CC Minutes - 11/27/07 URA Workshop

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Ms. Taylor averred that it was important that action be taken. She believed that people had not voted against the ballot measure because they did not wish to redevelop the downtown area. She felt the message was that the public did not want a large project and did not want to “destroy” what was there. Ms. Ortiz said she would honor her council peers’ request to not take action. She felt they could still have a good robust discussion about what the next steps should be. Mr. Poling, seconded by Mr. Clark, moved to table the motion. Mr. Clark expressed his feeling that his colleagues should respect Mr. Zelenka’s and Mr. Pryor’s request. He noted that Mr. Zelenka had participated in the advisory committee process. He said it was important that the community spoke together. The motion passed, 4:2; councilors Taylor and Bettman voting in opposition. Mayor Piercy stated that the motion would be deferred to December 10. Ms. Taylor said they needed to find out if Kemper was still willing to build housing at the Sears site. Ms. Ortiz welcomed Mr. Kemper and Mr. Malsin to the meeting. She remarked that she was not surprised by the vote but she had been disappointed. She asked if it would be possible to reconfigure the project and move forward with a different footprint. She wanted to know if KWG Partners would be willing to do a more scaled- back project. Mr. Kemper, who had driven from Portland to participate in the discussion, said if the City proceeded with a housing project, it could “blow” the opportunity to do something bigger that would be a more desirable project for the downtown. He stated that he was far less enthusiastic about the Sears proposal than he had been 15 months earlier. He would not be inclined to “step up to” the timeline they had agreed upon at the time. He recalled that they had discussed scaling back the density and the parking and whether that made sense, but one of the strongest desires was to create a district with some unique restaurants and retail spaces. He was not sure a scaled-back version of the original concept would work. Mayor Piercy asked for clarification on the original timeline. Mr. Kemper replied that under the original proposal for the Sears site they had intended to break ground in 12 months, but at present he would choose to slow that down. Mr. Poling thanked the developers for remaining interested. He averred that the third reason the ballot measure had not passed was that the citizens wanted the streets to be fixed, increased public safety, and economic redevelopment. He felt these were legitimate concerns. He favored the proposed motion in the AIS. He did not want to spend General Fund money on the redevelopment project. He also supported inclusion of the properties that were south of Broadway and the Roberts building and Scan Design properties. Additionally, he would support the inclusion of a park space in the redevelopment project only if it was developed along with redevelopment of the downtown area. Mr. Clark echoed Mr. Poling’s comments. He thanked Mr. Kemper and Mr. Malsin for their time investment in the process. He shared their disappointment in the outcome of the election, but he was sensitive to what the voters said. He also did not favor spending General Fund money on the project until there was a clear way of addressing the needed transportation funding and the need to increase funding for public safety. MINUTES—Eugene Urban Renewal Agency November 27, 2007 Page 3 Workshop