06/24/1987 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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Ms. Ehrman said that since the council has recently voted on the topic, whether to use tax increment financing no longer seems to be an issue that the e council has to decide. Ms. Schue agreed, but said the issue is not simply whether to use tax increment financing in the Urban Renewal District; rather, the issue is whether this tool should be extended to another area. In response to a question from Ms. Wooten, Mr. Byrne said staff forecasts no return from the expansion area for six or seven years for purposes of cash flow projections. Ms. Wooten said the public does not understand tax increment financing. The City needs to undertake a broad and incisive public education program on this topic. She said tax increment benefits the whole city. She said it would be foolish to abandon this tool that can be used to improve a crucial part of the city. Ms. Ehrman asked whether staff had any preferences other than tax increment finanCing for the expansion area. Mr. Byrne said staff did not. Mr. Miller said the City began using urban renewal in order to accomplish a job, but the job never seems to be done; and members of the community ask in frustration, "When will urban renewal end?1I He said it seems as though the public sector is continually subsidizing the downtown. He said it would be nice if the public sector could actually complete the job it set out to do with urban renewal; and then let the private sector take over, so that the public sector would be able to use its resources to accomplish other things. e Ms. Wooten said she appreciated Mr. Miller's comments. She said she too is frustrated by the heavy subsidization that the public sector has to provide in order to leverage private investment downtown. She said there is not enough private capitalization in Eugene for this type of investment to occur by itself. She said no one knows the answer to the questions, "When will urban renewal end? When will the City accomplish the desired level of redevelopment and leveraging?1I She said increment is being generated and redevelopment is occurring through the urban renewal process; however, this is occurring more slowly than the City had anticipated. Mr. Gleason said the goals of the Urban Renewal Plan have not been completely realized, because the plan was predicated on attracting a major retail development to the downtown. He said the City made a huge effort to do this, but failed. He said staff has concluded that this effort was not the wisest course to follow. He said the City has decided to make an effort to attract smaller redevelopments to downtown, instead of focus i ng its efforts on attracting one major development. Since this more incremental approach has been adopted, substantial improvements have been rea 1 i zed downtown. Mr. , Gleason said the City was using a poor redevelopment strategy for 15 years, and that is why an updated Urban Renewal Plan is needed. In response to a question from Mr. Bennett, Mr. Byrne said the updated plan has a 20-year hori zon. All debts incurred during the course of the plan will e MINUTES--Eugene City Council June 24, 1987 Page 10