Item 2A: Approval of Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mr. Pap6 said that Eugene had yet to develop a node and he hoped that it would. At the time the council considered the Chase Gardens node, he voted against the three criterions the council mandated for the node because he thought the council was far too prescriptive in its approach to nodes and developers would be repelled. He said that nodes should be a precept, not a prescription. He also opposed a moratorium as he believed that would be changing the rules improperly. He said that the property was purchased after the purchasers consulted with City staff about what development could occur. Mr. Kelly advocated for staff to arrange for sit-down meetings between the neighbors and developers. Mr. Kelly believed that it was an urban legend to suggest that if the council had relaxed its two-story standard, development would have occurred in the area in question. He noted that a representative of Gramor, the past owner of the site, indicated in an e-mail correspondence that City staff had been willing to recommend to the council the standards be relaxed if it would facilitate the development, and the company did not pursue that approach because no primary anchor tenant was willing to occupy the site. He also expressed sympathy to the neighbors, and expressed surprise that the residential densities in the area did not support a grocery store. However, it was clear grocery store developers had been approached about the potential of their locating a store at the site and declined to do so. Mr. Kelly observed that no matter how many people reviewed a detailed code something would come up that fit the code but was never pictured by anyone. He had never envisioned the code could accommodate such a medical development, but he believed Ms. Bettman remarks about the nodal aspects of the development were well-stated. Mr. Kelly suggested that the alternative path or some similar approach could help the City achieve community goals through development. Mr. Kelly asked if Mr. Yeiter would share anything he learned when trying to encourage the medical use to locate downtown. Mr. Yeiter noted that Mike Sullivan and Denny Braud of the Planning and Development Department had done most of that work. Mr. Pryor agreed that what one wished would happen in a location and what happened were not the same. His neighborhood had a small shopping mall where two grocery stores had failed. He said the mixed-use concept was good, but from a practical viewpoint, feasibility analyses clearly indicated it would not work on the site. He encouraged the City to work with the developer to carry out the plan that was already there. Ms. Taylor suggested that if the City was going to achieve its VMT goals, it should preclude anything on mixed-use sites that was not compatible with mixed-use development. If that was not possible, the City should not pretend it could accomplish its goals through such mixed-use centers. Mayor Piercy joined in the thanks to the neighborhood group and developer. She commended their work, and hoped that Mr. Poling would become more involved. She suggested some thinking outside the box could be order to help achieve the goals of nodal development in part; perhaps there was an opportunity for an outdoor market at the location. The meeting adjourned at 7:10 p.m. MINUTES--Eugene City Council April 11, 2005 Page 12 Work Session