10/14/1985 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Downtown Association, and others had met and worked on the material. He said e information was gathered about finances and from other cities as well as from people downtown. He said the scenario developed was that of restricted free parking, in which the initial two hours of parking would be free and a fee would be charged after that. He said that plan appeared to make sense and to solve both the financial and enforcement problems. Responding to a question from Ms. Ehrman, Mr. McCoy said the two-hour limit would apply to one spot, so motorists could conceivably move their cars every two hours to avoid paying. He added that enforcement would not be completely successful but he knew of no system that would be entirely enforceable. Mr. McCoy said the parking program policy had been adopted by a vote of 8-2, with the two representatives of the Eugene Downtown Association opposing it. He said those members had strongly favored free parking and had submitted a proposal for increasing taxes in order to maintain free parking. He also said a majority of the committee had been convinced that retailers would favor the increased tax and continuation of free parking. Mr. McCoy described member- ship of the committee, and he said it had agreed that if enough retailers were willing to support the tax increase, unlimited free parking could be continued. Mr. Miller asked whether all property owners would pay the same amount, regardless of proximity to parking lots. Mr. McCoy said they did within the ODD, although the tax scheme was fairly complex and had to do with gross receipts and ad valorem. e Ms. Wooten asked about the amount of increase required to make the program self-sustaining, and Mr. McCoy said it ranged from $2.41 to $3.41 per $1,000 gross receipts, making it about a 40 percent increase. Ms. Wooten asked whether retailers had agreed to that. Mr. McCoy said EDA had done a survey of its mailing list, and retailers who support the increase had been listed as part of the testimony at the DTC public hearing. He also said another survey had been done, and those results were not available yet, but most of the major retailers, including The Bon, had supported continuation of the free parking program and the tax increase. Responding to a question from Mr. Holmer, Mr. McCoy said professional offices did not pay on gross receipts at present because the professional tax had been eliminated in order to increase development. Mr. McCoy said the Downtown Commission had not reached any decision yet, but he expected it to recommend continuation of the free program, but with a definite time limit. He explained that if site development were to occur on any sites actively marketed by the City, the free parking program would become obsolete. Responding to questions from Ms. Wooten, Mr. Luell said EDA had done one survey of 28 members. Later it had done a second survey of the entire member- ship, and that was the list submitted at the DTC hearing, but that information was not included in the council packet. He said the options had been presented neutrally and the "noes" on the list could be interpreted as e favoring the restricted parking program. MINUTES--Eugene City Council Dinner/Work Session October 14, 1985 Page 2