09/10/1985 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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M E M 0 RAN 0 U M . September '1, 1985 TO: Eugene City Council FROM: Planning and Eugene Development Departments SUBJ EeT: EUGENE'S CO~DO~INIUM CONVERSION ORDINANCE Introduction Eugene's Condominium Conversion Ordinance and Administrative Procedures have been in effect since June 1980. Si nce tha t da te, a numoer of events ha ve occuried which make it advisable for the council to consider revising the ordi na nce. This memoranoum provides both background information and experi- ence with the ordinance to date, and recommenOs a direction for addressing needed changes in the ordinance, while retaining many of the safeguards as originally adopted. History ~ Condominium conversion first became an issue for the City of Eugene in . September 1979, when two downtown highrises were threatened with conversion. ) Both projects were predominately occupied by elderly tenants. Two major issues surrounded the conversion controversy: 1) the displacement of tenants (particularly low income, elderly, and disabled) without comparable units available, and 2} the removal of rental housing stock from the market--rental housing stock that was in short supply.l On November 28, 1979, Eugene passed an ordinance imposing a moratorium on condominium conversion to be in effect from the cate of passage until June 1, 1 980. The purpose of the moratorium was to allow the City time to study the conversion issue for the purpose of considering corrective legislation to be enacted at the end of the moratorium period. The Condominium Conversion Ordinance \'tas adopted on June 18, 1980. The ordi- nance has been amended only once, in September 1981. It ',"as changed to allow the exemption of limited equity cooperatives if certain conditions were satisfied. 1 The overall housing vacancy rate was just 1.9 percent, comoared to the curient rate of 5.5 percent. .