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<br />Ms. Taylor thought only the current tenants of the buildings should be offered the options. She did not want <br />people to be put out of their places of business. She said her intent was that the tenant would have the <br />option until the option ran out and then the “free market” would take over. <br /> <br />Ms. Bettman provided a second. <br /> <br />Mr. Clark indicated he would oppose the substitute motion because he was interested in seeing the City get <br />its money back. He wanted the City to be financially whole. He understood the desire to avoid putting <br />existing businesses out, but was willing to let the market address it. <br /> <br />Mr. Pryor observed that the principal difference between the methodology that was being proposed and Ms. <br />Taylor’s substitute methodology lay in who could submit bids and what would happen if their bids were not <br />awarded. He felt this was too prescriptive. He wanted the options to result in downtown development and <br />did not oppose the tenants purchasing their buildings. He did not feel restricting the bids to only the current <br />tenants would be in the City’s best interest. He did support giving the tenants the first right of refusal. <br /> <br />Ms. Ortiz asked if there were programs to help people purchase the buildings. Denny Braud, Senior <br />Management Analyst for the Community Development Division, responded that there were two different <br />programs that could be utilized. <br /> <br />Mr. Poling wanted to see the City recoup the money spent on options. He asked if six months was a <br />reasonable amount of time within which to expect development to occur. Mr. Braud replied that he thought <br />it was. He noted that razing a building was part of construction, as it usually did not occur before <br />construction was planned and permitted. <br /> <br />Mr. Zelenka said he would oppose the substitute motion because he believed it was too restrictive. He <br />expressed concern that if it was known that the tenant would have the first right of refusal it could preempt <br />an interested party from wanting to take the time to put in a bid. He wondered if it would be possible to ask <br />for a notice of intent from the tenants. Mr. Klein responded that legally it was possible but practically there <br />might not be enough time to follow this procedure for the options slated to expire in March. <br /> <br />Mayor Piercy noted the time and asked the council to consider deferring Item C, a work session on the <br />Rental Housing Code Update. The council was amenable to deferring the item as it was not time sensitive. <br /> <br />In response to a question from Ms. Bettman, Mr. Braud replied that the City had invested approximately <br />$200,000 in options. <br /> <br />Ms. Bettman ascertained that this was money that could be utilized to help the development to occur. She <br />questioned why the deadline for the options was the same given that several options expired in March but the <br />rest expired later in the year. She stated her intention to oppose the substitute motion. <br /> <br />Ms. Taylor averred that it was more important to help the local businesses than it was to get the money <br />back. <br /> <br />The motion failed, 7:1; Ms. Taylor voting in favor. <br /> <br />Mr. Pryor asked if bifurcating the options would affect what the City was attempting to do. Mr. Klein <br />replied that it would not create legal problems, but it would create a different standard for different options. <br /> <br /> <br />MINUTES—Eugene City Council February 20, 2008 Page 4 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br />