CC Minutes - 09/19/07 Work Session

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Mr. Pryor was pleased with the process. He said he was always interested in ways to better interact with the public. He averred that if the council was going to create a body and assign it “this much work and this much research and go through this much of a process” it was imperative that the council listen to what they had to say. He appreciated all of the work and believed that the recommendations were sound. Ms. Taylor opined that it was inappropriate to discuss this at this time as the project depended on the increase in the debt limit of the Urban Renewal District. She said the election on November 6 will indicate whether the public supported the project. She asserted that people who did not approve of the project had not “bothered to go” to the public workshops. Ms. Solomon thanked the committee for “giving up [their] summer.” She had also been thankful for the level of public participation that the committee had brought to the process. She felt there had been “squeaky wheels” that had attempted to derail the process and she commended the committee for remaining focused on its assigned task. She said the report represented a “strong and thoughtful set of recommendations.” Mr. Zelenka said he had attended all of the meetings. He thanked the BDAC, Mr. McLauchlan, and Ms. Cherry for the work they had done in a “short period of time.” He called the community input “tremen- dous.” He thought urban renewal financing was interesting as it allowed development to be financed by the property taxes developers would pay. He believed the measure would pass on November 6 and the result would revitalize the downtown without raising taxes. He thanked the BDAC for being respectful of both the City Council and the developers and for not being too prescriptive. He indicated that he would bring back verbiage to the next meeting that would make the language stronger and clearer. Mayor Piercy related that she had also attended all but one of the BDAC meetings. She had observed “very strong” participation from people with different points of view. Ms. Ortiz thanked staff for the work that had gone into the committee process and report. She commended Ms. Laurence for being a hard worker. Ms. Bettman remarked that the “ultimate public input” would be the vote in November. She averred that the project would also receive low-income housing money, Multiple Unit Property Tax Exemption (MUPTE) MINUTES—Eugene City Council September 19, 2007 Page 4 Work Session