Ban on new building near waterways suffers setback.

Byline: Edward Russo The Register-Guard

Eugene has called a timeout on a proposed building ban along the city's main waterways.

The ban, meant to reduce urban runoff pollution in the Willamette River and its major tributaries, would prohibit building within 75 feet on each side of the waterways.

But questions and objections from property owners have led city officials to think about changing the proposal. The reconsideration means that City Council approval of a law to require the setback has been delayed to next year.

"We're considering revising the (building) setback width from the standard one-size-fits-all of 75 feet to something different," said Therese Walch, Eugene's water quality manager.

Eugene officials proposed the setback earlier this year in response to state and federal environmental rules governing the Willamette River and its major tributaries. Some of the waterways have excessive bacteria, arsenic or other pollutants. The Willamette, for example, exceeds standards for bacteria, mercury and temperature, according to the city's Public Works Department.

The setback, which would have allowed previously built structures to remain, was proposed for the Willamette, Amazon Creek, Amazon Diversion Channel, the A3 Channel, Willow Creek, plus waterways and creeks that drain into them, and headwaters that drain 10 acres or more.

A building setback is one way the city can try to reduce urban runoff pollution. Others include street sweeping and restoring creeks affected by development to their previous natural states.

Public Works officials heard concerns about the setback when they had an open house in June to discuss the idea. About 3,300 residents were notified about the proposal, most of them property owners who might be affected.

About 50 people attended the open house, with others responding by phone and e-mail, Walch said.

Some residents were frustrated by the potential restriction because their properties recently were covered by setbacks that the city approved last year to comply with a state mandate to protect natural resources and conserve scenic, historic and open spaces, also known as Goal 5. Setbacks for Goal 5 range from 100 feet along the Willamette, to 60 feet along certain parts of Amazon Creek, to 40 feet and 20 feet elsewhere.

The city is pressing ahead with the additional waterway regulations because "the motivation for the two (protection efforts) are different," Walch said. "For Goal 5, it's natural resource protection. For waterways, it's compliance with the (federal) Clean Water Act and other federal water quality regulations."

Other residents said the city might find itself on the receiving end of a Measure 37 claim if it imposed the setback, Walch said.

Measure 37, a state law, allows property owners to seek compensation from local governments if state or local land-use regulations lower land values. Governments can waive regulations rather than pay. However, under Measure 37, claims cannot be brought against pollution control regulations.

Morgan Reiter, founder of Oregon Yurtworks in west Eugene, said he's concerned that the setback would prevent his firm from keeping manufactured yurts and lumber on a gravel lot next to Amazon Creek.

The storage is vital to the firm's operation, he said.

A previous building buffer along Amazon Creek imposed by the city about six years ago had already cost Oregon Yurtworks the use of a chunk of land, Reiter said.

The 20-employee company is doing well, expanding in recent years, but Reiter said the city's new restrictions would make it difficult to grow in its present location.

"We just can't afford to keep losing property," he said.

Coleen Miller, who lives near Winter Creek in the South Hills, above Churchill High School, contacted city officials because she was unclear on how the regulations would affect her property.

The deck on Miller's house extends to within four feet of the creek, but it would be allowed to remain under the ordinance.

Yet the gutters from Miller's roof drain into the creek, so she wonders about the chance of being affected by regulations that city officials may not have thought of yet.

"Rather than have me guessing what kind of things are gong to be prohibited, I would like them to say what direction they are leaning," Miller said.

Originally, city officials wanted the Planning Commission to hear public comment on the proposed setbacks on Tuesday. A public hearing before the City Council was scheduled for October.

But those two dates have been pushed back to Nov. 14 for the Planning Commission and sometime next spring for the City Council.

Now, city officials are thinking of ways to make the setback more flexible, Walch said, such as making it wider in some areas and narrower in others so it would average 75-feet. Some property owners suggested setback exemptions for gravel areas, such as the one used by Oregon Yurtworks, or pavement that absorbs rainwater, or buildings that have green roofs, topped with vegetation and soil.

"What we are doing is taking all of those suggestions, comments and questions and working on a refinement to the proposal, which we are not done with yet," Walch said.

Revisions might be done by the end of September, she said. If the changes are substantial, "then we might do another open house or some other kind of formal public outreach" before the Planning Commission meeting, Walch said.

STAY INFORMED For details about a proposed Eugene stormwater ordinance: Visit: www.eugene-or.gov/PW Call: Therese Walch, 682-8647, or Tim Bingham, 682-4410. E-mail: [e-mail].