CC Minutes - 11/27/06 Work Session

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could result in one proposal for the entire area with a single development team or multiple development teams on smaller footprints. He said the RFQ would be out for 60 days followed by the council’s selection of a development team or teams. He said that securing purchase options on a majority of the important pieces of property along West Broadway was a significant achievement and stressed that the City was under no obligation to actually purchase any of the properties; it simply had the option to purchase them within the option periods. Ms. Taylor asserted that the development of Broadway Place was supposed to solve all the problems of downtown. She asked if the City received tax money from the commercial portion of the project, which was mostly empty. Mr. Braud replied that the commercial portion was paying taxes; only the housing portion of the project received an exemption. He said the commercial space was 50 to 60 percent filled. Ms. Taylor asked how long ago the City purchased the Sears site. Mr. Braud replied it had been 12 years. Ms. Taylor stated she was hesitant to purchase a lot of properties and let them sit empty. She preferred incremental to comprehensive development and was not interested in a “theme park” in downtown. She was disturbed about staff taking action without the consent of the council. She was concerned about voting to seek information and having that translated to mean something else was approved. She asked who composed the URA as she thought that was the council, but the council did not discuss whether it wanted to secure the options. City Manager Taylor replied that the council was the URA board of directors and he was the URA director. He said within the general guidelines of the URA plan and budget approved by the council he had secured the purchase options; council direction would determine how the options were used. He underscored that the options only represented an interesting redevelopment possibility and staff was seeking direction from the council on how the Downtown Plan might be implemented consistent with the vision and in a timely manner. Ms. Taylor said that the council was the URA and some members did not even know the options process was happening. She said Scan Design was a successful business in downtown and, while it did not own the building it was in, she questioned why the City would want to threaten its existence by securing options to buy the property. Mr. Braud explained that staff had made offers to all of the property owners that were part of the original footprint proposed for the Connor and Woolley/Opus project. He stressed that they were willing property sellers and he did not feel the City was putting any businesses out on the street as staff had worked closely with the owners to ensure a transition period for any tenants. Ms. Taylor said the businesses would go elsewhere and leave more empty buildings. She said her concern was that Scan Design had been a successful business in that location for a long time and instead of trying to make it move the City should do everything to keep it there. Ms. Solomon said it was her understanding that Scan Design did not have to move; it would be their choice. Mr. Braud agreed. Ms. Solomon said she did not see the City’s actions as a threat to Scan Design’s existence. She asked if the City would recover the cost of options through reimbursement from the development team once that team was selected. Mr. Braud said he was not certain how that would occur until there were proposals in hand. He said options could be assigned to another party and that would be the preferred method of disposing of them; the other party could then act on the options and purchase properties. He said there could be a MINUTES—Eugene City Council November 27, 2006 Page 4 Work Session