CC Minutes - 01/09/06 Work Session

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and Portland because the same tracks were used by both. He said that the Oregon Department of Transpor- tation was combining the committees that dealt with passenger rail and freight rail issues into a single committee on rail. He did not know if that change would be beneficial to passenger rail. Regarding McKenzie-Willamette/Triad’s reported interest in the University of Oregon’s Riverfront Research Park, he asked if there was sufficient acreage available to meet the hospital’s needs. City Manager Taylor replied that there were two tax lots available; one had six or seven acres and the other was listed at over 50 acres; but when the riparian area was eliminated, only about 15 acres were developable. Ms. Solomon announced that on January 12, Willamette High School would present a celebration in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and a community celebration would be held on January 16, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, in the Morse Events Center at Northwest Christian College. She said the guest speaker for the community event would be Stedman Graham. City Manager Taylor thanked the council for allowing him to take time during the council’s break to visit his daughter in Paris, where she was working with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on global HIV/AIDS issues. He was impressed by the truly diverse work environment there, with people from around the world working together. He remarked that 2,000 years of urban mixed-use development were apparent as he traveled around the Paris metropolitan area. He thanked those who attended the State of the City event and noted that the document prepared by staff also contained the first quarterly report of progress on the council’s eight priority goals. He reminded councilors that the council retreat was scheduled for Friday, January 20, 2006. He reported that he met last week with McKenzie-Willamette representatives to review the memorandum of understanding and good progress was made. He hoped to have a memorandum of agreement for the Delta Ridge site before the council on either January 23 or 25. B. WORK SESSION: West Broadway Development Update Mayor Piercy prefaced the item by stating she was pleased with the discussion of a possible West Broadway development and she viewed it as an opportunity for a revitalized downtown. She encouraged both the Opus Group and Conner and Woolley, as developers, to give the public the opportunity to learn about the proposal and ask questions. She volunteered to facilitate that process. City Manager Taylor said the council had been working for some time on ways to place downtown in a position to take advantage of a recovering economy and renewed optimism about what was possible in that area. He introduced Community Development Division Manager Mike Sullivan to present an overview and discuss conceptual elements of the West Broadway redevelopment proposal the City recently received. Mr. Sullivan reviewed the City’s recent downtown policy work, beginning with the downtown vision in 1999 that articulated the community’s ideas and aspirations for an active, vibrant downtown with an entertain- ment and cultural focus, successful retail nodes and commercial areas. The vision also expressed the importance of downtown as a civic gathering space and a place where people could live. He said the vision culminated in the Downtown Plan, adopted in 2004. He described a variety of recent and current downtown projects such as the Lane Transit District (LTD) Downtown Station, Eugene Public Library, Broadway Place, the opening of Broadway, the Aurora Building, the Tate Building, the federal courthouse and th WestTown on 8, all of which totaled $168 million in downtown investment in housing units, public infrastructure and public buildings. He said that still missing from the initiative was significant private MINUTES—Eugene City Council January 9, 2006 Page 3 Work Session