CC Minutes - 10/25/06 Work Session

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Mr. Papé asked if the City was working with PeaceHealth regarding its plans for the Willamette campus property. City Manager Taylor reported that he and the mayor recently met with representatives of PeaceHealth, who were discussing a timeline of 2009 for disposal of the property. Mr. Kelly thanked Mr. Macy for his remarks about the need to program public plazas and recalled that had been a recommendation of the Parks Block Placemaking Committee. He thought an employee to manage the space would be appropriate. Mr. Kelly said he did not see his motion, passed by the council in April 2006, reflected in Ms. Laurence’s presentation. His focus had been on green space and much of what was being presented focused on hardscape. He had discussed a festival lawn concept in April and nothing in the presentation approached that. He had also requested rough costs and timelines and staff was now proposing to return with the cost and time line for developing a plan to develop the space. Ms. Laurence said that when considering new green spaces, staff had nothing to judge in regard to what was the right size and space, and so it turned to the inventory approach. Staff looked at what was happening in the downtown to create a bigger framework. She pointed out that the Cit had many visionary policies but no design plan to guide staff at the design level. A timeline and budget had to be the next phase. Mr. Kelly did not see that next phase in the suggested staff motion. Ms. Laurence said staff was building toward that, but Public Works staff as well as other staff pointed out the need for a design level plan after the Agenda Item Summary (AIS) was drafted. Mr. Kelly wanted to see key next step #2 added to the motion. Mr. Kelly agreed that criteria were needed and had hoped that with professional involvement, the council would see ideas for those criteria during the presentation. He saw nothing concrete in the presentation to comment on. He wanted a more specific timeline and the cost of creating a connection to the river. He agreed with Mr. Pryor that something in the center of downtown would be useful. Mayor Piercy endorsed having more garbage containers in downtown. She believed when installed, they were used, and they changed the look of an area. Mayor Piercy encouraged Mr. Kelly to bring up the managed Parks Block concept with the Mayor’s Cultural Policy Review Committee. Ms. Bettman agreed with Mr. Kelly that it would be nice for the council to be able to focus on something do-able and concrete. The City had many high-level planning documents that the City could not afford to implement, and by the time it got through those high-level planning efforts, it had missed opportunities. She thought all the concepts discussed were good and liked the idea of connectivity and using street space as public space. She said that downtown street design was very important to her, as well as corridors with consistent themes and connecting places. Speaking to Mr. Papé’s comments, Ms. Bettman did not like diagonal parking because it made the street look like a parking lot and she thought parallel parking preferable because it protected pedestrians from the traffic lane. Ms. Bettman called for a better connection on Willamette between the Hult Center and the Hilton Hotel. She did not think the space was very navigable space for anybody and thought it should be opened up and better connected. She had hoped to have street car running through the area but acknowledged that idea had failed to gain traction. She thought the area at a minimum should be made a more inviting public space for pedestrians. MINUTES—Eugene City Council October 25, 2006 Page 3 Work Session