CC Minutes - 03/07/05 WS - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mayor Piercy stated that she could support an enterprise zone as a tool for growing business in the community, but it should be focused and targeted to improve wages and benefits and attract businesses that would be good community partners. Mr. Poling, seconded by Ms. Bettman, moved to direct the City Manager to bring back a recommendation for establishing job quality standards ap- plicable to enterprise zone development projects, and bring back a resolu- tion in support of submitting an application to the State of Oregon for des- ignation of an enterprise zone in 2005, jointly sponsored with and sup- ported by Lane County, with the boundary as proposed in Attachment B, minus the railroad property, of this agenda item. Projects would receive a 75 percent tax exemption by right, and would qualify for 100 percent ex- emption by complying with the job quality standards. Ms. Bettman expressed appreciation for the compromise that would probably result in a majority vote on a useful economic development tool. She said her opinion that enterprise zones were more costly to a community than the benefit received had not changed, but when a zone was targeted to offset economic distortions there was a definite benefit to the community. She said that redevelopment of existing industrial land, infill, and development of brownfields were more expensive than development of greenfields and there was the economic distortion. The City would be providing the incentive in order to intensify the uses in its industrial zone and help the businesses that existed there expand and add more jobs while at the same time maximizing the utilization of existing industrial land. She recognized the merit of Ms. Ortiz's suggestion to remove the railyard property given Mr. Braud's explanation of rail-related uses' eligibility for benefits. She said the motion addressed the wise use of limited resources. Mr. Kelly agreed with Ms. Bettman's remarks. He valued the council's spirit of collaboration and thanked Mr. Poling for identifying avenues for achieving compromise. He expressed frustration with the constraints the State placed on the City's ability to tune the enterprise zone to fit community standards. He thought the proposal being considered would allow the council to focus on its growth management policies and target incentives to redevelopment and infill and job quality standards. He encouraged the involvement of the community in the development of standards and said he would support the motion. Ms. Taylor said the enterprise zone was totally wrong. She asked if environmental standards could be imposed. Mr. Braud said the Mayor's committee looked at a number of options for sustainability measures but the State statutes did not allow standards unrelated to job creation. Ms. Taylor said she preferred to wait for legislation that would allow a zone that was not geographical but rather provide incentives to local businesses other than manufacturing and that did not recruit large business that created a fiscal drain on the City. She said the need for more police and schools was based on the growth in population and preferred to see the City focus on expansion, retention, relocation, and helping local businesses with those issues. She was not able to support the motion as stated. She said an enterprise zone was not fair to businesses in other parts of the community or that were not manufacturers. Mr. Poling said that passing the motion would send a clear statement to the State about the council's commitment to the enterprise zone. If the application was not successful in this round, he said, it would make the next application process far easier. He noted that without the development in the enterprise zone MINUTES--Eugene City Council March 7, 2005 Page 7 Work Session