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4It Responding to a question from Ms. Ehrman, Mr. Johnson said that the property on which the linkage park is located is privately owned and is currently being used as a parking lot to serve the needs of the two surrounding build- ings. The committee has discussed the proposed design with the current prop- erty owner who has not indicated support for the conceptual design and has indicated no interest in selling the property to the City. Further negotia- tion would be necessary for property acquisition. Mr. MacDonald noted that the downtown redesign is only one of four components of a comprehensive Retail Task Force report. He highlighted the importance of the Tenant Mix Plan within this comprehensive downtown revitalization strategy. Responding to questions, Mr. Johnson noted that as it is presently designed, it would still be possible to route buses onto Willamette Street. Therefore, it would be an administrative decision whether or not to allow buses on this corridor. e Ms. Bascom pointed out that allowing bus traffic on Willamette Street would ruin the pedestrian ambience of the street. She expressed an interest in getting a proposed routing plan from the Lane Transit District (LTD). Mr. Boles pointed out that the Retail Task Force specifically rejected the concept of opening Willamette Street out of concern that bus traffic would not be compatible with the pedestrian nature of the street. Mr. Rutan congratulated the committee on the design process that generated such a top-quality design. He emphasized the importance of avoiding unneces- sary controversy among the community over very specific design components. The community should be presented with a redesign plan with broad parameters and be encouraged to vote on the overall concept. The more specific design decisions can then be made by the public contingent upon plan approval. When undertaking the public information campaign, Mr. Nicholson encouraged the City to present unbiased information that does not advocate the proposed redesign plan. Mayor Miller announced that agenda items V, VIII, and IX would be moved up. III. WORK SESSION: LANE TRANSIT DISTRICT (LTD) Christine Andersen, Public Works Transportation, reported that the purpose of this work session is to brief councilors on LTD transit site issues prior to the joint LTD board/City Council Meeting on March 4, 1991. Phyllis Loobey, LTD, reported on this issue. She noted that since the last discussions, the LTD board has made several decisions regarding station sit- ing. The board is strongly committed to the need for a new transit station in the downtown and feels that an off-street, three-quarter-block site would e MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 20, 1991 Page 6