CC Minutes - 02/28/05 Mtg - Laserfiche WebLink

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wage jobs. He thought economic redevelopment of the railyards could include an aquatic center, a regional sports complex, or a University of Oregon program for bio-remediation. He wondered if the City Council could ask what ;;the rush" was for getting an enterprise zone. He supported pursuing a master planning process for the railroad property. Jana Jackson, 1012 East 22nd Avenue, spoke in support of the actions of Officer Randy Ellis, who had spray-painted ;~No Soliciting" signs on some street comers to deter panhandling. She read into the record a letter signed by approximately 40 people expressing gratitude to and support for Officer Ellis. Copies were provided to the council. She underscored that she and the other signors of the letter disapproved of people ;;demonizing" Officer Ellis. Kevin Matthews, Box 1588, president of Friends of Eugene, noted that PeaceHealth had signed the settlement of a legal action which committed it to either sale or redevelopment of the Willamette Street site within two years. He hoped that the council would consider the implicit intention of something happening with a very ;;positive possible hospital site." Mr. Matthews alleged that the City was committing an error in Administrative Order 530501, which replaced Administrative Order 530207(f) regarding land use fees. He asserted that an interim city manager had signed it into being and it had not been adequately inspected. He said the order changed the basis of neighborhood association appeal fees to 25 percent of the land use fee, a change that increased the fees from a maximum of $250 to a maximum of $4,000. He predicted this would be crippling to neighborhood associations. Charles Tilt, 85581 South Willamette Street, believed the West 8th Avenue low-income housing development had not received an adequate public hearing. He thought the process had a ;;unique and narrow" perspective because of how it was purchased and how the Request for Proposal (RFP) process had been undertaken. He did not understand why there was not more public outrage and why the Downtown Neighborhood Association had not spoken out about it. He did not believe that the housing project would be compatible with its neighbor, the WOW Hall. He submitted his comments in writing. Kathy Ging, 2878 Harris Street, shared comments that she had gathered informally in opposition to the development of low-income housing next to the WOW Hall. She submitted a report she had written to the council. She listed the top reasons she felt the low-income housing development should not be constructed on the site, such as the challenges that the site presented for development, that she believed the public process was inadequate, that police visits to the site would be increased due to noise, noise attenuation might harm the adjacent historic WOW Hall, and that no research had been conducted on rehabilitation of the Ridenour Building. She asked that the council consider holding a public hearing. Councilor Solomon, seconded by Councilor Pryor, moved to extend the Public Forum by six minutes. Roll call vote; the motion passed unanimously, 7:0. Jonathan Pincus, 590 North 12th Avenue, #5, recognized that the WOW Hall had decided to embrace the low-income housing project planned for the lot adjacent to it. Speaking as a former manager of the WOW Hall, he felt the WOW Hall Board had made a ;;profound error" in taking that position. He thought the council had made a profound error as well in making the process a %ne value planning process." He encouraged the council to open up the process to a format that would allow all of the issues to be examined. MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 28, 2005 Page 3 Regular Session