Morse Ranch and several other parks has been on the long range Parks Planning Workplan for quite a while. Resource limitations have caused many of these plans to wait several years before action can be taken. Understanding that the City was not likely to have the resources to prepare a master plan in the near future, the Board of the Wayne Morse Historical Park Corporation approached Parks Planning during the summer of 1991 with a proposal to jointly fund the cost of having an landscape ar- chitecture student from the University work on preparation of a draft master plan. The cost of this effort was to be $500 for each party for a total of $1,000. Direction to this student was to come from the Corporation with review by Parks Planning. It was understood that the draft plan would be processed through public review and comment and would be appropriately modi- fied prior to adoption as a City plan. Normally these plans have had a very low level of controversy associated with them and the opportunity to utilize support from the private sector has been encouraged in many areas of the Parks program. Unfortunately the controversy surrounding the off -leash dog park program has become an issue in the draft master plan. The Board's position in opposition to the off -leash program resulted in the omission of such a provision in the draft plan. Recognizing that the current City position is to provide off -leash dog park facilities at the Ranch, the draft plan was submitted to the public for comment as prepared with clear statements that the plan was draft and subject to modification. Strong feelings of concern and suspicion have been expressed by both the Morse Historical Board and the off -leash dog park advocates.