06/22/1988 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

e have been taken and more long-term measures will be taken when the City owns the building. Ms. Bohman said staff has begun drafting a request for proposals (RFP) which will specify that the City would like to see the maximum possible amount of usable space be made available for public or private nonprofit agencies, with preference given to proposals which show up to 50 percent of space available for such uses. She said housing will be another considered use. Ms. Bohman said the RFP will also indicate that all proposals must meet the Secretary of Interior's guidelines for historic rehabilitation and that the project for head-injured housing will be on the site. The RFP will indicate the City's desire to maintain the publicly owned and used play area adjacent to the building. Ms. Schue felt it should be possible to get input from the community without such an elaborate program. Ms. Bohman said the time line was developed in response to community interest in having a broad examination of community need for such a facility. Ms. Schue said there has been much discussion of the community need already and felt it would be beneficial to have an appointed task force draft a tentative proposal and seek reaction to the proposal. Mr. Gleason said he was skeptical about the ability to reach an agreement about process, if the input time were shortened. He felt shortening the process would create controversy and would give the impression that the council and staff are trying to dominate the process. Mr. Miller was in favor of giving the community a chance to generate options e for the building and funding sources. He asked if it would be possible to use funds allocated for office remodeling and rehabilitation in the capital budget to fund this project. Ms. Bohman said the revenue for this project will be varied and will take a lot of work to develop. Ms. Wooten supported a reduction in the scope of the task force. She said the joint funds need assessment is available and that a very comprehensive public meeting and hearing process would not be necessary. Ms. Wooten said the task force should begin by identifying potential users rather than uses for the building. She suggested that a consultant be hired to help identify funding sources and to help develop a successful financial package. Mr. Bennett said this type of bUilding is difficult and costly to rehabilitate. He recommended that the council pursue the RFP process which would lean toward obtaining community service organizations as tenants for the major portion of the building. He felt an RFP process would attract outside capital and secure the building for the future. Mr. Rutan said the Lincoln School project is the epitome of how the City gets into budgetary problems. He said the City cannot ~fford to develop Lincoln School and creating a task force will only raise expectations in the community. He said there are contradictions in the RFP process because rent would be too expensive to accommodate substantive occupancy by nonprofit or other public organizations. Mr. Rutan said he would support the RFP process, but felt no City investment should be involved. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council June 22, 1988 Page 4