River Road/Santa Clara Urban Services Committees Final Report and Recommendations

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i COMMI"1'rEE STATF=MENTS With my new knowledge on this advisory committee, I can see the lack of planning for this area has not only created chaos, but is now creating dissension and cruelty among our neighbors as witnessed at the open forum at North Eugene High School on May 16, 2002. At this point, I believe that the city needs to take a deep breath and begin to backtrack. New housing permits should not be approved until further evaluation. There needs to be a plan for this community in order to be on the same path and create a feeling of pride and ownership. First suggestion is to stop fighting the annexation and work towards an equitable plan with the city and non-city residents. It seems that annexation is inevitable in order to have all services become equal for the residents. An idea ~ that surfaced at our meetings is to gradually annex homes as they are sold. This can be done by only increasing taxes as homes are sold and not increasing the taxes on non-city residents who retain their ' homes under current tax rates. This would allow non-city tax payers to know that they will not have higher taxes placed on them as the sewers were. People on fixed incomes can stay in their homes, and the sales of homes over time will produce the taxes needed for the area. Purchases of homes that are in- city know they will be paying city higher taxes, and are informed at the onset of their future. Non-city residents purchased their homes at the lower tax amount. It would not be fair to increase taxes and force people to lose their homes as occurred with the sewers. This plan would allow the area to either gradually annex the area, or annex the area in the near future, but to increase taxes gradually by the addition of home sales. Planning needs to be done to try to make the area more cohesive in planning and character. Parks and recreation areas need to be added to Santa Clara so that they can have the same community meeting places and involvement as the River Road area enjoys. i An important aspect of this area is the increased TRAFFIC on both sides of the Belt Line. Additional ' homes should not be built in the area until this is worked through. Oregon and this area have fought off ~ the `big city' hustle and bustle. If we continue on the path that we have taken over the last 10 years, our community will become another traffic congested area and no longer a small town that enjoys the life of a small suburb. i j f i f- 61