CC Minutes - 08/13/07 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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retailers who would compete with local businesses. Decisions regarding the use of urban renewal should be made with public input for specific proposals. Paul Moore , 2586 Potter Street, advocated for the inclusion of dedicated bicycle lanes in the area of Crest Drive/Storey Boulevard/Friendly Street to encourage bicycling. He did not think the council intended any transportation option to be excluded from the design, but that was occurring. He shared a petition with the council expressing support for his position. Gavin McComas , 2301 Spring Boulevard, the owner of Sundance Natural Food, registered his objection to the plan to increase the indebtedness of the URA to support the City’s contribution to the West Broadway redevelopment area. He believed that it was unfair to use his tax dollars to help fund wealthy corporate competitors. He supported the use of urban renewal downtown for responsible projects with public input, such as a new city hall and for low-cost housing. Mr. McComas indicated if the council went ahead and increased the indebtedness level, he would begin an initiative petition to refer the decision. Rob Handy , 455-1/2 River Road, discussed his work on the groundwater pollution issues in the Trainsong neighborhood. He had received a call from a distressed citizen wanting to know what she could do and he had no answers. He said the neighborhoods were asked by City staff to support a brownfield grant to the Environmental Protection Agency and he had worked with staff on the application but failed to realize that the funding would go downtown rather than to other places in the community that really needed it. Charles Biggs , 540 Antelope Drive, objected to the proposed scale of the West Broadway project and wanted it to be scaled back. He was concerned about the connection between the urban renewal district and Downtown Plan because the plan was not specific enough about density. The land planned for the development was zoned C-3, which had a height maximum of 150 feet, but the developers were planning for shorter buildings. He recommended that some of the buildings be built to that height and the remaining buildings be built lower as a compromise to make better use of the land. David Gussett , 1611 Lincoln Street, shared photographs of some historic buildings in the West Broadway redevelopment area and urged the council to save those buildings and use other vacant areas in downtown for redevelopment. He asked the council to let the purchase options for downtown properties expire as some of the property owners were not good stewards and let their properties deteriorate to drive down the value of adjacent properties for the purpose of buying them at rock bottom prices. He urged the council to use eminent domain to purchase the properties at market prices. Mr. Gussett then provided some history of the buildings in question. Lynn Reichman , PO Box 3901, Eugene, also discussed the historic buildings discussed by Mr. Gussett. She said that they had been identified by a group she was working with in an attempt to make them part of the West Broadway redevelopment plans. She said that the buildings were listed as historic by the City. She provided some additional history of the buildings. She believed that it was crucial no historic buildings were destroyed as part of the project, suggesting that such buildings, once renovated, would provide affordable space at a lower cost. Mayor Piercy closed the Public Forum. She thanked those who spoke and commended the Crest Drive citizens for the work they had done. She also was concerned about the groundwater pollution that residents were facing in the Trainsong Neighborhood and said that such issues were difficult to address given the many parties involved. She had asked staff to determine what the City could do. MINUTES—Eugene City Council August 13, 2007 Page 3 Work Session