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Infrastructure and Planning Services <br />7. Staff continues to assist in the efforts to locate a hospital within the city of Eugene, consistent <br />with Council direction. Over the past couple of years, the City assisted McKenzie Willamette in <br />their consideration of the EWEB site. More recently, the City Council has directed staff to work <br />with McKenzie Willamette on a Memorandum of Understanding for the Delta Ridge site. <br />During this time, the City has continued to look for other downtown opportunities. The City <br />anticipates that the process for siting a hospital in Eugene will likely involve a comprehensive <br />process addressing technically challenging issues, including land use, transportation and <br />infrastructure. <br />8. In 1998, the City Council adopted 19 growth management policies to guide future decisions <br />related to development, protection of open spaces, transportation, public safety, and municipal <br />spending. One of the key policy issues facing the city is the need to accommodate infill while <br />preserving neighborhood character. Planning for Mixed-Use Centers (also called "nodes") has <br />been a high priority of the City Council which has been the primary forum for addressing this <br />policy issue. In July 2005, the Council directed staff to use a new process called Opportunity <br />Siting as the primary method of implementing the mixed-use strategy and to explore new ways <br />of accommodating planned growth citywide. The Council also supported concurrent planning of <br />individual Mixed Use Centers. While the Opportunity Siting work program is still being <br />defined, the program will involve a1121 neighborhood associations in an effort to redirect growth <br />patterns in a manner that better protects existing neighborhood character. The staffing and <br />resource implications are anticipated to be significant. <br />9. Since the adoption of the Land Use Code Update in 2001, staff has assembled a list of <br />suggested amendments intended to improve the administration of the code. In order to <br />effectively leverage limited staff resources, atwo-phased approached was initiated. In <br />November 2005, phase 1 of this process was completed with Council adoption of more than 70 <br />minor code amendments. The second phase of this process will begin in early 2006 with a focus <br />on addressing more significant issues, as identified by the community. <br />10. Upon completion of the state-mandated "Goa15" natural habitat study and adoption of <br />protection measures in December 2005, the City Council directed staff to reassess the habitat <br />values and needed protections over 2,000 acres in the south hills, much of which is already <br />developed to some extent. Supplemental Budget #1 (December 2005) included $120,000 to start <br />plant surveys in the spring of 2006, but additional funding will be needed to complete the <br />project. <br />11. Capital funding for City facilities provides for critical building preservation and maintenance <br />activities. While the costs of facility preservation is subject to inflation and changes in state and <br />federal laws dealing with construction techniques and hazardous materials, the major factor <br />affecting facility maintenance and preservation are the increased square footage of City facilities <br />and the age of the remaining facilities. In the past seven years, the new fire complex, four new <br />fire stations, the 911 Center, the new Downtown Library and a number of park restrooms and <br />utility buildings have been added to the General Fund building inventory. The projects <br />completed during this building cycle have increased the City's building inventory by 292,000 <br />square feet, resulting in a 43% increase in the total square footage of General Fund building <br />64 <br />