Item C: Update on Farmers' Market

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Placing City Hall on a portion of the County property would require reconstruction of the “butterfly” parking structure and redevelopment of the site used by Farmers’ Market. While use of this site for a new City Hall would be consistent with the long-term vision in the Park Blocks Master Plan, it would require replacement of any near-term capital improvements to the current Farmers’ Market space. This means that there is a chance that investments made now would be replaced within three to five years with more permanent improvements. Representatives of Farmers’ Market have expressed the desire that a larger analysis of their industry’s current and future site and space requirements is needed before plans for improvement of the existing site are finalized. There is some interest within Farmers’ Market to look at other sites, either in place of or in addition to the County site, as a potential future home for Farmers’ Market. One concern is that investing in capital improvements at the current site will reduce interest in taking a broader look at Farmers’ Market’s overall needs and opportunities. Given these conditions, staff is recommending that the development of specific capital improvement projects for the current Farmers’ Market site be placed on hold until a final decision is made on the site for the new City Hall complex. This more closely matches the original intent of considering the funding for Farmers Market improvements as a placeholder until FY08. This will also allow additional time for Farmers’ Market to better define their specific needs at the current site, and its relation to their longer-term business plans. If the County property is not selected as the site for a new City Hall, specific improvements for the Farmers’ Market site will be identified in coordination with County staff and Lane County Farmers’ Market. These proposed improvements would be brought to the council for review, in keeping with the original Budget Committee action. If the County property is selected as the site for a future City Hall, planning for improvements to the Farmers’ Market should be incorporated into the discussion on re-establishing the historic northwest Park Block. RELATED CITY POLICIES This project is related to the City Council Priority Issue of concluding the development phase of the City Hall Complex. COUNCIL OPTIONS The council could accept the staff recommendation to defer additional project planning until a final decision is made on siting a new City Hall, or it could direct staff to proceed with planning and implementing the short-term improvements identified in the Park Blocks Master Plan, within the current funding. CITY MANAGER’S RECOMMENDATION The City Manager recommends placing the Farmers’ Market improvements project on hold until a final decision on the location of a future City Hall is made. L:\CMO\2006 Council Agendas\M061113\S061113C.doc