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benefit from redevelopment and infill. He intended to support the amendment and would support the main <br />motion if the amendment succeeded. <br /> <br />Mr. Kelly pointed out the boundaries of the zone had not shrunk much with the elimination of the <br />greenfields. He suggested the exemption would be less necessary to attract a company to a greenfield <br />because there were limited greenfield sites. <br /> <br />Mr. Pap~ did not support the amendment. He said the committee's recommendation for an enterprise zone <br />was intended to address the need for economic revitalization in Eugene. An enterprise zone could be a <br />useful tool in achieving that goal. He believed the amendment took some important properties %ut of play" <br />and he did not think it met the intent of the State program. <br /> <br />Mr. Meisner indicated support for the amendment. He thought it made sense, and did not think the amount <br />of property removed from the zone as a result was significant. While he acknowledged Mr. Papa's <br />comments about the purposes of the zone, he said there were also City purposes and goals to be considered. <br />He thought it appropriate to focus the zone on economic development in a manner consistent with the City's <br />growth management goals. <br /> <br />Ms. Solomon opposed the amendment. She thought it undermined the opportunity before the council. She <br />asked why the City would not want to take full advantage of the tool that existed, noting the previous zone <br />had worked well and had been quite active. She did not want to place more restrictions on the zone, <br />undermining its ability to be successful. Ms. Solomon said the advisory committee, which had been very <br />diverse, did not exclude greenfields from a zone in its recommendations. She said the committee had a <br />robust discussion about the issue, and she was comfortable with the recommendation that the council <br />received. <br /> <br />Mr. Poling also opposed the amendment. He said there was considerable competition for such enterprise <br />zones from communities around the state. He agreed with the remarks of Mr. Pap~ and Ms. Solomon, and <br />wanted to move forward with the recommendations of the mayor's committee and make the application as <br />simple as possible using State guidelines. <br /> <br />Ms. Nathanson said that as the council considered adding restrictions to the zone, it should think about the <br />consequences of those restrictions. She was convinced the community lacked sufficient redevelopment and <br />brownfield sites to meet the needs of local businesses seeking to expand either on-site or in the community in <br />general. Ms. Nathanson recalled the council's discussion regarding nodal development, during which it got <br />so prescriptive about the way development occurred that some areas would have no development at all <br />rather than some development that would be better than what existed. She opposed the amendment. <br /> <br />Ms. Taylor supported the amendment as she believed it made the zone less harmful. She said just because <br />greenfields were not in an enterprise zone did not mean that people could not expand or develop on those <br />areas, they merely would not receive a tax exemption. She thought the zone should provide some clear <br />benefit to the community in return for the tax exemption. <br /> <br />Ms. Bettman agreed with Ms. Taylor's remarks. She said the last time the City had an enterprise zone it <br />had been very controversial and contentious. She had personally opposed such zones. She said the attitude <br />that the zone must be ~all or nothing" had divided the community for a long time. Ms. Bettman said she <br />believed she could support a focused enterprise zone with a demonstrable community benefit. <br /> <br />Ms. Bettman said that several councilors believed the community lacked sufficient shovel-ready greenfield <br /> <br />MINUTES--Eugene City Council October 11, 2004 Page 9 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br /> <br />