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He said that whatever the City’s first offer was, if at a trial a jury decided that the property was worth one <br />penny more than the City’s offer, the City must pay all attorney fees for the property owners. In this case, <br />he anticipated those costs could be considerable. <br /> <br />Mr. Clark suggested that it was to the City’s benefit to negotiate a deal with the property owner. Mr. Klein <br />agreed. He said the City had acquired hundreds of acres of property in the past but had only resorted to <br />condemnation a very few times. It was very rare that the City was not able to work out something with the <br />property owner. <br /> <br />Mr. Corey said that on occasion, the City would seek the power for the purpose of negotiations. <br /> <br />Mr. Clark noted his request to staff for a motion containing text that held the money in the budget for the <br />Santa Clara community park harmless and asked when he should make that proposal. He wanted to be clear <br />that the moneys intended for the park were used for that purpose. Ms. Jones believed Mr. Clark could make <br />that motion at any time. <br /> <br />Mr. Klein said that it would be very unusual to add such text to an ordinance authorizing condemnation <br />because of the different nature of the actions involved. The council could not add the text to the ordinance <br />regarding condemnation because it had already been the subject of a public hearing. <br /> <br />Mr. Clark requested that staff provide him with direction on the best procedure for directing those funds. <br /> <br />Mr. Clark agreed that the City should protect places that needed protection, and he thought the area in <br />question was beautiful and many people favored protecting it. He asked how the City could lack standards <br />that protected such a property if so many people favored its protection, and asked if the City created such <br />standards, what other types of property they would apply to. Mr. Corey said it was difficult to speculate on <br />what the protection of this property would mean on a citywide basis. He said he would consider the first <br />part of the question. <br /> <br />Mr. Zelenka said he had always favored negotiating with willing sellers and the use of condemnation as a <br />last resort. He asked who would conduct the drilling, and when. Mr. Klein said his office had that <br />information. He said that one of the difficulties with the process was that what he said in public session was <br />known by the property owners, and the more he said, the more disadvantaged the City would be in its <br />negotiations. He said he could provide a confidential memorandum providing more detail. <br /> <br />Mr. Zelenka asked if appraisals “went stale.” Mr. Klein said yes. The time that took depended on the <br />appraiser one spoke to. The City’s appraiser indicated there was no need for concern about that in this case, <br />given that the council planned to take action in December. <br /> <br />Mr. Zelenka said his inclusion in the text about low, medium, and high levels of development intensity was <br />intended to provide the council with a range that might be considered by the jury as representative of the <br />value of the property. <br /> <br />Mr. Zelenka asked why the council was not provided with information about the limit regarding what was <br />available from the parks bond measure. Mr. Klein said that bond counsel indicated the answer was <br />complicated, and they recommended that the council wait to see if it really needed it. The council could not <br />use it all, but there was a substantial amount, about $7 to $8 million, that could be used to buy the property. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />MINUTES—Eugene City Council October 22, 2007 Page 5 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br />