CC Minutes - 07/23/07 City Council Meeting

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Councilor Bettman said the information on the draft application had become available to the public three days prior to the close of public comments. She averred that Councilor Zelenka’s approach of getting all of the ducks in a row and then allowing the council to say yes or no down the road was “good if [one was] the head of a corporation.” She countered that the council was spending taxpayer money and she did not believe the public had anything definitive to testify about. She asserted that in this case “the process was so egregious” that the application had not become available in a timely manner. She said there was a lot of material in the application that raised questions for her. She had been surprised to see how many housing units were in the area and she questioned how many of those housing units would be demolished and how they were being accounted for. She had questions about the data related to jobs as well. Councilor Clark thanked staff for all of the hard work on this project. He likened the process to a family deciding to make a major purchase; the first step would be a determination of how much could be borrowed and how much could be afforded. He felt the resolution was an appropriate decision to make at this time. Councilor Taylor asked staff whether the number of jobs created factored in the number of jobs “that were going to be destroyed.” She asserted that there would be jobs that would not be there anymore. Mr. Braud replied that staff was working with the WBAC and one of the five things the committee was working on was a business relocation plan, in accordance with HUD requirements. He noted that the urban renewal district also had relocation provisions within the urban renewal plan. He said the legitimate assumption was that there would be opportunities for those businesses to be taken care of by relocation, relocation benefits, or by being incorporated into the project. He did not think it was fair to assume that all of the jobs or even “some or any of those jobs” would be lost because the collective effort was trying to not let that happen. Councilor Taylor disagreed. She thought jobs would definitely be lost. She asked if, when talking about jobs for people with low incomes, the jobs were anticipated to pay more than the people were currently making. Mr. Braud replied that the target for block grant assistance had always been a low-income job benefit. He said they were targeting entry level jobs that were available to people who need employment the most. Councilor Taylor surmised that staff was assuming the businesses that were downtown could “go some other place and continue to exist.” Mr. Braud assured Councilor Taylor that the City had worked with other businesses that had to relocate as a result of previous projects and had provided relocation assistance to them. He said the process had included hiring a consultant who served as an unbiased facilitator who helped to determine what the relocation needs were and what kind of benefits were needed to do those things. Councilor Zelenka said jobs that were lost were only lost if they did not become relocated. He anticipated that all of the non-profits and businesses would be relocated. He stressed that this was why the WBAC was supposed to create a transition plan. He believed the resolution was a prudent move. Councilor Bettman opined that the City was offering over $50 million to a project developer. She likened it to offering an “astronomical dowry.” She asked when staff intended to complete the purchase of the property. Mr. Braud replied that staff would do so when council provided the direction to do so and approved the budget actions necessary to proceed. Councilor Bettman declared that she was sure staff already had a date set for when that would be. Mr. Braud responded that the options on the properties would begin to expire in mid-September, October, and in MINUTES—Eugene City Council July 23, 2007 Page 8 Regular Meeting