07/23/1990 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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e Ms. Schue moved, seconded by Mr. Bennett, that the bill be approved and given final passage; all councilors present voting aye, the bill was declared passed (and became Ordinance No. 19708). V. PUBLIC HEARING: RETAIL TASK FORCE FINAL REPORT City Manager Mike Gleason introduced the topic. Jan Bohman, Planning and Development Department, summarized the contents of the report. She noted that the Retail Task Force was created as a broad-based group to represent a variety of viewpoints downtown. Ms. Bohman highlighted the four major components of this plan, including: 1) the Downtown Tenant Mix Plan, 2) the Property Owners' Program, 3) the Downtown Redesign Principles, and 4) the Recommendations for Public Policy to Support Downtown Development. Ms. Bohman reported that the Tenant Mix Plan, by establishing leasing guidelines, attempts to strengthen the mix of goods and services downtown. The goal of the second component, the Property Owners' Program, is to improve property values and the tenant mix downtown through a combination of voluntary property owner agreements and other incentive programs. She noted that the Downtown Redesign Principles provide direction and parameters for a redesign process which will include significant public involvement and will attempt to create a physical environment that would be most supportive of a e strong downtown core. Ms. Bohman indicated that the Recommendations for Public Policy to Support Downtown Development deals with a variety of other issues which have been raised over the course of task force discussion, such as compact urban growth and downtown revitalization. Ms. Bohman stated that a public information session was held on this report. The Planning Commission reviewed this report and recommended approval of elements 3 and 4; the Downtown Commission also took action and recommended approval of all four elements. Staff is requesting that the council take separate action on each of the elements. Ms. Bohman highlighted several areas of the report which have been controversial within the community. Specifically, she referred to the report recommendation which, in an effort to improve vehicular access to the downtown core, calls for the opening or convertibility of several streets in the downtown area. Mayor Miller opened the public hearing. Sue Prichard, 2671 Emerald Street, speaking as a member of the Retail Task Force and a commercial real estate broker, testified in favor of the report. Given the present difficulty in leasing retail and office space downtown, she encouraged the council to implement the recommendations of this report. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council July 23, 1990 Page 5