01/26/1976 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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,.,.. CouncLlman ~vil1iams said he was not comfortable with that respon~e. He ,agreed it was a mixed s.ituation and that it was everyone's intent th~t ~t be m~xed. . But it seemed to him that two studies - one based on 70% hous~ng/30% commerc~a.Li the other, 70% commercial/30% housing - wou~d be more useful. Navarre Davis, member of the I:bwntown Development" Board I expressed the Board's very strong interest in having the opportunity of working closely with the consultants in this study. He said it was very important to the central business district and the Board would like to be an adjunct, making recommendations, in that work. . '" Clif Culp, owner of property in the westside area, commented on the numerous requests from consultants for studies of the housing in the area west to Washington Street. The expenditure on the proposed study amounted to quite a bit, he said, and a study made by the Downtown Westside Association giving . the information requested could be made available. He noted most of the area was zoned C-2. Mayor Anderson said the Council was not concerned at this point with planning data, only with procedure. He requested Mr. Culp to confine his comments to that only. Mr. Culp continued that only 19% of the near westside area was in housing and he believed local consultants could be hired to obtain the answers wanted. He cited the monies expended on the central business district, the WaShington/Jefferson bridge and overpass and park and said he would like this study to include a recommendation how best the city could capitalize on those expenditures. He felt it wrong to say it should be left in single-family dwellings. He stated that studies obtained to date were only about 50% correct, that study recommendations on the airport, the parking structure, aUditorium, jail site, etc. had not been followed by the city. Mr. Culp said the WaShington/Jefferson corridor should be the west boundary for the downtown rather than Charnelton Street as now being discussed. The city should not go back on commitments made in 1967-68 when starting the downtown renewal project, i.e. to keep the zoning as it now is. He ended his comments by reading a poem entitled "Civic Dilemma" satirizing the hiring of consultants, to which Mayor Anderson responded that should the c.ity decide upon the rrethod of appointing a poet laureate, it was beneficial to know there was one available. The Mayor suggested direction might be given to the consultants asking for three scenarios that would reflect implementation of the General Plan. Manager Henry suggested changing wording in the contract that would call for increasing emphasis in either direction - housing or commercial. e Mr. Saul thought maybe something was being read into the contract that wasn't there. He noted that the scenario dealing with housing referred only to new development as being exclusively housing and overall mixed uses would remain. He said mixed uses had been discussed at length with the consultants because staff thought there might be some real problems with trying to combine commercial and residential uses within the same building in new development. ,But it was thought this avenue should at least be explored. He added that the study was meant to deal with new development as well as the impact on existing development, particularly when recognizing the long-time pattern which has developed. Mr. Porter pointed out that July L 1976, was the date now set for completion of the study and considerable staff work was necessary if that deadline was to be I1Et. Mr. Keller moved seconded by Mr. Murray to authorize the contract, amended to add the wording suggested by Mr. Saul (". . and specified certain concerns to be expressed in the study. .") plus making Council. minutes covering adoption of L & B commercial study recommendations a part of the contract; and incl uding provision that the Downtown Development Board work closely with the consultants in their study. Motion carried unanimously. 1/26[76 - 22 e Conun 1/21/76 Approve ~