05/24/1989 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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~ V. FREEZE ON ELIGIBILITY APPLICATIONS TO BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT FUND ~. - Mike Sullivan, Planning and Development Department, said the councilors had received memorandums from the Community Development Committee (CDC) and the Council Committee on Economic Diversification (CCED) recommending a freeze on lending activity from the Business Development Fund (BDF). A freeze would constitute a halt to all the new eligibility application processing. Mr. Sullivan said the BDF operates in two stages--first eligibility is determined, and then a loan application is received and processed. As the freeze is proposed, those businesses which were previously deemed eligible could be processed for a loan during the freeze. Mr. Sullivan said the CDC has been reviewing options to address legal constraints to the Targeted Business Assistance Program (TBAP) that were imposed by recent Supreme Court actions. The CDC focused on revisions to the BDF itself as the most viable method of addressing the need of borrowers eligible for TBAP. Mr. Sullivan said the CDC is recommending that CCED consider a number of revisions to the BDF and has recommended that the BDF be frozen until the revisions are complete to ensure the availability of funding for businesses which would have been eligible for TBAP loans if the program had continued to be viable. Mr. Sullivan said CCED voted unanimously to recommend to the City Council that the BDF be frozen temporarily; the proposed freeze would remain in place until the council reviews proposals for amending the BDF and acts on these proposals. Ms. Bascom moved, seconded by Mr. Rutan, to approve a temporary freeze on accepting new applications requesting eligibility to the Business Development Fund. The motion passed unanimously, 8:0. VI. WORK SESSION: URBAN RENEWAL PLAN UPDATE--DISTRICT EXPANSION Bob Hibschman, Planning and Development Department, gave the staff report. He said that at its meeting on April 12, the council reviewed four options for updating the renewal plan. These options included the creation of a new renewal district, expansion of the existing renewal district within the 20 percent limitation, creation of an assessment district to address parking and other needs in the area, and no expansion at the present time. Mr. Hibschman said that at the April 12 meeting, the council requested that staff provide financial forecasts for these four options. He said the purpose of this discussion was to present these financial forecasts and to get direction from council on how to proceed with the renewal plan update. Mr. Hibschman said that at the council's April 12 meeting, staff presented a proposal for a 20 percent expansion of the urban renewal district (option A); staff was not completely comfortable with this proposal because several properties in the middle of the proposed district had been left out of the MINUTES--Eugene City Council May 24, 1989 Page 3