11/15/1982 Meeting (2) - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mr. Byrne said the subject property was currently occupied by a church building which will be retained on the site and renovated for professional office space - on two of its three floors. In addition, there will be new construction of 53 residential units for the elderly to be rented at market rates and not subsidized. Mr. Byrne explained the tax exemption program is based upon the Metropolitan General Planls goal to provide 2400 units of new residential housing within one mile of the City center by the year 2000. In establishing that goal, the City Council recognized that certain incentive programs would probably be necessary to attract developers into this area. In adopting the program, the City Council was required by State law to make a finding that these programs would probably not happen without the incentive provided by the Tax Exemption Program. Ms. Wooten asked the exact tax loss to the City if the council granted this tax exemption. Mr. Byrne said he could not give the exact figure. He said he could give a projection based on what has happened in two previous projects approved under the program. He said the exemption was on improvements only and only those improvements directly related to the residential units. The commeY'Ci al improvements will continue to be assessed and taxed. The 1 and wi 11 conti nue to be assessed and taxed and will be indexed annually. f'llr. Byrne said when property comes before the council in this program, the assessments on the land and the improvements are very low because they are underdeveloped. After the project is completed, the land tends to be reassessed significantly higher. In practice, Mr. Byrne said the City has not lost money and the property has had a slightly larger tax bill the year following comple- tion of the project than it previously had. e !vIr. Byrne said the best estimate of the tax exemption on the Washington Abbey project would be based on an appraisal performed about one year ago by an independent appraiser which put the value of the tax exemption for this project at about $500,000 over the 10-year period. Ms. Wooten asked what consideration was given in the staff report to the findings in 1981 of the Hearings Official regarding this project. Mr. Byrne said the Hearings Official did deny a Conditional Use Permit for this project and that decision was appealed to the Planning Commission. The Planning Commission overturned the decision of the Hearings Official and adopted positive findings. He said the negative findings of the Hearings Official were provided to council members by an opponent of the project and not by staff. He said staff did not provide either set of findings since the Conditional Use Permit was not an issue at this hearing. Mr. Byrne said in essence the Planning Commission had over- turned the Hearings Official IS findings and staff did not consider them in making its recommendation. Mr. Lindberg said if the former use of the property was as a church, then that meant the property was not on the tax rolls. He commented that he was trying to get the $500,000 tax loss into perspective. Mr. Byrne said the term "tax loss" was not correct. He said the tax exemption, if granted, would mean a redistri- bution of the tax burden. The City's tax revenues would not be reduced as a result of the exemption. To the extent that this property will pay less taxes then it otherwise would have, that burden may be shifted to every other taxpayer i n the City. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council November 15, 1982 Page 2