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Mr. Pap6 determined from Mr. Braud that staffwas not sure of the precise amount of land that would be <br />eliminated from the zone if the amendment were accepted. Mr. Braud estimated the amount to be eight <br />percent to ten percent. The majority was in industrial zoning. <br /> <br />Mr. Pap6 said he was not arguing that Ms. Bettman's amendment offered no benefit to the community. He <br />was interested in what he thought was the best for the community in terms of improving ils economic <br />drivers and creating better jobs. He thought eliminating ten percent of the land in the zone would be a <br />failure to realize the maximum benefit from the tool. Mr. Pap6 said his focus was on business retention as <br />opposed to business recruitment. He was not arguing for business recruitment. He suggested that Eugene <br />would not have lost Symantec to Springfield if it had an enterprise zone for the business to relocate to. He <br />was aware of other businesses in Eugene with a limited ability to expand on site that would like an <br />opportunity to relocate to an enterprise zone. <br /> <br />Mr. Meisner concurred with Ms. Bettman's point regarding the future of manufacturing. He said it was <br />not the future. He concurred with Mr. Kelly regarding the relatively small amount of land involved. <br /> <br />Mr. Meisner expressed the wish that the "all or nothing" mentality both political spectrums of the council <br />were demonstrating would end. He did not like it, or the unwillingness of councilors to listen or consider <br />something that would gain near-majority support and survive when a new council took office. <br /> <br />Ms. Solomon said the committee was not specific in its recommendations to develop brownfields only, so <br />it appeared to her that the committee recognized the need to keep greenfields in the zone. She said that <br />the City was not paying people to locate in the zone. She said the City could not give away money it was <br />not receiving. <br /> <br />Speaking to the issue of recruitment versus retention, Ms. Solomon pointed out the majority of companies <br />in the last zone had been small local companies. <br /> <br />Ms. Nathanson said the committee may not have drawn a map but it had discussed the issue whether to <br />focus on brownfields only. She thought the committee's work and recommendations regarding the topic <br />were solid and she wanted accept them without much alteration. Ms. Nathanson said the community <br />could not survive on retail while awaiting the development of knowledge-based businesses, which she <br />supported. She said the zone was about business retention, and she agreed with that focus. She pointed to <br />the businesses that left Eugene to relocate in other communities because they had been unable to find a <br />financially viable way to stay in Eugene. Ms. Nathanson asked those in favor of the amendment to <br />reconsider their positions and honor the committee's hard work. <br /> <br />Ms. Nathanson said she was disturbed by the distinction made between benefit to the community and <br />benefit to the businesses. The enterprise zone existed because there was a real benefit to the community, <br />that of job retention. <br /> <br /> Mayor Torrey said he continued to oppose the amendment. He pointed out that developing brownfield <br /> sites was very expensive and the cost would not be offset by the tax exemption. Cities the size of Eugene <br /> did not generally receive assistance from the federal government in cleaning such sites. <br /> <br /> Mayor Torrey solicited a third round of council comments. <br /> <br /> Ms. Bettman said Eugene would have to address the issue ofbrownfield sites. Much of the industrial land <br /> in the city's core was contaminated. She thought the City needed to give businesses willing to develop on <br /> brownfield sites more benefits than could be provided by an enterprise zone. <br /> <br /> M1NUTES~Eugene City Council October 11, 2004 Page 11 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br /> <br />