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City of Eugene <br /> Planning and Development <br /> Planning Division <br /> 99 West 10`h Avenue <br /> Eugene, OR 97401 <br /> Memorandum <br /> Date: April 19, 2004 <br /> To: Environmental Policy Team <br /> I <br /> From: Ann Siegenthaler, Associate Planner (x5451) <br /> Subject: Proposed revisions to Guidelines for Evaluating Salmon Impacts in City Projects <br /> i <br /> Background <br /> In Apri12000, the Eugene City Council passed Resolution No. 4615 directing staff to pursue protection and <br /> restoration of wild spring Chinook salmon and their habitat within the City's jurisdiction. To implement <br /> this policy direction, staff developed ten ESA/Salmon Strategies. The strategies were reviewed by the City <br /> i <br /> Council on October 16, 2002 and February 10, 2003. The Council approved nine internal strategies (but <br /> asked for additional public input on the tenth, regulatory strategy). One of the nine approved internal <br /> strategies was to develop guidelines for evaluating City-planned and -designed projects to help them <br /> ' comply with ESA protections for upper Willamette spring Chinook salmon and with Council Resolution <br /> No. 4615. <br /> <br /> i <br /> In A ri <br /> 12001 the En <br /> p vironmental Policy Team (EPT) directed the ESA/Salmon Team (ESAST) to form a <br /> staff team to create the Guidelines for Evaluating Salmon Impacts (Guidelines). The staff team delivered <br /> the draft document to EPT in August 2001. EPT reviewed the draft Guidelines, asked staff to make <br /> revisions to the document, and then forwarded the revised draft to the Executive Managers. In December <br /> 2001, the Executive Managers reviewed the draft Guidelines, and directed staff to "test" the. Guidelines on <br /> three City projects before implementing the strategy. In February 2002, EPT identified three projects for <br /> pilot-testing of the draft Guidelines: the Rasor Park Master Plan ,the Courthouse District Plan, and the <br /> Delta Ponds Restoration project. During this time, the project manager for the development of the <br /> Guidelines, Eric Wold, moved to the Parks and Open Space Division, which necessitated putting this <br /> project on hold for many months. <br /> Current Status <br /> Project managers for the three chosen pilot projects have completed their evaluations, and provided <br /> feedback on the effectiveness of the Guidelines. Their comments are summarized below. Overall, the <br /> .feedback was positive; the Guidelines were generally considered useful in evaluating projects for salmon <br /> impacts. Several suggestions to improve the effectiveness of the Guidelines were made, most of which <br /> would involve minor refinements. Other useful suggestions would involve expanding and updating the <br /> Guidelines in the future. <br /> Recommendations <br /> ESAST recommends the following: <br /> <br />