07/08/1976 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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! Navarre Davis, member of the Downtown Development Board, asked Mr. Keyser's recommenqa- ; tion with regard to implementation of his concept of the shopping center - what would have to happen, what priorities placed, to execute that recommendation. Recognizing . that an in-town center would occur only through a partnership between the private and public sectors, Mr. Keyser said it would be necessary to come up with a site plan that ---' best reinforce what is already downtown, something that would offer an incentive attract- ing developers, something that would enhance what is already there. So the next step, he thought, would be to work on a plan that would deal with site, traffic questions, financial questions, perhaps talking with possible tenants with regard to interests, etc. After that, he thought it would be appropriate then to seek a developer experienced in putting this type of complex project together to carry out the necessary negotiations and identify opportunities in terms of additional development or physical attributes complimentary to what is in the existing mall and existing retail space. Gary Bond, member of the Housing and Community Development Commission, asked what factors led B1ayney in his report to the conclusion that the westside area would be occupied by adults only. Mr. Blayney replied that the area covered was only that east of Jefferson Street, not the entire westside. He said he realized that viability of the westside neighborhood would depend on maintenance of a neighborhood school, so he wanted to see if changes in the study area would affect whether the neighborhood school should be maintained. He didn't think there would be an impact - that the school (Lincoln) was secure for the time being. With regard to the kind of population that would live east of Jefferson, Mr. Blayney expected no new single-family structures to be constructed in that area. New construction would be apartment houses, so not many children of school age would be expected to live there. Councilman Bradley questioned future commercial development further to the west in view of the city's urban growth containment policy and the assumption concerning invest- - ment and slow growth of commercial development over the next twenty years. Mr. Blayney responded that the scheme of mixed use was a way of exploring the idea of letting -- the boundary between residential and commercial set itself. He thought that because of the existing commercial uses in the area there would be very little new residential investment, HCDC will not approve rehabilitation loans in the area. He said specifics were difficult to provide but, he said, public policy is contributing to deterioration of the neighborhood so long as no firm decisions are made with regard to the area. Mr. Carlstrom ~ondered whether more thought should be given to locating another shopping center near the midtown - on undeveloped land along the Southern Pacific tracks or on Franklin Boulevard - given the housing situation on the westside and housing problems in general. Mr. Blayney said he was satisfied that any location east of Lincoln would rot have a deletorious effect on the neighborhood west of Lincoln. He said the rela- tionship of a center to the downtown mall and downtown stores was all important and taking a center out to Franklin Boulevard, he thought, would be entirely detrimental to downto~. He added that the fact that the downtown is now behind Valley River Center in retail sales is an indication of what occurs when new shopping center developments occur, and because of the major investment made by the community in the downtown area an attempt should be made to keep that downtown retail activity going and enhance it as part of overall community revitalization. Greg Lipton, member of HCDC, asked why the recommendation was made to route traffic on Lincoln which has residential use on both sides of the street - why not on Charnel ton? Mr. Blayney answered that Charnelton functions as part of the downtown loop, it doesn't have the capacity for additional traffic that probably has no downtown destination. The conslusion after study was that Lincoln was as far east as the route could be moved. - - Councilman Murray asked if there were comparative figures on the percentage of existing residential use along Jefferson, Lawrence, Lincoln, and Washington. Mr. Blayney said they could be obtained, they were not available separately at this time, but he re- ferred to the land use map showing Lincoln as having the least abutting land in residential use. J~3 7/8/76 - 4