12/12/1990 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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- - - --- e Responding to a question from Ms. Ehrman, Mr. Bowers said that while staff feels that the offer made by parcel owners is a good one, it continues to recommend extending the current option through Oecember 1991, because of continued uncertainty around Ballot Measure 5. Ms. Ehrman pointed out that if the council does not take advantage of the "special offer" now, property acquisition costs will likely increase. She also noted that as indicated in many public information sessions, the council has reason to believe that there is strong public support for a library on the Sears site and that the March vote on library siting will be successful. For these reasons, she supports taking advantage of the special offer to commit to purchasing the site immediately upon voter approval. Mr. Gleason pointed out that the cost to the City of Option 4, allowing the option on this site to expire, would only be zero if the terms of the agree- ment do not change, i.e., if the site was still available for purchase and/or the purchase price did not increase. Responding to a question from Mr. Green, Mr. Bowers clarified that under the terms of the special offer, the City would only be committed to site acquisi- tion should the voters successfully approve this site for the future library location. Under these terms, money would be transferred subsequent to the March election. Mr. Nicholson urged the council not to commit to site purchase until it has seen the results of the March election. He stated the council has agreed to e let the voters choose where the library should be located. If the council was to commit to site acquisition before the citizens had an opportunity to make its final decision, the public might have reason to doubt the council's sincerity about allowing voters to make the ultimate siting decision. He suggested that the council move forward with the staff recommendation. Mr. Boles agreed with Mr. Nicholson that the council should proceed with the staff recommendation. He said that the City would retain first option to purchase the site, should voters approve library siting at the Sears site in the March election and would not have to deal with the public backlash de- scribed by Mr. Nicholson. In response to a question from Ms. Bascom, Mr. Gleason said that if the coun- cil decided to commit now to site purchase immediately after voter approval, he would recommend that the money be taken from the remaining $5 million in the Urban Renewal Parking Reserve Fund. Ms. Bascom said that the council has targeted the need for a new library as one of its primary goals for this year. In order to make its commitment to that goal evident to the community, the council should commit to purchase the site immediately upon voter approval. Mr. Robinette pointed out that the council's goal for this year was to chose a site for the library, not to commit funds for purchase. In light of finan- cial uncertainty surrounding Ballot Measure 5, the council should proceed e MINUTES--Eugene City Council Oecember 12, 1990 Page 6